Truth Behind the Conflict
“……Father?” The word that had escaped Celestia's lips echoed across the coliseum, bewildering almost everyone in attendance. The apocalypse ponies glanced at one another, Nightmare Moon and Nyx's jaws dropped, and Luna stared on in disbelief. Even Discord was caught off guard by the strange turn of events.
The first to speak after Celestia was Luna, who approached her sister cautiously. "Father?... I don't understand Celestia."
“I didn’t think you would, Luna.” Solaris replied. “You were still barely a new-born filly when I left.”
"Left!?" Celestia blurted out, her mind starting to process the situation. "You didn't leave. You died! Grimveil, what horrible trick are you trying to play on us!?"
Solaris gave a light smile. “…Grimveil….I sure picked an appropriate alias didn’t I? I understand how difficult it must be to understand what you are facing right now, but I am indeed Solaris, your father, and the last King of Equestria.” With these words, Solaris flared his wings out, and his entire body was emblazoned in a flash of golden fire.
“He’s telling the truth…” Luna said. “I can feel it in his aura. He is who he says he is…”
“But how can that possibly be?” Celestia replied in frustration. “Our father died when we were still fillies. If you really are Solaris, then how are you standing here now?”
“I will explain it all in good time, Celestia” Solaris responded. “But first we have something to finish here.”
“Well this certainly is a quite a change of pace!” Discord burst out. “I have to commend you, Solaris. I was expecting something bizarre to happen, but not quite this!” Discord applauded.
“Don’t be so high in spirit, Discord.” Solaris said to the Draconequus. “Your freedom from your imprisonment won’t last much longer.” Discord reeled back in surprise.
“Hey, what have I ever done to you? I’m eons old, yet your name and face are unfamiliar to me. You must be from before my arrival in Equestria.” Discord sneered. Solaris ignored Discord and turned his attention back forward and approached Celestia and Luna.
“This ploy of mine would best be considered as a rite of passage. According to tradition, a King and Queen cannot pass leadership onto their children until they have proven themselves worthy in a dire situation. These situations occurred naturally in olden days, but Equestria has endured a very lengthy time of peace, leaving very little room for anything dire. Your dealings with Nightmare Moon and Discord came close, but they just weren’t enough. As such, I felt it necessary to manufacture one, so that you two could prove yourselves. Now that you have both performed as I hoped, I can pass the true crown onto you, and by law you can now take on the title of Queens of Equestria, if you wish. You may resent me if you must. The only way to conduct a successful rite was to create the most realistic situation possible, and this was unfortunately the only way I could do so. I held back whenever I could, and if it puts your mind at ease, no one was ever in any real danger.”
“Wait...your alicorn guard…how do you explain them?” Luna asked.
“Ah yes, thank you for reminding me Luna.” Solaris replied. He let out a loud whistle, which was followed by the entire alicorn guard flying into the arena. As they landed, however, they were each shrouded in white mist steaming off of their bodies. When the mist cleared, the alicorn guard could no longer be seen. What was seen instead were various Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns of various sizes and colors, all dressed in the ancient golden armor they were wearing before.
“Allow me to introduce my Elite Royal Guard. They are not truly alicorns, just merely made so temporarily by my magic. They have served me loyally for millennia…” Solaris explained.
“Ok hold on a second...” Nyx joined in. “This alicorn is your father…and he mysteriously returns thousands of years after being assumed dead to conduct a rite of passage? This doesn’t really make any sense.”
“I understand how confused you must all be, and I promise I will explain everything, but first this must be done,” Solaris said before turning his attention to Discord. “Discord, your part in this conflict is over, and as an enemy of Equestria you must return to your banishment. I return you to your imprisonment in stone.”
Before Discord could even make a sound, a white flash from Solaris’ horn immediately transformed him back into stone, and was then teleported back to his placement in the Canterlot Gardens. Solaris then turned his attention Nightmare Moon.
“It breaks my heart to see such an evil transformation in my own daughter,” he said. “But then again, you aren’t really my daughter. I shall return you to the world from which you came, where you rule with eternal night. I wish I could save that Equestria from you, but meddling with other realities is unwise, and I have already done too much here.” Another white flash from his horn and Nightmare Moon was gone, again before a word could be said. Solaris then turned to the Apocalypse Ponies.
