//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 (revised) // Story: The Four Stallions of the Apocalypse: Broken Formation // by UltimateRuin009 //------------------------------// Chapter 5 “I’m telling you, I really have no idea what Connor did but I just flew here by some kind of wind and here I am.” explained Rainbow Dash. She had just got done explaining what had happen from her perspective, and when she was done she heard a loud agonizing scream, the one Connor had made. “C’mon gals, we ain’t got no time to waste.” said Applejack. The mares hurryingly agreed as they saw a black flash appear and leave just as fast as it popped up in the fog. When they got to the other side they saw the old Equestrian castle, though in ruins it still shone brightly in the Everfree’s darkness. The mares hurried over to the other side of the wooden bridge, only to find Connor and the other stallions gone. “Oh princess, where could he have gone?” asked Rainbow Dash. “He was just right here too!” A wave of panic struck over the mares as they noticed the pool of dark crimson at their feet, and what seemed to be a pony lying in it, a large shape too. It didn’t mean good as questions filled the head of these mares, but fear and irrational thoughts had invaded and kicked out any positive solutions to the current predicament. “Did they…” started Fluttershy. She didn’t want to say it, she feared she may have been right for the evidence was right there in front of them, leaving more questions than answers. No pony body was around so it wasn’t able to tell whose blood it was, far as they knew it could have been one of his brother’s blood, or Nightmare’s. But with nothing to support even that, or anything else other then, “…kill him?” She shuddered at the words and tears on the urge of breaking from her eyeballs. Rarity came up next to Fluttershy and tried to comfort her with a front hoof. “No, he isn’t dead, those stallions maybe strong but they wouldn’t be able to take him on and win that easy.” said Rarity enthusiastically. “Or at least from what we have witnessed back at the town hall.” Yes, they did remember what had happened a few hours ago, but it still left room for doubt. “Easy for you to say, but there’s no need for false hope with Nightmare Moon running around.” said Twilight. Rarity got a little angered at that retort and faced Twilight. “Yeah but what do you know? We hardly even know Connor, he’s probably the one that drew blood.” “Well all I’m saying is that there’s no point in having false hope for some earth pony that had seemed to lose his strength when we laughed at trees.” Rarity got even angrier. “And I’m saying that you have as much right to argue about this as I do, Connor isn’t dead and I have faith that he’s still alive.” Twilight rolled her eyes at that, Rarity was right once again but her logic that challenged everything that confused her came up like it always had. “We don’t have time to fight over this! We’d be better off trying to find the elements of harmony, not debating over lives.” Twilight went ahead of the path while the other mares had shrugged off the argument and followed Twilight’s lead. The fog had gotten clearer since they started moving and the old castle was in sight. Twilight’s eyes…sparkled at the sight, knowing they were that much closer to the elements had made her excited beyond words. “The elements, they should be in there!” exclaimed Twilight happily, turning into a full gallop towards the castle. The other mares followed suit, panic getting the better of them but they had to be level headed, they were at the end of the road and the goddess of darkness there waiting for them. They had panic come over seeing how Connor had left without any tracks or trace, they just knew him but seeing a soul so injured on the inside had their hearts get the better of them. They hit the grounds of the old castle as the lighting had once again gotten darker, the ominous feel got worse without Connor at their sides, at least he made it seem safe to traverse through. And what seemed like forever they got through the darkness of the old courtyard and found the room from which the elements were in sight. A beam of joy hit Twilight and ignoring her natural instincts of awareness faded but the others were more alert then ever. “Alright girls, just let me mess around with the elements and see how they work.” said Twilight. A light erupted from her horn as she had 5 of the stones that were the elements float to her through telekinesis. She was awfully confused but she brought them all into a little circle, trying something out that had caught her attention when she read the reference book on the elements. “Twi?” asked Applejack quizzically. “What are ya’ doin’?” Twilight looked back, getting out of the trance that was her focus that was on the elements. The darkness creeping in silently towards the 5 stones. “The reference guide mentioned something about a spark revealing the sixth element. So what other then shocking the stones?” asked Twilight. She continuously shock the stones with simple little spark spells, hoping that the mentioning of a spark was a literal thing. After so and so minutes, it seemed that everything that Twilight was doing just wasn’t doing anything. It seemed fairly hopeless as the purple unicorn let out an irritated sigh. “Why is nothing happening?” She gave up, throwing her front hooves up into the air she decided to just calm down by shifting her attention over to the other mares. Big mistake. The darkness appeared, visible now as it came from the shadows caused