The Crusaders: Equestria's Lament
Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any of the ideas or characters related to it. I am in no way affiliated with Marvel. I make no money from this writing.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Lir: a Poem
This is the tale of Lir, son of Prince Oren of the Diamond Dogs and Princess Luna of Equestria. Here is recounted the end of the last Great War, the passing of the Elements of Harmony, and the villainy that led to the formation of the Equestrian Parliament.
In the land of Equestria far away,
Where ponies lived happy and free,
The forces of darkness were kept at bay
By the treasured Elements of Harmony.
This power was wielded by six brave mares,
Best friends with one another,
By way of fate or secret prayers
To them it did not matter.
One day the kingdom faced a peril like no
Other it had ever seen:
The diamond Huntswolf General Nero
And his hateful Changeling Queen.
Revenge was what they wanted
For slights real and perceived,
The princesses dead at their feet
And the land of its love weaned.
The battles raged with dragonfire
And deer marched with magic ward,
Ponies burned in victor's pyre,
So won the diamond dog horde.
But then came the Rainbow of Light
Just as Good's defenses were exhaust
And shattered the source of the enemy's might
To keep Harmony from being lost.
With their dread Master felled,
The diamond dogs realized then
An inner goodness had prevailed:
Nero gone, long live Prince Oren!
Peace was established between the enemies,
War tiring them of distrust,
One light from many harmonies
And let the war machines rust.
The prince in Canterlot stayed
To insure the peace wouldn't break soon.
There was met a beauty that him amazed;
Luna, Princess of the Moon,
Oren's love was quickly kindled,
Yet their courtship was decades long.
Luna feared emotions unbridled,
But her defenses could not stay strong.
Darkness had once ruled each's heart
And each was healed by Harmony,
So after twenty years there came the start
Of being the other's best company.
Ten more years, wedded bliss,
'til they went to Celestia with joy.
"Celly!" shouted Luna to her sis,
"Look here, it's a boy!"
Lir the hybrid child was called,
Offspring of pony and dog,
Eyes the shade of emerald
And coat the color of smog.
Lir grew up with the magic of a unicorn,
In body like his canine father,
Save for the rear hooves and spiral horn
Of Luna his alicorn mother.
As Lir grew up his mind grew keen,
So Twilight became his mentor.
Thanks to Fluttershy he was never mean
And from Dash to never be a traitor.
Decades passed and the Six passed away,
The hardest hit being Lir.
"I'll find some way to make the dying stay!"
This caused his parents and Celestia to fear.
Science became Lir's domain,
And its fusion with magic.
Perhaps this left him less than sane,
But all the same, the end results were tragic.
Both parents power from hate had gained,
So an idea Lir soon thought
Though his heart it pained,
"With this same power could death be fought?"
Setting out to conquer this force,
Lir delved into forgotten lore,
Retrieving the pieces of Tirek's source
'til not even he knew what he hungered for.
Luna and Oren began to dread
For their only son's life.
Both recognized the path he tread
And feared it only lead to strife.
Lir soon came to what seemed a solution.
From the Magicahedron's remains he crafted a helm,
Then he crafted a potion
To imbue its drinker with Dark Realm.
The dreaded hour came that Nightmare Night
As helm was donned and elixir drank.
The wind howled like a monstrous wight
As Lir's world went blank.
Then the kingdom faced a peril
Like a monster from a myth,
Hulking body, features feral,
Was a hulking behemoth!
To save their people from certain ruin
Luna and Celestia fought beloved foe,
Soon joined by Prince Oren
To ward off the coming woe.
No Elements of Harmony to help,
That power had long been lost,
So they had to fight this monstrous whelp
And stop him no matter the cost.
Sisters and kin fought for hours,
Through the world they raced.
Tore up the land with their godly powers
Each battlefield reduced to waste.
Finally dreaded Hulk's power was spent
And he reverted back to Lir,
Who soon saw the damage the fight had rent
And the mortals instilled with fear.
"I'm so, so sorry! My grief took hold,
My only friends by death lost!
Agonized, I ignored what my family told,
But this cost... nothing is worth this cost...."
With the royalty so fractured and weak,
Uncertainty and doubt were there.
Those once proud were now meek
As they turned themselves to repair.
And Equestria, faith in royalty lost,
Turned to new leadership
Not knowing what it might someday cost....
