//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Old Eyn's End // Story: Everything Ends... // by Harold_Genhi //------------------------------// “Tavi? Tavi?” The voices echoed in the dark void of despair that Eyn had me experience. I opened my eyes to the new day. We had been practicing and getting the final preparations of the concert sealed. “I’m up.” I speak, waking up from the nap on the train ride to Canterlot, the day before the concert. I took a long breath, letting my lungs stretch my chest as they filled with a soothing air. I hadn’t had any visions about Eyn since my time at the spa. I could only try to envision what happened, a pony waiting for a new book to be released after a cliffhanger end to a story. I lift from my chair, grabbing my bag and slinging my cello onto my back. I missed the weight of it, the security of holding it on my back instead of sitting away from me, even though it was just inches from my hooves. “I wonder if they’ve finished the concert hall with all of my electronics.” Vinyl nods. My eyes fixate onto her. The only residual influence of Eyn in my mind had been the doubt that Vinyl was still pure. After seeing the power that the Elements of Disharmony could cause, I didn’t want her to be just another number in their plans. Each day, I worried about her though there was no signs of her being controlled her influenced by any outside force. Instead, I reminisced about myself and how I had changed. Was it I who had been taken control of? I knew not the answer, but the concert stood just one day from me. I would be redeemed from the Gala. It has been too long since that night. I tried to retrace my steps of failure, but as what Eyn taught me, everything is forgotten with time, well, some things stay. I smile at the memory of how I first met Vinyl, a memory that I think I could never let go. Uptight didn’t even begin to describe how tight I was back in those days. My hooves clack against the cobblestone streets of Canterlot, Vinyl walks beside me, her hooves off from mine. The air is fresh with the scents of the higher class cooking and perfumes used by the gentlemares and gentlecolts of the streets. I longed to pick up those scents again for it to be a sign of progress, the scent of redemption. I shut my eyes, trying to envision Canterlot from memory. The streets around the train station are easy to pull out and place, but it quickly fades to the rest of the streets. It has been a long time since I rejoined the sophisticated society. “Here is our apartment.” Vinyl speaks. I open my eyes to see a white pillar with gold trim sitting before me. One of many it would seem, holding a large building, which only read ‘The Royal Stables’ up. We enter the building only to have the wind taken from our chests by the high ceiling of glass that let the sparkling rays of the sun bounce and glitter off of the clean surfaces. “Pompous ponies…” Vinyl jokes under her breath. I agree at the same time that I found it to be rude, but such blunt things are Vinyl’s forte. The pony at the desk gave us our keys and ushered us into an elevator with golden bars and buttons. I admit the hotel was exceptionally eccentric. We arrived at the room number. I stared at Vinyl who held the keys to the door in front of her with her magic. She seemed to think about something for longer than it should have. Turning to me, she smiles and takes the keys into her mouth. Before I understood that it wasn’t her wanting to open the door without magic, her lips are pressed against mine, the keys slipping into my mouth. Instinctually, my cheeks blush and I find myself in a frozen stance with the keys loosely in my mouth. “I’ve always wanted to do that to somepony.” Vinyl smiles and steps to the side to let me open the door. Packing for the concert had driven most instances of intimacy out of our thoughts. Also the thoughts and doubt Eyn had built inside of my mind had left a bad taste in my mouth leaving me salty. This case of Vinyl kissing me, standing in Canterlot, and being only a few hours from the biggest concert of my life, left my knees shaky and weak, but I held firm until the lock had been undone. The weight of my cello doesn’t help my weak knees. I step into the dark room. As my hoof hits the end of the hall, the magic activates, showering the room with light. Blinds open to let the afternoon sun refract in the glass and crystal surfaces on the table. Fruit and fresh grass were in the bowls in the kitchen. Everything feels welcoming and soothing to my senses as I walk to the couch. Vinyl leaps from the side, landing on the couch and curling up, leaving a spot for me beside her. I climb onto the couch with her, letting the strain finally fade of the temporary move. “This is it, Octavia.” Vinyl