A Dynasty Falls

Twilight watched intently as Twi changed into her seapony form, a notepad in her magic rapidly filling up with new information as she learned more and more. Only the longer length of her love's mane and a new neck frill seemed the only changes from the norm. "Do you feel any different?"

Twi shook her head, sighing as her tail unfolded to an even greater size than before. "Not really? The Pearl feels more powerful than ever." She smirked. "I feel like I could stay like this forever. Who's going to tell me no?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. Point. "I will drag you kicking and screaming back into pony form if it kills me. I don't care if this is your heritage." Her smile softened as she caressed Twi's cheek. "I can't lose you. Eternity is too long to be alone."

Twi's smirk melted into a gentle sigh as she took Twily's hoof. "I know. I have no plans to stay this way forever. But eternity gives us all the time we could ever hope for to learn more about this. Together. I'm still not sure what all my Pearl can do."

Twilight looked up at the Tiara. "Can't you ask Kiyoko? She seems to know something about all of this. What about her husband?"

Twi snorted. "Are you kidding me? I refuse to make them dig up those memories. Whatever she might have said, it hurt Kiyoko to remember those days. I won't do that to her again. And the same applies to Akihiko. Plus I don't know him all that well."

Twilight nodded as she lay her head on Twi's chest with a contented sigh. "I understand. You've met them more than I have. I just wish we could know for sure what happened. We know Novo's diary just ended abruptly. But why? What happened that day?"

Twi nodded. It was a thought she'd had more than once as well since reading the diary. But there seemed no way to know for sure. It would remain forever lost to the sands of time it seemed.

As if it had read her thoughts, the Pearl flared to life, earning a surprised squawk from the seapony as she looked up at it in surprise as a beam of light emanated from it onto the far wall. To the surprise of both, an image of Mount Aris appeared, but not as they knew it.

Twilight's jaw dropped. "It's a Memory Projection spell. It's what we saw used in the Memory Crystal. This is incredible."

Twi nodded mutely. Mount Aris was as beautiful as ever, but the ruins she knew were nowhere to be seen. Now, well-maintained houses and villas covered much of the island, with the most extravagant being those on top of the mountain. And everywhere, in every shape, size, and color, flew and walked hippogryphs. "This is Mount Aris. As it used to be during its golden age. But why show this?"

Twilight shook her head as the image zoomed in on the palace at the mountain's peak. "I believe we're about to find out."

Queen Novo laughed as she walked the length of her bed chambers. Everything was going as planed. Looking at herself in the mirror she grinned. Soon the Dragons and Kitsunes would purge each other from existence and nothing would stop her from achieving her dream. A land free of everything but her own people.

“Mother!” Novo rolled her eyes and sighed as she turned to look at her eldest daughter.

“OH don’t give me that look Midnight. I’m doing all this for the benefit of our people.” Novo caressed her daughters cheek with a claw. But frowned as the princess backed away.

“This isn't right mother. We should have gone out and joined the world. Not plunge it into chaos.” Midnight sniffed and took a step back as she looked into her mother’s eyes.

“Your such a disappointment Midnight, you always were.” Novo sat tall as she frowned disapprovingly at her child. “Yout little sister Skystar is much more suited to rule us than you. She understands the sacrifices needed for our wondrous future. Which is why she will ascend the throne and not you.”

Midnight felt her spine go cold. She knew of her sister’s psychopathic nature. Her own days were now numbered. “This isn’t right. I’m begging you mother, please. You can bring this all to a stop. Where is the mother who used to sing to me at night? The one who taught me what a proud and noble race we are.”

“You’re not a child anymore Midnight. It’s time for you to grow up and see the world as it is. Something to grasp in your talons and rule. Everything is now with in my reach. And I will not let you stop me. Now leave. Or you might not have to wait for your sister to ascend to the throne to meet your fate.” A cold devilish smirk crossed Novo’s beak as Midnight turned and walked away.

“At least I tried. I love you mother. I’m sorry you forgot that.” After exiting Midnight walked on down the dark hallway as a pair of sunlit eyes watched her leave.

Novo scoffed. Who needed the love of a foolhardy child when she had another so well deserved her title. Sitting comfortably at her desk, the queen started to write. It wasn’t until her last paragraph had ended that she heard it. The heavy offset of paws on her bed chamber floor.

“It’s a foolish thing to ignore the warnings of one’s children. And even more so when those concerns are out of love.” A voice as deep as the cosmos growled through the room.

