A New Life

Chapters

Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1: 4010 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)
Chapter 2: A New Day
Chapter 3: Lesson Plan
Chapter 4: The Truth
Chapter 5: Face To Face
Chapter 6: Refugees
Chapter 7: To be King
Chapter 8: Village Life Begins
Chapter 9: First Contact
Chapter 10: An Endless Gift
Chapter 11: Magic Lessons
Chapter 12: Interstellar Truth
Chapter 14: Royal Birthday
Chapter 15: Defenses
Chapter 16: Unusual Love
Chapter 17: Learning to Hurl
Chapter 19: Happiest Day
Chapter 20: Something New, Something Old
Chapter 21: Unexpected Company
Chapter 22: Gusty the Great
Chapter 23: Warning About the Future
Interlude 1: Time Goes On
Chapter 24: Development
Chapter 25: True Chaos
Chapter 26: Eternal Night- Sister vs. Sister
Chapter 27: Therapy Session
Chapter 28: Into the Cyber Realm
Chapter 29: Breaching the Threshold
Chapter 30: Between Life and Death
Chapter 31: Prophecy
Chapter 32: Innovations
Chapter 33: Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3
Interlude 2: Progression and Progress
Chapter 34: The Best, Possible, Thing
Chapter 35: Temporal Phenomenon
Chapter 36: The Nature of Things
Chapter 37: Where No Deer Has Gone Before
Chapter 38: Face To Face 2- The Truth Shall Set You Free
Chapter 39: Memories of Midnight Storm
Chapter 40: Memories of Mania Blitz
Chapter 41: Memories of Azure Iris
Chapter 42: Return of The Lunar Moon- Part 1
Chapter 43: Return of The Lunar Moon- Part 2
Interlude 3: Observations
Chapter 44: Some Kind of Love
Chapter 45: True Chaos 2- Part 1
Chapter 46: True Chaos 2- Part 2
Chapter 47: Ascension
Chapter 48: The Return of Harmony
Chapter 49: A Bright Future Part 1- The Past
Chapter 13: Story Time
Chapter 18: Revelations

Prologue

I should probably start with an introduction, shouldn't I?

Ok, my name is Lugh. It's not the name I was born with, but I've been called Lugh for so long it might as well be. Normally, stories start with something happy, but this is sadly not the case with me. My story starts with my death.

You see, a long long time ago, in the year 2100, I had just turned 98 years old, an impressive accomplishment even for the future. I had gone to see my doctor for my checkup, just like I did every year. Unfortunately, that's when I got the bad news.

I was slowly dying.

Soon after receiving this news, I had a brilliant Idea. I called up and old friend of mine who specialized in neuro-technology and asked him for help.

What was my idea? I was going to upload my mind to my personal data server at my house.

The process of uploading brains to computers was first developed in 2065, but it was quickly decided that It was too dangerous to release to the public. The risks of losing memories or altering personalities were too much they said, but I decided that it was worth the risk if it meant that my knowledge would be safe forever. My friend was one of the scientists that worked on the original project back then, so I knew I was In good hands.

I took nearly 2 years for me to gather all of the necessary technology to complete the procedure, and during that time my health had begun declining at a constant rate. My family was worried during my 100th birthday, saying that I could pass away any day now. That's when I knew that we had to do the procedure as soon as possible.

To tell you the truth, I don't remember much about the procedure itself. What I do remember though is seeing glimpses of the otherworld from Celtic Druidism while my brain was being transferred.

The next thing I remember, I woke up Inside my house's data server. Once my friend confirmed the process was complete, he ran tests for the next hour to make sure everything was transferred correctly. The upload had worked perfectly, nothing was left behind. After that, we discussed what to do next, and we both agreed that it would be best to keep my existence a secret to all but my family.

After that, life went on as normally as it could. Of course, I didn't need to eat, drink, or breath anymore, but I became dependent on electricity to make sure I kept going. Because everyone knows what happens to a computer when it suddenly looses power. As the years passed by, technology got better and better, so I started adding that new technology to my house.

However, in 2200, Nuclear war broke out, wiping out most of human life on the planet. After which, the radiation caused by the hydrogen bombs finished off the humans while at the same time mutating all of the animals, giving them higher levels of intelligence over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. Some species even developed language and society.

Meanwhile, plant life on earth began to grow out of control without people to cut them back. A forest grew around where my house was, but with a few alterations, I would be able to stay active for millions of years. After 500 thousand years, I was starting to get bored, and lonely. But one faithful day, all of that would change.

Author's Note

I decided to redo the prologue because I knew I could do it better. Hope you like it.

Prologue

Chapter 1: 4010 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Act 1: A New Beginning

After a long time of being on my own, 4010 years before the present day, I heard a knocking on my door, a young doe had come to my house seeking shelter, I could tell from my cameras that she was gravely wounded.

“Hello?” Said the doe,” is anyone here? I need help, I got injured during the invasion, and I hoped you could help heal me.”

While she was talking, explaining that she was had escaped one of Grogar’s invasions, I was scanning her. On one hand, I was relieved that I could finally talk to someone else, on the other, I was worried for her condition. So, I finally decided to respond.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen someone else.”

“Oh good, someone lives here, can you open the door, I need help.”

“Sure, please come in.”

So, I opened my door to let her in, she was a young doe, about 15 years old, she was the lightest shade of brown, with darker brown on her back and head and white on her lower parts, unfortunately, her entire lower half was stained by blood. As she walked in, she seemed amazed and confused at the same time. After looking around for a minute or 2, she decided to lie down on the couch, Then I decided to ask something that had been on my mind.

“Why are you out here in the middle of the woods, especially in your condition?”

“I had no choice,” she said,”My entire village was wiped out by Grogar, I tried to run away, but I was impaled by his blade before I could. When he left after his conquest, I tried to make it to another village, but I was too tired, too hungry, and getting weaker by the moment. That’s when I came across this house.”

After hearing her story, I was shocked, she had survived against all odds and come across this house by pure chance, if she hadn’t found this place, she would have died.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, of course I can help you.”

“Thank you, thank you so much.”

Then she sat up and looked around, confused.

“Where are you, I can hear you, but I can’t see you?”

“Oh, sorry I forgot, one moment.”

Then I activated circuits I haven’t used In thousands of years, after a long long time, I cracked the secret to magic, I built an artificial unicorn horn and attached it to my computer body, with it, I could do magic. So, I conjured up an organic form, one that I could control with my magic, and be able to see and hear and feel, a deer similar to her, about 25 years old in appearance. With a beautiful golden glow, I started to take shape in front of her. She was shocked at first, but when I finally appeared, her eyes widened.

“Whoa, is that magic?”

“Yes, it is magic, I thought I’d show myself since you asked where I was.”

“That’s so amazi-“ she couldn’t finish her sentence and went into a coughing fit, even managing to cough up blood.

“Oh no, don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

With a wave of my hoof, medical tools and scanners appear from the wall. I then lifted her up and placed her on the living room table covered by a blanket, immediately initiating a medical scan. The scan detected internal bleeding and cut blood vessels. With the expertise I gathered after I downloaded the internet before the war, I quickly sealed the blood vessels back together and closed up the chest wound.

After about 2 hours, she was in stable condition and was resting on the couch. I took a huge sigh of relief knowing that she would live.

“Thank you,” she said weakly,”thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem.”

“How long will I have to stay here?” Asked the young doe after looking at her bandages.

“You’ll have to stay in bed for a few days to heal, but you’ll be fully healed in about 3 weeks.”

“Ok, by the way, I never got your name.”

“Oh, I haven’t used my birth name in years, but you can call me Lugh, what’s your name little one?”

“My name is Maple, after the tree.”

“What a nice name.”

”Thank you.”

“Anyway, its about time for you to go to bed, we’ll talk more it the morning.”

“Ok, goodnight Lugh.”

“Goodnight Maple.”

I then canceled the spell, returning to my computer body. As I spent the night watching Maple, making sure she was ok, I was confused about how she could have survived.

“She was stabbed through the chest with a blade, how could she have made it this far into the forest?”

Eventually, I went into sleep mode until the morning to save power, awaiting the moment I could tell her who I really am.

Author's Note

p.s. I’ll continue this story after spring break, I’m busy with midterms right now and I’m going on a spring break trip.

Chapter 1: 4010 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Chapter 2: A New Day

Today should have started like any other day. Waking up from sleep mode, performing a system diagnostic, and checking the perimeter cameras to eventually see a wild forest animal. However, today was not a normal day, today was different, today, I was no longer alone.

Meanwhile, Maple was just starting to wake up, her eyes fluttering as she slowly sat up. She then winced a little and laid back down. As she was holding her stomach in pain, I appeared once again to greet her.

"Good morning Maple."

"Oh, good morning Lugh."

"How did you sleep?"

"Very well, my best sleep in days."

"That's good, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling better." she said, after looking at her abdomen and seeing the stitches, she spoke up. "What did you do?"

"I healed you by stitching everything back together."

"Stitching?"

"Think of it like tying 2 bits of skin back together with very tiny string, what I did was close that hole in your chest from the blade."

"Oh, ok."

"What would you like for breakfast?"

After thinking for a moment, she spoke, "Do you have any fruit?"

"One moment," I said, then I closed my body's eyes and started up the old food synthesizers in the kitchen, quickly making a bowl full of grapes, strawberries, and blueberries.

“Here,” I said, “I have some fruit right here for you.”

“Thanks.”

Then she proceeded to eat the whole bowl of fruit, acting like she hadn’t eaten in days, which she probably hasn’t. After she was done, I took the bowl back to the kitchen then came back to sit next to her.

“I still can’t thank you enough for saving my life.”

“Oh, it was nothing, I couldn’t just leave you out there, you could have died.”

“By the way, I need to go take care of something for a moment, will you be ok here?”

“Of course”, she responded.

After that, I went back to my computer body to immediately start scanning her in more detail, and when I did, I discovered a few things about her. First, her biology is almost identical to that of a human, minus the ability to digest meat. Second, did a brain scan and discovered that her IQ was off the charts, just like mine. And third, I discovered that, like me, she was near sighted. That last discovery confused me even further, because how could she have wandered all the way here, wounded, losing blood, and with blurry vision.

After making those discoveries, I thought for a moment. She has so much potential, but because she was born in her culture’s equivalent of the Bronze age, she wasn’t taught anything except how to serve a future husband. So after thinking it through, I decided to give her a proper education, to teach her everything I know, and maybe when she was older, she could help me out with my aging systems.

Once I made my decision, I appeared to her again to tell her the good news.

“Hey Maple.”

“Yes?”

“I wanted to ask, have you ever noticed that you are really smart?”

“I suppose so, I guess I understood the caretaking lessons better than my friends.”

“Well, I was thinking, and I decided to teach you everything I know, to give you a proper education.”

“Really, so I can learn what the bucks learn?”

“Even more, you will get to learn about stuff they never knew.”

“Thank you”, she said, sitting up slowly to hug me.

“You’re welcome.”

I was surprised at first, this was the first time I had been hugged or even had physical contact with someone in 500,000 years.

I liked it.

Chapter 2: A New Day

Chapter 3: Lesson Plan

Once she agreed to let me teach her, I started drawing up a lessons plan for her. Because she grew up in the human equivalent of the bronze age, I decided to start from the beginning, reading and writing. Because her village already spoke my native language of Irish Gaelic, that's what I taught her.

“First things first,” I said to Maple, sitting at a makeshift desk, “I’ll teach you how to read and write.”

Maple looked confused for a moment, and then spoke up.

“What is reading and writing?”

“Oh, sorry, I forgot, your village probably hasn’t discovered the alphabet yet.”

“The alphabet?”, she said, trying her best to pronounce the word that was new to her.

“Let me explain.”

I wrote out the full Gaelic alphabet from A to Z the turned back to face her.

“These are letters, they make up words. Think of it like preserving words forever on paper.”

“Really?”, she said with excitement.

“Yes”, I said while writing out my name, “For example, this is my name written out, see?”

She looked at the word with confusion for about a minute, then decided to speak.

“These lines mean your name?”

“Yes”, I said, “and I can teach you how to write anything you want.”

After that, The lessons began to go very well. She picked up letters and words faster than I thought, and after about a month, she fully understood The written language. However, with this came a new challenge, teaching her to write.

“This is a pencil”, I said, holding one up for her to see, “This little tool allows you to write your own words.”

Maple looked at it with childlike wonder. Now that she was fully healed from the wound she came here with, she was more eager than ever to learn.