by the lighting of the room as it had the stones float. The stones were floating around in circles and it spun faster and faster. The mares had seen this and Twilight was the first one to react when she could. “NO!” screamed Twilight. She jumped right for the elements but the moment she was next to them, her along with the elements disappeared in a blinding light. The 5 mares stared in disbelief at what had just happened, the assumption that Connor wasn’t lying about divide and conquer was the first thing on top of Rainbow Dash’s head. “Oh no, where did she go?” asked Fluttershy in pure horror. They looked around until finally… “Look over there!” said Applejack. She pointed a front hoof towards a building. It wasn’t too far and it seemed to be a part of the old Canterlot castle too. They had to work fast, Twilight was in the hooves of one of the cruelest entity’s known to pony kind, there was no room for slacking off. They had a friend to save. Twilight had awoken from what felt like hours after being unconscious, the last thing she remembered was diving towards the stones that were the elements of harmony and they were all gone in a flash, and her with. Her vision was a little blurry but with a few winks she was able to solve that, she took in what she saw, she was surrounded by the 3 stallions and Nightmare Moon out of the corner of her eye. The next sight she saw wasn’t a very pretty one, it was a pitch black stallion that was covered in scars, and he had the look of being tortured, brutally. “She’s awake mother…” said Pestilence. “Are you ready?” Twilight looked over at Nightmare who was slowly trotting to where the moonlight hit the hard floor of the room they were in. “Where am I?” asked Twilight. “Where’s Connor?” Nightmare didn’t look back at the purple mare as she floated the elements towards her figure in the moonlight. And in an instant, they were shattered without reason, it just seemed to happen out of mid-air. Twilight just stared there horrified, her ears perched down as she was ready to slump into defeat. But still, she held her head up strong. “I didn’t get my question answered.” “Idiot girl,” began Nightmare Moon. “He was here the whole time, in case you haven’t noticed anything about that stallion yet.” Twilight looked over at the black stallion, his figure was similar but it wasn’t anything like Connor aside from that. “That isn’t Connor.” said Twilight blankly. Nightmare Moon just rolled her eyes and walked over to the seemingly unconscious stallion as she pressed a hard hoof onto the stallion’s spine. It didn’t break but it was enough for the stallion to shudder from the pain. “Wake up.” said Nightmare Moon coldly. The stallion slowly raised his head up and saw everyone surrounding him, and noticed a familiar purple mare just away from him. “Somepony is expecting you.” “Yeah, after you teleported her here…” said the pitch black stallion coldly. He spat into the face of Nightmare Moon and was met with a painful kick to his face, nearly breaking his lower jaw. “I am your mother and you shall show me the proper respect I demand!” shouted Nightmare Moon. Twilight pieced it all together, this was Connor, no doubt about it too, what horrified her was how he was much different and covered in scars. Connor struggled to get up but did so without any signs of seeming to collapse. “My real mother died when you were born.” said Connor darkly. Nightmare had to smirk at this, evilly. “Oh you’re still on about it all, I could hardly blame you though,” said Nightmare Moon. “I’d probably still remember everything, especially if it was on my flanks too.” Twilight was confused now, last she remembered Connor had no cutie mark, Nightmare saw the mare’s confusion. “Oh, you thought after all this time he was just a simple blank flank? Hardly true.” She levitated Connor using telekinesis by a sickly dark glow from her horn. Connor wasn’t struggling anymore, there was no point fighting right now, he wasn’t in any immediate danger. He was rotated so that Twilight could see his cutie mark…his damned cutie mark…there wasn’t anything cute about 3 spears with a pony skull on each one. Twilight was shocked, there was never a cutie mark that could possibly look like how it was, there just wasn’t enough pieces to put together to figure out why such was on his flanks. “Oh you see dear, what was it? Oh yes, Twilight Sparkle.” began Nightmare Moon, a hint of madness setting in, guess Twilight had to get used to it. She noticed the other stallions back up and behind the 2 black ponies. “Connor was…my favorite amongst my boys here, always did what mommy wanted him to do.” “I know what he has done, and it was cruel of you to remind him of it.” said Twilight Sparkle. Nightmare Moon just laughed evilly again. “Oh, you think you really know him?” asked Nightmare Moon. “You have only touched the surface of what Connor has done.” The black coated stallion struggled in the magic field that Nightmare had put him under, he just couldn’t tell Twilight what he’s done, not yet at least. He really cared for this mare and put a lot of trust into her and she had done the same for him, he couldn’t disappoint her or the others. His heart sank when the 5 other mares came into the room. “Twi, you’re alright!” exclaimed Applejack in excitement. “Oh…thank goodness.” said Fluttershy shyly. “It’s nice to see you’re okay and all, but where’s Connor?” asked Rainbow Dash. She looked back at the mares and looked gravely at Connor. The hope gone from his eyes and now encased with fear, fear of something but Twilight couldn’t