Condensation

by BlackRoseRaven

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Original Character, Adventure
Length: 5654

Antares tells the story of his parents, Luna and Scrivener.

Before he can set out on his journey to save his parents, Antares Mirus gathers his friends and tells them the story of his parents, from when Luna was Princess of the Night to when she and Scrivener Blooms vanished during the war with Clockwork World. Sums up the entirety of the Nátta Edda, prequel to Absolution.

Published 2012-10-23 07:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-10-23 07:00:01 UTC

Condensation

Condensation
~BlackRoseRaven

The young stallion looked awkwardly back and forth at the ponies gathered expectantly around him: he and four others were all seated on the floor of the library in Ponyville, a place as familiar to the glossy-black unicorn as his own home in the Everfree Forest. He reached up and nervously brushed his white mane out of dark, cyan-green eyes as his leather wings flapped once: a 'gift' that had been given to him by his mother's darker side long ago, that ached almost every day of his life where unnatural transfiguration merged into natural body.

His friends all continued to look at him curiously, and finally, a small, golden Pegasus groaned before leaping into the air and doing a frustrated somersault, her streaked red-and-yellow mane and tail making her look like a glowing fireball with the speed she moved at as she complained: “Dammit Antares, hurry up and say something already!”

“I'm gathering my thoughts! I don't even know what you guys want me to say, though, it's... it's hard.” Antares Mīrus answered hurriedly, blushing a little as he shook his head quickly before reaching up and nervously rubbing at his necklace: an onyx medallion shaped like a star. It was a keepsake from his lost parents: Luna Brynhild, and Scrivener Blooms.

He closed his eyes, and the Pegasus sighed as she hovered above the heads of the other ponies, nodding moodily. Her sharp red eyes glanced back and forth, and then she buzzed easily over the heads of a large blue earth pony with an orange mane and a pretty young mare with a light pink coat and raven-black locks knotted to one side of her head, the Pegasus leaning down to mutter: “Still, we gotta know, right Rusty? Right, Apple Pie? We totally deserve to know.”

“Avalon, this is why Mommy tried to eat you the other day.” Aphrodisia Celeste Pie said kindly, the earth pony mare raising one of her cloven hooves as her emerald eyes almost glowed, and Avalon huffed a bit before the mare grinned... revealing not simple pony teeth, but sharp fangs. That, along with her strange demeanor and cloven hooves, made it fairly clear what she really was: not just an earth pony, but a demon. “Go sit down. Nova will tell us when he's ready, won't you?”

Antares smiled a little as his eyes opened, looking over at his cousin before the last pony in the room, a red Pegasus with a mane that was a mix of deep blacks and earthen chestnut, spoke up hesitantly: “If it's too hard, Antares, we'll understand... we're all friends, right Rustproof?”

The blue earth pony only smiled and nodded, not speaking as he gazed warmly around at the others: while the youngest in the room in some ways, he was intelligent and already the size of an adult earth pony, broad and strong... but gentle, all the same. Technically, Aphrodisia was younger than him, but as a demon she had aged twice as fast as the rest of the quote-unquote 'normal' ponies had.

The unicorn smiled as he looked up again, thinking quietly about how none of them here were exactly normal, though: not even the red Pegasus he gazed at almost shyly, studying her cutie mark for a moment. It was of a quill overtop a book, illustrating her talent for journalism... but she was perceptive, and stronger than him in a lot of ways. She took care of herself and always looked out for him, too... Antares found himself always relying on his friends, his family, his sister and the mare who in many ways had always been a second mother to him, Twilight Sparkle, his aunt and uncle and so many others to get through every day...

“Thanks, Meadowlark... but no, it's not that. I... I want to tell you guys. You guys all deserve to know.” He gazed around at his circle of friends, all of whom he trusted and cared for, all of whom he admired for their special talents as his eyes lit over their cutie marks: the image of what Rustproof called an 'engine' on the blue earth pony's flank, the sliced-in-half apple on Avalon's, the spiraling snake on Aphrodisia's... genius, fortitude, and captivation.

