The Old Warhorse
The boy is crying again. He hasn’t really stopped since we landed. Even in the next room, it’s impossible to tune him out.
I am not unaware of the irony in my actions. Unlike Amelia, I am no innocent thrown into a situation I cannot understand, nor am I a monster of the likes of Discord who acts because that is how he was made. It is, then, with full knowledge that I have become the very creature whom I would have destroyed in my day that I enter the chamber.
“It’s okay, Luster,” Wave Form whispers, nosing at the sobbing pegasus. “We’ll be okay. You’ll see.” Her ear turns at the sound of my hooves and she wheels about, putting herself protectively between us.
Coming up to her, I gaze down at the two of them with some measure of regret. I keep it from my voice – they would not much appreciate it, nor should they. “It’s time you got to work, Wave Form.”
“Work?” Her ears lay back in anger. “What do you want? I’m not doing anything you want me to do! Let us go!”
I ignore her request and go to the jars where they’ve been lined up. My hoof turns red, then white, and the lead seal begins to melt away. It resists far more than lead should, and it glows angrily with ancient magic.
“Are you an alicorn?” she asks, tense. “Or a titan-thingie?”
“Helios is with me. He’s the alicorn, or what’s left of one. Whatever they shoved into the amulet to preserve him after he died.” He’s never far as he whispers into my ear, weeping for all of his lost kin, raging against fate.
Her ears fall. “Is that what they’re for?”
“I suppose.” The first one pops, bubble, and sears open, letting me pull up the rest of it and expose the inside.
The room warms further as the mare forged of fire steps into the room, her blazing eyes fixing on the jars with something akin to hunger. The jar is emptied by the simple expedient of my smashing it into the floor, revealing a set of wings made out of slats of gold or bronze or some metal we’ve entirely forgotten. They glow as if fresh from the forge.
“Wh-what are those for?” Wave Form asks, swallowing her fear with some effort. Jasper whimpers and presses against her side, trying to stifle his tears.
“They are my body.”
“Your body?” She stares at the mare. “Who… who are you? Are you a robot?”
The mare turns to them while I continue to work. She regards them, unmoving.
“I am the first born mortal.”
“What do you mean?” Wave Form asks, curious in spite of herself.
“Child, you shall never suffer the tyranny of time. Unlike the very mountains, you will endure for ages unless struck down, never eroding, never aging. In this, you are unusual, special – divine.”
I crack the next one open with my hooves, revealing a set of plates surrounding a series of crystalline cores.
“When my mother bore me, though, there was no spark of immortality. No stars heralded my birth. No mountains trembled. While you consider mortality normal, in the time of my birth I was considered the exception. I was the unknown. I could not keep up with the others, and as I grew I didn’t stop growing, but began to age like any tree or stone or crawling thing. In the blink of my mother’s eye, I went from being her foal to her invalid. Where others had no fear of death save violence or error, I felt myself hurtling towards it.”
The next two are the legs, each set preserved separately.
“In time, they even grew to fear me. And so they left.”
“Even your mother?” Wave Form asked, her throat tight and eyes red.
“Especially her. How could she bear to watch me die by inches, to become withered while she remained as hale and hearty and beautiful as the day she bore me?”
“She should have… she…” Wave Form sniffs, glancing away from that dispassionate face. The pain in the ancient mare’s voice belied it. “But… you have to have changed. Can’t people become alicorns?”
“Yes. But I did not.” She steps to the pile, now augmented with the head and neck, the horn, and parts I can’t possibly identify that must belong on the inside, like mechanical hearts. “My Master came to me then, when I lay at the very brink of death. He was one of the great Gods, though not of my kind. He told me that my mortality, and that of all the others born after me, was the result of my parents’ transgressions, their flawed morality. They’d welcomed decay into the world, he said, and I was their reward.”
Wave Form shakes her head. “That… that’s disgusting! Why should that matter? Even if your parents were the most horrible people ever, why should that affect you?”
“I do not know. I did not care whether he spoke truth or lies. He offered me an immortal body, one forged of magic and technology fused with divine essence, if I would but serve at his side. I accepted. When I rose with my brethren and followed him into battle to take the Tower and end the age of Gods… I remember the thrill of victory at having overcome those who’d shunned me, of surpassing them. Even when the counterattack shattered it and ended my Master’s ambitions, even when the remaining gods chased him out of the cosmos and sailed in pursuit, even when the demigods cornered me and tore me piece from piece, still I exulted in the memory of that moment.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs, sinking to the floor.