“I know that you four are the Heralds of Armageddon, and that your mere presence marks the end of the world. However, I’m confident that when you come to destroy us, we will have the power in our hearts to stop you. I return you noe to the hell from which I brought you…” Solaris said. Again, with a final flash of his horn, the Apocalypse Ponies were gone. Finally, Solaris approached Nyx.
“Nyx, I cannot thank you enough for helping my daughters. They needed someone they could trust and rely on, and you were there for them during this entire ordeal. I also apologize, for I must send you back now. I know of your sheer love of knowledge and learning, and I know that you very much want to stay and hear the story I have to tell, but your role in the conflict is over. You will be returned to the exact time and place from which I took you.” He said.
Nyx was indeed a little boiled at the fact she wasn’t going to hear Solaris’ explanation for everything, not to mention all the confusion that was still bustling around in her head. However, there was only one thing that her mind was focusing on all of sudden.
“May I do one thing before I go?” she asked quickly. Solaris gave her a nod. She walked over to Twilight and the others, who were still lost and confused and couldn’t even think of something to say. Twilight looked up at the Nightmare Moon look-alike towering above her.
“I know this may seem very unorthodox and out of place Twilight…” Nyx began. “But…could I please just hug you?” Twilight reeled back in utter surprise, completely thrown off by the uncanny fact that a fully grown alicorn wanted to hug her, but she gave her the benefit of the doubt and allowed her to embrace. Nyx sat down and wrapped her front legs and wings around Twilight in a firm embrace. If one was watching closely, a small tear could be seen rolling down Nyx’s cheek.
Nyx let go of Twilight and stood back up, wiping the tear from her eye. “Thank you. If you must know why, in the Equestria I’m from, you died many years ago, and well, you were my mother…”
Twilights face turned pale, just as any ponies would at learning they were the mother to a large alicorn. Nyx gave a last smile to Twilight as another tear rolled down her cheek.
“Alright,” she said to Solaris. “I’m ready now…” In another white flash, Nyx was gone.
“Well, let us leave this depressing foundation. I have waited a long time to see it gone…” Solaris said.
Solaris teleported everyone out of the coliseum and down to a spot in the meadows below. In front of them, up in the sky, the coliseum began to crumble, bit by bit, down into the massive crevice from which it was drawn. It was only a matter of seconds until the entire floating stadium had dissolved away, and its remains buried deep within the Earth.
“All of you, walk with me…I will explain everything, starting at the very beginning…” Solaris said. He began to lead them northwards, following the same route he took with Shank Spear before. As they walked, Solaris told his story.
“I was only a young alicorn during the rule of Malicious Shadow. His reign was cruel and unmerciful, and many of us suffered and died because of him. I was lucky to have never been subject to his torture, but some of my friends could not say the same. As you know, Malicious Shadow was defeated by a group of alicorns who banded together against him. That group was led by none other than myself and you’re mother…Selena. Upon realizing our destinies of ruling Equestria, Selena and I knew it was our job to overthrow Malicious and shred his veil of darkness. The battle was difficult, and most of my friends fighting with us were slain. However, in the end, we were able to summon enough power to banish him and seal him away.
In the many years that followed, your mother and I worked diligently to turn Equestria into a flawless utopia for everypony. Equestria enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity, and it was during that time that you, Celestia and Luna, were born… but things took a turn for the worst. Shortly after your birth, Luna, your mother became deathly ill, and despite all the medical magic we knew, nothing could save her. With her death, I was thrown into a great depression. If it weren’t for you, my two young daughters, I may have very well given up.
But I didn’t have much time to grieve, for with her death, the seal that held Malicious Shadow weakened. He was sealed away in a faraway place, and I had to leave Equestria with my Royal Guard to go and seal him away once more. It was the last time I ever saw Equestria. Although I was successful in defeating Malicious and sealing him away, he managed to pull off one last act of desperation. Much to my surprise, he dragged me, along with my Elite Guard, into the seal with him. We did not end up as deep into the seal as he was, but we were trapped all the same. For two thousand years we were sealed away. However, that seal is how I managed to gain all the magic I have now. For those two millenia there was nothing I could do but practice magic, and with my Elite Guard to assist me, I had learned many spells that any alicorn could only have dreamed of before.