speaks. “We are moving up in the world.” “I just can’t believe that I was allowed to give a solo performance for the royal princesses. This honor is welcomed…” I nod and turn to Vinyl. Her glasses are off, sitting on the nearby table next to a few bowls of Bonbons and muffins, two little signs tied around their containers. I smile at the gifts and at Vinyl. “You deserve this, Tavi.” Vinyl whispers to me. Her nose comes up under my mouth, nestling against my chin. I am caught off guard by her gesture that I stare in shock for a few seconds before turning my head down to her. Any form of doubt or distrust in my mind. Eyn was wrong about her. Our bodies ease toward each other, slowly falling into each other’s hooves in a hug. The last few days had left me on edge and with Vinyl holding me close, I felt a wave of relief. The sun began to drop beneath the horizon as we held each other. Vinyl pops her head up slightly during our embrace and stares at me in the eyes before smiling and shaking her head. “We are quite the strange pair aren’t we?” Vinyl asks. “Just because we like two different types of music?” I ask in response. “Everything, personality and interest.” She responds. "Maybe there is some truth to what Eyn said about the relationship among Elements." She drifts off slightly, enjoying the moment. I had to admit that Vinyl hugged against me left me more at ease. I could agree with Eyn more than any other pony in Equestria. I’ve seen everything that he experienced and my respect for Celestia had wavered. Thoughts swim through my head like the salmon spawning season. The world around me ascended into a world of serenity, and I felt the calming swath of coolness from nearby open window. The sunlight sparkled and reflected from the nearby aquarium, sending dancing light onto the ceiling. The calming atmosphere set the last few days of my life into perspective. With the mysterious disappearance of Eyn, his faked death in my head, him apologizing before sending terrible pain through me while at the same time healing the scar that he had carved into my side, everything felt out of place and counter productive. It was almost as if he was two different ponies. I stare out from the couch. Vinyl had fallen asleep next to me. I don’t know when she dozed off, but her slight snore cracks a smile on my face. Maybe there are two sides to every coin just like Eyn. Vinyl may be loyal and trustworthy, at least when she is sober, but how could every pony be an element completely. What if the Elements of Harmony and the Elements of Disharmony aren’t just balanced between good and evil ponies and griffins, but also inside of each individual? I am kind as much as I am cold. I can be cruel at times, and I don’t enjoy it, but it was necessary at the moment. My thoughts trace back to when Eyn was cringing in the alleyway, his Cutie Mark changing into a yin yang. He removed King Cruel from his head, yet the Cutie Mark remained. Why didn’t it change back if there was no longer a conflict? Equally why didn’t the balanced sides show a sign of light conquering dark or dark over light? Cutie Marks didn’t translate to the entire universe around an individual; it is a personal mark, a sign of realization of what lies within a pony. Eyn discovered the balance within him and knew he was equal parts cruel and equal parts kind. I remain in thought, staring at the fading dancing light as the sun sinks below the horizon. If he is equal parts of both elements then what does that make King Cruel, an equal? Can he be kind or does he truly embody a pure cruelty? The balance of power would most logically fall to the dark side since all good is balanced with evil while evil remains pure. “But evil can’t do what good can do, Octavia.” Eyn’s voice fills the room. My heart flicks as my head snaps up to see him standing in the corner of the dark room. His hood is pulled over his broken horn. The metal thud of his metal leg and the clink of metal on metal echoes from his metallic wings resonate through the room as he limps toward me. “What do we have?” I ask in a whisper. “Friendship, love, and companionship. Will you ever see an Element of Harmony lying like you two are, intertwined in body and mind? No. They will not work together because distrust fills their hearts. As they are more powerful than us, if we stand together, good can beat parts of evil.” He stops. “I’m sure it is hard to believe that balance exists, but there is good everywhere.” “It doesn’t add up.” I speak. “If all evil and all good were to clash on the battlefield, there would be a perfect conversion of life to death. They are balanced more than anypony could imagine. More than Starswirl could have guessed, more than Quorra anticipated, and they paid the price for it. Even