The nameless mare looks at her. “You needn’t be. You were not responsible. No more than I am for my parents’ actions, whether their sins created me or in their abandoning of me.”
Clearing my throat, I grab their attention. Her monologue was going on too long anyway. “Could we get to the part where she’s involved, then?”
“Very well.” She pushes the wings and the body towards Wave Form. “You will repair my body.”
“What? But I don’t know how!”
“Your mark speaks otherwise. The technology used in the civilization that built the Tower relied heavily upon music and harmonics.”
Tentatively, Wave Form touch a wing, and her horn lit softly. It hummed up and down the length of the wing, producing a stunningly beautiful ringing that rippled through the air. She snatches her hoof back, shaking her head. “Even if I can, why would I? You’re just another monster.”
“Hardly,” I grunt. “You’re looking at the greatest hope for Equestria since Celestia, kid. She’s going to be the protector we need.”
“Now I know you’re crazy!” She shakes her head vigorously. “We already have great protectors! Rainbow Dash, and Celestia, and Twilight Sparkle, and Luster’s mom, and a whole bunch of others! I mean, even if they weren’t, she was happy over having gotten revenge, and she’s partly responsible for why everything is so messed up now! No offense. Well, some offense.”
“True, on both counts. Yet the people who wounded me are gone, and my Master was routed in defeat. All that remains are countless victims.”
“Our protectors fail, Wave Form. They fail a lot.” I sigh, shaking my head. “Even Princess Celestia, stars save her. I remember when the Changelings attacked, when I had no choice but to stand and watch as they sealed her up in slime and brought the Elements before us, beaten. I was there when Nightmare Moon sealed her sister in the sun and threatened to douse the whole planet in darkness. When Amelia just about broke the whole damned world, all I could do was watch the peak, helpless.”
“But they saved the day!” she protests. “We always came through!”
“By the skin of our teeth.” I shake my head. “All it takes is one, kid. Just one time where the heroes don’t pull through, and we’re done. You, your friends, your family, all the friends and family they have, everyone on this world and every other world. We’re fragile. Most of the adults left and it’s just us kids minding the store while all the dangers and threats of the nine worlds gather to knock them down.
“Her though?” I nod my head towards her. “She’s just the start. She’s tireless, as powerful as an alicorn with none of their faults, and there’s more where she came from. They need a purpose, and she’ll give it to them. They aren’t titanspawn, they’re the antithesis; the heavenly army that will finally keep us safe. All we need… is for you to put her together.”
In tears, she stares between the two of us, uncertain. Terrified.
The thought had occurred that I may be wrong. It’s possible that Helios’ madness has clouded my judgement. To stand by and watch as my Equestria dies by inches, though, would have been too much. Really, though it doesn’t matter. I’m not trying to justify my actions to avoid punishment, only seek the best way to accomplish my goals, no matter what it costs me, because in the grand scheme of things I matter very little, while the world and the people on it matter a great deal. What matters to me isn’t important, and I have no expectation that I deserve to live in the better world I create.
All I have to do is look at these foals to know that I am damned.
The Princesses think that they’ll be safe with their green star watcher and their Elements of Harmony, but every new vista has only served to change and degrade us. I’ll give them a sword and shield with which to maintain our purity forever more.
* * *
The Reluctant Pilgrim
Darkness gives way to sudden heat and sensation, and I find myself shading my face with a wing. I’m standing, somehow, and it’s only when I look around do I realize that I’m having another green vision. The verdant aurora touching the sky is proof enough, along with the fact that I can breathe without pain.
Light shines through my feathers on a distant peak, bathing the scorched and seared landscape of the city. Where buildings stand, they burn, and the streets are empty but for the searing, sirocco winds emanating from the light.
“I had to save them,” a little girl’s voice says, her voice dull. She lays next to the half-burned dragon plush in the ruins of the house. It’s not Wave Form, but some filly I’ve never seen before, her mane limp and red, her coat a spotted grey.
“Save them from what?” I ask, shouting to be heard over the wind.
“The coming darkness. The return.” She looks to me, her eyes sad. “They were all so fragile.”
“You didn’t…” I shake my head. “Does anyone survive?”
“A remnant of a remnant. Those who could be saved. Those whose hearts were pure.”
“How did it start?”
She plays with the polyester toy, brushing ash from it. “Long ago, when there were more mortals, when this place was filled with life. I tried to save them all, but you can’t save everyone, no matter how hard you try.”
The girl pauses, hugging the ruined dragon close.
“Maybe he’s right. Maybe I am my parents’ sin.”
“Gods…” I push through the wind, touching her side. “Hey, kid… look. What’s your name?”