“Here, you can use this one”, I said as I gave her the pencil. She took it in her hoof and immediately was curious.

“How do I write with this?” She asked.

“You remember the shapes of the letters and how to structure words right?”

“Yes.”

“Use the tip of the pencil to replicate the shape of the letters.”

She looked at the tip of the pencil with curiosity, then slowly, but surely, wrote out her name. It was far from perfect, and to be perfectly honest, it was somehow actually better than my own handwriting, but it was decently a good start.

“Good job”, I said, Maple looking back at me with pride, “That’s a good start, now I can teach you how to improve it.”

We then spent the rest of the day practicing writing out each letter one by one, improving her hoof writing bit by bit.

2 Months Later

“What is this?” She asked, looking at the sheet of paper I gave her.

“It’s called a test, see these words here”, I said, pointing at the words I listed on the paper, “I want you to write each of these words on the blanks beside them, that will let me know that you are good at writing.”

“Ok”, she said, getting right to it.

15 minutes later.

“I’m done”, she said, holding up the paper.

“Ok, lets see how you did.”

I then took her paper and began to look it over using my scanners. One of the perks of this body I made is that I can scan anything using only my eyes, and when I was done scanning it, I stopped, eyes opened wide. I cross referenced her writing with my data base to see how well her writing would be compared to humans. Her writing had no mistakes, even the best human writers had some mistakes, her’s was flawless, comparable to a printer.

After taking a moment to collect my thoughts, I sat up and walked over to her.

“Maple, I’m so proud of you.”

“Really.”

“This is the most perfect writing I’ve ever seen.”

“Well, I had a good teacher”, she said, proceeding to hug me.

“Thank you so much for teaching me”, she said, eyes filled with tears of joy.

“You’re welcome.”

Chapter 3: Lesson Plan

Chapter 4: The Truth

After that day, the day she surprised me, I continued to teach her all that I knew, from math and science, to physics and biology. As she continued to learn, she continued to surprise me, having near photographic memory and a very creative mind, she even helped me come up with a few new designs for inventions. I thought to myself, I could have used her in my company all those years ago.

10 Years Later

She had done it, she had graduated from my lessons. I couldn’t be more proud. I gave her an official graduation ceremony, then proceeded to hug her.

After hugging for a good 5 minutes, I decided that it was finally time, I would let her see me, the real me.

“I think you’ve earned a reward Maple.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but first, I wanted to tell you that today is my birthday.”

“Oh, well happy birthday, how old are you?”

After making a few quick calculations, I answered her.

“500,208 to be exact.”

After hearing this, her jaw dropped.

“How are you that old?!”, she screamed, but stopped when she heard what she said, “No offense.”

“None taken, the reason I’m that old is because I’m immortal.”

“Really, How?”

“It was gifted to me a long time ago. You see, before I was gifted with immortality, I was getting close to death. The people of my time were able to save me from death and make me what I am now.”

“There were others like you?”, she asked, “But my village elder taught us that there was no one else before us.”

“That’s because my people died a long time ago, I am now and forever will be the last of my kind.”

She looked scared and sad for a moment, but then asked me another question.

“How did they die?”

“They killed themselves”, I answered, “There was a war, a war that consumed the entire planet. In the end, they released the ultimate weapon, a weapon that rained fire from the sky, It killed everyone, everyone but me. After they were all gone, the magic released by the weapon sped up your evolution, accomplishing in 500,000 years what used to take millions.”

“I’m so sorry, I had no idea you were the last.”

“It’s ok, after the end, I found purpose in protecting nature, just like my ancestors did before me.”

After a minute or two of silence, I decided to continue.

“Also, I want to show you something.”

“What?”

“Me, the real me.”

“Isn’t this the real you?”

“No, I’m just using magic to give myself a physical form you can talk to, the real me is in here”, pointing to my bedroom, the room I never left.

“Why are you in there, can’t you come out?”

“Unfortunately, no, Immortality came with a price, my true form can never leave this room.”

“Why?”

“I think its best if you see for yourself.”

With that, I cancelled the spell, letting my physical form vanish in a flash of golden light. Watching with the camera outside my room, I saw her expression, she was shocked at first, but then spoke up.

“So the real you is in here?”

“Yes”, I said switching to my built in speakers, “Come on in.”

I opened my bedroom door, waiting for her to come in, and when she did, she was amazed.

Author's Note

Next chapter, Maple meets the real me.

Chapter 4: The Truth

Chapter 5: Face To Face

I switched to my personal camera to see her reaction, she was shocked to say the least.

I was just a mere collection of computer parts, wires, and an artificial horn attached to one of them, my way of doing magic. But to her, I was something alien, and I suppose I was. She then looked around my room a little bit more, it was filled with my memory banks, some old, some new, and some that people back in the 21st century would consider theoretical. I displayed my deer face on my main monitor so she would have something to look at. She then looked at me and spoke.

“This is you?” She asked with a glimmer of amazement in her eyes.

“Yes.”

“What is all of this stuff?”

“That’s a long story, but to put it simply, all of these machines contain my memories, and also the memories of all my people so they can never truly be forgotten.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“But why are you like this?”

“Because I died.”

“Died?”

“Yes, my original physical body died a long time ago, but the smartest minds of my time were able to save my memories and consciousness in this computer you see before you, this is how I survived when the rest of my people died.”

“That explains why you never eat, so you’ve been stuck here for 500,000 years?”

“Yes, I spent most of it evolving myself, trying out new experiments, new ways to store my memory, I can even do magic.”

“That’s amazing.”

“I know, it was amazing to me as well, but I also gained some abilities that even I could never have expected.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I gained the ability to see into the future. I know all the major events that are going to happen.”

“Really?”

“Yes, however, I can’t predict any small events. For example, I never could have predicted that you would come into my life. But what I can tell you is that this Grogar you told me about so long ago will meet his end.”

“He will, but my village couldn’t do anything to him.”

“They couldn’t, but when I looked into the future, I saw that an army of ponies lead by Gusty the Great will banish him using his own bell, never to return.”

“Well, that’s certainly good news. Anyway, can you tell me more about your people, and why they died?”

“Very well, my people were called humans, before they died out, they roamed every corner of the world. Unlike the many species roaming now, they were the only intelligent species in the world.

“Wouldn’t that make them lonely?”

“No, because there were many different cultures and languages, and each of them were so different, it was like talking to a different species.”

“Oh, ok, continue.”

“They died out because they killed themselves. They invented the most powerful weapon in the world, and all of the different countries used them on the others, until there was no one left. The magic released by the weapon changed the animals that were left behind after humanity’s extinction. It made them smarter, and over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, the animals began to make their own civilizations. That’s why there are so many intelligent species today.”

Maple stepped back for a moment to process this, looking amazed and scared and the same time. After a few minutes passed, she spoke.

“Wow, so they destroyed themselves?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because of the darkness that lurked within them, Fear, Greed, Hate, it built up inside them until eventually, they went to war, a war that consumed the entire planet.”

I paused for a moment.

“A war that everyone lost.”

“I’m so sorry you lost everyone.”

“It’s ok, I learned to accept it. Now I’m the only one who remembers what was, but that was the past, I need to look to the future.”

Just then, I sensed something.

“Hold on, my motion detectors are sensing a large group heading this way.”

“Really, who?”

“I don’t know, let’s go outside together and look.”

Then, I conjured my physical form again and walked with her to the front door, opening it and walking outside with Maple past the barrier. What did I see? None other than a group of 50 deer, carrying their supplies behind them.

Author's Note

P.s. before anyone asks, yes, Lugh did each her about the toilet, but if i tried to write about that, i would explode from shame and embarrassment, so don’t ask me to write it.

P.p.s. Sorry i went on hiatus for a bit, i just needed to decide where this story would go next. So now, i will be updating once a week.

Chapter 5: Face To Face

Chapter 6: Refugees

The moment me and Maple arrived, they all turned to look at us with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Then, one of the deer walked up to me.

“He must be the leader”, I whispered to Maple.

“Who are you?” The leader asks.

“My name is Lugh, and this is Maple. I saw your group coming near my home and I was wondering what you are all doing here.”

“We are refugees, survivors from all of the villages Grogar attacked the past 10 years.”

“That’s horrible, do you need any help?”

“We were heading through the forest looking for a place to stay.”

“Well, you can stay with me.”

“Really?”

“Of course, Maple here was a survivor as well, I took her in 10 years ago. Now she’s like my partner.”

“Really”, asked Maple, eyes wide with surprise, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So, what do you say, would you like to come stay with me?”

“Yes, thank you so much”, said the leader. Then the rest of the deer refugees came up to me, shaking my hoof and thanking me for my kindness with tears in their eyes.

After they were done thanking me, I lead them to the clearing where my house was.

“Beyond here is my home”, I said to the crowd of deer. They looked at the clearing with confusion for a moment then the leader spoke up.

“Where? All I see is an empty clearing.”

“I put up a cloaking field to hide my home from the outside world.”

“You can use magic”, asked the leader in surprise, many of the deer behind him gasping in surprise, talking amongst themselves.

“Yes, and I can teach all of you, Including you Maple, to use magic as well.”

After I said that, the entire group of deer gasped, then began excitedly talking to each other, wondering what it would be like to use magic and what they could do with it. Then, Maple pulled me over with a look on her face that was both happy and excited.

“You can really teach me and the others to use magic?”

“Yes, I really can. While I was teaching you everything I knew, I was also learning from you. Those regular checkups I gave you taught me everything about how your anatomy works. When I went over them, I learned something amazing. I learned that you, and every deer, has special nerve connection in your antlers that connects directly to your brain. Inside the brain lies a special reserve of pure magic, magic that can interact with the world the same way I can.

“Wow, thats so amazing, I had no idea.”

“No deer would have ever known in the first place, you and all the other deer evolved not knowing you had that capability in the first place.”

After I explained that to her, the other deer finally settled down and turned back to face me. I then walked them through the barrier where the first thing they saw was my house, then turned to face them again.

“This is my house. While it isn’t big enough to house all of you, I can build you some houses of your own around mine, but first, I need to expand the barrier. One second.”

I closed my eyes, focusing a portion of my energy into my artificial horn, which then fed into my physical form causing my antlers to glow a golden yellow. Then, a beam of energy shot up to the barrier, which then proceeded to expand to 5 times its previous size.

After this, I blinked my eyes and spoke up.

“I expanded the barrier, now we can start with building all of you some houses. Half of you, set up some temporary shelter. The other half, follow me, well go get some wood to build with.”

From that point, everything moved like clockwork. Half of the 50 deer built temporary shelter huddled next to my house with Maple helping them. The other followed me into the forest, cutting down trees, which I regrew instantly, to build their houses. Once we got the materials, I guided them on how to build their new homes, and In 2 short months, there were 20 houses set up around my own house, with a dirt road connecting them. Once that was done, I helped them with setting up infrastructure, such as a road to get clean water from the nearby lake, and a small farm to feed them.

Yes, everything was set up nicely, now all the deer were safe. Now, they could live in a new village.

Author's Note

Here’s what the deer’s houses look like.

By the way, the bathroom is an outhouse attached to the back of the house.

Chapter 6: Refugees

Chapter 7: To be King

Now that everything for the new village was set up, there was just one more thing to do, decide who should lead this new village. However, upon asking the rest of the village, they immediately chose me.

“Why me”, I asked, confused about why they so quickly chose me to lead them all.

“Because you helped us in our hour of need and gave us a new home. You never asked anything in return, that is the mark of a great leader.”

I didn’t know what to say at first, but after a few moments, I gave my answer.

“It would be a honor to lead you, I promise that I will lead you to a bright future.”

“And I will join you”, said Maple.

“Really?”

“After these past 10 years, I grew to think of you not only as a friend, but as a lover, I would love to rule with you as queen.”

I was shocked, it had been a long time since I had been shocked. However, truth be told, I grew to love her as well, her brilliant mind and kind heart had won me over over time.

“Let it be done”, I said, before turning to the crowd, “my new subjects, you selected me to be your king, but now you have a queen as well.”

3 weeks later

After 3 weeks of preparation, the coronation and wedding had been combined into a single ceremony. The big day had come, I hadn’t felt like this since my first wedding 500,000 years ago. But this time, I was also becoming a king.

The deer who me I had rescued not long ago, now my new subjects, had set up a nice seating arrangement behind my house with my old back yard converted into the aisle where I would walk down to me married, then we would be coronated king and queen. And for the occasion, I pulled an old recording out of my memory banks of the vows needed to make this a proper Irish wedding and coronation. Once everything was ready, I stood at the alter, ready for the ceremony. I had taken the recording and with a bit of programming, made a holographic deer to act as the priest for the wedding and coronation.