during the primordial creation of the magical powers of good and evil, of harmony and disharmony, the balance existed. I made it physical. I made it a super power. I made it something for war.” Eyn lowered his head. “Evil will one day see that they have the power to come together and use Disharmony Magic.” I glare at the alicorn in front of me, wishing he were gone. “Why me?” I ask. “You will see in time.” Eyn spoke turning back toward the corner. “How much time?” Eyn cocks his head back to me. “Tomorrow.” He limps back towards the dark corner. I watch as questions burn inside of my head, a heat that I couldn’t let fester. “Wait.” I speak, causing him to stop in his tracks and turn back to me. “What do you require, Octavia?” His voice drops to solemn tone. “Do you still love her?” His eyes narrow before he turns away and continues walking. “I never stopped… and I never will.” He vanishes without a trace before the sensation of the world beginning to move around me resumes. “Did you say something, Tavi?” Vinyl asks, turning onto her back playfully. “I hummed. Tomorrow will be quite the adventurous time won’t it?” “It is going to be so awesome. You, me, and a giant laser light show for these stuff- I mean gentlecolts.” “Did you finish all of the panels?” I ask. “I made enough to cover the entire main concert hall. The whole back will be a light show that would make the spectra of Celestia to pale in comparison.” “This will be the first time I’ve seen a meshing of classical style with techno style.” “Don’t worry about it. They will be blown away and we’ll get a standing ovation. You will have your roses thrown at you and I will have my collection of underwear and glow sticks.” Vinyl laughs at her own joke. “It will be nice to get my career back on track. This lull in performances has been grinding at my hooves.” I grind my hooves together as I say it. “How radical would it be if we were to dress you up in a ton of bandages and then they fall off as you pay, a rebirth of your skin and a rebirth of your career?” She mentions. “Like a mummy pony from the ancient times. Think about it. It would blow their minds.” She laughs with her idea. I review her idea in my mind, fumbling it through the realm of possibility, but it felt off and it didn’t feel like me. I want it to be me, the old me. The lights dance on the ceiling from a nearby aquarium that I had missed when we had entered. I enjoy their silhouettes and the closeness of Vinyl. I needed her with me, as a friend and more when I needed it. Selfish tendencies still arose and commanded me to act in the ways of old, but I have been opening up thanks to Vinyl’s pestering. I tolerated her until I saw that those things that I disliked about her, those things that annoyed me the most were complete fabrications. I had built myself up. I worked under assumptions. I had made her more annoying. The most vivid memory of my past would always return, her defending my cello because I had asked her to. A pony, a mare of hedonism and selfish acts, a mare that didn’t understand volume control, became one of my greatest friends. While my other friends from Canterlot vanished, forgotten because of my lack of presence among their fancy dress parties. Instead, Vinyl introduced me to Ditsy, Lyra, and Bonbon. I had already known of Doctor. She was a mare of her word, protecting her friends while at the same time enjoying life to the sound of a bass cannon. I envied her on certain days, mainly during a bad gig or the lost appreciation of the classical tones, an ever-growing disease in this day and age. I considered her music popular, but I considered it mainstream and just riding the gravy train while real artists struggled, having to deal with the high expectations of higher living. Then I listened to her trance songs. The rhythmic overlays of piano harmonies with strings built on soft, soothing electric pads. She didn’t have a symphony behind her, but she had records and creativity. I drift off to sleep before I could answer her, more absorbed in my own thoughts. Eyn’s thoughts overtake mine with his voice preaching to my brain. “This is the end of my life. This is the part where I die.” His voice echoed. Familiar blackness to the glittering pinhole, the smell of smoke and fire fill my nostrils as I feel the familiar sensation of claustrophobia. Eyn’s head lifts as destruction crashes around him. He lifts his head as the feeling of his restraints fall loosely around from him. Looking around slowly, Eyn’s heart burned with hatred and vengeance as he hopped off of the gurney. “The gates are open for you, sir.” One of the guards said. “Yes sir, and no injuries were sustained.” The other spoke. “Everything is going,” One started. “To plan…” The other finished. Eyn smiled