make out what that fear was. “No…please…stay away!” shouted Connor. It was a weak timid shout, all his energy gone and his defenses weakened, Nightmare was gonna spill the beans on what he’s done, and he’ll be forever condemned, again. “Who’s that black stallion?” asked Rarity. “He looks like Connor…sounds like him…but he couldn’t just turn black…right?” Connor had to look on the white unicorn mare in front of him, so beautiful to him, so stunning, it may not be innocence in her but all he knew was a generous pony who just wanted to help her new friends. He felt ashamed to have to turn such a mare away the first time they met. “C’mon silly filly’s.” said Pinkie Pie. “You got to be silly like me to turn your coat into some sort of color really fast like me!” She was laughing a bit but the tension of the room heightened and she stopped laughing. Now Connor was going crazy, struggling and struggling to break free but no matter what he did he just couldn’t. He just had to protect their innocence, the world isn’t ready to know of him again. And Pinkie Pie…oh mother of Celestia, she was too happy and joyful to see it all die within her, that would hurt far too much. Twilight felt a spark ignite within her, and it was present in her eyes and Connor knew it, and when he saw it he just grinned. “Alright, go ahead Nightmare Moon, I won’t fight anymore...” said Connor. He seemed to have given up and closed his eyes, and then smiled softly. It was going to hurt to have to hear his new friends hear about more of his bad, but he was going to get through this without anymore guilt or hiding left within him. The sooner the better right? “I expected more of you,” said Nightmare Moon. “You were always a fighter, and that’s why I chose you to be who you are now.” “Oh cry me a river bitch, I don’t care anymore.” said Connor. With that, he was met with a horn to the side by none-other than Death. The mares were horrified as Fluttershy broke out into tears, and the mares follow suit, but Connor just looked at Death. “You know, before when you guys did this, it felt horrible.” said Connor. “Now it’s just getting too damn old.” And with that, Death was flung across the room from where he was and going through the wall, and Nightmare’s telekinesis was fading, allowing Connor to float to the ground gently. “You see, Connor in the days of my reign over a small innocent country was sent out to do my bidding, a punishment for defying me, and to show the world that I could take away its last beacon.” began Nightmare Moon. “Each spear on his flanks resembles a crime beyond imagining, something only I would be capable of doing without showing remorse. The first spear represents The Death of Peace, he wiped out a peaceful hamlet off the face of the earth to show that any chance of peace under my wing would be gone. Complete and utter tyranny.” The mares looked at Connor with complete and utter shock, knowing it was a punishment but a punishment that was more like an order than anything else. Rarity had a heartbreaking face on her and looked at Connor with despair, he always hated those faces. “The second spear represents what he had down with the last bearers of the elements of harmony.” said Nightmare Moon. “There were good reasons as of why Celestia had to use them herself, she was the last pony in the world that believed in those vices so it was up to her to use them, and what happened to the last ponies that used them? Died. Murdered. Mutilated, and their heads on spears with their blood across the Old Equestria’s borders, asking where their harmony was. Or in other words, The Death of Harmony.” Now it was time for Connor to have a face of desperation. The mares looked at him, the same familiar looks he’d get from other ponies when he’d do something wrong, or at least did something they didn’t like. It wasn’t faces of disgust though that he had saw, it was faces of one who had just been betrayed, which made it all the worst. “The third and final deed…-” “-…They already know about it…” said Connor in depression. He had to cry, he had no choice but to cry. The last ponies on the planet that could have possibly trusted him and he felt that with the rest of his tale as War had been told under these circumstances that history would repeat himself, that he would be an outcast again. “It was the…Death of Hope…” He began bawling, lying on the ground in utter defeat and felt like he was being stabbed by a thousand tiny needles made to strike one nerve. The mares looked at him with sadness, before telling them his story of having PTSD they cried for him, now they seemed to not care too much but felt pity that such a prideful pony was so weak at the moment. He looked back up to see that expression on their faces, and he hated them for it. “I will always regret what I’ve done, but none the less regret that ponies like you had to know, so much sweetness and innocence within all of you, even if you may not see it, I do. And…I know I’m not that pony anymore but…I’m sorry…” And with that he cried even harder, seeing the mares closer on the urge of tears before. He decided that if he was going down he would do it the only way he knew how, on his hooves and being cocky towards Nightmare, just like last time. “And you know what? Screw you for having me do all that, screw you for making me a puppet just for your sick game of tyrannical rule, and screw you for making me this way! I HATE YOU!!” Nightmare seemed to wince a bit at the “I hate you” rant but shrugged it off as easy as it came. “It appears that I need to punish you for a 4th