In the weeks following the devastating conflict of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Prince Oren against the Hulk, recovery dragged on as ponies and neighboring nations tried to balance themselves. Workers trudged through wastelands where parks and woodlands had once been, scaled piles of rubble that had once been businesses, homes, places of worship. Nothing had been spared from the rampage. Relief poured in from untouched nations, but it was slow, uncertain of where it needed to go. The support structure of Equestria had been maimed.
In the ancient city of Canterlot, where the battle had started, the damage was not as bad as most, for the foundations of many of the buildings were built into the mountain itself and escaped harm. It could be rebuilt in time, though it would not look the same, and nothing could ever replace the loss of life. The aristocracy was broken and would never recover.
Two months into it, a lone figure worked its way through the rubble of what had once been a school, searching for any dead bodies or, better, trapped survivors that had been missed by earlier search teams. The unicorn mare wore a purple full-body suit, with dark blue boots and cape and a purple, wide-brimmed hat. The cape continued up over her head into a skin-tight mask, hiding all features except her shining red eyes.
"Belle, what are you doing here?"
Belle lifted up a chunk of brickwork twice her size and threw it to the street below, looked down at the cellar doors she had uncovered, and then turned and looked at Princess Luna. "I'm assisting with the relief efforts. The workers are lost, confused, and aren't going over these areas like they should. And Princess, when I'm in uniform, I'm on-duty. It's Mare-do-Well right now."
"Fine then, Mare..." Luna paused as she said this, and then frowned and shook her head. "That's ridiculous... Belle, we need to talk. It's important."
"Fine, then talk." The doors were jammed, so Belle shattered them. She then knelt down beside the uncovered hole and peaked in. "Hello, is anyone in here? Come on, it's safe to come out. Come on." Slowly, a trio of unicorns, not yet old enough to have even earned their cutie marks, climbed out of the cellar with a helping hoof from Belle. They all looked horribly thin, half-starved by their time trapped down there, their bodies shaking, manes falling out in patches, and eyes watering from the sun's brightness.
"W-where're our mommies?"
Belle hugged the filly that had asked this, brushed a hoof down her mane, and then pulled away to look at Luna. "Could you please take them to the shelters? Get them fed and help them find... whoever they need to find?"
The night princess hesitated a moment, but nodded as the three fillies looked over at her with half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes. "Yes, of course, it would be my honor. Come, little ones. I'll take you somewhere safe. Come along...."
The three fillies staggered over to Luna, who picked them up with her magic and placed them carefully onto her back. Rather than immediately teleport away like Belle had hoped she would, however, Luna looked back at her with a frown. "We'll talk later, then, but this I have to tell you now. Celly has agreed to let the parliament form, and to lessen all royal power. All of it. So congratulations, you need a new job, Mare. Farewell, and good luck with your search."
Belle nodded in understanding, watched as Luna teleported away with the three fillies, and then turned back to survey her work. There were many more fallen buildings in the area she had taken it upon herself to search, many more hidden cellars to find and survivors to possibly save. She could worry about parliaments and other unimportant stuff later. Now was the time for work.
"May... may I help you, Mare-do-Well?"
Belle barely kept herself from flinching at the sudden voice, having not even noticed anyone approaching her. She looked to her right, and standing there on a fallen door, hooves instead of paws on his rear legs and a horn sprouting from his head, was a smog-grey diamond dog a head taller than average. "Prince Lir?"
The diamond dog wilted at the sound of his name, ears folding back. "I-I understand if you don't want me. I just... I need to help."
She stood there, looking at him for several seconds, before lowering her mask and tossing her hat down into the rubble. "It's just Belle, now, according to your mom. Come on, there's work to be done." Lir nodded and followed Belle as she turned and started picking her way through the rubble once more. Belle figured his canine hearing would come in useful in a task like this.
"It's all gone," said Lir after several long minutes, filled only with the sound of crumbling stone and splintering wood as they trudged through the remains of buildings. "The focusing helmet, the remaining vials of Dark Realm, everything. Not destroyed, just... gone. Taken."
Belle nodded at this but paid it no real mind. It had probably all been taken to make sure it was never used again. Whatever the case was, there was no use thinking about it at the moment. There were many more fallen buildings in the area she had taken it upon herself to search, many more hidden cellars to find and survivors to possibly save. Now was the time for work.
In the land of Equestria, far away,
The ponies ruled through parliament,
Prince Oren with his wife could not stay,
And Celestia could only lament.
Lir/the Hulk will return in:
The Crusaders