Novo turned around and found herself face to face with a massive kitsune. His golden fur shimmered like sunlight in the lit room. “The great Akihiko I presume. I half expected your mate.” Novo smirked, almost laughing at him.

“Oh she would have loved to come. But it’s not in her nature.” Akihiko strode back and forth slowly like a lion in a cage. “This is all because of you. You killed my beloved mate’s sister, started a war between her people and my own. The blood of thousands are now on your talons. What do you have to say for yourself.”

“Good riddance. Your kind think you're so great. So powerful.” Novo stood up and faced him down. Drunk on her own ego. “Yet you weren’t able to stop me from taking the form I needed to kill her. And good luck getting anyone to belive it. They all think a kitsune killed her.” Novo walked around Akihiko as he trailed her with his eyes, which narrowed with every passing second. “And even if the truth does come out, do you honestly think they’ll stop? No, this war will continue on because nether side will EVER forgive the other. They hated each other long before this. So why don’t you just go and die with the rest of them. And rid my kingdom of your filth!”

“Truthfully, you are right about one thing. Your exposure will not stop this war.” Akihiko closed his eyes and sighed. As his eyes shot opened he had the pleasure of watching the hippogryph fall backwards a few steps. His eyes hardened like steel as the feeling of blood lust entered the room like a tidal wave. “But I didn’t come here to get you to repent. That was your daughter’s plan. I knew it would never work so I’m here for one thing and one thing only.”

“And what’s that?” Novo smirked but quickly shrieked as his powerful paw griped her head and lifted her up several inches above the ground.

“I’ve come, to give my dear sister in law’s soul some peace. Sayuri may have hated me, but she was family. And I will never forget that,” the sunlit kitsune growled loudly. “And I shall never forgive what you did to her. For family, I will do anything.” With a lick to his lips he grinned as wickedly as his pray did to him earlier.

Midnight watched from a slightly cracked open door. She had heard her mother’s shriek and came running. She couldn’t see from the vantage point she was at. But looking at the shadows on the wall, she watched as her mother hung suspended by the kitsune’s powerful grip. With one swipe of his other paw. Midnight shivered as she watched her mothers body fall, while the head remained in Akihiko’s grip.

Akihiko stepped out of the door after he slammed the diary closed. Looking down he saw the eldest princess leaned against the wall as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Midnight looked up at him and to the royal bed chamber which had grown dark and cold. Letting out a sigh of her own she looked back up at the kitsune and nodded. “It had to be done.” was all she whispered. Hearing a shuffling sound she looked up and saw that he was holding out the crown her mother once wore. The once brilliant silver now stained pink with blood. She watched as his flames burned all the blood away. But in her eyes she could still see it.

“No. I’m not worthy of it. And I don’t want it. Too much blood has been shed under this crown.” Taking it in her hands, Midnight whispered an ancient chant and pulled the central pearl from the center of the crown. “The Pearl and crown are both required to rule.” Tossing the Pearl back into her mother’s bed chamber she handed the Tiara back to Akihiko. “Now nobody can rightfully rule us. My sister will never be able to ascend the throne.”

Akihiko smiled and nodded taking the Tiara and slipped it into a pocket of space and time. “You would have been a wise ruler. To be offered power such as this and to turn it down gives me hope for your kind. But come. Let's talk someplace a little more hospitable.” With a snap of his fingers the area around them shifted to the rocky cliffs behind Mount Aris. Behind him was his beloved mate who looked at Akihiko with concern.

“You did it didn’t you?”

Akihiko just nodded slowly “Your sister can now rest peacefully. She has been avenged. I gave her one chance through her daughter. A hopeless one just as you foresaw.”

Midnight looked about and saw all of her loyal followers. Running out she hugged her friend who was their captain. “How?”

“It was the dragon, princess. She said that you asked us to meet you here.” The tall captain shifted uncomfortably. “While we didn’t care to be told what to do by the likes of her. We try our best to live up to your example. So we all came.”

“I’m glad you did because…”

A thundering clash that split the heavens erupted above them. Multicolored planets filled the heavens as a light shimmered behind them. The light shot downward and took an alicorn body formed of those very same celestial bodies.

"What fool has used the oath?" Akihiko growled as he stepped in front of everyone.

"None, Akihiko. I come of my volition. This is long past the point of sanity." A voice as deep as the heavens echoed through the rocky caverns. “So please, stand down,” the voice calmed as it landed on the ground and waved a stary wing.