time. For defying me again.” said Nightmare Moon. She hit her front hoof hard to the floor and from that spot, a small black portal appeared, and from it slowly came a red, demonic spear. The tip sharpened from the best of grindstones, and had a hellish red aura, the design was spiked with the greatest of enchantments for lightning surrounded the spear. Connor knew what this had meant…and his mind was in a lock-up. “You had used this weapon to bring death to harmony before, now it’s time for history to repeat itself.” Yup…just as Connor had thought. “I will not do it!” screamed Connor. His nerves on the edge, his heart pounding in his chest just like the voices in his mind pounding at what was left of his sanity, he knew he would not. “Now hold up…what do you mean Nightmare?” demanded Rainbow Dash. She was just about to fly over and rear kick her but Applejack was there again holding her back by her tail. Nightmare just laughed sadistically. “I had assumptions that you 6 mares were going to be the new bearers of the elements, and through all those tests I had put you through they were all true.” said Nightmare. “Each one of you is the bearer of the 6 elements of harmony.” “But you just crushed them under your hooves, how could we bear something that isn’t there anymore?” asked Twilight Sparkle. “They’re gone physically, not mentally, or in your case, morally.” said Nightmare Moon. A rush of the wind blew through the room everyone was in and the dusts of the element stones were picked up. The dust of a certain element, gathering together as one and going towards one of the mares. The element of Honesty’s dusts gathered around Applejack. The element of Loyalty’s dusts gathered around Rainbow Dash. The element of Kindness’s dust gathered around Fluttershy. The element of Laughter’s dust gathered around Pinkie Pie. The element of generosity gathered around Rarity. All of them were floated up by the element’s magic and became talismans, necklaces which the gems had gathered around to look like their cutie marks. And finally a light from the 5 came down onto Twilight Sparkle, forming a purple tiara which she knew better and knew it was the talisman of the element of Magic. They were all amazed, Famine, Death and Pestilence gaped their mouths into shock as they saw the elements as they were, and it was everything of their old lives. “You see, harmony never dies, but it only becomes in a state of absence when ponies stop believing in harmony.” said Nightmare Moon. “And you see, Connor will do to you like he did with the last bearers.” The spear flew over to Connor and landed on its head right in front of him. He knew what Nightmare wanted, but he wasn’t going to pick it up to strike a pony down, not tonight. A mysterious force took over Connor as the familiar black glow of Nightmare’s magic was over Connor, forcing him, even though Connor was resisting, picked up the hellish spear. The mares looked over at him in fear, the spear looked very suiting for Connor’s dark form. “I…don’t…want…to…do this!” said Connor through gritted teeth. He was fighting harder than he was before now, putting himself into major strain he just had to break free from Nightmare. If these mares would die, so should she and his brothers, no matter what. “I…REFUSE!!!” “Oh calm down Connor, its just six mares.” said Nightmare Moon. “Bearers or not.” Connor looked at the mares one more time, studied their faces, all of it in fear as they know their lives were on the line. He looked at them one at a time. From Fluttershy’s horrified face, to Applejack’s frightened yet strong face, to Twilight’s unsure face, to everyone else’s. They all trust him, or at least they trusted him but it seems like all that’s long gone from their faces at the moment. Looking at them, knowing they were all beautiful in their own rights and stronger than him on the inside, and then he found himself again. Not the soldier pony’s personality he had played all his life, nor the accursed War himself, no. He had found Connor, a Connor that was able to withstand this psychic hold on him, it was time to fight the power. He gained the upper hand and turned towards Nightmare and his brothers, the mares relieved and Nightmare angered. “You just don’t know when to quit do you?” asked Death angrily. “Allowing others to use you is a self-righteous crime.” began Connor. “It’s a crime because you are a coward, you’re a coward for letting someone else control you, and in letting someone control you means you lost all sense of yourself as a pony. And to lose yourself is weakness, and I’ve been weak for too damn long!” And with a motion of his head, blew back Nightmare Moon and his brothers to the other side of the room, and with another motion threw the spear as it landed right in front of Nightmare’s muzzle. The mane 6 cheering on Connor’s effort with pride. "And another thing!" shouted Connor. "For all my life and my time as War I was nothing but a monster, not the Connor Stronghooves I believe is me, but the monster that you and everypony else made me out to be! Not this time! I fight so that I will not only defend my beautiful country but to show you all that I'm not War, I'm not a monster, but that however I'M CONNOR STRONGHOOVES!!" At that point he was already galloping towards another battle, the battle from outside, and towards the battle within. “Not this time!” shouted Nightmare Moon. Using telekinesis, she flung the spear right into Connor’s face, but breaking apart into pieces at the contact of Connor. The mares knew that whatever Connor’s skin was made of, it