• Published 23rd May 2014
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Mending Light - Kiromancer



Sometimes I dream of who I could be. A powerful figure, strong, unafraid. A valiant Knight who stands to protect the weak. I never had the courage to make anything of myself, despite my dreams. Until I found her.

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36 - Moonlight

I worked hard to keep my week as normal as possible. Between weather work, planning out paperwork with Bree, and just trying to get back into a normal rhythm, it mostly meant keeping myself preoccupied—all while the others researched the Ostfriesen swordmaster who'd taken up residence in my head.

It was more than a little surreal that, somehow, this had become my life. Even stranger, despite all fighting, the craziness, and the real moments of horror, overall I was happier than I'd ever been.

Still, the plan tonight was to find out what everypony had learned about Bellerophon, and to find out what, if anything, we could do about him. Letting my thoughts linger on that put me on edge.

When I reached the Seapony's backroom, it was already later than I'd hoped. The others were all waiting, Starshadow sitting with several books laid out upon the table. Merri was balancing an empty glass on her snout, while Dusky sat across from her, poring over a book of her own.

"Hi, Night." Dusky turned as I took a seat beside her and nuzzled gently, but she must have caught some sense of my mood. "You doing okay?"

"I've... been better." I forced a smile, then turned to face the two sisters across the table. "So... what have we learned?"

Starshadow hesitated, then sighed. "Not much, I am afraid. Bits and pieces of lore, but nothing we did not already know. After Tapioca united Ostfriesen, Bellerophon simply disappeared from the history books."

"Twilight didn't know anything either." Dusky looked down at the table. "And I couldn't find anything useful in the Canterlot Library."

"Then what do we do?" I tapped my hooves together nervously. "I... I mean, there's something we can do, right?"

Merri exchanged a glance with Star, and the two nodded in unison. "Well, we've got one idea, but it's not exactly the best plan."

"We have access to the source material right there." Star pointed at me. "If we can talk to him."

Dusky immediately spoke up. "I don't like it. How can we be sure this is safe?"

Merri's grin faded. "We... really can't. I mean, he's in there, listening, right? He reacted last time when I tried to talk at him."

"I... I don't know." I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

Dusky moved closer, nuzzling gently. "Night..."

Starshadow leaned over the table. "Perhaps you can talk with him again, Night? You have been able to communicate, yes?"

I lowered my head, breaking eye contact with Dusky. The look on her face was breaking my heart. "I can try, if... if he feels like it. He's not exactly been cooperative with me."

"Night Light." Dusky set a hoof on my side, then nudged my chin up. She met my eyes once again.

I stared back, and then nodded, drawing on her support. I took a deep breath. Well? I know you're there.

His disdain came back thick. Hmph. And now you wish me to talk, eh? I thought you preferred me silent.

You're in my head. Just... just answer their questions, please.

Fine.

I let out a long sigh. "He says he'll answer."

"Excellent." Starshadow levitated some parchment onto the table and lifted a quill. "Now, to begin, ask him the nature of this possession. Was it a spell he was aware of?"

"It was. A spell cast by a maniac, and accepted in righteous anger."

W-wait, what? It was my voice speaking, but it wasn't me making the words. I felt adrift, unattached. I could see the others, vaguely colored splashes of light in a dark, dark room. I could see myself like that too, and the sensation filled me with dread. I thought you were just going to answer questions!

Bellerophon's voice echoed back from the darkness. That is exactly what I'm doing.

I could hear the others, but it was garbled. I tried to fly forward, to get closer to the table, but my wings didn't make a difference. It was like flying through tar, everything felt heavy and sticky. The feelings of claustrophobia clung to me. Many pegasi suffered some level of fear in enclosed spaces, though almost everypony worked through it. This was something entirely different, and I flailed at the darkness.

"Night?" Dusky called.

Dusky! I tried to call back. The voices were the best anchor, and I did my best to pull towards them.

"We were not expecting to speak so directly, Lord Bellerophon." Starshadow's voice sounded unsure, now that she was actually talking to him.

Even Merri sounded off-guard. "Y-you remember Tapioca, right? Queen of Ostfriesen? Sword of the Plains?"

Disdain filled his voice. "I remember her. I remember her prowess, her promises, her treason."

Merri suddenly stood her ground. "Treason!? But, she saved Ostfriesen! She was a hero!"

"She was a liar, and a whore!" Bellerophon shouted.

As his rage grew, the room grew fuzzier, less distinct. I screamed in the void. What are you doing! S-stop it! Stop!

If Merri was about to say more, Starshadow quickly shut her down. "We're getting off track. We're trying to determine how, and why, you are here, Lord Bellerophon." She bowed her head. "Please explain the spell that brought you here."