Akihiko looked into those twin star eyes and nodded stepping back.

"And just who are you?" Midnight shivered as she looked at this unknown being.

"My name, Princess Midnight, is Cosmos, if you must have one. Your mother's rightful death will not end this war." She looked at Kiyoko. "Had this happened right after your nest mate's murder, Kiyoko, then things might have been different."

"I am well aware of that. So what will you do Cosmos? You are not known for half measures."

Cosmos shook her head. "No, I am not. But I do not come because someone used the oath, nor because I'm in a bad mood. But this war ends now. Not only for all who have been lost, and for those who yet live who wish peace. But for all who will come in the ages yet to come. For those who will one day know what happened here."

She smiled as her eyes settled on Kiyoko. "For your children yet to be."

“And just how will you accomplish this?” Akihiko, while calmer, kept his eyes narrowed. He knew just how this being finished things.

Cosmos waved her hoof and opened a portal behind her. A mirror formed around it and held it in place. “You will all leave through this. And I will finish the rest. But you know what must be done Akihiko. You know there is no other way.”

Midnight looked back up at the castle. The rest of her people, her sister. Turning to the cosmic being she stepped forward. “What will happen to my people?”

Cosmos produced the journal of the late queen and handed it to Midnight. “They have one avenue open to them. If your sister is wise enough to take it. Take those you know feel as you do. Do not look back. And take this. So you never forget the price of pride.”

Midnight nodded as she looked at her captain, who nodded, as did the others. None fully understood what was going on, but all felt it was time to go. One by one, each stepped through the portal.

Kiyoko reached out to her mate as she watched the last Hippogriff step through. Nodding Akihiko walked forward then stoped turning around and looked at Cosmos. Motioning to his beloved that he would follow the lone kitsune looked at the being.

“I know what you would ask. Be at ease. One day your blood will once again step on these lands and he will be given all that you now choose to relinquish.” Cosmos smiled at the Kitsune who nodded in silence as he stepped through the mirror to an unknown future.

Cosmos made sure she was alone, before closing her eyes as the mirror shimmered. “Let this not be found until ponykind rises from the endless cold. Let it not be used till the forsaken student of the sun comes. One day, the barrier will fall, and two worlds will be one.”

As the final word was spoken, the mirror vanished, lost somewhere in the vastness of the lands that would one day be called Equestria in all the ages of the world to come.

Cosmos nodded as a sword blacker than the void between the stars appeared in her grasp. If any of Midnight’s followers remained or those who believed in peace as she did, they would even now be heading for a portal only they could see. In time they would find each other. Those who remained were now doomed.

As much as she wanted to think otherwise, Cosmos doubted any would listen to her now that Novo was dead. Even now she could see the day when dragons finally broke through the forests and came to this mountain. The one clan that held them back was now gone. Already she could see the sight of the mountain’s inhabitants dive into the waters below much to the annoyance of another princess.

Now, she waited.

Skystar listened with mounting fury as her captain finished his report. “What do you mean you can’t find them?! Midnight can’t just have vanished!”

Sky Beak shook his head. “It remains the same your highness. Your sister and her followers have vanished from Mount Aris. No one seems to have seen them do so either.”

Skystar screeched in annoyance. Damn that sister of hers. She should have done something about her long ago.

Sky Beak looked at the closed casket that stood in the throne room. The sight of his queen so viciously killed still made him queasy. “Could she have done this? We know her feelings.”

Skystar shook her head. “Idiot. Use your head. Whatever she thought of mother and all she did, Midnight loved her too much to ever do this. And what would be the point? She would still need to go through me if this was about the throne.”

Beak nodded. “We can only assume she took the Tiara as well, for we cannot find it.”

Skystar poked him with her claws, making sure with the sharp edge. “Then you better hope you find it, captain, or it will be your head next. I will have what’s mine. No matter how many I have to step on to get it.”

Before Sky Beak could reply, another voice interrupted, as cold as the void. “You will never find it. Nor will you ever wear it. I see that now.”

Both blinked as a shadow detached itself from the wall. An alicorn that seemed to be made of celestial bodies. A blade that burned their eyes to even look at floated in her magic.

Skystar frowned as she advanced on the intruder. “And just who are you? Ponies are forbidden to set foot on our shores.”

The mare frowned. “My name is not for filth such as you to ever know.” She flicked a wing, sending Sky Beak, who had attempted to impose himself between them, crashing against the far wall. “I go where I will, and mortals such as you will not stop me.”

