Fallen Queendom

by Zeroraid

22

Gaea found herself coming to a pause. Her steps had been brought to an end as she looked off towards the horizon. A feeling had come over her, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling mind you, but it wasn’t… unpleasant either. She couldn’t accurately describe the feeling, so she didn’t bother trying, but she knew one thing was for certain about it; it was familiar. “Good.” The entity muttered as she resumed walking. “It’s started.”

“What has?” One of her companions asked as she glanced back at them, a smirk of sorts on her face as she did.

“Change.” Was all she said for a while.

“Change?”

“Is that not what you sought in freeing me?” Gaea asked her male counterpart. “To change the world?” She made a noise. “If so, you’ll be happy to know that things have already been set in motion.” She stated. “For better or worse though… who’s to say.”

---

Sunset seemed to be in higher spirits ever since Gentle woke up. Cadence wasn’t the only one to realize it. Everyone except the two in question noticed that Sunset’s mood improved almost immediately after Gentle came back into the picture. Honestly, it brought a smile to everypony’s face.

‘No…’ Pale Arts thought as she watched the two, seeing that Sunset was taking the time to act as Gentle’s ‘limbs’, using her magic to bring food to his lips to not overexert his own magic, and given that he was still recovering from that ‘eruption’ he had earlier that was probably a good idea. ‘It’s not Sunset’s happiness that’s improving everyone's mood…’ Pale Arts muttered. ‘It’s Gentle’s presence.’ She muttered. ‘Is it because of that eruption from yesterday? Ever since it happened I’ve been feeling like someone was watching over us… trying to protect and comfort us…’ The mare though. ‘The same feeling has been present all throughout the Empire. It’s like a field was created and it’s originating from him.’ She noted. “Curious…”

“What is?” Shining Armor asked Pale Arts, as she looked in his direction before shaking her head.

“Nothing… at least…” She paused as a scream was heard and Shining Armor turned, his attention turning to see that a crystal spider had closed in on Gentle and Sunset and the two responded by lifting chairs and preparing to smash the thing. “Easy! Easy!” Pale Arts shouted as she grabbed the chairs with her magic and trotted over to the pair. “Don’t worry, it’s not going to harm you.”

“Bullshit!” The two ponies shouted as they backed away from the construct and hid behind Cadence.

“That thing and the horde it came with were trying to kill us!” Sunset shouted as Pale Arts walked up to the construct and set the chairs down with it.

“Ah yes, but that was when they were under Sombra’s control.” She stated as she leaned down and got a better look at the crystal construct. “As of now however, they have no master, and the orders they were given have been erased.” She patted the construct with her hoof. “They’re harmless now.” Sunset and Gentle looked at each other before giving Pale Arts a skeptical look.

“You sure?” The mare nodded her head, letting the construct climb onto her limb and then her back. She walked up to the pair, rather the trio as she gestured to the spider.

“Yes, without Sombra’s influence these creatures are as docile as a fly.” The mare stated as she noticed Gentle lean forward and lightly tap the artificial creature. It didn’t respond, but it did seem to ‘turn’ a bit to get a better look at the pony. Sunset was still a bit skeptical as Gentle crept forward, holding a limb out to the creature as he let it crawl onto him. “See, harmless.”

“Why is it so… passive now?” Sunset asked slowly walking up to Gentle and the creature, still giving it a cautious look. “These things were, What happened?” Pale Arts tilted her head, making a gesture towards Gentle.

“He happened.” That got everyone curious.

What?”

“What do you mean?”

“As I told Sunset before, a number of factors were present when Gentle’s magic erupted days ago and flowed throughout the Crystal Empire. Those factors resonated and cleansed everything in the vicinity of Sombra’s corruption.” She told them before looking at the crystal golem. “Everything.” Gentle looked at the spider on his back as he stared in confusion and disbelief, something that was shared between everypony.

“I/he did that?”

“Yes, but again, it wasn’t on his own. There were a number of factors at play that helped bring this outcome into reality.” Pale Arts stated as she retrieved the spider. “I must say, you are very lucky Gentle, had things misaligned, it would have turned out very bad for you.” She stated as everyone looked at Gentle who simply adopted a thinking face.

Whatever he was thinking about though, they had no idea, and when he stopped thinking he had this awkward, nervous nod. Pale Arts just rested a hoof on his hair and ruffled it.

“Don’t worry, that moment has passed, and you’re alright.” She told him. “Just… be careful, next time you might not be so lucky.”

“Next time?” Sunset perked up at the words. “You mean this might happen again?”

“What happens once, may happen twice. And what happens twice may happen a third time.” Pale Arts stated. “Gentle is still new to all this.” She stated removing her hoof. “His magic still surges at random, the next time he suffers one while the stakes are high, and things don’t align right…” She paused trying to find her words. “At the very least, you will be in bed for a lot longer than you were earlier.” Sunset gave Gentle a concerned look, as did Cadence and Shining Armor.

Made sense that they were worried. Still. Gentle didn’t seem all that fazed. Instead he just raised a hoof and touched the scars on his throat before growing lost in thought again. He nodded slowly, understanding exactly what could have happened to him.

But he wasn’t scared.

He’d ran into Death more than a few times in his world. He’d caused death and he’d almost embraced it as well.

The thought of himself dying didn’t really faze him anymore.

Honestly, he was a bit concerned if that was a good thing or not.

Just a bit anyway.