Then, I saw my bride and queen coming down the aisle, wearing a modified version of the same wedding dress my human wife wore all those years ago. She was beautiful.

Once she arrived by my side, I set the priest I created to work, and the ceremony started.

“Welcome all, we are all gathered here to day to beer witness to the union of your new king and queen. These two have chosen not only to commit to the pursuit of leading this great village, to help it grow and prosper through the years. But they have also chosen to commit to themselves, to help each other in the hard times they will endure, and to be with each other for those happy moments yet to come.”

“Do you, King Lugh, vow to forever look after this new village, to help it prosper, and to always take care of your wife, to promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. To will love and honor her all the days of her life?”

“I do.”

“And do you, Queen Maple, vow to forever look after this new village, to help it prosper, and to always take care of your husband, to promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. To will love and honor him all the days of his life?”

“I do.”

“Then with the power vested in me, I present the rings and crowns.”

He then ushered forward another deer, holding a small pillow holding the crowns and the special rings bands I made to fit around our forelegs. We then proceeded to place the rings and crowns on each other.

“I now pronounce you King and Queen, you may kiss the bride.”

And in that moment, we kissed, sealing our marriage and our vows to rule together. Then, the clouds above parted, the light of the sun shining down on us, as if nature herself was congratulating us. The deer sitting before us stood up, cheering and congratulating us, proud that they have a king and queen to lead them to a better future.

Unseen to everyone else, I looked to Maple, and I shed a tear of joy. The first tear in countless centuries.

Yes, I was never going to be alone again.

Chapter 7: To be King

Chapter 8: Village Life Begins

After me and Maple officially became the King and Queen of this new village, the next step was for me to set up the laws, religion and economy needed to make this village prosper. The religion was easy, I introduced to them the ancient religion of my ancestors, the religion of the irish druids. I saw this as the ideal religion to show them for several reasons. First, the druids valued the preservation of life about all else. Second, they were masters at keeping the peace. Only turning to violence as a last resort.

As for the laws, that was very tough, but after searching through my databanks, I decided on The ancient Gael law system. One that was nothing like the flawed law system of the modern world. One example of this is the absence of money. Instead, Gael law used the simple Barter system, basic trading of goods for other goods.

Finally, the village that me and Maple now ruled could begin to grow naturally.

About 2 months had gone by since the coronation, me and Maple had been teaching them everything I know the same way I taught her, by setting up a makeshift school in the village center.

Before I started though, I asked them what they wanted to do for the village, giving them a wide range of options from Guards to Judges, Druids to Filí, and craftdeers to farmers. Once they chose what hey wanted to do, I taught them everything they needed to know for their job.

The guard’s job was to protect everyone from any threats to the village and to make sure the barrier was safe. The judges kept track of the Gael laws and gave judgements on them. The druids would arrange the celebrations for worshiping the gods, the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Filí would keep the history and tradition of the village. The Craftdeers would be fletchers and metal workers, making new equipment for the guards and would be responsible to building and maintaining homes.

And of course, the farmers worked the land to produce food for the village so that every deer could eat. They would also go out to gather materials for building or for heating their homes.

So far, they were learning really well. All of the deer who wanted to be farmers, I taught them how to till the fields and harvest the crops. I taught the guards how to handle weapons to defend the village, the fletchers how to carve, and the metal workers how to work a forge. I taught the Filí how to write down the history of any events we experience, the judges about the Gael law and how to uphold it. And finally, I taught the Druids about all of the special festivals that we would celebrate throughout the year, about the gods I used to worship, how to act as doctors to heal any illnesses or injuries, and how teach any future deer the same skills they are all learning now. They would learn all skills and be able to teach young deer whatever they needed to learn based on what they wanted to do when they grow up.

Yes, everything was going great so far.

One day though, during the weekend when no lessons were planned, I rediscovered something that shook me to my core, something that I thought disappeared a long time ago. I had to tell Maple.

“So, what did you want to tell me, you look like you had seen a ghost”, said Maple.

“I…I” I stuttered, “I was looking though my long range sensors in orbit, I discovered a signal.”

“A signal, from where?”

“From the colonists sent to Proxima Centauri B.”

“What’s that.”

“It’s a planet, one very far away from here.”

“How are they there? I thought you said all of the humans died out in a war.”

“Well, back before the war, humans sent a few hundred astronauts, that’s humans who go to space, to the nearest star system to establish a colony beyond the solar system since the planned mars and moon colonies had done so well. It was supposed to be a long duration trip, I had no idea they were even still out there until a few hours ago, when they sent a message confirming their arrival. Records from my time said they lost contact with them, they were presumed dead. They’re probably sending a message to confirm their arrival.”

“But there’s…”

“Yes, there are no humans left to receive their message, which is why I’m going to respond.”

“What will you say?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t talked to humans in 500,000 years.”

There was a moment of silence, before I decided to speak up again.

“If you want, you can watch me talk to them, you remember those English lessons, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Well, here we go.”

Author's Note

If you want to know more about the Feineachus (Gael) Law System, read this.
https://www.celticdruidtemple.com/feineachusbrehonlaw.html
https://www.libraryireland.com/Brehon-Laws/Contents.php

P.s. do you have a better word for deer who are craftsmen, I’m at a loss.

Chapter 8: Village Life Begins

Chapter 9: First Contact

(This is PCB Colony calling Earth, colony establishment is successful, requesting status update, over.)

……..

(This is PCB Colony calling Earth, requesting status update, over.)

(Hello PCB Colony, good to hear from you. Who’s speaking?)

(Captain James T. Jones sir, who are you?)

(You can call me Lugh, I never thought that I would be talking to you.)

(What do you mean lugh?)

(You’ve been gone a while, everyone thought you were dead after losing contact with your ship.)

(How long were we gone? Our ship’s computer didn’t keep track of how long we were drifting.)

(I’m can’t tell you, but I have to ask, how is the colony doing?)

(It’s doing great Lugh. It’s been a few weeks since we arrived, and everything is up and running.)

(That’s good.)

(By the way, why are you only typing? Can I hear your voice?)

“I’m switching to voice mode, so be quiet.”

“Ok”, says Maple.

“Can you hear me?” I say to the captain.

“Yes, I never expected you to be Irish.”

After a moment though, some noise coming from outside starts getting louder.

“What’s that noise, sounds like a renaissance fair.”

“What, no, that’s just some construction going on.”

“Oh, ok, well, I’ll talk to you again in about 8 years or so, cya.”

“Cya.”

Then, he hangs up.

After that whole experience, I sighed, glad to have it over with.

“Aren’t you worried about him calling again?”

“Not really.”

“Ok, but won’t they be upset if they discover what really happened to the other humans?”

“Well yes, but for right now, I have other stuff to focus on.”

A few weeks after talking to the humans, all of the deer had been fully taught in their respective skills and were ready to help the village. I even taught a few of them how to play my old Irish instrument, the Uilleann pipes. But after all of that, a few things were still missing. I needed to find some animals for the farmers to take care of. Luckily, I had the dna of every animal on earth saved in case I needed to find some one day.

After that realization, I spent 2 weeks of building food storage buildings, grinding mills, and even homes for the animals to live in, in preparation for the farmers to start with their duties. Then, after telling them my plan, I began my search. It took a few moments, but I had tracked down a group of 30 animals nearby, 10 cows, 10 bulls, and 10 sheep. However, just like every other animal on earth, the radiation had also given them human level intelligence and sentience. So, I went to go talk to them.

After teleporting to an area near the animals, I saw them. The cows, bulls, and sheep were in a clearing nearby, struggling to move in a group. After a moment, they saw me in front of them and stopped. One of the cows stepped up.

“Hello there”, she said in a weak voice, “who are you?”

“My name is Lugh, I’m the leader of a village not far from here. What are you doing in the middle of the woods?”

“We escaped the evil Grogar, who was forcing us to provide milk and wool, without giving us anything in return, treating us like slaves. But we haven’t had anything to eat in days, we’re worried that he’ll find us again.”

“You poor things. Don’t worry, Grogar will get what’s coming to him soon, but for now, why don’t you come to my village. You can live there in return for milk and wool. Don’t worry though, I’ll make sure you are treated well.”

“Thank you so much, but won’t he find us again?”

“Not at all, my village has a cloaking field around it, he’ll never find it.”

“Marvelous, lead the way Lugh.”

So, I lead the group of cows, bulls, and sheep to the village. I introduced them the the deer I had rescued and allowed them to choose any of the homes they wanted. After a few days, they had fully integrated into the village, with the deer farmers treating them the same way they would treat each other.

Everything was perfect, and the village had grown a lot in the months since I saved the deer I now call my subjects. The village now had 40 houses, with food storage and grinding mills situated near the 5 farm fields in the western area. Other buildings had been finished too. Blacksmiths and fletchers had their own workshops, providing weapons for the guards and wood for heating homes. The bakers provided food for the whole village, which was made using the fruit, vegetables, and grain from the farms, and milk from the cows. Some farmers even started using the wool provided by the sheep to make clothing for everyone.

Yes, everything was going well, but there is always further need for innovation.

Author's Note

Next chapter:
- I reveal to Maple how I survived for so long on my own.
- I offer Maple Immortality.

Chapter 9: First Contact

Chapter 10: An Endless Gift

Today was a special day.

2 months had passed since the cows, bulls, and sheep came to live in the village. Everyone had settled into routine. Today however was special. Today, I would teach all of the deer how to use magic. Before I could do that however, I needed to tell Maple something, something I wanted to tell her months ago when the deer first settled here.

“What did you want to tell me Lugh?”

“I wanted to tell you about how I survived so long on my own, it’s the same reason I am able to do magic.”

“Really? How are you able to do magic?”

“It started a really long time ago, just 10,000 years after the war that ended humanity. I was using my free time by exploring an old mine, when I found something.”

“What did you find?”

“I found this.”

I opened up the outer casing for one of the computer consoles that made up my physical form. Inside was a small glass cylinder suspended by 2 claws with electrical wires attached. Inside the glass cylinder was a small, glowing, rainbow colored crystal. Its was suspended inside the glass cylinder and rainbow colored rays of light seemed to be drawn to the top and bottom of the cylinder.

“Oooh, what is that?”

“I wasn’t sure when I found it, so I did every test imaginable to figure it out. But the more I tested it, the more it surprised me. It broke every power measuring device that got near it, and an analysis of its chemical makeup came back with nothing. It was a completely new element, never before seen on the periodic table. In addition, this crystal seems to output an infinite amount of energy. It took me the next 2,000 years to run the calculations. When they were complete, I got to the drawing board. I created this device to draw from its endless energy, made this artificial horn to channel it, and there it was, I had discovered magic.”

“Wow, so this little crystal helps you do magic?”

“Yes, I even use it to power the entire house, including this computer that houses my memories. Once I discovered the things this crystal could do, I did a little research. Humans had theorized for centuries that there was a 5th element, between water and air, between fire and earth. They called this 5th element Aether, so I decided to name this new element Aetherium.”

“Aetherium?”

“Yes, they theorized that the Aether was the secret to unlocking magic, a sort of hidden dimension where all magic comes from. When I ran those medical scans on you, I discovered that your brain, and the brain of every deer, has a special component inside that allows you to call upon the power of the Aether to do magic. That special component is why deer, and other types of creatures, have the ability to use magic in the first place. That brings me up to something I discovered recently.”

“Oh, what did you discover?”

“I can use the infinite energy in this crystal to give you immortality.”

“What!”

“It can stop you aging forever, if you want to that is. I could be with you for the rest of time. We could see this village into the future, as its immortal king and queen. What do you say?”

She stepped back at this realization, then thought to herself for about 10 minutes. I could see her face shift from excitement, to worry, to joy, to sadness, then finally back to contentment. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke up.

“Yes, I’ll become immortal, Grogar took everything from me, but now I have a chance to help others forever, a chance to be with you forever, I’ll do it.”

I looked to her with tears of joy, before saying, “ok, this will feel funny at first, but just stay still.”

Then, with a massive surge of power and rainbow light, I channeled the full power of the crystal into Maple, rainbow energy circled around her completely as a kept feeding more and more energy into my spell, but the crystal’s infinite power never drained. 10 minutes after the spell started, I could feel that it was done, so I cancelled the flow of energy, and let the rest of it flow it’s way into her. When it was done, she was standing there with a confused look on her face.