Skystar’s frown grew. “Then make your point and leave. I have no time to waste on you. You know where my sister and her filth are. I know you do. Tell me!”

The mare smiled, a cold and vicious one. “Someplace you will never find them. They are everything you and your mother threw away when you started this war. Everything your kind should have been. I know you were the one to suggest the senseless murder to start it.”

Skystar laughed. “And I would do it again. Let them tear each other apart. We will be there to pick up the pieces when they destroy each other.”

The mare’s smile grew. “Oh. I doubt that. How can you pick up the pieces of anything when everyone on this island will be dead before the sun sets?”

Skystar poked her with a smirk. “You and what army? One pony cannot fight all of Mount Aris and Seaquestria. Alicorn or no.”

The mare giggled. “Who says I’m going to do it? I’ll let those you wronged take vengeance for all the blood that is on your claws.”

“Yeah right! Those of the forest…”

“Have already departed along with your sister. You took for granted what they did for you all, and now your mountain has no defense left. And rest assured they are coming even as I speak. Ta!” Cosmos waved a hoof and vanished. Leaving Skystar grumbling. A grumbling which soon turned to abstract horror as the forest gave way to a legion of kitsune.

“Princess!” Sky Beak shouted as he panted heavily. “The mountains!”

Turning Skystar felt her blood run cold. Dragons of all descriptions flew toward Mt Aris with the same ferocity as their multi tailed foes.

Sky Beak shivered as he watched, for the first time, his Princess faltered.

Cosmos watched from her void at what unfolded before her. Frustrated with his princess the young captain took command and ordered those would follow to take to the sea’s. All while Skystar shouted and yelled commands for her troops to stand and fight.

Smiling she watched as a decade passed with in the span of a blink. For as pointless as it was, She admired Skystar’s determination to hold her ground with what troops she had remaining. All citizens and those who followed her traitorous captain fled to the sea. The once snowy white caps of the mountain were stained red. Even she was unaware of which side finally put an end to the last of the royal family as Skystar’s body was left at the peak to be buried by the falling snow.

For longer still, the war raged on. Blood was repaid with blood. It didn’t matter if it was adult or child. Both sides spared no one. It wasn’t until shes felt the stirs of Celestial magics from both sides that the world she worked so hard on began to crack.

Cosmos listened with mounting anger as kitsune and eastern dragon verbally sparred with each other. How it had not come to further bloodshed was a miracle, but it was all she could take as she revealed herself. “Enough!” her voice rained like thunder across the world.

The eyes of the eldest of both sides widened. “What fool dared use the oath?”

Cosmos frowned. “None. I come on my own. That alone should tell you how pointless this has become.”

“They started it,” one of the younger dragons shot an accusatory glare at a kitsune not much older than himself, who bristled at the implied insult.

Cosmos growled. “I care not for who started it, but rest assured that I am finishing it. A war started on lies, started on your hatred for each other.” She pounded a hoof, sending tremors throughout the island. “A war that threatens to tear the planet itself apart. When will it end? When all are dead? The seas turned to dust and the forests and mountains to ash? When all that is left is a dead rock hurtling through space?”

The elder dragon’s eyes narrowed at the implied accusation, as did his counterpart’s.

Cosmos nodded. “Oh yes. I know what you both threaten to unleash. Magic that is forbidden even for your kind. The seer warned you all. You should have listened.”

Neither could reply, for they both remembered the warnings. Warnings they had ignored. Too much blood now lay between them though to make any difference.

Cosmo's frown grew. “So here is how this will go. Either end this pointless war now.” She ignited her magic, pulling a blade blacker than the void between galaxies from the Aether. The blade soon ignited in black flames. “Or I will end it for you.”

Cosmos narrowed her eyes as the older kitsunes and dragons narrowed their eyes more and growled. But smiled as she watched many of the younger kitsunes and dragons look at each other in disgust, but silently sink back into the shadows of the forests and mountains without the elders noticing. The young weren’t many, but they had more to live for and valued their lives more then petty revenge.

Cosmos smiled coldly as she walked between the two, who both physically recoiled in pain at being so near the one weapon they both feared. “End it. Or neither of you will leave this island alive. I have no qualms in doing so. If not for yourselves, then for those who never wanted any part of this.”

The Elder Dragon and Kitsune growled at each other while standing their ground at the celestial being before them. Behind the pair, their armies followed suit and stood tall.