could withstand a lot of harm. The 3 stallions charged at Connor, horns at the ready for piercing and magic spewing out of them. From all the horns shot out lasers beams. They all hit Connor but one by one they just bounced off of him until they met at a stand-still. The 4 stallions stood up on their hind legs and put together their front hooves with each other, Connor on one side, the other 3 on the other as they two sides prepared attacks. "You'll never defeat us! Its three of us vs one of you!" shouted Famine. "You think you alone could stop us?" asked Pestilence. "We represent the forces of darkness! The agents of change in all the world and the forces that bring about the emotions that resemble what you believe your having and what other ponies feel. You have no hope against us!" From their hooves came the form of balls of magic, spiraling into its sphere shapes. Connor’s magic, despite his devilish colors had his magic light yellow, while the others had sickly green, black and white colors. The tension spiked the room and magic flowing through the room from the spheres of spiraling light. "YOU SEEM TO BE FORGETTING SOMETHING!!" shouted Connor. They all screamed as they pointed their hoofs to whomever was on the other side as giant lasers engulfed the room. "I. AM. CONNOR STRONGHOOVES!!!!!" And at that point, the laser spells were fired. "REMEMBER BROTHERS!! WE GOTTA TAKE HIM DOWN!!!" shouted Death. Death’s, Famine’s and Pestilence’s beams crossed forming a giant sized beam that matched Connor’s size. He knew what he had to do. He was walking forward, struggling but was walking forward as their attacks seemed pretty evenly matched. “WHEN I GET IN CLOSE ENOUGH, FIRE THE ELEMENTS AT US!” screamed Connor towards the six mares. "ITS THE ONLY WAY THEY'LL CHANGE!! I KNOW IT!!" The mares saw that their talismans glow up in bright colors as they all floated in the air, feeling the magic within them. Connor took one step after another in the direction of the stallions as he kept going nearer and nearer. “No! I will not give up this body no matter what!” screamed Nightmare Moon. She fed magic into her three sons as their end of the laser spell was increased and Connor felt being pushed back. But he decided that he needed to put everything into this, no little bit of this or that, he had to do it for his brothers and Nightmare Moon. "LOOKS LIKE I GOTTA GO ALL OUT!!" shouted Connor. He began to tap into his inner chambers of magic, and soon his life force as both things were pumping pure energy into his attack. The other ponies in the laser struggle were doing all they could but they felt really burnt out of magic, they began to weaken. "THIS IS IT!!" "NO!! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!?!" screeched Death. "YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO LOSE!!! FATE DECIDED OUR VICTORY TO BE THE ONLY FUTURE!!" Him and his brothers were getting weaker by the second, in the moments to come they knew their demise was imminent. They could feel the rush of Connor's energy going to their end of the struggle as it began to make their bodies shake violently. Nightmare Moon couldn't provide anymore magic, Connnor had just simply out burned her. Connor finally got in close as he was able to bring the standoff closed down as he forced the colliding spells to go up into the air and there were no more beams to worry about. "FATE DOESN'T DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS TO US, PONIES LIKE YOU AND ME DO!! AND MY VICTORY IS SECURE HERE BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN THE CONNOR STRONGHOOVES THAT BELIEVES IN HARMONY!!!" screamed Connor. The stallions and Nightmare were too burned out of energy to even stand up on their legs. To their surprise they were still alive, barely breathing because they had given it their complete all into their laser spells, and from the complete use of magic it had brought them into unconsciousness. This was the moment they were waiting for, no turning back now. They had to finish what they started. “NOW!!!” screamed Connor as loud as he could. The 6 mares began charging up their talismans, they were in for a big blast of magic to hit everyone in the room. Nightmare just barely had enough to stand on her legs as she tried to fire lightning spells at the 6 mares, but because of her blurry vision, it was near impossible to hit the mares right. "I've waited too long to be defeated like this now!" shrieked Nightmare Moon. Her attempts were met with a hoof bringing her down to the ground by a stallion with blacker fur then her. "Shut the hell up bitch." flatly stated Connor. Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes to show the element of magic taking over and unleashing her true potential, and the potentials of her friends, even the potential of the talismans themselves. And with that, a ginormous spell hit the room, and everything in Connor’s vision turned white. And then, darkness. "Thank you..." Twilight was the first to wake up, seeing her tiara still there, perched on her head but by the feel of it, it felt like it was gonna fall off. She used her telekinesis magic to get it at the right position and made a sigh of relief that it was the way she wanted it. She snapped back into reality as she saw 4 new alicorns in the room, replacing what should have been Famine, Pestilence, Death and Nightmare Moon. One of them was almost the size of a regular pony with a crescent shaped necklace on her neck. Her mane a dark blue, however more blue then her fur, along with her long tail. The alicorns where