to himself as he let those words ring in his ears to the beat of crackling fire. “Fight without consequence. We will not make it out of here alive; then again, we no longer exist in the hearts and minds of those of this realm. You are traitors, and I am a war criminal, both punishable by death, best to go out with a bang.” Eyn spoke. “I apologize for what I am doing.” “We support you, Eyn. You weren’t the only one who lost family from the North. We just ask that you let us be free from pain.” One of the guards spoke. Eyn’s heart snapped slightly at what the stallion had said. “Don’t worry… I have shut your pain receptors off.” Deep down I knew he was lying, but I couldn’t quite place a hoof on what the truth was. One of the guards placed his hoof above a fire to make sure and the truth burned quickly into my mind. Eyn hadn’t shut their receptors off, but instead he transferred any and all pain to himself. His hoof dug into the dirt before he pushed the guards hoof from the fire. “Physical damage will still stay and burnt skin can be bothersome to move.” Eyn reasoned, hiding the true reason to his actions. Distant screams were heard inside of the wooden palisades of a forest fortress within the Everfree. He looked back on briefly and I recognized the sight of the mountains in the distance. It couldn’t be here. As he turned back toward the fortress, the surrounding scenery of mountains began to fit. He was standing where the crater was where I had fallen, where Eyn had been abandoned. This is where it happens. My heart stood still as he entered the encampment. Instantly, through the blankets of black billowing smoke from the burning battlements, a battalion of Griffins lunged out and attacked the group. The two guards in the group jumped quickly out of the way of the first attack, pulling their weapons from their sheaths and quickly dispatching of two griffins as Eyn covered the area in illusions that appeared at random. The illusions took the form of zombified ponies wearing the common garb of the Northern Fields. Eyn stared at his random creation, knowing he couldn’t pin point any of his magic except if they were right next to him. The illusions managed to frighten a few of the griffins that had been at the slaughter. They swing frantically at the illusions, which faded from view as their heads fell from their shoulders. These griffins quickly met the cold steal of the royal guards that worked in unison and with utmost efficiency. The griffins tried to fight back, but I watched as Eyn walked forward, the griffins would cringe and block their eyes, dropping their guard just as a smear of blood would erupt from where their heads used to be. I could feel the magical effort taking its toll quickly on Eyn as he stumbled, the bandages on his leg beginning to unravel as pain coursed through his broken horn. With his current amount of effort being drained he would only make it barely thirty steps into the complex before collapsing from exhaustion. A pain filled his flank as he turned to one of the royal guards. He had an arrow in his flank from a nearby archer. Eyn’s limited magic left him only a simple choice. He grabbed what he could around him and shot it towards the archer in more of a shotgun like spray, hoping to score at least something on the archer. A metal disc managed to slam into the griffin’s beak, sending him toppling over the wall, landing on the other side in a dull thud. The two guards danced around them in their unison of attacks, finishing off the griffins that the other had just left wounded. Slowly but surely I saw their faces, identical. “For the Northern Fields, brother!” One yelled as he kicked a griffin with his metal boot, the other stabbing his sword into the beast’s skull, turning it sharply as its claw twitched from the brain firing off the last of the neurons. It sickened me, but I was forced to watch Eyn’s advance through the encampment before I voice broke from the darkness. “How did I know that you wouldn’t come quietly?” Cracked the voice of King Cruel. Eyn turned to see the dreaded Element of Cruelty jumping from the burning palisades onto the ground, joined by his own royal guards. “Where is your witch Quorra, Cruel?” Eyn asked. His countenance tightened from his words. “She has her own interests in the one called Starswirl. They have both vanished from my view, but it is of no interest to me. I have you.” He smirked with a dark satisfaction. “At least it makes it fair.” Eyn commented. “Fair? Oh how wrong you are, Eyn Spyyr. Fire!” He bellowed. A wall of fire arrows shot forth from the smoke. Eyn tried to erect a field, but it came out broken and wavy, knocking only a few completely away, but leaving plenty to rain down on them. A collection of pain covered Eyn’s