Then he glanced down at his own for a moment, thinking quietly of his parents: his was a constellation of nine stars, with faint lines between each glowing point to form out the shape of a flower blossom. It represented his ability to see what was truly there, what was beneath the surface... to understand things. And his mother and father both had said it was a prized talent...

He breathed slowly, then looked up, letting his eyes rove slowly back and forth over his friends. Avalon looked impatient, crossing her forelegs as she zipped back and forth, while the others were only looking at him with gentleness in their eyes. The young stallion smiled a little after a moment, then he finally nodded as he asked hesitantly: “You're sure, though, that... you want me to tell you everything I know about my parents? It's just... kind of a long story.”

“Yeah, well, we got time, right guys?” Avalon gestured around at the others, who all nodded as Aphrodisia dropped forwards and smiled brightly and Meadowlark gazed with warm interest at the glossy-black unicorn. “And we might know bits here and there, and remember your Mom and Dad... but none of us really know their past. But you're always saying how amazing they are, Mir, and I guess... we wanna hear what made 'em so cool and stuff. I mean, you know, my Dad's badass. And my Mom's pretty amazing. But Rusty's Mom is psycho and Apple Pie's parents are... uh... also crazy.”

Aphrodisia huffed at this, glaring up at Avalon. “My Mommy and Daddy could beat up your Mommy and Daddy any day of the week!”

“Hey, my Dad would totally... not... get beaten up! I mean, you know, all that stuff with Pinkamena is just... games... and... stuff.” Avalon defended lamely, and then she cleared her throat and hurriedly said: “But this is about Antares, not me and you, don't be so selfish, Pinkslap.”

Aphrodisia grumbled but fell quietly, and there was silence for a few moments as the young unicorn glanced to the side, gazing out the water-streaked window. It was a rainy, wet day outside, and Twilight Sparkle and Celestia were both in Canterlot today, doing business with the Royal Court. He and all his friends had nothing else to do today, with the storm slowly rolling in. For now, though, there was no thunder, no lightning, little wind: just the quiet tap of droplets on the glass. The sound was soothing, and it helped him think, helped him decide on what he was going to say.

Finally, Antares looked up and smiled a little, saying quietly: “Okay then. I'll start... right at the start. Because you know, my Mom and Dad... and our parents and stuff, they come from old Equestria. An Equestria where Aunt Tia... I mean, Baroness Celestia, ruled as Princess of the Sun, and my Mom as the Princess of the Night. You all know the story of Nightmare Moon, right?”

“Sealed away for a thousand years, blah-blah-blah. But that's just a fairy tale, right?” Avalon cocked her head curiously, then winced when Aphrodisia glared at her and Meadowlark sighed and shook her head tiredly.

“No, it's true, Mommy says so.” Aphrodisia said firmly, nodding rapidly a few times before she continued: “Many demons revere Nightmare Moon, because Aunt Brynhild was the pony who saved many demons and united them with the ponies and Nibelung under one nation. They think of her Nightmare Moon side as kind of... a role model. Someone they should rally behind, because she's so strong and scary, but she always hides herself away in her littler pony form.”

Aphrodisia nodded a few times, her child-like emotions showing through in her body language as much as her words, and Antares smiled despite himself before he said softly: “Even though it's kind of the other way around. Nightmare Moon is... trapped, inside my Mom. Or at least... sealed away, only allowed to come to the surface when Mom says so, because she...”

Antares quietly looked at his wings, and the others softened, even Avalon looking almost embarrassed for a moment before the young stallion finished quietly: “Because even when she tries to help, sometimes she just hurts, instead.”

There was silence for almost a minute, interrupted only by a distant rumble of thunder, and then Antares picked up the story, saying softly: “My Mom beat Nightmare Moon, but she was really weak for a long time. She and Aunt Tia lived in Canterlot, ruled from there... although it was mostly Aunt Tia who did the ruling stuff. And my Dad was just my Mom's assistant at that time... he was Court Poet, but he was reassigned to help... my Mom adjust. But one day, the were sent on a weird mission by Celestia, to retrieve some things from where they'd lived a thousand years ago... and Mom and Dad had their first adventure together, and got the stuff and brought it back.