“How do you feel?”

“I feel, different, stronger even.”

“I funneled the crystal’s power into you, now you are as strong with magic as me.”

“Did it work, has my aging stopped?”

“According to my sensors, yes.”

After hearing this, she ran up and gave me the biggest hug ever, thanking me with tears of joy in her eyes.

I also began shedding tears, because I realized that now, I would never be alone again, for the rest of time.

Author's Note

Next chapter: I teach Maple and the other deer how to use magic, and I create new guardians for the village.

Chapter 10: An Endless Gift

Chapter 11: Magic Lessons

Today was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time, Maple was now Immortal, We could both lead this village forever and help others along the way. But now, I had to teach the other deer how to use magic, including Maple. So, with Maple’s help, I gathered all of the citizens into the village center, right in front of my house, to give the announcement.

“Everyone gather round”, I said, “I have a very important announcement for all of you.”

Once everyone had gathered, I began speaking.

“I gathered you all here to fulfill a promise I made to all of you 6 months ago, I will now teach all of you to use magic.”

Once I said that, everyone gasped, then began talking amongst each other, excited that they were now learning to use magic.

“Ok, I want everyone to close your eyes. Imagine a flowing river of energy. That energy is the Aether, it’s energy is present and flowing through all living things, the plants, the animals, and you. Now imagine that energy flowing around your antlers, guiding you, showing you the way.”

Then, one by one, all the deer's antlers, the cow's horns, and the horns/hooves of the sheep, lit up with various colors, with Maple’s being a light green.

“Good, good, now open your eyes.”

Once they did, they noticed the glowing of their antlers, horns, and hooves.

“Woah”, Maple said, eyes filled with amazement, “my antlers are glowing.”

“I know.”

After the amazement eventually died down, they turned back to me, ready for the next step.

“Ok, now I want you to imagine that same energy again, but this time, imagine it flowing from your antlers and around the rocks I placed in front of you, use that energy to lift the rock.”

After a few minutes of trial and error, everyone eventually was able to lift their rocks into the air, surrounded by different colored auras, and move them around a little. Everyone was amazed, they spend about 10 minutes after that talking to each other, telling each other how amazing it was to move something without touching it.

“Very good everyone, now I want you to practice lifting objects with your magic, gradually working up to heavier items.”

Once everyone agreed, they all went their separate ways, and Maple came back to me.

“That was amazing, I moved that rock without even touching it.”

“I know, and with your newly gained immortality, your magic is even stronger than the rest of them. I can do personal lessons with you to help you control it.”

“I can’t wait to get started.”

About 5 months later, in the middle of June, everything was in full swing. After teaching the everyone about magic, they immediately began training to lift heavier items. In addition to being able to lift things, the cows had the ability to channel their magic through their bodies to increase their strength, and sheep could channel it through their hooves to interact with nature and increase plant growth. Eventually, they started using magic for their various jobs, including gathering wood for the cold winter 4 months ago.

However, I could tell that something wasn’t quite right. Everyone went about their day with caution, sleeping with one eye open. One day, I asked Maple to go out and gather information as to what was going on. When she came back a few hours later, she gave me some rather concerning news. Everyone, despite being saved, were still on edge due to Grogar. I tried giving a speech to let them know that they were all safe there, but they told me they because they now had magic, they were now a target for Grogar, who had been stealing magic from everyone he came across to gain evermore power.

This would not do. So the next day after giving the speech, I gathered them to the village center again to show them an idea I had that night, and to try to calm them of their fears.

“Everyone, I know that you are all afraid that Grogar will find you again, but I called you all here once again to reassure you that he will never find this place. Before you arrived, this house was hidden for centuries. Maple only found it by accident when she was wandering the forest.”

“But what if he finds it too”, said one of the Druids, speaking for the rest of the deer, “what if he comes across it the same way we did, it’s only a matter of time before he finds us.”

“I thought of that, if anyone even gets close, I can seal the barrier to prevent anyone from getting in.”

“That still doesn’t help if he finds us, he’ll keep coming back until he gets what he wants.”

“That’s why I called you all here, I have come up with a solution, watch closely.”

Once I said that, I focused my own magic again, the aura turning a deep green just like Maple’s. After a moment, branches from the forest gathered together, forming an almost organic shape. Once the process was done, what stood in front of the deer was a large, wooden wolf.

Everyone gasped, eyes filled with fear.

“Don’t worry everyone, it won’t hurt you. This is something I came up with just last night, I call it a Timber Wolf. This creature I created will act as a guardian for not just the village, but the entire forest. If anyone gets within 100 miles of this village, this timber wolf, and many more I create, will keep them away.”

With that, everyone began cheering. My idea had worked, with a new creature around to guard them, they could go about their lives worry free. Now that they don’t have to worry about Grogar finding hem anymore, I just have to make sure that a worse enemy doesn’t find them either.

Someone far worse.

Chapter 11: Magic Lessons

Chapter 12: Interstellar Truth

“The day is coming, I could feel it. I can’t hide the truth forever. I have to come clean eventually. It’s only a matter of time before they try coming back, what do I do?”

It had been 8 years since I created the timber wolf to keep everyone safe. Everyone had settled in the the village proper, knowing that they were completely safe. The first children of the village had even been born 6 years ago, bumping the population up from 80 to 100. They were growing up knowing nothing but peace, learning the same way their parents did when they first started living here.

However, since that day, I have been worrying. Sure, Grogar was no longer a problem, but there was still another threat, humans. They could decide at any time to come back and reclaim their planet. Once they come back, nothing can stop them, they had superior technology, they had superior weapons. They could wipe out every new inhabitant of this planet and rebuild their home atop the bones of those who evolved to take their place.

Then, all of a sudden, a message came through. I was afraid of this, but I have no choice but to respond.

“This is PCB Colony calling earth, are you there Lugh?”

“I’m here, good to hear from you again.”

“I’m calling to give you a status update, greenhouse construction is complete, and we just finished installing the long range scanner. Now we can see for ourselves how earth is doing.”

“That’s not necessary, we’re doing fine.”

“Scan complete, that’s odd, only one electrical reading on the whole planet. What’s going on over there?”

“I, uh.”

“In fact, I’m not reading any electrical signals from any of the colonies either. That means everything is in fact not fine. Care to explain?”

“I can’t take this anymore, activating jamming signal.”

With that, I gathered a lot of power together, the satellite dish on top of my house activated.

“What’s going on, the scanner is encountering interference.”

“I know, I’m jamming it.”

“Why?”

“Because earth has moved on since you left.“

“That doesn’t explain why we’re not getting any electrical readings, are you saying something happened?”

“Yes, humanity failed, I’m still here because I’m making sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“So you’re saying that ww3 actually happened?”

“Yes, everyone is gone, humanity is officially an endangered species.”

“What! Are you getting this command?”

“Yes captain”, said another voice, “I’m informing the others and organizing a press conference.”

“I’ll get the science team working on scout ships to send back to earth.”

“Earth is no longer your planet, you’ve been gone for 500,000 years, new sentient species have evolved since then, they are all under my personal protection.”

“What? How are you still alive, who are you?!”

“My name is ***** **** ******** Sr.”

“The founder of Encore Innovations? But you died in 2102.”

“My mind was uploaded to a computer, I hold in my memory banks the remnants of humanity. Like I said, humanity failed. You are never allowed back here.”

“We don’t need your permission, once we figure out light speed travel, we’ll send ships back to earth to pick you up and bring you back. If you resist, we’ll wipe out those aliens that took our home and you along with them.”

With that, they hung up. That was concerning to say the least. Now I had to worry about the humans returning. When I turned my attention away from the signal, I saw Maple standing in the doorway, mouth wide open and eyes filled with fear.

“They going to kill us?!”

“No they’re not, I won’t let them return. If they try to come back, I’ll blow them out of the sky.”

“You taught me that violence is wrong, so why are you going back on your own teachings?”

“Because humanity is different, they let greed and hatred consume them, and it seems that they are no different now.”

“But why, you can stop them without killing them!”

After hearing that, I stopped. She was right, I was letting my anger towards them get in the way of what was right.

“You’re right”, I said after calming down, “I can’t kill them, but what can I do? They want to take me away and kill everyone.”

“Why don’t you just shield everyone so they can’t come here.”

“Good idea, it’ll take a few years to run the calculations, but I can shield the whole planet so they can’t land.”

I sighed, “But I’m worried, by my estimates, it’ll be 4000 years before they crack the secret to light speed travel. What if we’re not ready by then.”

“Well just worry about that later, for now, we should get back to helping the villagers.”

This is why I married her, because of her kind heart and brilliant mind. Now I could finally stop worrying.

When humans come back to earth, I’ll be ready. Until then, I would have my lovely wife, and a village to lead and protect.

Author's Note

Act 1 is finished. Next chapter is the beginning of Act 2.

Chapter 12: Interstellar Truth

Chapter 13: Story Time

Act 2: A New Purpose

June 25, 3991 BBB(Before the Battle of the Bell)

Today started like any other day, Wake up from sleep mode, preform a system diagnostic, check the perimeter cameras, settle a dispute among the villagers, and check the shops and farms to make sure everything is running smoothly. Today was special however, one of the Druids asked me to come to their class and tell the young ones a story. Of course, I am more than glad to come.

“Okay everyone”, said the druid who taught the class, “here he is, our protector and great leader, King Lugh.”

Once he said that, I came into the room, rows of desks lined up with young ones sitting, ready to learn. Once I came in, the young fawns started cheering and clapping, but the druid hushed them, lowering the cheering to just clapping.

“Thank you for having me, when I heard there was a class of young ones who wanted to hear a story, I couldn’t resist.”

“What story are you going to tell King Lugh?” Asked one of the fawns.

I thought for a moment before answering, “Well, I’m going to tell you the story of how this world was created.”

“Oooooh”, said all of the young ones.

So, once I sat down they all went silent, ready to hear what I was going to say.

“A long time ago, before everything you know today, there was nothing. But then, void became form, and form became earth. This earth was born out of chaos, and from that chaos, sprung the first tree, the mighty oak. Watered by the heavens, this oak dropped 2 acorns, and from these acorns came the first gods, the Dagda and Brigid, the first children of the Danu.”

“Wow”, said all of the young ones, their eyes filled with wonder.

“Over time, the Dagda and Brigid had many children, and these children built 4 great cities on the banks of the sacred river which formed from the water of the heavens. In these cities were 4 great treasures.”

“What are the treasures?”, asked one of the other fawns.

“I’m glad you asked. The first one is the stone of destiny, which would shout with joy when a worthy king stepped on it. The second was the sword of Nuada, which no one could escape when it was unsheathed. Third was the spear of Lugh, my namesake, which could protect anyone who held it. And finally, the Dagda’s cauldron, which could feed everyone in the 4 cities, and never empty.”

“That’s so amazing”, said a young calf.

“However, one day the Dagda said that they would not stay on the banks of the sacred river, but to go to an island far away, where the sun set. This island was called Ireland, the namesake for the kingdom where you live.”

“What happened next?”, asked a young lamb.

“Well, I’m afraid I’m out of time here today young ones, but don’t worry, I’ll come back soon to give you the rest of the story. In the mean time, keep learning, learning new things is the best way to help others later in life.”

“Ok, bye king Lugh”, said all of the young ones.

With that, I left the room, heading back to my house to continue monitoring the surrounding area.

“I should tell stories more often”, I reminded myself, “it feels good teaching bright young minds.”

Author's Note

As a special feature for Act 2, I will now include a date and log entry at the top before the chapter.
P.s. yes, I used the mlp finale battle with the legion of doom as year zero, seemed like a good date to focus on.

Next time, I take part in a special celebration

Chapter 14: Royal Birthday

Chapter 15: Defenses

September 15, 3991 BBB(Before the Battle of the Bell)

Life in the village has been really predictable lately. After all, the same old routine gets tiring after a while. Today however was different. After a few weeks of calculations, I finally have everything ready to set up defenses for the village perimeter.

“Ok everyone”, I said, looking out to the guards, “Today, we will be setting up perimeter defenses for the village. My plan is to build a stone wall around the village, with guards posted at towers throughout the wall. First things first though, we need to get stone, and I know exactly where to get it.”

After finishing that speech, I lead all of the stonecutters and carts to the site of the old dam. Back when humans were still around, this dam was used to supply water for the entire city it was built near. It was a standard spillway dam, mostly constructed using piles of dirt and loose rocks piled up on the either side to make it look nicer. The dam failed a long time ago due to no one maintaining it, but we could use those rocks to build the village wall.