Bellerophon smoldered, but as he grew calmer, it became easier to navigate back. The fuzzy shapes became the more distinct faces of my friends once again. Wherever I was, I couldn't breath, but I felt like I'd just flown a marathon.

"Very well." He glared at Merri, but soon turned his full attention to Starshadow. "After I was tossed aside by her Highness, I departed Ostfriesen. I wasn't about to betray my oaths, even if she'd betrayed me. I slew the enemies of the country. I protected lives."

Starshadow nearly whispered. "You went rogue?"

He scowled. "I swore an oath as a Knight. As the first Knight! I simply lived those oaths with no master. And then I met Broken Tooth. He was insane, I knew it from the moment I met him, but he was a brilliant wizard, and he had discovered something incredible. Immortality."

"Not possible, no matter how strong the magic."

"And yet I stand here, talking." He smirked at Starshadow. "Dragon's blood is very difficult to obtain, but it is such a powerful ingredient."

Both Merri and Star fell silent, stunned by Bellerophon's words.

Dusky spoke at last. "You're talking, but it isn't you I see standing here. Clearly, it's not true immortality. There's a cost, isn't there?"

For once, Bellerophon's expression softened. "That is true, yes. It wasn't true immortality, as you say. I still... died. But then I woke up to darkness. The spell couldn't anchor me to a body, instead, it anchored me to my armor. The only piece of my battle armor to remain is this bracer." He traced a hoof along the golden metal set upon my leg.

"Well, there we go!" Merri clapped her forehooves together. "We destroy the bracer, and boom! No more possessed Flurry! Easy!"

There was rage again, more intense than before, and once more the world grew more distant. I swam against it, but was quickly feeling lost.

Bellerophon's sword flashed from its bracer, the blade pointed against Merri's throat. "As I thought! You would let me die?! Just as Tapioca spit upon my honor, so do her descendants. You are as des—"

"Stop!" Dusky stood up from the table, pushing his hoof aside and the hoofblade away from Merri. "They're not Tapioca. Her sins are not theirs!"

More than anything else, I focused on Dusky's voice, and tried to work my way back towards it. The world slowly came back into focus.

Bellerophon wavered, and at last dropped the blade. "It's not worth the effort."

Merri blinked. "Jeez, thanks Belly. You're a real winner too."

"This is ridiculous. No one wants to kill you, but what you’re doing, it’s..." Dusky sighed and stepped away, glancing at the door. Her eyes held back a sheen of moisture. "I... I need some air."

D-Dusky no... don't... don't go. I reached out to her, fumbling through the darkness, but couldn't do anything as she nearly ran for the door. Damn it! Damn it, no! Go after her! Let me go after her!

Bellerophon stared down at the table. "This was a mistake."

There was a sudden pop in my ears, like I'd just dropped in altitude far too fast. I blinked, finding myself back in the real world.

Merri was practically staring daggers at me. "Damn right it was. You've gone and made Dusky upset, ya asshole."

I recovered quickly, frowning. "Merri, I'm so sorry! I just... um... wait here, alright? I'll... I'll be right back." I spun out of my chair and ran out of the back room, intent to catch up with Dusky.

Merri's voice called out from behind. "Oh, err, hi, Night? Welcome back!"

I was already out the door, looking into the barroom. The other patrons were enjoying their night, the general din of conversation filling the bar, but Dusky was nowhere in sight. I hurried out towards the front door and into Ponyville's streets.

She'd needed some air, she'd said. I stopped on the front step of the bar, looking about. She sat on a nearby cloud, not too far up, probably the first one she'd found. She was sitting on her haunches, head raised up to stare at the moon.

I pushed upward into the air and approached from behind, ever so quietly calling out to let her know I was here. "D-Dusky?"

She turned to look at me, eyes red with tears, the moonlight revealing trails of moisture down her cheeks, and it broke my heart that I'd done this to her.

I lowered myself onto the cloud, wrapping my hooves around her. "Dusky, I'm... I'm so sorry."

She pressed against me as I held her tight. "I... I just can't stand to see you like that."

My ears dropped, and I felt myself sinking. "I was afraid you'd hate me."

"No, Night Light." She shook her head, then pressed closer. "I could never hate you. But, him? Pulling a blade and threatening our friends—that's not you, Night! It's like you're gone, and when it happened, I kept wondering: are you going to come back?"

That had been my own fear as well, that vague sense of being unattached while Bellerophon had been in my body. I forced a smile, though I was sure Dusky could see right through me. "How could I not come back? I have so much to come back for now. And... I'll fight for it."

"I wish you didn't have to fight for it." She nuzzled against my cheek. "Just real Night, one-hundred percent of the time."

...I am such a fool. Night Flurry, forgive me.

With a sigh, I shook my head. How? Why? This was never what I wanted.

