//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten // Story: All's Right With The World // by Dusty Tome //------------------------------// All's Right With The World Written by Dusty Tome and FanOfMostEverything Chapter Ten ⁂❧⁂ “Geryon? As in ‘The Black Death’ Geryon? Welp, I had a decent run. Go ahead and do your worst, you overgrown iguana!” Rainbow Dash screamed, readying herself to fight, and to die. “Silence you petulant child! As I already said, whelp, my mate is asleep and you would do well to make sure she stays that way. I have already told you, I rescued you. I have no intent to harm one of Life’s children, especially not one so young as you.” The great dragon huffed, turning to curl upon himself. “I sense a wanderer’s spirit and an curious heart in you. Perhaps until I can take you back to where you belong, I can answer a few questions, even give you knowledge of this world of ours. Sit, and let me tell you first of how I healed your wounds, then you may be free to ask of me what you will.” ~※~ Rainbow Dash finished her recollection with a sigh, a slight shudder creeping across her feathers at the memories. “He explained to me that heart flames contained the life of a dragon, and could hold the power to heal, or to even permanently injure an immortal. Still couldn’t fly, but I won’t look a gift dragon in the mouth. He kept me there, showing me treasures from the world and telling me about the dragons, making sure I would heal, before he dumped me back on Scoddri’s doorstep, literally.” Dash took a deep breath and turned to Twilight. “Now that that’s out of the way, you owe me an answer, Gearhead.” “Spike told me that black flames are signs of grief and vengeance. Garble killed his family, that’s as much as I know, and at this point, I don’t want to pull up painful memories for him. I know what it’s like to lose family.” Twilight answered. “Wrong,” Scoddri interjected. “ Not about the... family... thing, I meant about the fire!” He said, backing off from the fierce glare from Twilight, “Black fire is the only sign of the Mallacht Tine, or Cursed Flames. When Morkaidius cursed those who stood against him, the Mallacht Tine was the dragons’ curse to bear. It makes them nigh unstoppable, but kills them. Slowly. The only dragons known to have overcome this curse are Geryon and Garble, one of whom was recently rendered heartless. It isn't something to worry about, as Spike still has many centuries left, unless he goes on a days-long binge of nothing but breathing those flames.” He looked at Pinkamena and Flash, hearing another muffled cry, and tried to suppress a chortle as the young guard squirmed for help, heavily covered in makeup and tears. “As for her, take her to see Spike, in, oh… ten minutes. He can help.” Rarity frowned. “Why would—” “Don’t,” said Twilight. “I really don’t feel like dealing with this ridiculous looking can of worms. Let’s just make sure she gets there instead of setting something on fire.” “Oh, would she really set something on fire?” Rarity asked with surprise. “She is like Pinkie ramped up to about eleven, best not to take chances with either of them.” Twilight stood up, cracking her knuckles, and rolling out a kink in her lithe neck, before motioning to Pinkamena, “Come on, you troublemaker, let’s go see a dragon about something dangerous.” Pinkamena leapt up, giggling as Flash hit the ground with a thump. “Are there gonna be any possibly highly lethal explosions involving unstable magic and mistranslated magical inscriptions meant to contain an ancient evil bent on conquering the world?” Twilight coughed, blinking slowly. “That’s… oddly specific. Neither you or Pinkie have future sight, do you?” “Nope, I just like high explosives and lethal stuff and she has a ridiculous imagination.” Pinkamena said simply, as if it were something everyone should know. “Actually, Twilight,” said Luna, “I believe that you and I should talk. Do you believe that she can find her own way to Spike’s room without any further problems?” They both looked to Pinkamena, who was now casually skipping away. “Well, she should make it eventually.” After a moment, Twilight added, “I hope. What did you want to talk about Luna?” “I owe you answers. You deserve the truth. Now that the Daemon King’s attention is upon us, your lives are on the line, and it weighs heavily on my conscience.” Luna took Twilight’s hand and led her to the door. “Come to my chamber. I will explain everything to you once we are there.” When they reached Luna’s rather spartan