“But... Aunt Tia was...” Antares hesitated, then he glanced up and smiled a bit. “Mom would always say, 'Celestia was poisoned.' I don't know if she meant literally or metaphorically, but... Aunt Tia tried to hurt my Mom and Dad. Tried to hurt a lot of ponies, because she took everything they brought back and made something... awful with it. Something that made her stronger, because she wanted to 'purify' the nation. But Mom beat her, and knocked the sense back into her. To this day, Aunt Tia's really ashamed of whatever happened... but she never hides from it, either. I really respect that.

“Anyway, what it looked like to everypony else was that my Mom had become Nightmare Moon again, and struck down Celestia.” Antares nodded slowly, continuing quietly: “It scared a lot of ponies, and Mom knew... the only thing she could do was go along with it. She escaped into the Everfree Forest, and my Dad followed her: only Celestia and Twilight Sparkle knew the truth, and they knew that to stop Equestria from falling into chaos, to hide what Celestia had almost become, almost done, they had to hide what had happened. Mom and Dad became hunted exiles, but... Mom always said she was happy like that. Happy in the forest...”

“Aunt Brynhild's always been weird, though. But Mommy would understand, I think.” Aphrodisia said softly, smiling a little, and Avalon snorted in amusement.

“I dunno about that, guys. I mean, I'd hate to call myself a princess, but to lose all that power and end up living in a cabin in the woods? I think it'd kinda hurt.” Avalon replied mildly, and then she cocked her head curiously as Antares only smiled at her. “What?”

The young stallion shook his head slowly, then he finally answered: “It's hard to explain. It's about where you're comfortable, and what you have, not about what you don't have. And Mom and Dad had... each other, and freedom. That was all they wanted. And besides, while they were living out here was when Twilight... uh...”

Antares cleared his throat, then hurriedly continued on, even as Aphrodisia giggled and Avalon stuck out her tongue: “And they had Celestia, too. Apparently Aunt Tia visited them lots... at least, until bad things started happening again. You guys have all heard some of that history though, right? I know you have, Avalon...”

“Yeah, I hear about it every anniversary of my parents' that rolls around, and then some.” Avalon snorted and nodded, then she said mildly: “See, Mom and Dad got married right when things apparently really started to go to hell. And their wedding party was interrupted by these evil monsters called... Velites, right?”

Antares nodded, saying softly: “They've been wiped out now, and their goddess, Veliuona, was destroyed... but at a great cost. Mom had taken on a student, an old friend of Twilight's or something... but Veliuona possessed her, with the help of a demon. I think his name was Ignominious, but Mom... never told me much about him. Always got... angry, but in a quiet way, when she talked about him. Like she was disappointed, you know?”

There was quiet, and then Antares shook his head slowly, murmuring: “And that was when Pinkamena first surfaced, too, thanks to another demon's tampering, and when Mom and Dad found Scarlet Sage... my big sister. She wasn't adopted right away, though, but they rescued her after something... bad happened to her parents. But things got worse, you know? They said that Ponyville was almost taken over by a monster named Sol Seraph just after they got a big mission from Celestia, several months after Mom and Dad fought off Veliuona and Ignominious. And I think around then was when Mom and Dad bound their souls together, too... it was either during or after Ignominious attacked, and Mom says it was because Dad did something really stupid.”

Avalon smiled a little at this, then she shook her head and said: “Dad mentioned something about that before, I think. He said Scrivener did something that only an idiot would do, but... he hoped that he could be that stupid if something bad ever happened to Mom.”

Antares nodded slowly, and there was silence for a little while again apart from the sound of rain tapping on the glass before Meadowlark prompted gently: “But what happened with Sol Seraph, and that mission?”

