Equii's History

The brothers stood before the fortress that had once held the king of the fae, uncertain. The last few months had been strange for them. Once teenagers blessed with magical power, knowledge, wisdom, and strength beyond that of many others, now something new.

The vacuum left by the Fae had been filled swiftly, worship of the otherworldly faefolk had shifted to the worship of the brothers. Solaris and Lunaris. They had learned quickly to move the sun and craft the night, and worship had turned to admiration, to need. The very cycle of night and day had been thrust into their hands

The populace, left without guidance, had latched onto them to lead them in these uncertain times. The Fae were truly gone, everyone knew that now. All that was left of them was their home, Oberons' fortress on the edge of the highest mountains base.

The two stood at its door. A door that they’d left ajar, covered in spiderwebs and dust as no pony had had the courage to enter its hallowed halls since the fall. Behind the pair was a great mass, some few hundred 'followers'. Ones they had at first insisted they did not deserve, but had grown to accept the aid of nonetheless.

Among them mostly, were unicorns, the newer race who had been raised with them. Hundreds across the realm who had been born with the same magical gifts as the brothers now wielded, if not quite as mighty. Before the fall of the Fae, there were no such people.

The travel time had had an effect on the brothers. Solaris had taken to his role, he'd always been strong willed, but given a new power, new wisdom, and purpose… He'd truly fit the new form he wore. Lunaris was still unsure, he mostly stuck to following his brother, measured and reserved. testing his powers more, careful and cautious.

Solaris turned his back to the portal, a single wing out to one side, using it as a backdrop for his arm. The following crowd hushed and halted. He wordlessly called for quiet with the simple motion, and the crowd, be it through fear or adoration, gave it quickly. "You all know this structure, the house of the late Oberon, King of the Fae. Within is housed their knowledge, and their seat of power, their throne. It is the center of what was once their kingdom. If we are to survive, to thrive, and to hold this world as they once did, we must know what they never taught us. You are know your teams, some of you will find their libraries, others still, their smithy, their armoury, the treasury. An untold wealth remains here that none have dared to take for their own for fear of the Fae's return, and their wrath. We know not of such fear. Walk in their halls with us, and you will know courage." he announced, half-shouting his words, which echoed across the crowd. His new might carried to his voice as much as the rest of his body. Lunaris couldn’t imagine this months ago, maybe a soldier sure but to command, to lead as Solaris had taken to. It was like he was always meant for it.

A few scattered cheers and hollers rose with the peaceful nods and prayers to them. Prayers... Prayers to Lunaris and Solaris for guidance, as if they were not mere teenagers wielding a power far beyond their understanding. Still, Solaris made good on his word, turning and pushing the great doors to the castle open, letting daylight spill into the dark, unlit halls. Magical lamps that had once glowed brightly now lay useless on the floor.

The only light came from the soft flicker of torches held by disciples as the pair wandered in. Solaris took point, as he often did. Lunaris stepped just behind him, the dark stallion very much his brothers' shadow. He seemed ill at ease, not having taken to his new place as confidently as Solaris had. The Halls were beautiful. Nobody here would have seen them, or anything the like. Unblemished marble inlaid with beautifully complex swirling patterns of crystal and gold. A few gasps came as light danced along the artistic architecture. The brothers remained quiet, moving ever forward, their presence banishing the darkness. In solarisis case, quite literally. No torchbearer needed to be near him, his fur simply shone like the sun he moved. Lunaris didn’t send his away, despite the ability to see in darkness as if it were daytime. Not that he had told anyone of that perk just yet.

Within the hour, the crowd outside had filtered in, taking torches and chalk into the halls to map out the paths. Using the chalk with them to mark where they had come, the way back, and to draw crude maps on walls to help others orient. A small group had set up in the main hall just inside the doorway, drawing out a single, massive map as teams came back and forth to give information, measurements and other reports. Solaris and Lunaris had moved off alone to seek what seemed to call them both. The throne room.

It had not taken them long to find, something had guided them to it, spirits? Memories not their own? Magic? They couldn't name it. But it did guide them well. The subtle whispers had turned them from corner to corner until they found the massive, opulent chamber. The walls beset with jewels, more gold, black and white stone in contrast of beautiful patterns. None of it interested them. Not from there they stood. The foot of a small staircase, topped with a pair of thrones, Titania and Oberons' thrones.

Solaris turned suddenly, eyes fixing on Lunaris, who started at the sudden movement. "What...?" The moon stallion asked, as his brother fixed him with a glare. "You said something." Solaris said, which caused Lunaris to frown. "I didn't say anything... Are you hearing echoes from the others?" he asked, Solaris pausing to peer back the way they came. "No no, it..." he said, before Lunaris heard it too. "My throne, host only to dust, useless." came a voice, just a voice. Genderless, emotionless, nothing in it indicating what it was, as if nothing but words, written into their minds. Both brothers started to look around, searching for the source.

When the words came again, the pair stopped and looked at each other, the words came from within. "I once called this hall home, from here I directed a world, unconcerned with the lives of those so far below, you workers... ponies." it said, lifeless. Emotionless.