It is far from what I wanted, either. He hesitated, though I could feel him waiting, almost as if he were holding his breath. Please, let me... let me talk to her.

"Wh-what? Let you..." I let the shock wear off, then turned to Dusky as she raised an eyebrow. "He uh, well... wants to talk to you. He's... asking permission."

"I..." She stared into my eyes, and I stared back. "Promise me you'll come back."

I drank in the moment, holding her there in the moonlight. "For this? Nothing could stop me. I promise."

Dusky nodded, and gave me a squeeze before she sat back. "Okay. I... I'll hear him out."

Alright... say what you want, and then... I promised her I'd be back.

Bellerophon pulled me away. I will not keep you from her.

Again, the void surrounded me, but this time, the moon lit the world, as if it were a beacon casting out the darkness. It was beautiful, in an eerie way, as if I was looking through the moon into its heart, and it shone down upon me.

Be at peace, Night Light. The moon seemed to speak to me, an elegant voice filled with serenity and sorrow. Remain calm, and you will be safe.

Upon the cloud, Bellerophon turned away from Dusky and drew in a deep breath. "I must apologize, to you, to your friends. This isn't what I wanted."

Dusky frowned. "What did you want? You made choices that you knew weren't going to end well."

"An angry heart drove me to grim measures." He took another breath, as if savoring it.

She pointed her hoof at my chest. "And now you would inflict that on him?"

Bellerophon sighed. "When he wore the bracer, I could see through him. The more I spoke to him, the more I could feel the world. And soon, I could be in the world around him even when he didn't wear it. I wanted to breathe and to fly again. I wanted to live, and he wanted to defend his friends. I thought... I thought we could both get what we wanted. But, not like this."

Dusky stared down to the ground. "Not through Night."

"I don't know how to end this. If you destroy the bracer, it is possible that it will..." He took a long pause. "It may destroy me. My life has been so long already, alone in the darkness. Maybe I deserve that, yet even now I don't want to die. Perhaps that fear would keep me here. It is impossible to know."

"So you really don't know what can be done to change this? He just has to live with you in there?"

Bellerophon closed his eyes. "I... cannot say. But, I can promise this, I vow that I will no longer force this upon him."

"I'll hold you to your word." Dusky's voice was stern, and her words concise, but then she paused. She looked back at Bellerophon. "How long is 'so long'?"

Bellerophon began to speak, then stopped. "I don't know. I couldn't keep track. The darkness swallowed everything, even the moon."

My eyes stared up at it, the brilliant light was warm when everything else in this void felt cold and lonely.

"The moon?" Dusky blinked as she looked up as well.

"When I first awoke in that blighted realm, the moon shone down on me. It was a comforting presence for one who had damned himself. Then, even the moon went dark. The light inside it replaced by a bitterness."

Dusky's face fell. "And... now? Is the moon still dark?"

He shook his head. "Not long ago, the light returned. That was when I began to see the world again."

A name passed through Dusky's lips, and she looked at Bellerophon. "Nightmare Moon."

He raised an eyebrow, "Nightmare Moon?"

Dusky nodded. "She was created over a thousand years ago, or so the legends say. A terrible villain, who was trapped in the moon, until recently, when she was freed, and defeated once again... and redeemed." She pointed at the moon, "While she was trapped, the moon was marked by the Mare in the Moon."

Bellerophon's shoulder's slumped, utter defeat upon his face. "One thousand...?"

Dusky stared, then slowly moved towards him and pulled Bellerophon into a hug.

He seemed too stunned to protest, only able to stammer out an objection. "Wh-what are you... It is still me, still Bellerophon."

She released him from the hug, then looked him in the eyes. "I don't agree with what you've done to Night, but no one deserves what you've had to endure."

He stared back, confusion washing over his face. "I... thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. I... I will return control to him now. I shall be content with the moon, and the light it gives once again."

Dusky nodded firmly. "Understood."

Bellerophon's face grew morose, his voice wavering as he spoke his farewell. "I cannot keep you two from one another. Betrayal is the greatest sin, and there is no greater pain than the betrayal of a lover. I will not cause him to betray you this way."

Just like that, I found tears running down my face as I sat upon the cloud next to Dusky. Bellerophon's tears, or my own, I couldn't say. I turned to Dusky and smiled wide, relief both at being back in my own skin, and at the promise he'd made. "S-see? I promised I'd be back."

I could never have foreseen her reaction. Not just a smile, or laughter, but a hug to end all hugs.

She practically leapt forward, hooves wrapping around me as tightly as she could manage.

My cheeks burned as I fell back upon the cloud, Dusky still locked on as she tumbled down with me. I couldn't keep the joy out of my voice. "A-and... glad to be back."

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