However, as well as practice magic, I was also able to watch the world change outside. On rare occasion, I was able to use my magic to view the world through the seal. I watched as you two grew up, I witnessed the take-over of Discord, and I even witnessed your transformation into Nightmare Moon, Luna. It broke my heart to see such dreadful things befall you; burdens that should have been mine to bear. The arrival of Discord was not something I could have foreseen, but I left behind treasures for you, Celestia and Luna, that ended up aiding you in his defeat... the Elements of Harmony.
It was only in the last two weeks or so that we were finally able to break free from the seal. I had planned to return, but we were in that seal for so long. Our time in this world had passed by without us. So, I came to the decision to pass my will onto the both of you, and so everything came to be…”
Celestia and Luna, as well as Twilight and the others, had listened silently the whole time. Solaris’ story was lengthy, but it explained everything. Many of the questions in their heads had been answered, leaving them with just a few scattered inquiries.
“So you created the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight asked.
“Yes. That is why they could not harm me in the battle. Their magic is synchronized with my own, to say the least. Their creation came out of a great personal cost. The Elements go far beyond being just an incredible source of good magic. They are very precious, and there is a great secret behind their creation,” Solaris explained.
“Well, what was it?” Twilight asked in eagerness. Solaris responded with a light smile.
“That is a mystery best left unspoiled. In time Twilight, you will find out on your own…”
After a while of walking, they eventually came across the same valley that he had come to before with Shank Spear. He led them down into the valley and to the hole where the statue was dug out.
“This statue…is me,” Solaris pointed out. “This was my village. Your mother and I lived here before we set out to defeat Malicious.” Solaris’ mind began to drift. The memories he had here before started coming back. The dark clouds, the strong winds… he was remembering when Malicious first took control, and the horrible things that had transpired that day, but he quickly snapped back to. Those were dark memories that he wished to not dwell on. He spent the rest of the day describing what it was like for him back in those days and showing them what the village used to be like. Eventually night came, and Celestia and Luna decided they’d let Solaris and his guard stay in Canterlot Castle.
Several days had passed, and Solaris continued to stay in Canterlot Castle. Life in Equestria had returned to normal, Celestia and Luna returned to their routine, and Twilight and her friends resumed their daily lives in Ponyville.
One morning, after Celestia had raised the sun, Solaris met with Celestia and Luna in the castle courtyard. He seemed to have a sense of eagerness, yet at the same time, a bit of depression.
“Come with me today. I want to show you something,” he said.
They spent the day traveling to the Foal Mountain range just east of Canterlot. It was a generic bunch of mountains, however as they flew in closer, Celestia began to notice a grassy grove near the top of one that she had never noticed before. After landing, they began walking through the grove, which was decorated with beautiful flowers and trees. What grabbed their attention, though, was a stone structure in the center. Getting closer, they saw the entire structure was covered in a thick moss.
“I was going to come here with Shank Spear,” Solaris said. “But we ran out of time. Besides, I figured you’d want to come with me.” Solaris began to gently scrape the moss off the structure with his magic, maintaining a reverence as he did. After it was cleared, words could be seen clearly etched in the front:
“Here Lies Selena
Beloved Queen, Wife,
Mother and Friend”
Celestia and Luna gazed at the writing, realizing this was the place their mother was buried. Solaris put one hoof gently on the name written in the stone as small tears began to roll down his face. Noticing their father crying, Celestia and Luna couldn’t help but embrace him and began to cry a bit as well. They never knew their mother very well, but they knew she was a great pony, and would have been the greatest mother in all of Equestria.
Solaris stayed at the grave all day and for most of the night, almost as if he was silently telling Selena everything that he’d been through and of his time without her. Before they left, Solaris took one last look at the tomb, and silently whispered a single word.
“Soon…”
It wasn’t until the sun was ready to be brought up did they arrive back in Canterlot. Celestia motioned to raise the sun, but Solaris put his hoof on her shoulder and stopped her.