body, yet no arrow had hit him. The royal guards stepped in front of Eyn with arrows sticking out of their bodies. They stared angrily at King Cruel before raising their weapons and charging. Eyn’s heart leapt from his chest to try and stop them in their suicide run, but they had already managed to strike down the two royal guards on Cruel’s sides. A dark energy fell out of Cruel’s claws as he tore them across the air, grabbing the closest of the royal guard’s necks tearing him around in a circle pinning him to the ground, the claw gripping around his throat. The other brother attacked quickly to save his brother, but Cruel’s other claw rose up and a dark cloud shot from it, hitting him square in the face. Eyn screamed out in pain as he fell onto his front legs, trying to see the battle through the tears running down his burning face and shoulders. The other brother broke from the cloud, his helmet and some of his skin falling from his face as he let out a roar of defiance, sending a blade through King Cruel’s front claw. The griffin bellowed with pain before pulling his claw sideways, dragging the weak brother to the side, throwing him into a nearby collection of wooden weapon racks. The other brother kicked his assailant’s ribs, loosening his grip just enough to escape the cold clutches, a large burnt spot on his throat. “Marks!” The burnt neck brother yelled. Three weapons shot from the rack toward the Fallen King who managed to deftly dodge them. “Get him, Kicks!” Roared the raspy voice of a pony on the verge of death. He threw a circle blade at him as his final act before crumbling to the ground, gasping for breath. Cruel caught the blade in his claws just as Kicks arrived in front of him, delivering a powerful kick to his chest. A small drip of blood slipped from his lip, the powerful kick doing more damage than what could be seen on the surface. “Weak griffin body!” King Cruel yelled as he lunged quickly at kicks, looping his head around the blade and pulling it slowly, staring into Eyn’s eyes as he did so. Eyn quivered with pain as he felt a sharp pain cut along his neck. Kicks tried to kick Cruel as he cut him, but his legs turned limp as his body hit the ground, the head followed soon after. “I have to give you that one. You hired quite the welcoming party.” He coughed up blood before wiping it off onto his claw, pulling the blade out from his claw with his beak. “But two ponies can’t stop an army…” Cruel lunged quickly at Eyn, using Eyn’s weakness to his advantage, pushing him to the ground, kicking his back foot against the broken remnants of his horn. Eyn fell with a pain that I only felt a minute amount of. In his disoriented state he tried to flap his wings to regain his footing and to escape Cruel’s grasp, but a sharp grip quickly wrapped around his feathers and pulled them sharply together. “You are basically a pegasus, but let’s make you an Earth Pony…” Cruel growled as he pulled the ring blade back on the bottom stalks on his wings. At first they only cut into him, but a sudden jerk and the dull sickening crack of the bones in his wing cracking wracked his body. “You had me going for a second there. I could have sworn you had me beat with your collection of vengeance hungry royal guards, but seeing you cringe at each of their injuries only left you weaker in the end.” He cackled before he pulled the blade once more, the right wing falling to the ground beside him. Eyn’s body twitched with pain as he yelled out, trying to roll away from the blade, but his left wing slowly joined the other as Cruel chuckled to himself, jumping from Eyn’s back. “Truly pitiful. Look at you. A proper prince, one that wanted revenge and you attacked my complex with only two guards. What did you hope to achieve?” “Oversight.” Eyn whispered through the pain. “Wha-“ Cruel began to ask before a dull sickening tearing of flesh filled the air. A metal sword broke from his chest, spraying Eyn’s face with black blood, but the shocked expression on Cruel’s face said it all. The griffin turned to see the nearly faceless and dying royal guard fall slowly backward from him. Marks managed to speak one last word before his head fell limply to the side. “Thanks…” Marks fell limply to the side as the side of his face collapsed into a black dust. “You think this is the end of me!” He turned back to Eyn. The skin on Cruel began to burn with red flames revealing a black body underneath of the griffin. The shape was unfamiliar, a species that was not of this world. Red eyes pierced into Eyn’s as he approached him with a gruelingly slow pace. The sword that had been stabbed through his back remained. A strange set of magic filled the area around Eyn, but I couldn’t quite place what he was creating amid the pain and