the most odd that she’s ever seen, mostly due because of the fact that Celestia was the only alicorn she saw before tonight’s events transpired. An alicorn, bigger than the blue furred alicorn had green fur and a flowing light yellow mane and tale, it had markings all over the pony that took up plant-like designs. It seemed…unnatural yet it was at the same time. She noticed a red alicorn, had a fine brown mane and tail, in the place of Pestilence as she believed where he lay, so did he. Then another, it seemed odd, it had the skin of a zebra, and long flowing mane, it was purple and had streaks of white in it too. This was confusing to Twilight at first but she pieced the puzzle together, these stallions were the stallions of the apocalypse. As of why they aren’t the way they were that was yet to be determined. She looked around, seeing her new friends get up like they were hung over on apple cider. “Ugh…my head…” said Rainbow Dash. She shook her head a couple times, her rainbow colored mane becoming a color blur the faster she shook her head. “Dang, mah head hurts bad…” said Applejack. She had gotten up too and shook her head as focus came in easier than it had a second ago for her. “Is everypony alright?” Applejack looked around seeing her friends get up and noticed the dark blue alicorn get up too. “Huh…? Where…am I?” asked the blue alicorn in confusion. The pony had a soft voice, it was pretty childish but it was soft like a baby’s bottom. “This isn’t the moon.” She looked upon the mares, then back to where the 3 stallions lie down. “They should be a little younger…they seem fully grown…” The more the small pony alicorn thought of these things, the more confused she became. More questions kept popping up in her head as a bit of paranoia crept in like a smooth predator, and her mind was the prey. A brilliant light shone through the glass windows of the old castle, a light that all of the ponies in the room grown to know, and grown up with, the sun. It was rising in the air faster then it usually would have, that’s when Twilight realized that the sun should have shined just a bit over an hour ago, and that Nightmare made sure that the sun wouldn’t come again. This was the first guarantee that she had won, no, that her and her friends had won. The light seemed to grow brighter as a figure flew into the room, the same species of ponies as the 4 others in the room. Twilight could recognize the pony anywhere, it was Princess Celestia. The dark blue alicorn’s mind was in a lockdown, the pony…that very pony that had put her to 1000 years of solitude on the moon was right in front of her, her seemingly soft, glowing multi-colored mane swaying with the wind of the room. Emotions came in with a vengeance, the fires of pure fury burning through her. She felt so weak though, she never felt this exhausted in her life. “No, what kind of a mother can’t follow their own kid’s virtues?” thought the Alicorn. “Then again, if I thought like this…I wouldn’t have been on that moon to begin with...” The 5 mares excluding Twilight looked at the angry alicorn in worry, Fluttershy half tempted to duck to the nearest obstacle that would conceal her to avoid any upcoming violence. They still held to their respect towards their leader however, and bowed in front of them. “Princess Celestia!” exclaimed Twilight in joy. She partially hopped up to the white alicorn as they embraced each other into a hug. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student.” said Princess Celestia. “I knew you could do it.” Her smile felt warmer then the sun, her voice more serene and graceful then any they had all heard in their lives before, if felt right to hear it after a long night. However Twilight got confused by what the princess had said, going through and back her brain to what her mentor had told her a lot earlier. “But…you told me it was an old pony’s tale, something to not worry about.” said Twilight. “I told you to make some friends, and that it was more of a situation that I should handle, not yourself, but I was wrong.” said Princess Celestia. Those were words that Twilight would never hear in her life, it seemed so for the other mares too for they got off their knees and stood on their hooves tall. “I had seen the signs of my children and sister’s return. And the moment you touched Everfree forest I knew you all had the magic to help them find the light.” The 6 mare’s jaws hit the floor with such speed to rival Rainbow Dash’s speed, this plot twist becoming overly confusing to them for nothing helped piece it together for common sense. “What do you mean princess? I figured that you had to banish your sister too but I didn’t know you had any children! It only said Nightmare Moon had them when I read it off of that book.” said Twilight Sparkle. Celestia had brought up her warm signature smile, content in having to tell her story to 6 new ponies that she knew would be very good friends with, already a good friend with one of them. “You see, just like Luna they had darkness corrupt them by feelings of doubt, hatred, loathing and spite.” begun Princess Celestia. “It went after my sister, creating the evil incarnate that had been known as Nightmare Moon. Then that darkness spread, attacking my 3 son’s just like it did to Luna and then, the stallions of the apocalypse were born.” Twilight and the gang were giving their leader their full attention, but a question spiked up in hearing it, Celestia had 3 children, there were four stallions of the apocalypse. “But…what about Connor? He was the stallion of War, how did he