“Would you mind if I raised the sun one last time? I’ve had a unique sunrise in mind for a very long time…” he asked. Celestia nodded with a smile. Solaris stretched his horn out to the horizon and drew the sun up in a slow ascent. On that day was the most beautiful sunrise Equestria had seen in ages. The sky was filled with a motley blend of fuchsia and lavender, with a misting of orange and red. The vibrant array of colors reflected perfectly off the scattered morning clouds. The sun itself shone brightly, but not so bright as to be unable to look at. Looking into the dawn he had just created, Solaris couldn’t help but shed another tear.
Over the next few days, Celestia and Luna noticed a change in Solaris. He was becoming less and less lively each day, almost as if he was aging rapidly. Eventually one morning, he barely had the energy to get out of bed.
“Are you okay father?” Luna asked. “Whats happening to you?”
“It’s alright Luna,” he replied. “I knew this was going to happen. The great amounts of magic I had obtained managed to prolong my life, but now that I’ve exhausted them, my age is catching up with me. Soon…I will pass on…”
“I’m sure there’s something we can do,” Celestia said. “There must be some medical spell that’ll help you.”
“No, there is nothing that can be done,” Solaris replied exhaustively. “My time will soon be upon me.” Solaris managed to work up enough strength to sit up in bed and take Celestia and Luna in a strong embrace.
“I’m glad I was able to see and talk with you two. I wish I could have been here to watch you grow up, to watch you each day as you became the wonderful mares you have grown up to be. I love you, Celestia and Luna, and I am proud to be your father.” The three embraced each other even tighter as they all shared a tear together.
Solaris died that very night; passing away peacefully in his sleep. A funeral service was held for him, in which a large number of ponies from all over Equestria attended. Twilight and her friends were there, as well as the Canterlot Royal Guard and Solaris’ Elite Guard. Celestia had ordered the weather patrol to make it rain the whole day. It only seemed fitting to do so. Celestia and Luna tearfully placed their father’s coffin in the stone tomb, alongside his wife Selena. Luna used her magic to etch new words into the tomb:
“Here Lies Solaris
Proud Father, Loving Husband
The Last King of Equestria”
As the funeral service came to a close, Celestia turned to Shank Spear.
“What will you do now?” she asked.
“We served your father loyally for thousands of years. He used his magic to prolong our life as well. Now that he’s gone, our age will soon catch up to us as well, and we too will pass on. Our only request is that we be buried with our families, whom we have long since been separated from.” he explained.
Celestia nodded in approval, then departed for Canterlot Castle with Luna.
That night, Celestia had ordered that the skies be cleared of all clouds, so that she could see the stars perfectly. Luna was just finishing up her newest constellations. They were both depictions of Solaris and Selena, the two alicorns of which they were proud to be their children. As they glanced up at the new network of stars in the sky, their hearts fluttered as they witnessed something very touching to them. Passing right between the constellations of Solaris and Selena, two shooting stars glittered and danced across the sky.
“They’re with each other now…” Celestia said. She put her wing around her sister as the two princesses stared up into the stars and smiled.
THE END
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Looks great! I'm grad there are a lot of chapters to start with
I'll give this a quick once over tomorrow for last minute things.
It's about time this appeared on Fimfiction! I mean deviantart is great, but ponyfics belong on fimfiction
I agree! It's great to see this story make its way to FIMfiction.
Is that Nyx in the drawing?
Haven't read this yet, but it's on my list. From looking at that cover image, though, Nyx vs Nightmare Moon? Oh ho! Shit's gonna get real, yo!
528228
Yes indeed!
529696 Did you make a rip-off...or did you do an original...should I read....or shouldn't I?alltheragefaces.com/img/faces/png/determined-challenge-considered.png I'm too scared for what I might find.
529707 Well if you would have started reading it, you would have noticed its a completely original story that just so happens to feature Nyx. Pen Stroke himself even did the final editing on this.
One thing that bothers me just a little about this story, it's that none of them tried to befriend Nightmare Moon at all. I know she seems hopelessly angry and hostile, but.... presumably Luna's personality is still buried in there somewhere. Furthermore, she's not fighting to take over Equestria and bring endless night anymore -- she already has that back in her home dimension, if she can but return to it.