“I dunno. They never talked much about her... they said it wasn't their story to tell.” Antares said finally, and then he shook his head slowly before continuing softly: “But their mission took them through Canterlot, and Mom... I mean, Twilight Sparkle, not my Mom-Mom... that's where she became a winged unicorn, and when Scarlet Sage was adopted and they found out about her Blood Seer powers. And that's where they met Discombobulation, too... and I think it's when Mom started calling herself Luna Brynhild, too. Or something like that... it has something to do with her past.”

“She and Celestia and Sleipnir... Sleipnir talks about it a lot more than the Baroness, but Luna and Celestia were supposed to have been Valkyries once upon a time, and Sleipnir was a god or something... they were killed, and reincarnated here, as ponies, because Odin was trying to stop... the evil that built Clockwork World, and killed the Aesir.” Meadowlark said hesitantly, and Antares looked across at her curiously before the Pegasus blushed a bit, glancing awkwardly towards Rustproof, Avalon, and Aphrodisia. “I read a lot. And since I spend a lot of time with Twilight, I end up spending a lot of time with Sleipnir and Celestia, too.”

“Yeah. It sounds silly, but Daddy says it's true, and that's good enough for me.” Aphrodisia said quietly, nodding firmly once. “And Mommy says it's true, too, and that she was... born again, kind of, as a half-demon not long after that.”

“And my Momma was on the journey, too. With my Dad. She talks about it sometimes.” Rustproof said softly, and Antares smiled at the blue colt as he finally spoke up, the gentle giant looking back and forth thoughtfully. “Funny. Guess we all got more connections than you'd think.”

“All our parents knew each other, for a long, long time, before any of us were born. Well, except for you, Apps. Sleipnir was... he was dead or something, yeah?” Avalon glanced curiously at Aphrodisia, who huffed and glowered up at the Pegasus.

“My Daddy isn't dead now, is he? Besides, I'm not the odd one out, Meadowlark's the one none of us knew until just a few years ago.” Aphrodisia complained, and then she added sulkily: “And she's smelly and dumb.”

The red Pegasus only sighed tiredly at this as Antares gave an almost-pleading look to his cousin, but Aphrodisia simply sniffed disdainfully. Meadowlark shifted uncomfortably as Avalon began to open her mouth, but Antares interjected hurriedly: “Anyway, whether it's true or not, what I do know is that my Mom was named Champion by Celestia in Canterlot, and she led the Starlit Knights-”

“Wait, wait, time out. Wasn't she supposed to be in exile?” Avalon interrupted, and Antares looked lame as the Pegasus looked down at him with a frown. “And what happened in Ponyville?”

The young stallion shifted, trying to think... but surprisingly, it was Meadowlark who answered, saying softly: “Luna was known in Ponyville, even while in exile. They... it kind of became her own little kingdom, don't you know that? That's why she was at your parents' wedding.”

“Don't talk about my parents. I still haven't forgiven you for you-know-what completely.” Avalon muttered grouchily, but she nodded hesitantly all the same. “So I guess, yeah, okay. But then what happened in Canterlot?”

“Aunt Tia made Mom Champion... I don't know a lot of the details, I just know that somehow... Aunt Tia found a way to make everything okay, for a little while. To make Equestria accept my Mom... I think... there was a confession.” Antares nodded slowly, looking down thoughtfully. “And it was when... Mom says it was when they really became sisters. Not just big sister and little sister, but real sisters, equals. And she told me that they had a long, harsh journey, they fought many evils and monsters until they reached North Neigh... my... my Dad's hometown.”

He looked quietly over at Meadowlark, who blushed and lowered her head, and there was silence for a few moments before Aphrodisia said quietly: “Uncle Scrivy was a slave there, wasn't he?”

“Yeah. My Dad was... he's a unicorn, but he was born without a horn. His father, my grandfather, was... he believed very strongly in unicorn superiority. He treated my Dad like garbage and...” Antares closed his eyes. “I admire my Dad so much for swallowing down all that and going to try and help North Neigh anyway. And Mom and Dad said it was... it was almost worth it, in the end. It hurt, but it was the right thing to do all the same, you know?”