“I don’t remember. He took it away.”
“Well, you’re Fire Wheel now,” I say, not knowing quite where the name came from as I wrap her up in my wings. “You’re just a kid. You shouldn’t be responsible for this, and you sure as heck aren’t responsible for whatever your parents did. If, if… assume this hasn’t happened yet. How could I stop it?”
“I don’t think you can.” Her eyes well up and she tucks herself under my chin. “I wish you were real, but you’re just another shadow.”
The wind picks up, and the light shines brighter still. I feel myself stretching out, as if I were indeed a shadow, and the kid’s eyes turn white.
“Wait! I’ll find you, I’ll…!”
And then I’m gone, surrounded by darkness and numb to the world. Again.
“Marcus…?” Pain. A voice. A face swimming into view. Trace? But then I’m fading for a third time.
“Marcus? Marcus. Ma-a-arcus.”
Groaning faintly, I shift my head. Someone’s leg or arm is under it, supporting me.
“Come on, sleepy. How did I fall in love with such a lazy pegasus?”
My eyes snap open, and it isn’t Trace, Paris, or even a hospital I find myself in. Outside, stars flow by in streams and rivers, while inside it’s all warm cushions, books and shelves of figurines, artfully arranged. I turn my head and find myself looking into the perfect green eyes of the love of my life, her thick dark hair falling across the bed and me as I lay next to her.
Naturally, I kiss her at once. She gives a muffled giggle and then an appreciative little noise as I rub her side, before pulling back slowly.
“Leit,” I whisper. “I didn’t die, did I? Or become an alicorn.” I glance around again. “I don’t think I’ve earned it.”
Glancing down past the open windows I see that we’re on a little vessel as it sails through the astral seas. Another mare sits at the prow, thousands of windows opened for her to watch through as her blond hair blows in the cool, strange breeze.
“Not quite.” She rubs my side. “This is Daphne’s barque. We’re recovering from a bit of a setback of our own.”
My ears lower and I glance her over. Of course, by rights, I should be broken and immobile, so I’m not sure what I’m looking for. “Are you two okay? What about Rainbow Dash? Hong Kong isn’t on fire, is it?”
She laughs and nuzzles at my neck, making my hooves curl up. “We’re all right, and Hong Kong is as inundated today as it was last week, so it certainly hasn’t gotten worse. It’s a long story.” She lays her hoof against my side and looks at me in concern. “You, though…” She shakes her head. “It’s bad, Marcus, but… you’ll be all right. There’s help coming, and you’re tough. I’ve seen you pull through worse.”
“I don’t know about that.” I look down at my hooves and sigh, sinking into the cushions. Against my will, my eyes well up. “I think this is it, Leit. This is the one where I drop the ball, and there’s no one around to pick it up and score for me this time.”
“Marcus…” she murmurs, but thinks better of it, letting me vent as she holds me close.
“I’ve already screwed up so much. I couldn’t find anything on the first night, then on the second I had Wave Form in my hands and let her slip away, along with Rarity’s son. I got stomped on in my one chance to win them back – well, hey, I shouldn’t worry about aging then, huh? That guy was twice my age and he batted me around like a chew toy. Now I’m getting horrific visions of the post-apocalypse.”
I bury my face in my hooves. “I can’t do it, Leit. I can’t be responsible for them dying. Send someone else.”
Leit Motif says nothing at first, she just pulls my head to her and runs her hoof through my mane and along my neck. Pressed into her side and breathing in her warm scent, I find myself relaxing in spite of myself.
“You know I don’t really do the supportive girlfriend thing very well,” she says with a slight smile. “Why don’t you start?”
“Could have fooled me,” I mumble into her side and sigh. “Yeah… you can’t send someone else because no one else can make it. I’m not alone, either. I’ve got Rarity, Talon, Trace Prints, a small army…”
She noses at my ear. “You’re still putting yourself down, Marcus.”
“I’m not an alicorn or a demigod.”
“You don’t need to be. You’ve always known that.” She laughs. “Marcus, you’ve already done so much in your life. You’ve never once looked back before and said ‘Gosh, nothing I’ve ever done has been meaningful because I’m hella mortal.’”
“That was awful. I don’t sound like that and you used hella weird.”
“But you’re smiling.” She giggles. “Come on, big boy.”
Rolling my eyes, I sit up, hooves under me on one side while I lean on her with the other. “You’re right, much as I hate to admit it. You’re plenty mortal, and you saved the world once yourself. Maybe I will get old and die, but that’s no reason to lie down and accept it.”