"It is Oberon, his memory gives our power its own mind." Solaris said, with such certainty that Lunaris simply... believed him. It was hard to argue with his brother now. When he spoke, you simply believed he knew what he was saying.

"You were tools, fit to craft the land and sky for us and little more." the voice continued, as Solaris moved towards the throne, ascending the stairs that, as far as they knew, no pony had ever ascended before.

"To see you taking what we made, it wounds me. Yet this was my own creation, my mistake. I ruined our power." The impression echoed in their minds. Lunaris watched as Solaris circled the great golden seat, beset and engraved with jewels, stones, crystal, and precious metals... a handful of that seat would be worth more than their tiny village had and would have ever known.

"The stones hunger, I can feel their need..." Solaris said, fingers tracing a vein of diamond set into the throne, converging on a gem placed within the headrest. "Hungers for what?" Lunaris asked, peering up at the throne, and to his brother, whose fingers had stopped on that gem. The sun stallions fingers gently pressing against it. Lunaris wasn’t sure what to make of his brother. Maybe these new bodies were changing them in more ways than physical, he’d become someone new these last months… maybe he really had become someone else, truly.

"I don't know, but it pulls on me, on something in me. As if asking me to..." he started, before pausing, furrowing his brow and focussing. His horn came alight, soft white-pink magic enveloping it before it flowed down, across his head, into his neck, shoulder, along his arm, and then into the diamond. Solaris grunted lightly, as if pushing against something, and then the room seemed to burst with light.

The diamond veins in the seat filled with white light, flowing along the channels of precious stone into the floor. A moment later, the dusty crystalline lamps that adorned the floor, now resting on the floor, inert and out of their casings, were given life. One by one they exploded with steady cool white light, lifting into the air, and floating back into the small pointed marble cases they once occupied, a few cries of fear echoed from outside the halls as fearful ponies, Lunaris assumed, saw the impending return of the Fae in the sudden life Solaris had breathed into the palace.

Lunaris cursed and ran from the room, worried that those who had followed them, promised safety, would be afraid and flee. Solaris remained, watching his brother go, apparently uninterested in the common folk.

The solar stallion sighed, the small effort to infuse life into this castle was almost instinctive. He had no idea what he had done. Nor if he should have done it, it simply felt right. He simply knew what to do. His mind sorting through an ancient dead king's memory to guide him.

His thoughts turned inward, trying to address the power, the memories as he had on occasion done in the past few months, not that his brother had known. Lunaris was too worried about the details. "What do I do with this strength, this power? Am I to raise and lower the sun and little else?" he asked it. For a moment, no response. He focussed, trying to feel for it, listening.

"You rule... as we did." it eventually answered, as if reluctant, unwilling to admit that it was the turn of Ponykind to run the world. Solaris smiled, looking to the throne, the beautiful hall of marble, tapestry, and magic.

Within it all, he found peace. Purpose. Yes, he was given this throne, this strength, to guide the world, and guide it he would. He sighed, clarity filled him as he sat in that throne, feeling the soft fabric accept him from below. He’d never felt a cushion before...

"My throne... gone." Oberon's voice echoed in his mind. Solaris frowned a little, not able to hear Lunaris anymore, he must have gone far. So he sat back, and focussed, trying to coalesce the kings essence, the magic that flowed freely about the brothers, to reassemble more of Oberon. A stronger cohesion of the image that lived in their minds. He felt it take form, felt as scattered memories, ruined collections of thoughts, feelings of hatred, all collected… he could almost see the ghostly visage of the former ruler before him.

"I... why? Why do you..." Oberon spoke, with the first tinge of emotion Solaris had heard him use. Confusion. The sun stallion cut him off. An instinct pushed him suddenly, he used his mind to swipe a great wave of magic across that collection of cognizance. Like a storm across a delicate house of cards, shattering the connections freshly made, scattering it all as it came together, tentatively reforming in vulnerability, to nothing. He destroyed what weak fragments were left of the Fae, destroyed the memories, wiped that tainted magic clean. After a moment, left in the silence, even the impression of Oberon that had resided in his very soul, was gone. The age of the Fae was well and truly, over.

Lunaris felt the soft guiding voice in his mind simply stop suddenly. He had been helping a unicorn back to his feet after he had fallen in surprise at the lunar stallions' appearance around a corner. He frowned slightly, pushing the sudden feeling of emptiness aside as he helped the poor fellow up, then made his way back to the throne room, where he found Solaris sitting in a throne, lost in thought.

"Did you feel the voice fade?" Lunaris asked, stepping up the foot of the stairs. Solaris nodded, grimacing slightly. "I did, we are alone with what we have now. Nothing power left to guide us..." he said. Lunaris nodded, taking a slightly shaky sigh. "So the world now rests on the shoulders of two malformed teenagers. I hope we’re enough." he said, before looking at his brother, lounging on a throne.

"The disciples could use some of your confidence... if you are quite done resting." he joked, flashing a rare smile and wink up at Solaris before turning to go and help with the exploration. Unaware of what had just transpired.