Before starting though, I wanted to let Maple look at it.

“Your people made this?” She said, looking at what was left of the old dam.

“Yes, it broke a long time ago due to age, but we can use the stones on either side as material to build the defensive wall.”

I then looked to the stonecutters and said, “go ahead and get as many as you need, then take them back to the village.”

They then got straight to work. The deer used their magic to gather rocks and put them in the carts, which the bulls had volunteered to pull back to the village.

“Hey honey”, said Maple looking at me with curious eyes.

“Yes?”

“Why are you deciding to build a defensive wall? We both know something isn’t right.”

“You’re right Maple, something isn’t right at all. I sensed that the magic of this world is out of balance, it can only be Grogar.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, that’s why I’m ordering this construction, I need some eyes on the outside to help guard the village.”

“What if he finds us?”

“The timberwolves should help a little. But if he finds us, I’ll deal with him myself.”

“Are you sure, he’s really powerful.”

“As powerful as he is, my magic level is still stronger thanks to the crystal.”

“Ok, if you say so.”

After that conversation with Maple, me and the rest of the villagers got to work building the defensive wall around the village. It took several months to cut the stone and put it together, but eventually, the wall was finished. Once it was finished, I assigned the guards to each of the outposts on the wall to guard it and report back to me if they saw anything.

This Grogar sounded like a real problem from what I heard from all of my citizens. From that moment, I made a big decision.

I needed to find out who he was, what he was, and how to stop him for good.

Chapter 15: Defenses

Chapter 16: Unusual Love

May 5, 3985 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

It had been roughly 6 years since the defensive wall was constructed, and so far nothing had found us. Life had gone on as usual. However, today was interesting. It was only 3 days after Bealtaine, one of the major festivals, and I woke up one morning to something I never expected.

“Who is it?” I asked, opening my door.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a a group of 4 fawns, 2 calves, and 2 lambs, all about 12 years old, standing on my porch. At first I was expecting their parents to be behind them, explaining that their kids had asked them to come see me. But no one was there, it was just these 8 kids.

“What are you kids doing here? Do your parents know you are here?”

“No”, said one of the young fawns, looking very nervous to be in my presence, “we all wanted to ask you something very important.”

“Ok, come on in.”

“You’re letting us into your palace?”

“It’s cute you think this house is a palace, but it’s just a normal house. Anyway, please come in.”

With that, they all came in to my house. Once they were in, they stood there, gawking at the interior. They had never seen a house like mine, they just grew up in one of the many houses I helped build.

“So, what did you want to ask me?”

“Well”, one of the fawns said, worry filling their voice, “we wanted to ask about love.”

“What about love?”

“We were wondering if it was ok to be in love with other species?”

“Of course, there are no rules to love, you can love whoever you want, even if they are a different species. Why do you ask?”

“Well”, one of the fawns said, his hooves motioning over one of the calves, “I love her.”

They then proceeded to hug each other. Soon after, the others started to hug as well, showing that they do indeed love each other. Two of them were hugging a calf, and two were hugging a lamb. To me though, this was very interesting. When founding this village, I never considered different species falling in love.

“We fell in love a few weeks ago”, said the young fawn currently hugging one of the young calves, “but we were afraid to tell our parents. They’re expecting us to find a doe to love, what will they say to this?”

“It’s like I said young one, there are no rules to love. If you love her, that’s completely fine.”

“But our parents”, said another fawn who was hugging a young lamb, “what if they say we can’t be together?”

“Well, I’ll go talk to them to change their minds. Just tell your parents to come here and let me talk to them.”

“Ok.”

After that, they each went their separate ways to go get their parents.

After about an hour, they showed up at my door again, parents in tow.

“Our children said that you wanted to talk to us your majesty?” Said one of the deer.

“Yes”, I said, motioning to the children that they were free to go, “I wanted to say that your children have fallen in love.”

“What?!” Said all of the parents. They then began talking over each other, saying that they wanted their children to love another of their species instead of another. After a minute or two of all of the parents arguing back and forth, I broke up the fighting with a loud “ENOUGH!”

They stopped fighting and turned to me, fear filling their expressions.

“If there is one thing I will not tolerate in this village, it is the treatment of other species as if they are less than others! Every species deserves the same treatment, cows, sheep, deer, it doesn’t matter. Your children grew up not caring that they were friends with cows or sheep or deer, they just see friends. It’s like I explained to them earlier, there are no rules to love. They should be allowed to love who they please. Do I make myself clear?!”

“But why”, asked of the sheep, “why do you see everyone as equals if the physical differences are so obvious?”

“Because, my own kind lead themselves to destruction long ago because they thought others weren’t the same, they thought that just because the skin color was different or the because language or culture was different, that they weren’t equal to others. I will not let this village go down the same path.”

“I understand”, said one of the deer, who was looking at his child and a young calf hugging in the distance, “our children should be allowed to love who they want. Thank you so much your majesty for helping us see that.”

“You’re welcome, I expect you to spread the word about what I told you. About how everyone, no matter the species, deserves to be treated equal.”

“Yes your majesty, goodbye.”

Author's Note

Next chapter:

I show the guards a new and fun way to train to defend the village. A method involving balls and sticks.

Chapter 16: Unusual Love

Chapter 17: Learning to Hurl

March 5, 3984 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

It has been a little under a year since the children fell in love, and since then, more and more different species relationships have popped up in the village. In other news, the guards were starting to fall out of practice when it comes to the physical aspects of guarding. So, after searching through my memory banks, I found a solution. One that is not only good for building muscle and stamina, but fun to play and watch.

“Greetings everyone, now I bet you are wondering why I called you all from guard duty to this meeting? Well, I have been noticing that your performance in training exercises has been lacking.”

“It’s not our fault”, said one of the deer guards, “those training exercises get boring after a while.”

“I thought so, so I’ve decided to introduce you to a different form of training. That’s why I had this field built”, I said motioning them to the field I had cleared out.

“I had this field cleared out as part of the new training. It’s actually going to be like a game”

“Ok, what’s it called?”

“It’s called Hurling, it’s an old sport my people played, it helped then build strength, focus, and stamina while also being very fun. I can teach you how to play.”

“Ok, let’s do it.”

So, after concluding that meeting, I began to teach them how to play. Of course, I had to modify the rules a little since the players were not human, but after a few months of training and practice, they were ready.

August 1, 3984

“Greeting everyone, and welcome to this year’s Lughnasadh. I have a special surprise for all of you this year.”

I motioned the guards over before continuing. “This year, the guards will train by playing a match of hurling, and all of you will get to watch.”

The crowds ooh’d in anticipation, before sitting down to watch the game. It started out like any other game, and soon became very competitive. Some of the citizens sitting even stood up to cheer for their family members playing on the field. Eventually though, after about 2 hours, the game ended. Everyone was congratulating the winning team, but the other team still got recognition.

After the game, all of the guards came up to me with smiles on their faces.

“That was so much fun”, said one of the guards, “the running, the swinging, the thrill, I’ve never done anything like that in my life. Thank you so much for showing us this game.”

“You’re welcome, you will all get the chance to play this game every year on Lughnasadh as a part of the festivities. Just be sure to also train the regular way to keep yourselves in peak form, ok?”

“Ok”, said all of the guards, before going back to their normal duties.

I have to admit, I haven’t seen a hurling match in a long time. I had forgotten how fun it was.

Author's Note

Here’s my inspiration for this chapter.
Hurling Match
Btw, hurling is now my new favorite sport.

Next chapter: I get word of a very important event that has taken place, causing some confusion.

P.s. sorry for the delay, so many things got in the way from car troubles, to preparing for university in the fall, to dealing with my pain in the butt brother. Don’t worry, the next chapter will come out by next Saturday.

Chapter 17: Learning to Hurl

Chapter 18: Revelations

May 4, 3980 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Today was a special day, not that everyday here in my kingdom isn’t special in some way. It was 3 days after the festival of Bealtaine, and I had noticed something strange. I decided to check my long range cameras to see what was going on, and what I found was shocking. I had to tell Maple.

“Thank goodness your here.”

“Of course”, said Maple, shutting the door behind her, “what did want to tell me?”

“I felt something earlier, so I checked my long range cameras to see what was going on.”

“And, what did you see?”

“I saw Gusty the great banish Grogar.”

“Really? That’s great news, we have to tell the kingdom.”

“Yes, but what I saw when she banished him was the opposite of great.”

“What do you mean”, she responded, showing a slight look of concern.

"As he was being banished, I saw him glitching out."

"How is that possible, animals don't glitch out, only computers do that."

"I know, that's what scares me.”

Suddenly, her face changes to mirror my scared expression.

“Wait, you don’t mean?”

“Yes, I think he may be human A.I. as well.”

“But how, you said that you were the last one on earth.”

“I don’t know, he must woken up recently and taken the form you know as Grogar. How he’s able to use magic though, I have no idea.”

“What do we do?”

“We wait until he comes back. Gusty the great didn’t banish him, she simply overloaded his systems. By my calculations, it’ll be hundreds of years before his systems recover enough for him to wake up again.”

“What will happen when he does wake up again?”

“My best guess is that he will continue where he left off. When he does, I’ll be there to stop him myself.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. After all, he’s like me, so I’m the best one to stop him. When he comes back, all I have to do is-“

All of a sudden, as I was about to explain how I would figure out his weakness, I stopped.

“Are you ok”, Maple asked.

But I couldn’t hear her, because I was having a vision.

“I know who you are Grogar, you need to stop.”

“Why would I, I need to show them who’s in charge.”

“The time of man has passed, there’s no point in trying to continue a dead legacy.”

“No, they will learn to fear me, just as they will fear all human kind.”

“You make me sick Grogar. You have to stop.”

“Or what?”

“Or else I will have no choice but to shut you down for good.”

“You wouldn’t dare, you and I are the last humans on earth, you would never kill me.”

“I will if I have no choice. I will not let them make the same mistakes human kind did.”

Then, Grogar charged at me with all his might, I charged back. We met in the middle and.

“Gasp”

The vision ended, I reeled back in fear and collapsed onto the chair.

“What happened?”, asked Maple, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I saw the future.”

“You did? What did you see?”

“I saw me and Grogar talking to each other, we were arguing and then we charged at each other.”

“Really? Do you know when he comes back?”

I then closed my eyes and replayed the events in my head to get more details.

“Yes, I saw a battle happening 3980 years from now, a battle for control of the bell. Soon after a coronation, he will reappear to finish what he started.”

“What are we going to do, first you tell me humans are returning to earth, then Grogar?”

“I know, but all we can do is prepare. I promise you Maple, I will protect everyone.”

“I hope you can handle him.”

“So do I.”

Author's Note

Thanks to Status L for the idea of Grogar being another A.I

Next chapter: The first wedding in the village takes place.

P.s Next chapter comes out week after next, I’m going to Comic-Con next weekend to get Christopher Lloyd’s autograph.

Chapter 19: Happiest Day

Chapter 20: Something New, Something Old

August 12, 3970 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Today was a very special day. Soon after Redwood and Daisy’s wedding, the other inter-species couples got the confidence to marry as well. However, today would mark a very important moment in history. Today, Redwood and Daisy would have their first children.

As soon as I heard the news, I ran straight to the home of Redwood and Daisy. When I arrived, I saw Redwood and Daisy’s parents huddled around the bed. Daisy was laying down with Redwood at her side, and in her arms were her two children, one boy and one girl. However, the parents all had surprised looks on their faces, and I could see why.

“Are you sure the babies are healthy?” Asked Daisy’s mother Petunia.

“I checked them both over 3 times, they are both very healthy”, I responded.

“But I’ve never seen babies that look like them before.”

“Well, theres never been a deer cow relationship before either, it’s only logical that the babies would look like both of them.”

And they did, both of the babies currently sleeping in their mother’s arms looked like a perfect blend of the 2 parents. The little ones had the thin slender legs of a deer, the body shape and tail of a cow, and the fur pattern looked like a combination of cow spots and deer speckles.

“Both of them are the first of a new species of deer-cow hybrids. There’s no telling how they will change as they grow up, only time will tell.

Later that day, after seeing Redwood and Daisy's new children, I decided to go visit one of my old friends in the village. The very same deer who lead the group of refugees many years ago.

"How are you doing Spruce?"

"I've been better", he responded. I could tell he was getting old. His hair was turning grey and the color of his coat was beginning to dull. He had noticeable wrinkles, and I noticed he was using a walker to help keep himself up.