“Maybe one day you’ll stop blaming yourself for that.” She rubs her hoof in circles around one of my more recent scars, this one from a piece of shrapnel received in Los Pegasus.
“Maybe.”
She turns my head up towards her. “Marcus… listen to me. Yes, you’ve fallen behind in the past, but you never stopped trying. You’ve never stopped making your dumb jokes or grinning your stupid grin or doing everything you possibly can to help the people around you. Maybe you didn’t succeed in getting Amelia to turn around on your own, but, you know what? You helped me realize that I could, that I had it in me to try and stop her. You helped Daphne and me get there in the first place. Even in Los Pegasus, you helped them warn the city so they could evacuate, and you helped Rainbow Dash reach that mare before she could destroy it.” She kisses my cheek and holds me close. “You do make a difference.”
“I mean… yeah, I know you’re right. But if I were better, if I could just…”
“If wishes were wings, we’d both of us be alicorns.” She laughs softly. “I know it isn’t a pride thing, Marcus. I know you want to help others. And you do, and you are. Tell me, if you want to make a difference and stop your vision from happening, do you think this is going to help?”
“No.” I shake my head slowly. “No. It’s hard, though, Leit. It’s hard to… believe in myself. A lot of those jokes are just to cover up how… how lost I feel. Redbud is right. I don’t really know how to sacrifice for what I believe in, even me.”
“Yeah. He is.” She purses her lips, sober. “What are you going to do?”
“Honestly?” I roll both sets of shoulders, listening to the imaginary pops. “Even as I am, I’d still fight. Maybe I’d find some other way to go about it, but giving up… No. It was kind of nice to think about retiring, but I don’t think I can.”
“Good boy.” She smiles. “And believing in yourself?”
“Don’t hold your breath.” I grin. “Tell you what. You start remembering that you’re a big shot magic hero and I’ll see if I can’t try myself.”
She buries her face in my side and laughs. “Fine. Fine. You win.”
I look out of the cabin again as we quiet down, just soaking in the sights and the presence of the person I love. “I wish this moment could go on forever.”
“Well.” Leit Motif tilts her head thoughtfully. “I don’t know about forever, but…”
Her horn glows with a soft green light. She describes a circle with it, a seconds and minutes hand appearing in the center. The seconds hand slows, until each beat stretches to a minute or more. Outside, the stars have stilled in their courses, and Leit Motif leans in and nuzzles at my side.
“Nice trick,” I chuckle and wrap my wing about her, using the other to pull our blankets up around us. “I love you, Leit. I can never say it enough.”
“I know.” She kisses me, and I kiss her back.
Our moment didn’t last forever, but it didn’t have to be to be perfect.
* * * * * * *
The new advetures of Sweet Gal and Hella Weird. It keeps Happening.
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Did you just Homestuck me?
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Now that i think about it, Celestia does have a horn...
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Cute~
What's your real comment then?
Oh, yikes. He wants to remake the Adversary's army? Marcus' dream seems to show how badly that will go, though I wonder if that's because of something inherent to those who make up the army, or because the Adversary will return and take control of them.
And.. is the mare Prometheus? Bits of her story kind of fit with the side Prometheus fought on in the Titanomachy (and I guess there's the fire theme). I assume that's her in Marcus' dream as well?
I was kind of thinking that was Wave Form's talent alright. That broken harmonic wand seems like something she could fix, if only it would actually be any good against these opponents...
Marcus' story arc, chapter headings as "The Reluctant Pilgrim", and especially that dream/green vision are really reminding me of John Ross from Terry Brooks' A Knight of the Word.
Looks like Redbud can't even be bothered to remember his name. I wonder if not paying attention to Luster is going to work against him.
Well, looks like the stakes have been upped, and Marcus will be facing some pretty steep odds in his next fight. Things are heating up indeed.
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Nay, Prometheus was a titan. My friend calls her Lampsace, after a mortal princess descended from the gods. I call her the Angel.
I'd describe the issue with using her and her comrades as "too much of a good thing."
Yes indeed! It's made with the same technology base.
Hah wow. I've read that serIes and greatly enjoyed it. If it's an echo then it's a very unconscious one.
Marcus is very like John Ross in a lot of ways.
And nice job catching Redbud's mistake :3
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Haha - what are you reacting to here?
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Yeah should be fun
Whatever this Stallion is trying to accomplish, it is not worth the cost.
I wouldn't help them if I were Wave Form. Perhaps if he came to me and asked instead of kidnapping me I'd help, but his actions now would have made him my enemy. Of course I don't know if they'll give her a choice.