There was silence, then Avalon muttered: “Your Dad's a better pony than me.”

Aphrodisia grunted in agreement, and Antares smiled faintly, looking down and not wanting to admit how much it was to live up to. His parents had been honorable, were true heroes, and he was always here, in their shadow, and it... it scared him, how so much was now expected of him. It was part of the reason that he believed they were still alive; that, and the fact he needed them back. Not just because he missed them and loved them, but because he needed their guidance, and their protection.

Again, there was only the sound of rain outside for a little while, punctuated by another distant rumble of thunder before Antares spoke up again, continuing the story. “Mom said... she couldn't stop what had started up there, though. That... a lot of ponies died. She says... every pony, as a matter of fact. There was Ragnarok, and she and Dad were captured by the force behind everything that had happened... Valthrudnir.”

He halted for a few moments, letting the others digest this, and then Antares shook his head slowly as he continued: “But Mom and Dad beat him, and Odin was able to come out of where he'd been hiding, to help them. To help them put everything back together, and build what we live in now. Looking Glass World, where all the spirits of the ponies were revived...”

“It sounds so fantastic, every time I hear it. Crazy, wild, but... Twilight Sparkle, Baroness Celestia, so many others all say it's true.” Meadowlark smiled a little, glancing over at Antares quietly. “And it took... two years for them to remember, after they were revived...”

“But ten years to turn this empty world into Looking Glass World, with the help of the Nibelung and many others.” Antares smiled a little, nodding slowly. “A decade where my Mom and Dad worked hard, going back and forth between this world and the old Equestria, saving all the souls they could.”

“Bet your Mom and Dad wish they could've skipped all that work. Sounds like they went through literal hell to get to the end of it, and even then... they ended up kinda alone for a while. That sucks.” Avalon murmured, but then she frowned a little when Antares only laughed and looked up at her with an almost-tender look.

“Ava, it... it's never about the ending. It's about the journey, about the experiences on the way there... that's what Mom and Dad always believed. I mean, you pick up a book, and if you're just reading to see how everything ends you might as well read the first page, then read the last page. But stories aren't about that, and life isn't about how it all starts, or how it all ends. It's about how everyone deals with everything in the middle. And Mom and Dad lived by that code... and it made even the worst experiences, even everything they lost and had to work so hard for... mean something. They always lived in the present, for the present, even as they treasured the past and worked towards a better future for all of us.” Antares said softly, and he gave a shrug. “And it wasn't so bad anyway. Mom and Dad... had something that saved them a lot of extra work, even with all the time and effort they had to put into everything.”

He quieted, then looked hesitantly back and forth as his friends all leaned in, before Aphrodisia said firmly: “Spill it.”

“I'm... I'm not supposed to talk about it.” Antares said finally, then he winced when Avalon and Aphrodisia both glared at him. Rustproof simply cocked his head, while Meadowlark leaned closer towards him, and the young stallion hesitated before groaning and nodding, mumbling: “Okay, okay, fine. When Mom and Dad beat Valthrudnir, his power got... trapped, somehow, in these cards. Valthrudnir could do almost anything, and these cards, with his powers, they could grant wishes. Mom and Dad used two of them to bring back all the ponies they had saved, to give them physical bodies and fix the world.”

There was quiet, and then Meadowlark asked curiously: “And the third card? What did they do with that?”

Antares was silent, and then he finally glanced up and answered in a murmur: “They gave it to me, actually. It... it was in the letter they left behind for me.”

The ponies fell quiet, and there was no sound through the library apart from breathing, and the flutter of Avalon's wings: sounds that were barely heard over the patter of droplets against the windows as the rainfall outside grew heavier. The young ponies shifted back and forth as Antares sat with his head lowered, before he said softly: “Few ponies had any memories of what had happened... apparently the Equestria we live in is really different from the Equestria of the past, but because everypony had their memories stripped in the trauma of... getting a second life, the Nibelung and others who helped build Looking Glass World were able to convince everypony that it was some kind of... nation-wide freak accident that knocked everypony out, and things were... like they've always been. And Mom and Dad were exiles again, living out in the forest, in the cabin.”