the fury of anger coursing through him. A wall of light began to emerge around him as he slowly managed to climb to his feet. “This is the end of you and all of your cruelty.” Eyn closed his eyes. “I will be joining you my brothers.” A wall of concentrated heat began to circular around Eyn. “Don’t you dar-“ Were the last words I heard of King Cruel as a deafening explosion surrounded me, but I felt no pain on Eyn’s behalf. Instead, I felt him sigh with relief as he was lifted from the ground, the explosion growing larger, louder, and brighter. Blackness and peace filled Eyn’s heart as I felt him begin to drift from this world, but a sudden image of Luna appeared and his eyes snapped open. He lay on the end of a giant crater made in the center of the woods, the entire forest encampment gone along with King Cruel. Eyn stared at the spot for a few seconds before he pulled the bandage off of his back, the charred remains of his Element of Kindness. He stared at it as he repeated the same line to himself over and over again. “Don’t come back… don’t come back… don’t come back.” The corner of the necklace began to guild over again. Eyn’s legs buckled as he fell onto his knees, the dust cloud filling the sky from where he had destroyed the encampment. I listened to his thoughts as he answered the whys and the hows. His plan of stimulating the Element of Kindness, breaking its prison and letting forth the full magical force within its confined necklace state, a magical release that had only spared a single survivor who stood on its precipice. “What have you done?” Celestia’s voice broke the new windswept wasteland left over from the explosion. Eyn turned slowly toward her, barely able to speak. He turned back to the giant crater where his necklace said. The old King Cruel was somehow still alive. “How is he still alive?” Eyn asked in dull amazement. “What did you do?” Celestia yelled louder as she emerged out of the dust. Eyn turned back just to see another form emerge as well. “Luna…” “Are you even listening to me?” Celestia’s face changed to shock as Eyn’s condition came into view. Blood had dried against his white coat as he limped toward the two sisters in a blind stupor. The bandage on his leg had fallen off, opening the old torture wound on his leg causing fresh blood to drip onto the ground at each step. His eyes were glazed with dizziness from blood loss, but he pressed forward, snapping onto Luna as he continued to press forward despite the rising pain where his horn used to be. A shattered mirror was enough to show Eyn what I could see, my own apparition outside of his body and looking down at the scene. It was the only sight he could have seen to stop his advance. His eyes flashed with shock as he stared at the dirty and scared body. His hair was caked with blood and dirt that had flown into it leaving it clumped into dirty patches sprouting from his head. His horn, still cracked had a fresh coat of blood dripping from around the base from when he had used it to activate the Element of Kindness necklace, causing its magic to directly touch King Cruel. The result was the blinding explosion leaving only the holder of the element left alive. The resulting explosion leveled a large section of the forest leaving a high-lipped crater in its wake. The resulting dust cloud still hung heavily over the landscape leaving only Celestia, Luna, and Eyn. “Aren’t I a mess?” Eyn coughed jokingly, trying to smile after not for so long. “Now… I’d like my kingdom back.” He breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Your kingdom? You have no kingdom. You assassinated the griffin king when we were assured peace. You blew a hole our forest. You get nothing!” Celestia yells as she walks past him and stares at the gigantic crater left over. Eyn stares blankly as she passes him, devoid of the happiness he had just felt, yet a smile cracked on his face. Slowly he began chuckling before it evolved into a harder and harder laugh. It only wracked him with more pain as he laughed harder and harder. He turned quickly to her as tears fell from his eyes. “Why not? I destroyed a great evil of this land, one that would have dethroned you and your sister. They would have cut off your head and stuck it up on a pole as they raped Luna. Their king was a monster that didn’t want anything to do with peace. He wanted power and you stood in his way. I saved you and I want my kingdom back, that is all.” Eyn smiled at her, less in the sense of being happy, and more in the sense of losing his grip on his psyche. “You deserve only the execution you were sent here to have. You have wrecked our relations with the griffins with this act. We could have had peace, but you ruined it.” Celestia turned angrily at Eyn. “How could you