get mixed in?” asked Rarity. Celestia had a sorrowful look on her face as a tear escaped her eye. “It’s a long complicated story, one of which had made me regret doing to anypony, me and my sister. All you need to know is that we found him at our doorsteps and Luna took it upon herself to become the mother and train Connor everything she knew about combat, flight even, and also how to become interconnected to the Earth.” said Princess Celestia “Like a true earth pony.” The mane 6 looked over at the blue alicorn, realizing who it was, Princess Luna. She seemed to be in tears herself and laying on her knees, bawling. Princess Celestia trotted up to her and they both shared each other’s body heats as they cried together. Pinkie Pie was cartoonishly crying as the tears came out like a mad faucet while the other mares felt a panging guilt to know that such a pony who had been tortured not only by Nightmare Moon but by the other side of the coin as well, both good and evil had put Connor through hell. “We didn’t mean to cause him harm, we were just sad because we hated how mortality had taken our friends.” said Princess Celestia. “And on the look of that adorable colt’s eyes…we knew he was special, and in the end we had taken what was special about him and made him who he was truly. It’s not just Nightmare Moon’s fault for making him who he is…it was our own mistake to begin with anyway.” The alicorn sisters kept crying and crying for a good couple of minutes until they regained posture, they decided to wake up her children, no use having them on the ground. They all woke up with blurry vision, just like the mane 6 had to wake up with. “Ah…dang…what did we do last night…?” asked the red alicorn. His voice seemed like that of an intelligent person’s, similar to Twilight’s voice in a lot of ways. He had emerald green eyes that really matched the short brown mane cut that he had, it looked good. “Must have been crazy if we feel like this now…ow.” said the zebra looking alicorn. His voice was gruff but it wasn’t threatening, something the mane 6 could deal with for now. His eyes were purple just like his mane. “Well…least we know it gets better.” said the green alicorn. His voice was nearly as serene as Princess Celestia’s, his blue iris was huge and took up most of his eyes as his green flowing green mane trickled with the wind. They all were pretty muscular compared to Celestia as they stood up to full height, they were a good half a foot shorter than their mother, it was odd to see more alicorns at this height. “Twilight, meet my children, Brett Lifegiver...” began Princess Celestia. “Pleasure to meet everypony.” said Brett, the red alicorn. “James Plantgrower…” continued Princess Celestia. “Nice to meet you.” said James, the green alicorn. “And my eldest, Jacob Lightbringer.” finished Princess Celestia. “Hey there.” said Jacob, the zebra looking alicorn. “They were all meant to not only embrace the beauty of a mother and her children, the way Luna had with Connor but to help me and the rest of Equestria, and eventually to show other nations the magic of friendship and harmony.” started Princess Celestia. “Brett would help revolutionize medicine and be in charge of general health care for all living creatures. James would help out earth ponies do crops and farms and even help the eco-system out and make sure plant eaters like us and others can grow from his food. And finally Jacob to help spread the rays of the sun to those that needed it more than any happy pony, to show darkness the light, and also to support the right of life in all categories.” The 3 alicorns looked at their flanks which had their cutie marks on, and looked down to the ground in shame, the memories of being the stallions of the apocalypse quite fresh in their mind. “But thanks to Nightmare Moon, not Luna, the darkness changed my sons to the opposites of what they were and what they represented, and telling you what the original plan was I assume you know how each of my boys had gotten their marks as the stallions of the apocalypse.” said Princess Celestia. The mane 6 nodded to show Celestia that they knew what she had meant, and Celestia seemed content with it. “And the darkness did the same thing like what Luna and I did to Connor to my children. Turned them into the opposites and made them perfect paragons of which stallion they represented. It had me beyond rage but Connor tried to save you 4, but he failed…and in turn became War.” said Princess Celestia. “Connor had a good heart fighting with me to banish my children and Nightmare Moon but…he had to leave…the scars he made as War were still present…it was so bad the ashes of Old Equestria made the darkness that tainted Connor and made it physically obvious that it was there. There was no other pony in history that had to go through something like this…” Pained regret sky rocketed through Celestia, Luna, Brett, Jacob and James bodies as the tears came back. “Even though he never got his cutie mark for it, all he really wanted was just to help ponies, but in the end, the darkness made him the opposite and turned it into a paragon of War.” said Luna. Now it was the mane 6 to cry, oh god be damned…a pony like Connor having to be hurting what he had loved doing…now that was cold for anything to do. But then it occurred to them about something…Connor…Connor…CONNOR!! They had completely forgot about where he was as Luna searched around the room with the most effort and a pained look on her face. “Connor!” shouted Luna. “Where are you!?” They looked and looked till they noticed