Equestria: Awakening

by Fighterx345

Chapter 13: Millennium

'I finally understand... at least a few things. I know that Naga has not deserted me. She even became a true, benevolent ruler. Grima is a dragon: a similar divine being, who was driven mad because he wanted to retain his identity. But having a human form, my human form, allowed him to become sane again. And because of the ties I hold with my friends, he and I, linked till death, both survived. Even my future self survived, his mind cleared of the dark rage and power that had consumed Grima as well. I'm just glad he held on long enough to see that he wouldn't destroy everything -- not again. Yet... With my own faith in myself restored, I took a few steps forward, turned around, and questioned Naga.

"Where are my people?" I demanded. "Where is.. where is my family?!" I pleaded.

Naga's face grew sorrowful; she only sighed in response.

"Where are they?!!"

"Sister," Grima cut in, "perhaps... I should explain. You've been through enough."

"No," Naga responded, "I was the one who forced this. I shall explain it to him."

Grima nodded. "Very well."

My eyes ran back to Naga, my breath taut. Naga paused for a moment to look at me, breathed softly, and began to speak. "Robin, you must understand that your sacrifice was the best possible choice you could have made. What happened after then was not your fault; there was nothing you could do-"

"Naga, please." I looked into her eyes. "Just... tell me what happened."

She looked into my eyes in contemplation. Her gentle gaze felt paradoxically piercing, but I held it.

"...Robin, when you fought against Grima, Chrom struck him with the Exalted Falchion, did he not?"

I nodded.

"Then it is as I suspected. For my seal to take effect over Grima for a thousand years, the Falchion does not have to deal the final blow, it merely has to strike Grima. This action leaves a Mark of sorts, and this Mark only activated when Grima was defeated, for that is when he became temporarily his weakest."

'...What?...'

"The reason I did not suppose this before is because all previous champions have struck the final blow with Falchion. This made me believe that doing so was a requirement to perform the seal, but apparently, that is not the case."

"But how do you know?" I demanded. "What proof do you ha - have?" I gulped down a ball of anxiety.

Naga blinked. "Because, Robin, though you dealt the final blow, Grima was still sealed. And you were sealed with him, for a thousand years."

At these implications, I felt like shouting in indignation, about how the world wasn't fair, about how I was a failure, but I held my tongue in the presence of Naga. Sensing my constraint, she continued.

"But do not worry, for I can send you back: to the time after your victory. I can reunite you with Chrom, Lucina, and your daughter, Morgan. I shall use the same spell my other self used to send Lucina back to the past. There shall be no damage, Grima will be freed from his curse of madness, and all shall be as it should be."

I couldn't believe it. "You... you can fix it all, just like that? There has to be something you're not telling me - gods forbid I ever doubt your abilities, but things hardly work out this easily."

Naga smiled. "Always the sharp one; you surely would get along well with Twilight and her friends."

I snapped to attention at this. 'Twilight and her friends--what do they have to do with this? And the Elements of Harmony-' "The Elements of Harmony!! What... what are they?"

Naga's grin widened. "And I was hoping you'd notice them as well. You see, after Grima and I assumed the roles of Princesses Celestia and Luna--to guide the world to create its own leaders, rather than lead it ourselves--we felt that holding that much power would be dangerous for an absolute diarchy. Therefore, we did two things. One, we ethereally bonded the Fire Emblem and its gems to those who, combined, had the greatest potential to uphold peace and use the Emblem only for good. These individuals, we refer to as the Bearers. The gems were renamed the personal qualities most valuable to creating harmony: the Elements of Harmony. Two, we sealed most of our power into certain individuals who we felt would grow into the most capable rulers for this land. Those who are earth ponies, pegasi, or unicorns, who are sealed with our power, shall become alicorns when the time is right. Princess Cadence has already become an alicorn."

'Princess Cadence... ruler of the Crystal Empire, married to Shining Armor: chapter 12, page 304, Appeasing Alicorns.' I remembered with mild distaste. "So, how specifically do these gifted persons connect to preparing the spell to send me back?"