I wonder how long this Nightmare Moon had been ruling when she was nabbed? I can't help thinking that time and experience might eventually cool her rage and leave her much sadder-but-wiser. (Something like the NMM of Night's Favoured Child, perhaps.)
530465 I was messing around. I never truly criticize something unless I start reading it.
I'll start today. I vant see vhat zees speaks of.
Haha im stalking you Sixquills. jk tho glad this got on fim now my friends can read it
532170 Yea a couple ppl have made that comment, but nah, she's still very evil.
Also, maybe a year or two. And no, she's still an angry mare.
534718 Yea i'm glad this is on FiMFiction now too. Its easier to read here, though there are some formatting things I can't do here that I can do on dA.
Always glad to have more fans and followers!
I now have a new least-favorite character. This Solaris character has got to be one of the most arrogant reckless maniacs I've ever seen. What kind of parent dumps their daughters into a brutal fighting tournament against their will? What kind of leader would risk their nation by summoning no less than six supervillains into the middle of it. If the slightest thing had gone wrong with his containment, they'd be tearing Equestria apart in no time. The mere fact that Celestia and Luna haven't screwed around with time and space just to prove a point makes them more qualified to run things.
And why was Nyx there for? She didn't fight Luna or Celestia (and seeing those two fight was allegedly the whole point of this charade), so did he drag her in just so he could watch her suffer? And what, exactly, does participating in an unnecessary tournament prove anyway? Would he have judged them unworthy if they'd refused to play along or lost their bouts? Even after his explaining, I still can't see him as anything less than an amoral monster.
555249 Oh well
img.parachan.net/mc/src/133199739372.png
581496 At the end of Chapter 1, Grimveil says the Sun and Moon will continue across the sky under his guidance.
Meanwhile in the world of past sins...
Nyx: "SPIKE! I'm back!"
Spike: "Back? Where did you go?"
Nyx: "Well..."
*one story later*
Spike: "..."
Spike: "Lucky."
657180
Does that mean you liked it? :D
657325
Have a moustache!
672191
....is that a yes?
715888
I hope you like the rest!
Thanks!
672629 Yes he likesit as well as I do! Intresting story might I add. I hope to see more from that brain of yours!
792533 I'm glad you liked it! I'll have a new series started here real soon, and i'm also working on a prequel to this story as well.
That was an epic story! I find it funny that the title of one of your chapters (nyx vs Nightmare Moon) has the same name of the Changeling protagonist from the fic I just read before.
925392
If you're referring to the name 'Nyx', the character is from Pen stroke's "Past Sins"
Well i'm glad you liked it!
928144 No, the name of the chapter where nyx fights Nightmare Moon "mirror Matched" is the name of the chaingling main character in Smoke and Mirrors by tea party cannon.
931332
Ah, interesting
937082 I did read the chapters. Maybe i just forgot an important peice for the sun/moonrise/set.
wow, probably some of the most epic battles i have seen in a fanfic. good story. cant wait to read the prequel
Nyx is to this story as Iron Man is to the Avengers. Just saying...
1397139
Ok well instead of an analogy, why not just say it straight forward? I don't know anything about the avengers, nor do I care to know.
1403085
I'm fascinated by your lack of intelligence, but thats about what I'd expect from someone who chose 'SuckMyDick' as his username.
I cried a lot.
1863607
Well as weird as it sounds, I like it when I hear that people cry reading this last chapter. It was intended to be a tearjerker, but I was afraid I had botched it up.
can you be any more depressing *sarcastic voice* but seriesly can you please make more of these there awsome
or 5 
have a mustache
2189627
Well I'm very glad you liked it. If you're interested in seeing more, I would suggest reading and following my prequel to this story.
2790199 I see you are waiting a year to reply!
Wait, this has been here a year, and only recently got noticed by the Past Sins group?
3033740 No one like my stories
Nyx let go of Twilight and stood back up, wiping the tear from her eye. “Thank you. If you must know why, in the Equestria I’m from, you died many years ago, and well, you were my mother…”
Twilights face turned pale, just as any ponies would at learning they were the mother to a large alicorn. Nyx gave a last smile to Twilight as another tear rolled down her cheek.
Twilight sparkle:I died! and I WAS HER MOM!!!