Epilogue Unending

“Now, before we move forward you must understand that a name is not just a series of letters that is associated with an individual as it is with you mortals. A name to my brothers and sisters carries with it the essence or rather, what you mortals would call the spirit. It is the thread that binds our consciousness to both the heavens as well as the earth below. For immortals, it is the true form expressed.

Up until my naming, none of my sisters or brothers had thought it even possible to claim a name for themselves. It had always been Grandfather that had given us form. For me to claim a name as my own was blasphemy. It marked me as something foreign to the Nexus, something new. Perhaps had I known what my existence would change, create, and ultimately destroy, I may have willingly returned to the dreamless sleep. But at the time I was filled with life. The young do not think in the context of “we, the group” but rather they think of “I, the individual;” I wanted to live.”

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Silence… silence as thick as the mist that formed the hallowed halls carried across the Fade and echoed throughout the outstretched arms of Grandfather’s crown.

As I spoke the last syllable my essence shot out, momentarily disturbing the Nexus’ form, scattering it back into the Fade.

My body, for that’s what my essence now encompassed, felt as if it was fueled by liquid fire. I could barely contain myself within its bounds. Like an ill fit garment, my aura barely managed to abide by its newly formed constraints. Yet, despite this, I was more then I was. I existed. I was now part of the song. The verse, once spoken, could not be made undone.

I opened my newly formed eyes. The pain of my corporeal birth was immense. Every fiber of my being was screaming for me to make it stop. I looked down at my forelimbs, sinew stretched across bone, knitting together to make, contort and strengthen. My throat burned as my vocal cords matured and my chest heaved as my lungs took in their first breath. What followed was a roar that carried with it a declaration of pain, fear, joy, and triumph. It was the first note to my song; a song that spoke of upheaval and change.

Hemera was the first to react to the twisted sight that greeted the hall. She rushed over to me and looked into my eyes, their amber color reflecting into that of her ocean blue.

“My child, what have you done?! “She asked, pain marring her beautiful face.

I rose; my legs shook as I attempted to put weight on the shifting mass of sinew and bone that was still finding its shape beneath my sweat-coated fur.

“If discord is all that my sisters and brothers see me as, then I shall take it as mine!” I cried out, looking across the silent mass that filled the halls. Family, was that what they were? At first, I had thought the word fit but, like me, it had now taken a different form. They, who would deprive me of life; they were not family!

A new emotion stirred in me, anger.

Hemera reached out, her forehoof connecting with my paw.

“You are so much more my little spark, surely you must know that you are more than… this!”

“I am only what my brothers and sisters made me. They, who rather than joining in celebrating my birth, sought to instead oversee my wake! They are no brothers and sisters of mine!”

My aura heated the air around me. Fueled by my anger, I stood tall.

There was sudden movement from the right and left as Grandfather’s roots outstretched and circled around me, binding me in place.

“He is not of us and cannot be allowed to exist. His form is an abomination that must be torn asunder.” Grandfather’s voice echoed through the halls.

My aura shot out across Grandfathers branches as I attempted to free myself from the vice grip of the tree’s massive roots. However, Grandfather’s presence was insurmountable; I was a drop of water in comparison to his ocean.

The tree’s roots began devouring both my form and soul. The pain I felt at that moment is indescribable.

As I lost focus, my mind wondered to that of Black, Blue, Indigo, and orange.  The sky would never greet me. The night would never whisper to me of its secrets. In those last moments I thought of Hera. Why did I feel like I knew her, knew of her sky?

I looked out at the current of auras that showed across the Nexus’ halls. They all shied away from me, all but one. Hera’s indigo, blue, orange shown like a beacon. Our eye’s met and from them I saw fear, panic, anger and recognition.

From the sea of her fellow sisters and brothers she stepped forward. Her essence flashed out, and joined with mine. How do I describe to you Twilight what I felt? The moment our aura’s made contact I knew that I had always known of her sky just as she had always known me by whatever name I went by.

What I felt was like what you mortals would refer to as déjà vu, only stronger. Her presence on me was as powerful as mother’s song and through her I found an aspect of myself; I found my spark.

Grandfather was shocked by the presence of another aura intermingling. Rather than fighting Grandfather’s current, I road it all the way to the six primary branches of his crown and from those branches I tore the Laylines out from Grandfather’s essence and drew them into myself.

The Fade itself cried out and my sister’s and brother’s joined with it. At that moment, I had doomed them. Through my childish act I had brought about the mass murder of my entire family and destroyed my home. Twilight, How can I… how can I convey to you what I felt at that moment? In protecting myself I unmade them. It is unforgivable.

Grandfather’s roots crumbled and released me. A shockwave erupted from Grandfather’s trunk, sending Hera, Hemera and myself flying away from the epicenter.

The tree began collapsing in on itself, its roots and branches twisting into a mangled, grotesque macerate of its former splendor. The hall of the Nexus began to crumble as the Fade began folding in on itself. My sister’s and brother’s in their fear began to evacuate the Nexus halls in an attempt to find area of the Fade that was safe from the catastrophe; it was all for naught in the end, nowhere was safe.

Hemera looked to Hera and then to me, “Hera, Discord you must leave here quickly.”

“What have I done!? I’ve doomed them!” I shouted

Hera looked out across the field as the fade steadily moved inward. The auras of my brothers and sisters blowing out like candles as they were devoured by the Fade’s absence.

“There is still time, you and Hera are connected to the six paths, you two can traverse the fade and find path through.”  Hemera nudged Hera forward.

Hera looked away from the Fade’s collapse and turned to Hemera.

“What about you?”

“My connection to the Six Paths was severed by Grandfather’s death, I cannot follow.” Hemera said

“Mother, I… I only wanted to live and be part of the song…” I said

“Shush, my little flame, all this has happened before and will happen again. You are the flame that brings with it a new Dawn. I was glad I was the one to sing of your Song.” Hemera brought her head over to mine and placed her kiss, and to me, her last blessing upon my brow.

“Go now children,  the end approaches and with it, a new beginning…”