Antares smiled a little, gazing up quietly at his circle of friends. “But you know... Twilight found them, and Zecora always knew about them, and so did Pinkamena. And they had Discombobulation, and... it wasn't long before Aunt Tia figured things out and... soon enough, well, all their old friends found out too.

“By the time I was born, I think most of Ponyville knew. At least, that's what I've been told by Twilight.” He smiled after a moment, then looked down and murmured softly: “And I don't remember it really well, but Mom and Dad... they were gone every now and then, for a week or so at a time, because they had to do work for Odin in other places, other entire layers of reality. It's funny to think about, that... there's ninety nine worlds out there or something. Countless worlds... all other versions of Equestria, created to confuse Valthrudnir, keep him away from the core world or something. The place that holds all of our reality together.”

He fell quiet, and Rustproof said softly: “Like a keystone.”

“Yeah.” Antares smiled after a moment, then looked back and forth over his friends before he said quietly: “It scares me, thinking about that. How Mom and Dad were entrusted with so much, and they thought so much of me, when I was just a kid... I mean... how do I live up to all that? I just...”

“Hey, Mir, we're not talking about you right now. We're talking about your parents.” Avalon said gently, and Antares laughed a little and nodded with a small smile before the young Pegasus reached up and touched her own face, tracing along a thin, almost invisible scar alongside one eye. “But you know, I think the rest of us know the story pretty well from here. Clockwork World attacked, right?”

Antares nodded slowly, replying quietly: “That's right. Clockwork World... Valthrudnir's Clockwork Ponies, and his Prophet and... all the evil he wanted to unleash. To infect and destroy all the worlds so they could be made back in his image... his Prophet and the Clockwork King were trying to carry on everything he had started even after their master was dead. Mom and Dad fought against them... so did almost every pony in Ponyville.”

“Not my parents, though.” Meadowlark said softly, glancing down, and there was awkward quiet again before the young mare looked up with a faint smile. “But after years of fighting... Luna and Scrivener went to save you, right?”

“Yeah.” Antares swallowed a bit, not wanting to remember the monstrous Herrófriðr, the centaur-beast that had dragged him to Clockwork World, or any of the events that followed... the darkness, the screaming, the pain and suffering and terror. “By then, Mom and Dad were determined to stop them by any means necessary. After everything Clockwork World had done... they hurt so many people, and... killed many who were so important to Mom and Dad. Including Twilight...”

Antares shook his head slowly, murmuring: “I feel so bad for her sometimes. She loved them so much, and she makes such a wonderful mother to me... but to save her, Aunt Tia and... and Gymbr... had to anchor her spirit to something else, and... remake her. Twilight is a Lich, like you all know by now... she's not alive, she's not dead. But she's still a person, and one of the best people I know. And she suffers every day being what she is, and even more with Mom and Dad gone.”

There was silence for a few moments, and then Meadowlark said hesitantly: “Gymbr. I still don't... entirely understand who or what Gymbr was, Antares... he was just a character in a story, right? A story called Because Love Conquers All, where your parents were... evil, for lack of a better word.”

“That's right. And yet... he came to life, because of tampering by the Norns, and... I dunno.” Antares looked down quietly, closing his eyes as he murmured: “It got a life of its own, and grew from there. Gymbr was supposed to be what my parents could have become if they'd given in to their sins, their darkness, but... they never would, and never did. Mom and Dad always did the right thing at the end of the day. Mom was tough and Dad was cynical but both of them believed that... you had to do the right thing at the end of the day, no matter what. And that's what they taught me and that's what I'm going to try and live up to.”