Grima spoke up. "Because we sealed most of our power into these ponies, we do not currently have the magic to send you back a complete thousand years: to your own time. To perform the spell, these ponies must be gathered here, so we may tap their latent power, invested by us."

I huffed. "So that's the catch..." My mind was still swimming from the amount of information I had ingested. 'I've been gone for a thousand years, Grima is healed, he rules with Naga over Equestria - or future Ylisse, I guess - the Emblem and its five gems were sealed to the spirits of Twilight and her friends (the Bearers), the Princesses sealed their power into several other prospective leaders, and to have enough power to perform the spell to send me back, we need to gather all of them. What a doozie..'

Naga noticed I was deep in thought, and waved her hand. "I believe that is enough for today. We have spoken for two hours: I am sure Twilight is extremely anxious to hear what we have said to you. We shall remain in close correspondence via her assistant drake, Spike. I suggest you spend the next few days building bonds with the ponies of Ponyville, for I feel you truly understand how important these ties can be. However, know this: you must not tell Twilight the truth behind the Princesses. It is for the best that she, or her friends, does not know. Now go, Robin. Prepare, for I must ask your aid again."

I was still thinking heavily, but I kneeled and bowed my head. "I shall do as you advise. Thank you, Naga... and Grima." It felt odd, and I quickly noticed I was not only bowing to Naga, but Grima as well. 'What a strange feeling...'

They both nodded, and, simultaneously, Naga flashed brightly, and Grima burst into darkness. They both reformed into their facades of Celestia and Luna. I stood as their horns glowed, each opening one door to the throne room in similar glows. I gave one last 'thank you' before making my way out, still contemplating the connotations of what I've just learned. The doors closed quietly behind me.

I was left to stew in my thoughts as I silently exited the castle, but as I reached the grand doors at its front, with two guards on either side of it, something faintly occurred to me. I turned around and looked back in the direction of the throne room. 'The two guards who let me into the throne room... After I left, they were gone.'

~~~

Celestia and Luna looked at the doors to the throne room, where Robin had just exited. After a moment of listening to his footsteps fade down the castle hallways, Luna turned to Celestia.

"Sister, you did not tell him."

Celestia looked concerned, and responded, "Perhaps... it is for the best, that he does not learn the truth."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "You know that nothing would shake his faith in you, not even what you did. He's an exemplar of the old world's values, and trusts you wholeheartedly."

Celestia looked almost sorrowful. "That's precisely the problem. His unwavering faith would force him to blame himself for what I have done. He would assume my burden for no good reason."

"The destruction of mankind is a very heavy weight to bear." Luna grimly nodded. "It is impressive enough that Robin prevented their extinction once. Those thousand years ago, he actually managed to defeat me when I was feral, and with himself as the host. It truly shows how these bonds of friendship hath made him physically stronger than any of us. And a thousand years later, he returns to undo the consequences of our mistakes. He is more important than he gives himself credit for..." -Luna eyed Celestia's stiff figure- "...and more important than we let on to him. Sister, it truly would have made more sense if you just told him the part your hand played in mankind's fate over the last thousand years. He repaired the damage I had caused in my moment of weakness; surely, he will succeed in undoing the mistakes you have made."

Celestia had been listening wordlessly, but choked up at this. She appeared on the verge of tears. Her voice quivered with shame.

"But when I made my mistakes, I wasn't feral."

Comments

[Pleiades]

... Even holier shit.

[OJhat]

eh..... the story was really cool when it first started out, but now it feels like it's far too entrenched within fire emblem lore for me to really see this as a pony fanfic anymore. good story idea though i guess

[GoldenCyclone4]

3366590 was that pun intentional?

[Brandon Sky]

I was about to ask "So are they gonna discuss how humanity got replaced with ponies?" And the end of the chapter answers that anyway. XD

[JzanderN]

I love this meshing of the two mythologies you've got here. I think the last time I saw two series' lore fused together this much and this well was in Ponyball Z, which sadly is deleted.
This should be done more often in crossovers, especially with MLP. I mean the show gives a wide variety of lore in little detail, allowing fanfic writers to have plenty of lore to use and plenty of ways to use it.