do this? Why couldn’t you let your hatred for griffins die down, let it fade away before you went off and did this? What will they think of us?” Celestia continued to stammer off as she stared at Eyn. “Sister, I-“ Luna began. “Will you defend this heathen that courted you without the knowledge of our parents. We are restricted to having any affiliations with the common folk.” Celestia sneered as she focused her attention back on Eyn. “You made him that way. He was a prince, until you made that backroom deal with the griffins.” Luna defended Eyn. “So are you on his side now? I have to deal with all of the inner workings of this kingdom now that Mom and Dad are dead. Do you know what that means? Everyone expects me to raise the sun every morning and to cast my healing and beneficial light on everyone as I try to keep our borders safe.” “I have to raise the moon. I have the same problems as you.” Luna retorted. “Same problems? You have nothing of the sort. What do you have to deal with, sleeping ponies? You bring the night when no ponies are active. You bring the night to give everypony a break from my light so they can wake up early to my light and grow their crops in my light. I bring life to this land. I keep the order.” Celestia stammers, annoyed. “What are you saying, Celestia? I thought we had harmony.” Luna’s eyes began to crack with tears. “Are you saying I only bring death since you bring life?” Luna asked. “Luna, I didn’t mean-“ Celestia’s words caught up to her as she tried to hustle back on what she said. “Listen to her Luna. Listen to her lie to you.” Eyn spoke, staring blankly off to space. “Shut up, Eyn.” Celestia’s attention snapped quickly to Eyn. “Just listen to her trying to silence the truth from us. I wonder how much more ill feelings she has for you. Maybe she wants to eventually take over your job, hold all the power and give all the life and happiness to everyone.” “She wouldn’t…” Luna’s cheeks were moistened as tears fell from her eyes. “Just look how she threw me under the train. Look at how she tossed her good friend away. I was getting in the way. I was making you too powerful so that you would be on par with her power quickly. She didn’t like our love and she knew she couldn’t have me. Look at me now; I’m broken and hideous. I’m completely useless, but you are still strong and I am still alive. We can still live together without the evils of corruption and power.” Eyn reasoned. “Eyn, don’t make me.” Celestia’s horn shimmered brilliantly. “Still trying to silence me. She’s infected with an Element of Disharmony, Luna. Greedy, Luna. She is being greedy.” Eyn cried out to her, limping forward to Luna, past Celestia. “Don’t touch my sister… I’m warning you.” Celestia’s voice shook as her own tears began to fall. “You believe me, Luna. You have to believe me. I’ve seen what these Elements can do to ponies. I know they are in her. I also know they are-“ Eyn’s speech is broken off as a yell from Celestia is heard. Eyn turns to her just as a wall of light envelops him. A blast of stone and rock fills the air in the already dusty scene. As it heavier particles settle a smear of blood along with Eyn’s lifeless body rested on the ground, his right front leg blown off. Blood pooled quickly around him from his wounds. His face was badly burned, his eyes still open, white with blindness from the light. No breath escaped his lungs, but his magic could still play the scene for me. Luna stared at the scene in shock, the sky quickly turning dark as the moon rose over the land. Metal armor began to materialize as a dark energy crept up from the land and around her as she began to shake with anger. Turning to Celestia, her eyes had narrowed into tiny slits. “Why did you kill him?” She asked. “I just-“ Celestia stared in shock at the scene. “You wanted to hold me back. You wanted him for yourself. I loved him, Celestia!” Her voice began to rise as her hair whipped into a longer mane of stars and space as she shot her own blast of energy at Celestia, ripping the ground away from where she was standing. The force was enough to cause the white alicorn to scuff her face as she fell sideways, sliding along the loose dirt. “Luna! Listen to me.” Celestia pleaded. “My name is Nightmare Moon…” She growled as she shot another wall of force at Celestia. “Every day will be night and I will have all the power to myself.” “Luna… don’t make me-“ “Kill me? You’ll kill me just as you killed Eyn?” “No… I couldn’t kill my own sister.” Celestia cried. “Yet you could kill one of your friends!” “He wasn’t himself anymore. He wanted to hurt us.” “He still spoke like Eyn, and looked like Eyn. He even sounded like Eyn. Only you seem to be the one who is talking differently.” “Listen to yourself, Luna.” “The name