I've thought about how cool it would be to have a god or goddess as a friend, but I never thought of how I'd feel next to them 'till now.
Breaking my traditional One comment One reply M.O. in order to answer your question, I would like to comment on the genre savvy of Wave. Anyone or anypony with that much anime exposure tends to notice a few trends when dealing with villains with backstory. Certainly she will be more aware than many of the Equestrian protagonists from the previous installment. How much this will influence her decisions when it comes to helping Helios and Redbud is something I'd like to see. Also, Marcus likes dealing with children so it feels somewhat odd that he and Leit haven't had one themselves through birth or adoption. Especially considering how their peers have apparently found significant others and had foals for several years, despite meeting after Leit and Marcus got together.
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Wave Form is aware enough of the tropes, but she's a very young girl who is very deeply intimidated right now - and yeah, if necessary, Redbud and the Angel will certainly attempt to elicit her compliance in a coercive manner. I try to leave that more implied than stated.
Don't get 'em wrong, it is really cool to hang out with them
The two of them are just at a point in their lives where they're really thinking about how they're getting older, and their mortality.
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They also haven't gotten married yet, and it's for similar reasons.
It's been fifteen years but neither of them really feel "settled" yet, and raising children requires a decided amount of stability, which they're both keenly aware of. The meaning of "Reluctant Pilgrim" is manyfold.
They're still in their early thirties, too. Marcus doesn't want to be like his parents or Naomi, who had kids too young and too often, either.
wow..... just.... I mean I lately commentet how nicelly you introduce the univesre and story for us... But it is new haight of "not-excessive-exposition" backstory explanation.
No matter what, I seem inable to hate Redbud. Even though he may seem bad, There is no real "bad" both him and that "first mortal" (Fire Wheel?) are something else, tragic figures, but certainly not "evil".
And do I understand right? Are Leit and Daphne in the space between worlds? is Leit learning thus weird "higher" magic? The kind that Daphne has? is it Alicorm magic?
Damn, I would love to talk about this story a lot, but it seems there is a problem, the story is so much fitting into my preferences, so it seems to be stuck in my mind, I seem to be unable to say bad things about it, And I can't say for sure that it is not biased opinion. And it makes my unable to give you positive critique, As I seem to only praising it. I am sorry for that.
damn, I think that I may have to print the Pirene and this when it is done, it deserves to be a book.
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I don't really write evil characters, I've noticed. It's very hard for me to put up someone who is completely without redeeming qualities or reasons for what they do - everyone is the hero of their own narrative.
So Daphne's barque is between worlds, yeah, in the ethereal void. It's part of what Daphne learned in chaos. What Leit is learning is time magic.
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On that note, the joke made by a friend is that Marcus and Leit are the Space and Time players. Marcus travels all over and defines the universe in the process, while Leit defines the course of time, action, and memory.
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And the Marcus is mortal, and will pass on like all matter, while Leit is immortal (as in unageing kind) and unending like the time itself. it makes some sense.
Ps. You do know this story will make me (and probably many other readers) wanting and wishing for more of this world, even more than just after end if Pirene? The more you write, the more secrets and mystery you give, the more the readers want to read. If this was actual, sold book series, it would be the perfect marketing. The story is able to sustain readers for itself, without help of money or other people.
Oh man I love this story so much.
I mean, I respect your decision not to delve back into the world of Pirene, but the pony fandom is definitely lesser for it. Still, if we get little snapshots like this once in while...
Anyway, as for the story itself: Redbud is a great villain. And Trace continues to be a fascinating character.
Also, Leit's back! Temporarily, at least.
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Leit isn't an alicorn. Yet.
I wouldn't give up on Marcus yet.
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Aww, that's really sweet.
I wish I had more constructive to say, but I'm loving the narrative. Marcus struck me as a bit of a twit in Well, but the kind of friend who would tell you there's no way you can do something, because they know its the last push to get you doing it.
In a world of immortals and mortals, he comes off as difinitively mortal, but very much other. I look forward to when he's finally in harmony with himself again.
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I wrote this for him because I felt his character deserved the chance to really shine.
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No. Her Paris love comes through movies and stuff primarily.
MORE PLEASE!! I want to go back to the kids!!
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Yeah, she's adorable~
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Soon! I plan on going back to it today.
More than a streak of fanaticism in this Redbud guy, isn't there? Also, appreciated the scene with Marcus and Leit. Never really seen his tender side come out quite like this.
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That was an incredibly important scene for me.
Daaaawww!
Well, that was interesting! :D
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That sweet Leit Motif/Marcus.
Oh and that other stuff.