“So be it.” Taking the blade by the hilt, Cosmos drove the Slayer into the ground. “I condemn your kinds to Oblivion. Let only those who are no longer here be spared. As of now, death is too good for you. Let those you murdered rest in peace.”

The Slayer pulsed, a wave of power spreading outward. As it touched each dragon and kitsune alike, their bodies dissolved, scattering their very atoms and essences to the wind like dust. In the time it took a breath, the lands around her were silent and baren.

Cosmos nodded as she removed the sword. Those young ones who had left were far away by now. Having went to the east where they originated. The kitsunes to the forests while the dragons took to the skies, but she had made sure they would feel this and always remember.

The bonds would never heal, but both sides now knew the price. Perhaps one day, that would change. But Cosmos somehow doubted it. Turning to leave she took one step only to stop. The sound of laughter behind her caused the goddess to turn.

She watched in shock as the image of two individuals came from the shores. One pony, Alicorn, the other a Hippogriff bearing the lost Aris crown. Both with near identical markings and colors. Walking behind them was the source of the laughter. Two young Pegasi, white as snow and manes like fire leading another alicorn who slightly shimmered like crystal. Next to the crystal mare was a six tailed kitsune. Cosmos’s eyes widened as with each step he took newly formed grass spread out, brining life to a dead land.

She watched as his eyes turned and looked at hers. He was a Kitsune but his eyes were reminiscent of an eastern dragon and shimmered bright amber.

As quickly as the image came it vanished. “Maybe. Just maybe.” Cosmos laughed with hope for the future as she left for her eternal home.

As the image faded, Twi found herself unable to believe all they had just watched. But one thing stood out the most. “Who was that alicorn? The space one. I’m assuming the other was your niece all grown up.”

Twilight’s ears fell. “Her name, among an infinite number of them as well as titles, is indeed Cosmos. If the old creation myths are true, she created the very multiverse itself. I’m inclined to believe them now.”

Twi nodded. “And the oath mentioned several times?”

Twilight shook her head. “It’s called the Omega Oath. It’s the ultimate sanction. When someone is beyond redemption, and the very planet itself is at stake, those who know it can use it to summon the Destroyer, and she will determine which side would come out the victor.”

Twi gulped. She didn't like the sound of that. “Has anyone ever used it?”

Twilight shrugged. “As far as I know, no. Every alicorn knows it, but it something we try and not think about at all if we can help it.”

Twi shivered. She didn’t want to think about it either. She now understood why it was painful for Kiyoko and Akihiko to remember those days.

Twilight saw this, and kissed her gently. “Hey. You are not Novo, nor Skystar. You are better than both of them. Midnight tried so hard. Whatever her mother and sister were, she still loved them. Maybe at one time, none of that could have happened.”

Twi sighed. “I know. It does make me feel better in a way knowing all of this. I can’t make Mount Aris totally as it was. Even if the descendants could all be found, and they believed me. But maybe we can make it something beautiful nonetheless.”

Twilight nodded with a sigh as the two fell silent for a while. Now came the hard part of telling Kohaku about a certain crystal pony from his dreams. Resting her head on Twi’s shoulder Twilight lost herself in thought. While telling him about Flurry would be difficult, given how old she was now. She was confused about him actually being in Equus, especially since he had shown no desire to go there. But it was obviously him.

She had seen those eyes frequently while in this world. But she knew he only had three tails, but in the vision he had six. And her niece was almost an adult. How long would it be till that moment came to be? And what brings it all about? Thinking about the future was giving her a headache worse then misplacing a book on the wrong bookshelf in her massive library.

But why were there two Pearls? One was the Human World's obviously, while the other could only be Equestria's. But how?

Twi smirked looking down at her marefriend and shook her head. Chuckling she took a pillow and flopped it down on Twilight’s face. “You're thinking too much.”

After a few moments Twilight joined in and sighed nodding. Leaning in kissed Twi lovingly, thinking to take Kohaku’s advice she heard before, and not think too much about the future.

Author's Note:

So, yes. Kitsunes and eastern dragons still exist on Equus. But their kinds were decimated by Cosmos' final act. Perhaps 10% of both sides survived. Their populations are not even half the size of what they once were.

They learned their lesson though. The hatred between them still exists. Only now it is used as a warning from parents to their children. Of what that hatred led to. Not enough to repair broken bonds though.

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Double Twilight Love - Mystic Sunrise

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