that he was outside one of the windows, looking at the sun. Everypony had a heavy sigh of relief as they all galloped out of the building to join Connor with his blue fur and brown mane instead of his black fur and red mane. Luna was the first to trot up to him. He wasn’t quite as tall as the 3 stallions Celestia had helped out in growing but Luna’s new height had made Connor’s figure tower over hers. And after everything that had happened…it wasn’t going to be easy but she had to do it. “…Connor?” asked Luna timidly. “…Why are you out here?” Connor was sort of glad Luna didn’t refer to him as a son, but that made him feel more guilty over everything that ever happened to him, he held grudges but hated it when it had to be against his own blood. “Just looking at the sun, happy for everything that happened.” said Connor. This took Luna by surprise and everypony else too, this was not the reaction they all had expected. “I understand it may seem very, very odd but I have my reasons…” He was silent for the longest time, just for a minute and right before Luna tried to lend out a comforting hoof to her own son, he replied. “Mom” And in a surprise Connor grabbed his mother’s hoof and embraced her with a bear hug, wrapping his hooves around her in sadness. Luna noticed Connor’s whimpering and tears streaming down her back, and she returned it all with the same thing. “I’m so sorry son.” said Luna. “Its okay mom, live and forget right?” Connor laughed but it was weak and his whimpering had calmed down a bit and breathed deeply. “Don’t hyperventilate son, its not good for you. Try to calm down.” said Luna. Connor broke off the hug and looked into his mother’s dark blue eyes, the same eyes that had always comforted him. Connor wanted to chuckle but he didn’t, it wasn’t the appropriate timing, and if he did his mother would get the wrong message. “What do you think I’m trying to do? Silly mother.” His tear-stricken eyes were bright red as Luna has expected them to be, he looked like he had been crying the entire night, and it was true. “C’mon, there’s a new world expecting us.” His mother gave him an approving nod and they both walked together side by side as the other ponies had smiled at them. Connor took a good look at Celestia and her boys for a good minute and said, “You know, you all may not be my family by blood, but I’m sure as hell certain I’m your cousin at the least.” said Connor, looking at the 3 stallions he called brothers. “Or heck, even a nephew.” He gives a quick look at Celestia with a bright smile and Celestia repaid it with a smile of her own. “But know this, I have done a lot of things, bad mostly but I know that Old Equestria is gone and a newer, brighter one has arrived thanks to a princess I know.” He looked at Celestia again with a sappy wink of approval. “If it wasn’t for the hope, dreams and joy of you Aunt Celestia, this world would have fallen on its own. And you six mares…” He looked over at the mane 6 whom gave him his full attention. “Despite the fact that I have known these three alicorns for over twenty years prior to the events of Nightmare Moon’s reign, I never really learned about friendship or harmony. I had always done everything by myself most of the time and that was enough to keep things going smoothly.” said Connor. “It was enough but not enough to keep the whole of a country together, I need to learn more of friendship and bonds then I have before if I’m gonna do what I tried to do for Equestria.” Connor walked up closer to the mane 6 and held a front hoof high in front of them. “Will you, and can you help me?” The mares looked at each other and back at Connor, to them it was a simple question with a simple answer, to Connor it was everything. Rarity grabbed a hold onto Connor’s hoof with her right hoof too and smiled at him. “I’ll see what I can do about that darling.” said Rarity with a satisfied smile. Applejack was the next to join on in. “Don’t worry now sugarcube, we’ll help ya’ll out nice and easy.” said Applejack with her signature southern smile. Rainbow Dash was the next one in. “Count me in big guy.” said Rainbow Dash. Connor chuckled at that response. Pinkie Pie joined in. “Okie dokie lokie!” said Pinkie Pie with a bright, cartoonish smile on her face. Twilight joined in with her hoof. “Well you aren’t the only that needs to learn either.” said Twilight Sparkle. Fluttershy seemed half tempted to join in but her usual shyness stopped her for a moment. “No, not this time.” thought Fluttershy. She shakily held out a front hoof but she managed to do so, and completing the circle of hooves. “Well…I’ll join in…if that’s okay…” said Fluttershy, seemingly embarrassed to share a hoof with so many other ponies, Connor had to smile at that. “Its more than okay Fluttershy, no worries.” said Connor with a nod. Fluttershy smiled and nodded back as the 7 threw their hooves up into the air. They all walked towards the direction of the sun, going back the way they came. Connor took one last look at the castle he had used to live in before it had fallen into disrepair to how it was now. He made one last smile and shed a single tear, but not a tear of sadness, it was a tear of moving on, he felt like had finally let go of his past, and for good. “I promise I won’t be that pony anymore.” thought Connor. “Connor darling, you coming or what?” asked Rarity, the British accent had yet to be old and annoying to Connor’s ears. He looked back with a happy grin on his face, he caught up with the other ponies, chatting away for the start of a new future. A brighter future.