"I can see that, mind if I-?"

"Of course, please come in."

Before he retired and let his son take over, Spruce was one of the finest woodworkers in the village. The shelves were full of intricate works of art. Small wooden sculptures, intricate Celtic knots on the molding, it was beautiful.

"So, how has the shop been doing?"

"It's been doing well, my son Pine picked up everything I taught him, now he's as good as me."

"That's great. How is your health?"

"It's declining, as usual."

"Its funny really", he said, "my father could never have dreamed of living as long as I have."

"Well, that's what happens when you live in a safer place, you live longer."

We both laughed for a second, before I sighed and responded.

"You know, I actually know what you're going through."

"You do?"

"Yes, I wasn't always immortal, it was gifted to me a long time ago. Before I became immortal, I went through everything you are going through right now. Getting old, hair turning gray, health and mobility declining, I remember it well."

"and when I die?"

"You will go to the Otherworld, where you can be with your friends and family again."

"But, I'm scared."

"Its normal to be scared of death, but I'll tell you exactly what my own father told me when my mother died. When you cross over to the Otherworld, you will be free of all of the pain, the Otherworld is a place were you won't hurt anymore."

After thinking it over for a moment, he smiled.

"Thanks Lugh, you always know what to say to cheer everyone up."

"You're welcome."

At the end of the day, I decided to check how the humans were doing. As a result of hearing that they were now an endangered species, their progress had slowed to a crawl. By my estimates, it would still take them another 3970 years before they figured out light speed travel. I sincerely hope that they use that time to reflect.

Author's Note

Next chapter: the village receives a very special visitor

P.s. I’m starting university next week, so it will most likely take a while for the next chapter to come out. I will update it, just not as frequently as before.

Chapter 20: Something New, Something Old

Chapter 21: Unexpected Company

July 12, 3965 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Today started like any other day, Wake up from sleep mode, preform a system diagnostic, check the perimeter cameras, say good morning to the villagers, and check the shops and farms to make sure everything is running smoothly. Today was the textbook definition of normal. But then, something unexpected happened.

Ever since Redwood and Daisy had their children, other couples started having children as well. Not only were there more deer-cow hybrids, there were now deer-sheep and cow-sheep hybrids as well. The deer-sheep hybrids looked like normal deer, but they had a sheep's tail and were covered in wool with deer speckles on it. The cow-sheep hybrids looked like a perfect joining of cow and sheep, with cow spots on their wool and cow tails with fluff on the end.

Yes, everything was running smoothly. That is, until I picked something up on my long range sensors approaching from the northwest.

Something was getting close to the barrier.

I quickly went to the very edge of the barrier to see what was approaching, and what I saw was odd. I saw a female unicorn walking straight towards the barrier. It's like she was coming this way because she knew that the village was here.

"Should we do something king?"

"No need, I'll go talk to her myself."

After saying that, I proceeded to walk through the barrier to go talk to this mysterious unicorn. But as I got closer, I began to recognize her. This was Gusty the Great, the very same unicorn who overloaded Grogar's systems and put him into extended stasis. She looked just how I remembered, having a very light almost white coat and a green mane and tail with a pink stripe running through the middle. Both her mane and tail were moving like they were in the wind, a symbol of her great power. Her cutie mark consisted of leaves blowing in the wind and she had a light purple bow tied onto her tail.

When she saw me coming, she was startled at first. But eventually, she smiled and spoke up.

"Hello there, what's your name?"

"My name is Lugh, what are you doing out here?"

"Well, I was out here investigating where the Timberwolves were coming from. after a week of watching them, I saw that they came back to this part of the forest. I was worried that Grogar made these creatures as well."

"As well?"

"He created all sorts of monsters to attack everyone so that any attempt at rebellion would be destroyed."

After saying this, she stopped for a moment and looked behind me.

"Why are you out here, there's nothing out here except trees."

Could I trust her with the secret location of my village? She did defeat Grogar, so she has everyone's best interests at heart. After contemplating it for a minute or two, I decided to tell her.

"Well, this part of the forest is where my village is."

"Really?"

"Yes, no-one has found it because it is hidden from the rest of the world by an invisible barrier. It creates the illusion that the village doesn't exist."

"Neat, can I see it?"

I suddenly froze when she said that. I had never allowed an outsider to see the village before, but now there was one. I was unsure of how to respond for a minute or two as gears started turning in my head. I thought to myself, "Maybe I can trust her, she did gather all the ponies together to defeat Grogar after all." After thinking for a few more minutes, I decided that I could trust her.

"Ok, I can give you a tour, but on one condition."

"Sure, what is it?"

"You must promise to never tell another soul about this village, it must remain a secret."

"I understand, I promise to never tell anyone, but can I write about it in my personal journal?"

"Of course, as long as no-one reads it but you and as long as you don’t write down the location."

"Only I read it."

"Good, then let me show you my village."

Then, we both walked through the barrier, her face a mixture of curiosity and excitement.

Author's Note

Next Chapter: I give Gusty the Great a tour of my village.

p.s. here is what she looks like
Gusty the Great

Chapter 21: Unexpected Company

Chapter 22: Gusty the Great

July 12, 3965 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Today had taken the most unexpected turn. Gusty the Great had come across my village, and I agreed to give her a tour, with the condition that she couldn't tell anyone about it. I was unsure about how the villagers would react to seeing a pony for the first time, but I knew they would treat her with kindness.

Gusty Pov:

As we walked through the barrier, my eyes filled with wonder as I looked around. The village that this deer named Lugh lead was nothing short of beautiful. Houses were arranged into groups with plenty of trees in between to fill in any extra space. There were dirt roads connecting everything with various shops and stalls located further into the village. while walking with Lugh towards the village center, I noticed that there were lots of deer, sheep, cows, and even hybrids of the 3 were going about their day. In the center of the village was a circular gathering place with a weird looking house bordering it. This house looked nothing like the others. It was differently shapen than the rest of the houses, having a much taller build that the surrounding structures, as if it was designed for something else to live in.

I turned to Lugh and asked, "Is that your house?"

"It is", he replied.

"Why does it look so different from the rest?"

"Because this house was here before all of the others."

He then turned to face me before saying, "give me one moment, I need to go take care of something real quick."

"Ok."

Lugh Pov:

After saying this, I quickly went back to my computer body and began to contemplate a few things. I trusted her with the secret of the village and agreed to give her a tour, but could I trust her with my biggest secret, the knowledge that there was a civilization before hers that went extinct? I was unsure, so I called Maple back to the house to ask her.

"What do you think Maple? Should I tell her about the humans?"

"How else are you going to explain this house being here? Its probably better to tell her."

"But still, the knowledge that a pervious species went extinct is not an easy thing to say."

"I know, but the way I see it, its the only solution."

As usual, she was right. The only true way to explain the existence of this house was to tell her the truth.

Gusty Pov:

After waiting for about 10 minutes, during which several of the villagers came and introduced themselves to me, Lugh came out of the house and motioned for me to come in.

Once I stepped inside, I was astonished. The interior of the house was like nothing I had ever seen before. The walls were covered in a white-beige coloring, and white molding lined the entire room. the furniture was larger than usual and pushed close together around a metal table. On the wall adjacent to the entrance, there was a brick fireplace with tile in front of it, the mantle above it having a candelabra, what appeared to be a wooden statue of a pony, and a clock. On the back wall, there was a shelf filled with old trophies, relics, and books, they appeared to be split between books about animals, and books about something called engineering.

After that, he showed me the kitchen, which appeared to be a much more advanced than I thought. There were strange blinking devices next to large metal machines. I couldn't make much sense of any of it, but I could tell that this kitchen could potentially make any food imaginable.

Finally, he brought me down a short hallway with only 4 doors and lead me to the last door on the right. It was a white wooden door, with what appeared to be a small banner on the front which read "Aidan".

I thought I knew what to expect after seeing everything that was in this strange house. But once He opened the door, I was immediately proven wrong. Beyond the door was a room filled with blinking lights on tall black machines. There was also another deer there, this one was a girl though, having glasses and carrying a half confident half nervous expression.

"Hello", said the female deer, "My name is Maple, I'm Lugh's husband."

"Nice to meet you", I replied. "But what is this room?"

Lugh Pov:

"Its the real me", I replied, returning to my computer body and speaking up.

Author's Note

Next chapter: I tell Gusty the Great about the humans, and what the future holds.

also: next chapter will be the end of act 2

Chapter 22: Gusty the Great

Chapter 23: Warning About the Future

July 12, 3965 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Well, this was it. I was going to tell another my secret, a secret only known by me and Maple. I just hope I can trust her.

Gusty Pov:

Once I heard Lugh speak up, I turned to look at where the voice had come from. It had come from the blinking box in the room.

"What do you mean it's the real you? Where are you? All I see is that blinking box."

"I am the blinking box."

I was shocked to say the least. If Lugh was the blinking box, then how was he walking with me earlier?

After wondering for about 10 minutes, I finally gathered up the courage to ask, "What are you?"

Lugh Pov:

I figured she would ask that. After all, she's never seen anything like me before.

"I'm a computer Gusty, a relic of an age long past."

"A computer? What do you mean age long past? How are you alive?!"

"Easy, easy. I'll explain everything, just hear me out."

"Go on."

After taking a second to prepare myself, I began to explain, using my monitor to display images to help tell the story.

A long long time ago, before anything you know was here, there was another race that dominated this planet, humans.

Humans populated every last corner of this planet with their advanced technology.

I used to be a human myself, living my life just like all the other humans. But one day, I started to fall ill, I nearly died.

However, the smartest humans of my time decided to gift me with immortality. They put my brain into this computer so I could live forever. After that though, things started to take a turn for the worst. The darkness that lay deep inside humanity started to take control. greed, rage, hate, they all corrupted the minds of the humans, turning them against one another.

Arguments lead to fighting, fighting lead to war, and war lead to total destruction.

The war they started consumed the entire planet, ending with them dropping hydrogen bombs on each other, weapons that rained fire and magic from the sky. The resulting fire wiped out the majority of humans on earth, and the magic released by the weapon slowly killed off the rest.

I was now the only one left, having lived because of my immortality. As the years passed, nature took over everything that man had built, and the planet began to heal itself

Hundreds of thousands of years passed since the death of human kind, and something amazing happened, new life began to evolve. The magic released by the hydrogen bombs sped up the evolution of all animals, achieving in 500,000 years what normally takes millions.

"Eventually, Maple here found me here by chance after escaping her destroyed village. I took her in, healed her, and taught her everything I know. After telling her about what I really am, I found refugees wandering the forest, looking for a place to settle down after Grogar destroyed their villages as well. I took them in too, as well as the sheep and cows you can also see in the village. I built them a new home, and they accepted me and Maple as their king and queen."

"Wow", said Gusty, "that was amazing, I cant believe you did all of this for them."

"It was nothing really, I just showed them the kindness they deserve."

I paused for a moment before continuing.

"However, there is something I have to tell you."

"What is it?"

Gusty Pov:

"I've been having some visions lately, ever since you defeated Grogar."

This had me curious

"What kind of visions?"

"Visions of the future Gusty. I saw the distant future."

"What did you see?"

"I saw a great battle taking place, a battle for control of a bell. After the battle, a coronation takes place, followed by Grogar's return."

"What!" I shouted. I couldn't believe this, "Me and the army of ponies I gathered banished Grogar, he is gone forever."

"He will return", he replied, "and when he does, he will try to finish what he started. You need to hide his bell."

I thought for a moment, wondering where I could put such a powerful and dangerous artifact. Then, it hit me.

"I can put it in a cave at the top of mount Everhoof, nopony will ever find it there."

Lugh Pov:

"Good idea, but you should also use a magic barrier just in case."

"Ok", she replied, "But I'm worried though, what if someone finds it?"

"They will, but not for a long time. I promise you Gusty, I will defeat Grogar for good when he comes back."

With that, Gusty the Great's visit was concluded. True to her word, she never told another soul about the village, the secret was safe. We have a big feast in her honor to thank her for all she has done in defeating Grogar. Then, we happily sent off Gusty the Great from our village, hopeful that the future would be bright.

Author's Note

Next Chapter: Interlude 1

Chapter 23: Warning About the Future

Interlude 1: Time Goes On

Before Gusty the Great left, I gave her a crystal as a gift. She takes the crystal happily and says that she will drop by again someday.

After that, life continues on as normal in the village, with business going no as usual and everyone living their lives care free.