is Nightmare Moon!” She screamed as a blast of concentrated energy erupted from her horn. A dark shadow crept around her form and easily passed through her barrier and climbed up her hooves, casting her body in a pure darkness, narrowing her eyes. “He was right… He-“ Celestia stuttered in disbelief turning to the broken and dead body of her friend, Eyn Spyyr. “Why didn’t I listen to him?” In a fit of rage, Nightmare Moon lunged at Celestia, locking horns as her magic exploded off of a nearby tree. Their horns locked as Celestia gritted her teeth, trying to defend herself against the corrupted Luna. “I’m sorry, Luna, but it must be done.” Celestia’s horn exploded with light as Nightmare Moon leaped backward defensively, blocking her eyes from the blinding light. “What are you doing?” Luna groaned as she turned into the light, a wall of darkness dividing the light around her, protecting her eyes. Before she could attack again, a purple blast of light exploded toward her, ripping up the ground and compressing Luna into a tiny point, her screams dwindling along with her size until she snapped from existence. “I banish you to the moon for one thousand years…” Celestia spoke to herself as she collapsed to the ground. “I’m sorry…” Tears streamed off of her face as she turned to the lifeless body of Eyn. Her eyes scanned out to the empty wind swept fields of the destruction of the crater. “I’m all alone…” Tears fell from her face as she rose to her head to the moon, her mouth falling open as she realized all that had happened. “I had no choice, Luna… no choice…” She cried. She walks slowly to Eyn’s body, a few strands on his head blowing in the quiet, unsettling breeze of the scene. A large burn stretched across his face along both of his eyes. She stood over him. She wasn’t angry. Instead, she appeared to grieve. “What happened to us, Eyn? Why did I…?” She stuttered with the word, unable to say it as her voice cracked and fresh tears cleaned the collecting dirt from her cheeks. I watch, as a dark shadow that I had assumed was Celestia’s shadow dissolve from view in the ground. Eyn’s leg twitched before his horn cracked with a spark and a wall of magic exploded from him, his body fell apart into ashes. Celestia flinched at the sight before the wall of magic exploded toward her. Eyn’s disembodied laughter filled the air as it touched her nose. A blank expression flashed through her eyes before she snapped out of view through a teleport, a large shield exploded from the distance before it vanished from view. The ash swirled in the wind, creating a basic outline of a pony mimicking Eyn. His body re-emerged on the ground before it was lifted and placed inside of the crater by his own magic. The shadowy form of Eyn’s head rotated slowly until it stared directly at me. Its mouth cracked open as a loud horn erupted from it. I sit up quickly in my bed, the alarm beside my bed blaring with the same horn that erupted from Eyn’s shadowy mouth. The separation of dream world fantasy and real history of Eyn’s death clouded together. My body is covered in a cold sweat as I jump out of the bed and walked over to the window. The feelings of being watched, the feeling of having a second party within my head, vanished as I stared out the window, the morning sun rising. I watch the scenery in front of me for an amount of time I cared nothing for. The mere act of living gained an insurmountable degree of value. Breath entered my lungs, fresher than ever. The smells of the flowers in the room, delivered while I slept filled the room. Another deep breath and I catch another smell. I turn back to the bed and see the other side harboring a white unicorn with electric blue hair. A small smile cracks my cheeks as I stare at her softly. “They will all remember me soon enough.” I spoke. I imagined Eyn saying it with me. I wouldn’t back down from my concert, and I knew Eyn had planned on it. Could all of it be prevented with a simple word of disappointment? I could just walk away, ruin his plans, and keep the princess’s safe by my sudden and rude departure of the biggest show that any pony could wish for. No pony except Vinyl would know of my sacrifice, but even then she would be annoyed at my decision. The other’s who don’t know about it would enjoy feasting upon my corpse for years to come, my career forever ruined. I trot to my cello and straighten my back. After all that I have seen, I had to step over the line and join Eyn. I’m sure that was his plan by forcing me to watch his memories. I’m sure I am only a pawn in his plans, no matter how degrading it is. I do this for the lost Northern Fields. I think Eyn is right. Everyone needs to remember. Nothing felt right anymore; then again I am only the entertainment for tonight.