He stopped, then shook his head and smiled a bit after a moment, glancing up and around at them all. “Gymbr always protected me when I was little, anyway. He was just a weird doll Aunt Tia found, until Mom and Dad were told that whole story by Discombobulation, and everything started coming together, and he got that life of his own. But even if he was scary, and evil... he was sad, too. And he wanted to help, he did, just like Nightmare Moon wants to help... but unlike Nightmare Moon, I think... I think Gymbr wanted redemption. He knew he could never achieve it, for everything he did... but it never stopped him from trying. And that's why I cherish that mural on my wall at home and all the little things that Gymbr's done and left behind. Why I'm not afraid of him, and why I don't believe he turned on my Mom and Dad... that he honestly helped them through Clockwork World, even if my last memories...”

He quieted, looking down as images flickered through his mind: of a crimson sky, yet his parents smiling, helping him up... but seeing into them, seeing their determination. That they were going to send him home, and stay behind, and fight. Admiring them... but crying out all the same for them to come home with him, to escape, because he was so afraid of what it would all mean...

And then running across the Bifrost, the bridge between worlds, after Gymbr forced it open. Running after his parents had ordered him to, running even as he cried until he burst out the other side... and found out everything that had happened. Crying and staring at Twilight, covered in stitches that seemed to hold her together as she half-turned away... and then barreling into her, burying his face against her chest, just crying for the longest time. For himself, for her, for his parents...

He breathed slowly in and out, then looked up and said quietly: “And that's the story. I... I don't know how it ends. I don't know what happened from there... I know that it's decades of war and fighting and adventure that I've tried to summarize here, but that's the major point, and even more... it's just what I've been told. I was young when Mom and Dad told me all these stories, and I know they left a lot out... I know that even when I talk to Aunt Tia or Twilight about it, they have trouble telling me everything, because... it's hard for them to talk for my parents, or even about my parents, with how much they miss them even today, almost a decade after they vanished.

“But... I believe, with all my heart, that my Mom and Dad are out there, and I'm going to find them. I finally have a heading, after all, thanks to Allonym... I still don't entirely know who or what he is, but he says I have a chance to find my parents, and... I'm going to take that chance. I'm going to train hard, and I'm going to get all the help I can, but I'm going to find my way to Clockwork World. And I'm gonna find my Mom and Dad.”

Antares looked up, determination in his cyan eyes, and Avalon glanced back and forth before she grinned despite herself, shaking her head and saying mildly: “Well, I've been your friend as long as I can remember, so I guess I'll be going with you, then.”

“We're best friends and family, Nova. I'm not letting you go either... and besides, Mommy says I gotta watch out for my cousin.” Aphrodisia added, sitting up and nodding firmly, and Rustproof chuckled as he gave his own supportive smile.

Meadowlark nodded as well, looking softly across at Antares as she said quietly: “We've all promised it before, Antares... we're going to come with you. I might not be as much help as the others but... I can at least help you find things, and keep track of everything that's going on. I'm not backing down either.”

Antares gazed back and forth at his friends, then he closed his eyes and smiled faintly as he thought of all the long talks he'd had with Scarlet Sage, with Celestia, with Twilight Sparkle: their words of advice and encouragements, telling him they would be there every step of the way, that they would help him out as much as possible... that they would let him do this, but only after he proved he was ready for the enormity of the task, and only if he let his friends and family help out. Because that had been what had led to losing his parents: Luna and Scrivener had always tried to protect everyone and do everything themselves.

He opened his eyes, then nodded firmly once, saying softly: “Thank you, everypony. Then... we're all gonna work hard, and work together on this. And we're gonna find my Mom and Dad.”

Antares smiled around at his friends as they all smiled and nodded firmly back, and then the young unicorn closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards, promising silently that he was going to live up to his word: he was going to find Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms, no matter how long it took, no matter what the cost. And outside, the rain fell, and thunder rumbled through the sky, but to the gathered friends inside the safety of the library, even the raging storm was nothing more than a humming chorus: together, the five friends could weather even the worst tempests with joy.