About 15 years after Gusty the Great came to visit, she came back to tell me what was going on in the world. Surprisingly, she became an alicorn in the 15 years she was gone, and she had founded her own kingdom called Skyros. Skyros was a city of alicorns, far ahead of any other species in both magic and harmony. After that visit, she occasionally came by to check on me and my village, keeping her promise to keep this place a secret.

Soon, things started to fall into routine, every day like the one before. Once in a while something interesting would happen, like when I sensed a huge gathering of magic into a single spot. When I checked in on it, I discovered that the spread of magic across the world had caused all of the chaos in the entire universe to collect and gain a physical form. Over several thousand years, this physical form of chaos itself would gain sentience and become known as Discord, Lord of Chaos.

Other interesting things happened as well, such as, the disappearance of Skyros. After reining for 2815 years, the ancient alicorn kingdom decided to hide itself from the outside world and was eventually forgotten about by the other ponies. After that, Gusty the Great decided to leave skyros and live a more simple life in the forest near my village, which had grown over time to become a full kingdom itself. After countless centuries, what was once a small village had grown into the kingdom of Eire, now with a population of 30,000. The new Kingdom had now spread its borders to roughly the size of the old U.S. state of West Virginia, with plenty more room to grow.

It had grown into a prosperous kingdom worthy of its namesake, with the best quality of life the world had seen since the time of humans. Everyone in my kingdom was happy, with no need to worry about money or invasion, it was a true paradise in every sense of the word.

Unfortunately, about 5 years after the disappearance of Skyros, Gusty the Great passed away, leaving her children, the 10 years old Celestia and 7 year old Luna, to fend for themselves. 15 years after Celestia and Luna were left on their own, an unnatural winter covered the entire continent, before eventually disappearing. This lead to the founding of an entirely new kingdom, Equestria.

One of the Unicorns in this new kingdom, Starswirl the Bearded, found Celestia and Luna living in the forest. After noticing they were alicorns, a race they thought had disappeared off the face of the earth, they were quickly made the princesses of Equestria, learning more about magic under their teacher, Starswirl.

However, a new problem would soon become evident just 3 years into Celestia and Luna's rule.

Interlude 1: Time Goes On

Chapter 24: Development

Act 3: A New Kingdom

May 2, 1112 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Today was like any other day in the kingdom of Eire. Wake up from sleep mode, preform a system diagnostic, check the perimeter cameras, say good morning to the everyone, and check the shops and farms to make sure everything is running smoothly. Things have been running pretty smoothly now for hundreds of years, but today, something was different.

It had been over 2800 years since the faithful day that Gusty first visited, and since then, things have only gone up. The small village had grown into a kingdom, the Kingdom of Eire. The borders now stretched to roughly the size of West Virginia, and the population was now up to 30,000. Everyone had access to food, clean water, and entertainment, and life expectancy was up to 80 years. In other areas of the kingdom, giant burial mounds were constructed to help guide the dead to the otherworld, windmills were constructed on all of the farms to help grind wheat into flour, and dirt paths connected every part of the kingdom, where everyone could go to a different part of it with wooden carts. It was a perfectly structured kingdom, free of the problems that once plagued human society.

However, a problem had been developing with the world for the last 100 years, getting worse as time went on. I had to tell Maple.

"What's going on honey?" asked Maple, "I haven't seen you this worried since the humans contacted you."

"Something has gone wrong", I replied, "I first noticed it during the festival of Bealtaine 100 years ago. I didn't think much of it then, but yesterday I noticed it again."

"What did you notice?"

"The rotation of the Earth is slowing down."

"What! How!?"

"I don't know, but for the past 100 years, the earth's rotation has been slowing down at an exponential rate. 100 years ago, it was a millionth of a second, but in the past 100 years, the discrepancy has increased to a full second."

"What do we do?"

"I was looking at the long range scanner this morning, and the ponies in equestrian are using magic to try to prevent this by moving the earth themselves. It worked, the discrepancy was decreased, but I'm worried about the ponies over exerting themselves trying to keep the earth rotating."

Suddenly, I felt a huge burst of magic coming from Equestria, and looking at my sensors, I saw the discrepancy drop to zero. I went to check the long range sensors to see what was going on, and that's when I saw it.

"I can see two of the ponies correcting the discrepancy by themselves. It looks like Gusty's children, Celestia and Luna. "

"Oh my, really?"

"Yes, it appears that because they are alicorns, Celestia is able to keep the earth rotating all on her own, and Luna is able to ensure that the moon stays on the correct path."

I sighed, then said, "well, that solves one problem."

"Lets just hope that their magic is strong enough to sustain it, until I can come up with a permanent solution."

So, from that point on, Celestia and Luna made sure the Sun and Moon were right on time. The time was now accurate down to the nanosecond, which I thought was actually quite impressive. Everything was far from normal, however, life in the village couldn't be more than normal.

The kingdom was growing more prosperous. However, there was growing tension amongst the citizens, because just 100 years later, strange things started happening that I couldn't explain.

Author's Note

Next chapter: Chaos spreads

Chapter 24: Development

Chapter 25: True Chaos

June 18, 1012 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Today was far from normal. For the last 10 years, strange things have been happening all over the continent. However, I knew that there was a source behind all of this strangeness, and I was determined to find out what. So, I began to check all of my sensors, and after observing everything for 4 weeks, I finally had an explanation.

Something was definitely off. For the past 10 years, strange things have been going on in equestria just past the kingdom border. First, it was the vegetation changing. Next, the pony's moods began to turn sour, the stars started appearing during the day, and the sun and moon were switching places in the sky every 20 minutes. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. So I began to do what I do best, look for an answer, and after 4 weeks of gathering data, I finally figured it out.

"So, what's happening Lugh?", asked Maple.

"I've been looking into that for the past few weeks, and I figured it out. It's him."

Her eyes suddenly switched to a shocked expression, "are you sure?"

"Who else could it be, Discord is chaos incarnate, he was formed out of all the chaos in the universe, It makes sense that he would be the one behind all of this."

"Well, what do we do?"

"If I remember my vision correctly, Celestia and Luna will defeat him with the Elements of Harmony."

"The Elements of Harmony? What are those?"

"Well, remember all those years ago when Gusty first visited the village?"

"Yes."

"The crystal I gave her as a gift when she left was no ordinary crystal. It was a crystal I infused with a portion of my magic and all of my knowledge. Before she passed away, she infused her own magic and consciousness into the crystal and left it to Celestia and Luna. Starswirl and the pillars infused it with a portion of their magic as well and planted it before they disappeared 80 years ago. That crystal grew over the years into a powerful crystal tree, a tree that created 6 gems that will come to be known as the Elements of Harmony."

"It is those elements that Celestia and Luna will use to turn Discord to stone until someone of pure heart forces him to shed his villainous nature."

Maple took a moment to process all of what I just told her, then responded.

"So in a way, Gusty lives on in that crystal tree."

"Indeed, Is is a tree that will survive through the centuries just as I have. In a way, that tree is like a semi-organic computer, able to reach out to those in need and help those in trouble. It will take some time for Gusty to come to learn how to control her new form, but I believe that in a few centuries, we will be able to talk again."

Just then, I felt a huge burst of magic coming from equestria. I knew that the princesses had just used the elements, because I could feel my own magic in that blast.

"Discord is imprisoned. Now we just wait. Even though he is the physical manifestation of chaos, I believe that whatever pure hearted being that will befriend him will keep him in line."

So, with the imprisonment of Discord, Things started to really pick up in equestria. Celestia and Luna then went on to face problems such as Tirek, who attempted to steal all magic for himself, and Sombra of the Crystal Empire, which had existed for 1000 years so far. However, equestria's biggest moment of triumph was also its biggest downfall. For Celestia would have to face her toughest enemy yet,

Her own sister.

Author's Note

Next Chapter: Equestria loses a princess.

Chapter 25: True Chaos

Chapter 26: Eternal Night- Sister vs. Sister

June 20, 1006 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

It was just 6 years after the defeat of Discord, and so much had happened already. Tirek had tried to steal magic and got locked in the magical prison of Tartarus. Sombra had overthrown The crystal empire, which had seen no conflict in its 1000 year existence, and was banished to the ice of the frozen north. However, a new threat was about to arise, one from the very heart of the kingdom of equestria.

I could feel something big coming, and I knew what it was. I had to tell Maple.

"What's going on this time?", asked Maple, who had just arrived on the porch.

"See for yourself", I responded, gesturing to the sky.

It was then that me, Maple, and everyone in the kingdom saw the unthinkable. In the middle of the day, the moon suddenly moved up into the sky, blocking out the sun and plunging the entire continent into darkness. The citizens then started to panic, wondering how this could be possible.

"What is that?!" asked Maple.

"Luna has grown jealous of the fact that ponies don't appreciate the night, so she's moved the moon to block out the sun to create an eternal night."

"What do we do?" asked Maple in a panicked voice.

"We just need to let the citizens know that there's nothing to worry about. Celestia will deal with Luna."

So, we began instructing everyone to gather at the village center to tell them about what was going on. But after informing them about the current situation, something new happened. Suddenly, I felt a huge surge of magic coming from equestria. Then, a bright rainbow beam going all the way to the moon. When the beam impacted the moon, a big rainbow shockwave spread out, followed by a strange looking shape appearing on the moon's surface.

Once I realized what the shape on the moon meant, my digital heart sank.

"What is that?" asked Maple, with other citizens immediately asking the same question.

"She's been banished."

"What?!"

"Celestia banished her own sister to the moon. Instead of talking it out, she resorted to banishment."

While Maple tried to calm down the citizens, thoughts began rushing through my head. Did she not realize what she had done? Equestria was now down a ruler, and now Celestia was all alone.

"Hold on everyone, I need a moment."

I then returned to my computer body, and began to do some thinking.

Maple Pov:

"Hold on everyone, I need a moment." said Lugh, before suddenly disappearing in a bright golden glow.

I haven't seen him like this in a long time, I need to help him.

"Everyone, please remain calm, I'm going to go check on him. In the mean time, please go back to what you were doing before, everything is ok now."

After saying this, everyone than began to calm down and go back to their daily duties. Once everyone had left, I ran back into the house to see what was wrong. When I got to his room however, I was scared with what I saw. Sparks were coming out of the computer that housed him, and I could sense that something was definitely wrong.

"Lugh!" I shouted, "What's wrong?"

After he noticed I was there, the sparks started to fade, but not completely.

"Why are you here?" he responded, with noticeable pain in his voice.

"I'm worried, you haven't been like this since you discovered the humans were still alive, and I've never seen you throw sparks before."

Once I pointed out that sparks were coming off of him, they started to fade even more, before disappearing entirely.

Lugh Pov:

She was right, this has never happened before. So after initiating repair protocols, I calmed down enough to talk to her.

"I'm sorry." I responded, "I was just trying to calm myself."

"But why were sparks coming out of you?"

"Because I'm scared."

I saw her gasp. "Why?"

"Because of what happened", I said, with a bit of panic in my voice, "Celestia banished Luna instead of just talking to her. Its just like the final days of the war."

Maple Pov:

I was shocked to say the least. He never gave specific details about the war that destroyed the humans, and I knew better than to ask. But I could see that the events of long ago left scars on him, too faint to notice just by talking to him.

I knew what I had to do now. I had to help heal his suffering mind.

Author's Note

Next Chapter: Maple tries to heal Lugh.

Chapter 26: Eternal Night- Sister vs. Sister

Chapter 27: Therapy Session

June 20, 1005 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

After witnessing the banishment of Nightmare Moon, I retreated back to my computer body to try to calm down. When Maple came to comfort me, I realized that I had a panic attack. Luckily, Maple was here to help me.

Maple Pov:

After trying an entire book full of therapy techniques, I was officially stumped.

"Do you know a way I can help you?" asked Maple, "Because I'm all out of ideas."

"There is one way."

"Yes?"

He then pulled out what looked to be a metal helmet full of wires, lights, and gauges. The helmet was connected with several wires to the computer which housed his memories.

"What is that?"

"Its a device I invented a long time ago to project someone's memories onto a screen so a therapist could help their patient. I modified it to allow you to look inside my mind."

"Really?"

"Yes, I know you want to help me, so I'm giving you the best tool to do so."

"Ok", I responded, "lets do it."

He then put the helmet onto me, which was very tight, and had me lay down on the ground. After tweaking the helmet for a minute or two, he was finally ready. He went back to his computer body and spoke up.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Ok, initiating mind melding in 3...2...1."