room, she motioned for Twilight to have a seat beside her on the indigo sheeted bed, and Luna began to speak. “I owe you the truth of who I am, of the guilt I carry. I have been holding from you a great secret, and you, of all people, deserve the truth.” “In the beginning of everything, there was but one being, The Artist, The Creator, my mother, Faust. She looked upon the Aether, where she dwelled for millennia undisturbed, before she began to wish for companionship, and so it was that she raised her brush and the Aether split, making way for a new place, Maia. Maia is the realm of the stars, upon which sits all universes and life. The Aether itself became a radiant, shining paradise that became known to her as ‘Heaven’. “Faust smiled upon the life that she had spread through the Maia, but as she created Life, she inadvertently created Death. Death swept through the realm, taking the lives she had painstakingly wrought, some even before their first breath. So it was that Mother called Death to her hearth, to ask why she took life as she did. Death looked into Faust’s eyes and said simply, ‘It is taken upon me that my duty is to return the clay to the urn so it may be wrought anew, as is your will, Madam.’ “It haunted Faust that a child of her own creations acted upon her own will for her, that she didn’t foresee this, and so she sought out Life. When She found Life, She asked her, ‘Child, Does it hurt you as it hurts me to see Death take what you make and return them to the earth beneath them?’ “And again she received an answer that perplexed her. ‘No, mother, for it was with your will that I was born to make Life that lives to be full and then return. What hurts you surely hurts me, and my only pain is that I cannot see my children with my own eyes, feel their embrace with my own skin, for it would destroy them.’ “She returned to her place in Heaven, and sat at her hearth, and for a time, Faust cried, her tears becoming stars in the sky, before she held in her heart the answer to the pain that wracked the hearts of her and her daughters. Calling them to her, she gave them a form of life, and a portion of her own magic, so that they could both create, and be amongst their creations without fear. The younger, Death, sought to bring a light to the darkness, and created the Moon for her sister’s favorite creation, Terranna. The eldest created the Sun so that her children may bask in her kind warmth if ever she wasn’t there. And their mother gave them names so that their children might thank them, Celestia to the eldest, and Holder of Life, and Luna to the youngest, and Holder of Death. “In the time that came after this, there was much Light that radiated from Heaven, and the happiness of Terranna. But, like all light, it cast a great shadow. This Shadow became Morkaidius. His hatred for Life and Death was only second to his hatred to the great light from Heaven, and Faust, so it became his work to destroy this light.” She finished telling her tale, bowing her head in shame, her voice shaking and petering out. “Why tell me this? What do you mean I… deserve the truth? I don’t understand.” Twilight said, softly contemplating the smaller woman’s words. Luna looked up, sorrow and pain sketched in her eyes, tears painting rivulets down her alabaster cheeks. “I am Death, Twilight! I took your parents! I have seen every death in this realm since time immemorial, and you should hate me. Hate me, Twilight! Please! I have taken so much from you, and I never knew it. I tore you apart and never thought twice. Let me feel your pain! Let me carry this burden for you!” Luna cried, clutching Twilight’s shoulders, “Just let me carry the weight for you. Give me something to live for, please.” Twilight blinked slowly, the realization breaking upon her like waves upon the shore, tears pricking her eyes, her breath hitching in her throat. Ten years of blaming herself for her parent’s death, cursing the Goddesses, hurting, always looking for something to blame, something to ease the pain, and here it was at last, almost as if Fate took pity on her. So why couldn’t she do it? Why couldn’t she blame Luna, blame Death herself? Why did she feel her arms start to wrap around the empty Goddess clutching desperately at her? And why didn’t she feel any pain anymore as she comforted Luna? Maybe Fate felt they had both suffered for long enough. She didn’t know how long they sat there, clutched in each other’s arms sobbing, but when she finally fell asleep, the moon hung brighter in her dreams. ⁂❧⁂