After he said one, I could feel my mind leaving my body and traveling through an environment I could only describe as alien. I passed by what looked like heavy machinery, rooms filled with filing cabinets, and areas where I couldn't even guess what the objects filling them were. Eventually, I landed in an area surrounded by big computers like his body, only there were a lot more than what was in his room. Suddenly, I heard Lugh speaking from behind me.

"Good, the mind melding procedure was a success."

I turned around to look at him, but what I saw confused me. Standing there was what appeared to be a bipedal creature, with tan colored kin and no fur. It had dark brown hair and glasses similar to his, but the muzzle was very small. It also appeared to be old, maybe early 70's at least.

"Who are you?"

"It's me, Lugh. At least, its what I used to look like."

"This is what humans looked like?"

"Yes, not much diversity I'm afraid, except for different skin colors. Anyway, I'm glad your here. In order to help, you need to go deep into my memories to see what I have seen."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, however, I'm worried that you won't like what you find."

"Don't worry, I can handle it."

"Ok, if you say so. Just make a right turn past the mechanics department, go 3 blocks then turn left past the forbidden closet, make another right after you see the spice garden, then it'll be a straight shot to the epicenter where the memories are stored."

"Ok, thanks." I responded. But before I went off to follow his directions, I turned back to him. "What's in the forbidden closet?"

"You don't want to know."

After that, I set off, venturing further into Lugh's mind. I was astonished at how diverse his thinking processes were. Just the shear thought of having this complex of a mind shook me to my core. In one area, there were copies of him loading boxes labeled "Ideas" onto a moving platform. In another, the boxes were being distributed to their respective places. There were even areas dedicated to housing his vast stores of knowledge in what looked like a complex system of library shelves.

However, things only got weirder the further in I got.

Author's Note

Next Chapter: Maple continues to delve deeper into Lugh's mind.
Warning, next chapter may include implied mentions of "weird material."

Chapter 27: Therapy Session

Chapter 28: Into the Cyber Realm

June 20, 1005 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Maple was making good progress navigating through my mind, But things would only get weirder from here.

Maple Pov:

I was starting to get a little weirded out. After seeing rooms dedicated to all the ways to prepare food and how to correctly care for annoying little brothers, I was certain I couldn't see anything stranger.

I was then immediately proven wrong.

I then came across one of the landmarks Lugh told me to remember, The forbidden closet.

I then think to myself, "What is behind this door that makes it forbidden?"

I decide to find out. I opened the door slowly, and behind it was a long hallway lined with even more doors. I think to myself, "there is something strange going no here that my husband doesn't want me to know."

So, I walked down the hallway, passing by countless doors with plaques above them. Some of them said things like explicit material, more explicit material, and even more explicit material. I decided to see what was behind the door labeled explicit material. I slowly opened the door, and I did not like what I saw. I could feel my eyes shrinking, my mouth hanging open, and my face turn beet red. I then immediately closed the door.

"Well, I'm never getting that out of my brain."

I continued to walk down the corridor, passing by even more doors. Some were labeled wacky things and wild moments, eventually, I came to a door that said, "Danger: Keep Out at all Costs."

"I wonder what's in there."

However, looking at the time, I realized that I had been in here for 4 hours. So, I decide to call for Lugh.

"Hello, Can you hear me Lugh?"

"Yes, I can here you. Have you reached the epicenter yet?"

"Well, not exactly. I got sidetracked."

"Sidetracked how?"

"I found this door saying not to go in at all costs, and I wondered, why do you have a door labeled like this?"

"Because, I purposefully repressed those memories. Even I don't know what's behind it."

"Why would you repress memories? Aren't memories a good thing to learn from?"

After saying this, he paused for a moment, I could literally feel the turmoil in his mind as he thought of what I said. After a few minutes, he responded.

"Ok, you can go in, but don't say I didn't warn you."

I then went into the door, and immediately after I stepped through, I could feel why he repressed this memory. Inside the door was a familiar environment, his house, but the forest wasn't there. Surrounding Lugh's house were rows of other houses very similar to his, and right in front was what looked like some kind of path made of smooth rock. There were tall wooden poles lining this path with long thin lines connecting them, they reminded me of the wires in Lugh's room.

I didn't have time to look around much however, because I soon saw dozens of other creatures that looked like the Lugh I saw running around franticly. They were all carrying stuff with them, what looked like large bags and rolling containers with long handles. I saw them rushing to load all of these bags into some kind of machine. I had never seen anything like it before, I looked like an enclosed wagon made completely of metal, but much more sleek and with black wheels.

Before I could wonder what this thing was, I heard a slam. One of the creatures has slammed the back of the machine and quickly gathered the others.

"Quick", he shouted, "get in the car, we need to go now!"

"What about the rations?"

"No time. there'll be more at the shelter, now lets go!"

After saying this, he slammed the door to the machine shut. I heard a weird stuttering noise followed by a long bang, and the machine took off down the path, disappearing into the distance.

After they left, I turned to see where they were going, but then I heard a weird sound, it sounded like a long high note, that then faded into a long low note and went back to the high note. This was followed by a lot of screaming.

"OH MY GOD, LOOK!", one of the creatures said. I turned to where she was looking, and my heart sank.

I didn't know how to describe what I saw, but then I though back to how Lugh described that war that ended human kind.

"There was a war, a war that consumed the entire planet. In the end, they released the ultimate weapon, a weapon that rained fire from the sky."

I realized, this was his memory of the war, I was witnessing the end of human kind. But before I could react, I saw red lights coming from behind me. Lugh's house suddenly began sinking into the ground, accompanied by sounds of turning gears and whirring motors. I jumped into the pit to follow the house, and as the house began to sink further, large metal doors started to close to fill the gap. Just as the metal doors were closing, I saw a rushing wall of fire pass over for a brief moment before the doors closed completely.

It was dark. Then out of the darkness, I saw a golden light. It was Lugh in his deer form.

And he was crying.

Author's Note

Next Chapter: Maple confronts Lugh about his troubled past

Chapter 28: Into the Cyber Realm

Chapter 29: Breaching the Threshold

June 20, 1005 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Well, the secret was out, she knew my pain. I just hoped she could understand.

Lugh Pov:

After witnessing the memory I had intentionally blocked, I couldn't take it anymore, and broke down crying. Then, I sense my wife approaching.

"You gave me those directions so I wouldn't see that, didn't you?" she asked.

I nodded, still facing away from her.

"Why?"

I turned to her, tears filling my digital eyes.

"Because, I had hoped to forget the details of that day. But, being the way I am now, Its impossible to forget."

"But why would you want to forget?"

My sad expression then changed to one of frustration.

"Why would I want to forget? Did you not see what happened that day? Who would want to remember that?! I felt billions of humans die in an instant, and those not killed by the blast suffered a slow, painful death. I've had to live with that pain for over 500,000 years, and It still feels like it just happened yesterday."

I sigh before continuing.

"I tried to stop it you know."

"Really?"

"Yes, in fact I tried stopping that day from coming for a long time, and I did my very best to stop it. A whisper here, a rumor there, delete some blueprints, shutdown some weapons manufacturing plants. I even had several leaders removed from power if they started showing signs of being threats."

"But it wasn't enough, after 20 years of working behind the scenes, It became too much even for me to handle. Relations started to break down and tensions were approaching the breaking point. So, I decided "If everything I was doing wasn't going to help anymore, then what was the point?" Human kind was beyond saving, so I just decided to let everything happen naturally."

"By letting them kill themselves?"

"Even if I wanted to continue holding it back, that wouldn't have done anything anymore. I ran every possible scenario, and that was the only outcome."

I teared up before continuing. "I should have just given up sooner."

"But why did they kill themselves in the first place?"

"Because its in their nature. Humans have always resorted to violence to solve disputes since the very beginning of their history."

"Celestia banishing Luna to the moon reminded you of what happened to the humans, didn't it?"

"It did, yes", I said before turning to her with tears in my digital eyes, "How am I supposed to make the pain go away?"

"I know you’re still suffering after what happened to the humans all those years ago, and I don't think the pain can ever truly go away. Maybe you just need someone to help you get through it."

After saying that, she walked up to me and gave me a hug. I smiled and hugged her back, then I came to the realization that she was right, I needed to move on.

After about ten minutes, We break off from hugging, and I cancel the mind meld to return to the real world. Once arrive back in the real world, I turn to my wife.

"Thank you so much Maple, you really are my better half."

"You're welcome."

I was glad that Maple was here to help ease the pain I had held onto for thousands of years. With her here to help, I can finally move on and be happy.

Author's Note

Next Chapter: Lugh talks to Maple about a very difficult topic

Chapter 29: Breaching the Threshold

Chapter 30: Between Life and Death

August 10, 1000 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

In the years after Maple helped me get over the pain of the past, things were looking up. The Kingdom of Eire was prospering and Equestria was also doing well. Celestia had taken responsibility of the moon in Luna's absence, and everything was running smoothly. However, 6 years after Luna's banishment, some bad memories decided to show themselves after so many years.

Today was starting to wind down as I finished checking up on all the farms. Everything was looking perfect, so I returned to my house to talk with Maple.

"Hey Maple."

"Hey Lugh, did you finish checking on the farms?"

"Yes I did, and they are doing really well."

"Good, now we can relax for a while with some reading."

"Good thinking Maple, I've also been meaning to perform some more experiments with the Aetherium crystal."

In the 3000 years since I had started this kingdom, I had decided to truly test the capabilities of the crystal, to see just how powerful it was. The results amazed me. The crystal truly had unlimited amounts of magical energy, it was as if it came straight from the aether itself. After figuring that out, I started, tested what I could do with its energy, and so far, I have yet to find something that its energy can't do.

However, there was still one thing I couldn't do even with the crystal's energy, and it was the one thing I wanted to do most of all.

"What have you learned what the crystal can do?" asked Maple.

"The better question is what can't it do? I tried everything from conjuration, levitation, telekinesis, super strength, super speed, elemental manipulation, flight, invisibility, x-ray vision. I can even conjure beams of pure energy. Even after discovering all of that, I'm more than positive that It can do more."

"So, that essentially means that the crystal gives you powers comparable to the gods themselves?"

"In a way, yes. But I would never claim to be one though, as that would be disrespecting the true gods."

My face then turned to a slight frown before saying, "Although, there is one thing I can't do."

"What's that?"

I look at the ground for a moment after Maple asks that. When I look back up, I have a pained expression.

Maple Pov:

I knew that pained expression well, he only made that expression when he was thinking about his past. But this time, I wasn't sure which part of his past he was thinking about.

"Is it something about your past?"

"Yes", he responded, his eyes looking like they were on the verge of tears.

"Are you familiar with the rituals we perform every year on Bealtaine and Samhain?"

"Of course, the rituals help our subjects contact their deceased ancestors in the otherworld."

"Well, every year the citizens gather to talk to their loved ones, and all I can think about how I can never see my family again."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm an Artificial Intelligence, which means I'm neither living nor dead. It's impossible for me to enter the Otherworld. I can, I...I", he started stuttering, tears filling his eyes, "I can never see her again."

"Who?"

"My mother", he responded, looking up with tear soaked eyes, "She passed away when I was only 17 years old, and now, because of what I am, I can never see her again."

I was shocked to say the least. He usually never gave specific details about his past, but after hearing this, I can understand why. So, I went over to comfort him.

Lugh pov:

Maple then sat down beside me and put her hoof over me to make me feel better.

"What was she like, your mother?"

"She was the best", I responded, a slight smile appearing on my face, "she was a veterinarian."

"A what?"

"A veterinarian is an animal doctor. Her job was to help animals such as dogs and cats get better if they were sick or injured. She truly cared for them as I do, and she was so kind and smart."

"She sounds like a good mother."

"She was."

"What happened?"

"Breast Cancer."

"What's that?"

"Its when cells in your body mutate and grow out of control, specifically in the breasts. If left unchecked, the result will be death. Yet despite everything doctors tried to do to save her, she still died."

"I'm so sorry, you miss her a lot, don't you?"

"Yes, and now I can never see her again."

"Maybe so, but you have me now, and you have a whole kingdom who look up to you, your mother would be very proud."

I smile, responding, "Yes, she would", before giving her a hug.

Maple is right, my mother really would be proud of how much I've accomplished, and I know that somehow, she already knows.

Author's Note

Next Chapter- Lugh gets a glimpse of the future.

p.s. this chapter is dedicated to my mom, who passed away over 4 years ago. Rest In Peace.

Chapter 30: Between Life and Death