Redemption of the Sun

Redemption

of

The Sun

Chapter 4: Kindness

After a few minutes, Daylight managed to stop vomiting. "That— What the buck, Twilight!?"

"Well it was a spell from Tartarus, what did you expect?"

"Not that. Definitely not that. I'm thinking that maybe we don't mentioned this to Tia."

"I agree. I don't think she'd be very happy with me..."

"Let's just forget this happened and get moving again. Snow, which way are we headed?"

"Due east!"

Osanna spun around in a circle, looking confused. "Right... which way is that?"

"Oh, that way!"

While most of the travelers turned and began walking in the direction Snowflake had pointed, Twilight said, "I'll talk to you again when you reach the capital." Before turning into fire and disappearing mid-step.

Vis, Osanna, and Snowflake didn't even bother to acknowledge what had just happened. Daylight paused. "You know, you guys are absolutely right. I don't know why I'm surprised by things like that anymore." With that, he continued on, making sure to keep a decent distance from Glatisant; or what remained of him...

Discord finally got bored with harassing his servant, and decided that it was time to start making things interesting. "Hey! How many Dragon Lords does it take to create an absolute shitstorm at the capital!?"

"YA ne ponimayu..."

"You're no fun..." He grabbed Zmey Gorynych's face—His middle one—and said, "I. Want. You. To. Go. Find. Lord. Ametist."

"Okh. YA poluchayu seychas."

"So get going then!"

"Kak vy komand."

After another couple days, the four travelers reached the gates of The Crystal Capital of Equestria. They were locked.

"Huh. What now?"

Twilight suddenly materialized beside Daylight. "We ask them to let us in." She sent a flare of magic just high enough for it to be visible over the wall.

A unicorn guard peeked over the railing on the walkway above the gate. "Sweet Luna! There's a dragon behind you! Just Don't. Move. I'll take care of it." With an orange flash, the unicorn launched a fireball at Vis.

Twilight stepped directly into the path of the attack, which had no effect on her. This caused the guard to look a bit worried. Luckily, before the situation could escalate, a pegasus flew over and gave the guard a swat. "Care to explain why you're trying to kill those poor guys?"

"Sir, I—"

"Don't bother. I'm off-duty anyways. Just let them in."

"There's a dragon though!"

"Yes; Lord of the Crystal Range, esteemed guest of the princess."

The unicorn's ears pinned back. "Oh." Without another word, he disappeared from view. A few seconds later, the gate began to slowly rise.

As they waited for the gate to open, the pegasus flew down to join them. "Hey. You probably don't remember me, but I'm that pegasus from the Rainbow Desert."

Daylight gave him a friendly smile. "Yeah, I remember you. Thanks for the help with that guy."

"No problem. Silly recruits... I'm only a Private and I'm better trained than them. I see you got another dragon. I don't think I've ever seen such a varied group travelling together before."

"We're... Doing something important for the Princess."

"Ohhhh... You're those guys. The Princess made a statement the other day that you were to be directed to the palace upon your arrival."

Daylight turned back to the others. "Tia must have already contacted Princess Luna. Let's go."

The pegasus nodded in silent agreement. Then took off. "I'll leave you to that then. Seeya!"

"Wait! I never caught your name!"

The pegasus paused mid-flight. "Right! I'm Pound Cake! Bye!" Then he continued on his way.

Twilight disappeared again, and as the five travelers entered the city and watched Pound Cake fly into the distance, Snowflake commented, "It was very kind of him to help us out, especially when he barely knows us."

Daylight stopped dead in his tracks and facehoofed. "Dammit..."

Celestia jumped when she heard somepony knocking at her door. Despite her sister's assurances, she was still slightly worried about possible assassination attempts. She picked up a lamp with her magic and held it hidden under the bed. "Come in!"

The door was engulfed in an indigo aura, and opened to reveal Princess Luna. "Are you— Where did the lamp go?"

"I don't know what lamp you mean." Celestia lied, gently putting it down and releasing her hold on it.

"Oh well. I will send for another one so that you have some light to read by tonight. In the meantime, you will be happy to know that your friends have arrived at the city."

"Are you going to meet them?"

Princess Luna scowled. "Unfortunately there are... things I must attend to..."

Celestia gave a knowing smile at her sister's tone when she said 'things'. "Of course. It hasn't been so long that I've forgotten politics.

Princess Luna grimaced at the word. "Please refrain from speaking that vile word..."

After a second, both of them smiled. "I've missed you, sister."

Princess Luna looked behind her to ensure that no guards were looking into the room. When she was certain that nopony could see them, she leaned forward and hugged her sister for few moments. "I would have done that sooner but..."

"I know. That's why I didn't try when I first arrived." She sighed before continuing, "What kind of society is this that a Princess cannot be seen to show emotion...?" When Princess Luna opened her mouth to answer, Celestia interrupted with a smile, "That was rhetorical."

"Oh... So. Since I can't meet the new bearers myself, I thought it would be a good idea for you to do it."

"Oh, um..." Celestia felt a heat rise in her cheeks.

"Tia, are you... blushing?"

"No! I— I mean, 'no'."

Princess Luna gave an un–princesslike giggle. "I can't believe it! You— Ha!"

Celestia always had a very good poker face. Unfortunately for her, her sister had learned to see through it with ease. "No need to be embarrassed. I'm happy for you. Admittedly, I'm also a bit jealous. May I ask who and how it happened?"

"Daylight, the bearer of magic, and— Well, I'm not really sure how it happened. I spent the first twenty years alone, but I eventually I decided that I needed to reintegrate. I was walking through the Vanhoover market when I overheard him arguing with another stallion about whether or not I should be forgiven. He was arguing yes."

"What was his reason?"

"I'm still not entirely certain. He said that he could see how much my actions were hurting me, but— I accidentally killed his parents when we were..." She trailed off as a few tears appeared in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up..."

Celestia regained her composure and said, "No. Pretending it never happened won't help anypony. Though, I'd rather wait a while longer. Perhaps tonight?"

"Are you certain? Won't you be spending time with your stallion tonight?"

"Luna!" Celestia yelled, blushing furiously.

Princess Luna giggled again. "I apologize. What happened next?"

"He recognized me by my eyes, and I honestly expected him to call the guards. Instead he said that he forgave me. During my first year back, I had started having occasional panic attacks. I stopped by his house a few months after we first met, and he helped me through one. I think I started to feel something for him after that. I tried my best to stay professional, but when I thought Shining Armor was going to kill me... The last time I saw Daylight, I kissed him just before teleporting him away."

Princess Luna tried not to smile at the thought that went through her head. She failed. "I wish I could be there to see how awkward it's going to be when you meet them."

"I'm sure you would. I should get going now, but I'd like to talk more later. We have a lot to catch up on."

"At least it wasn't another thousand years!" Celestia made a bemused expression at hearing her sister's joke. "I apologize. That was in bad taste..."

After a bit of discussion, Daylight decided that it would be best to speak with the Princess before attempting to track down Pound Cake. As the Princess, Luna would likely have a way to find the residence of any of her guard. Also, Daylight really wanted to see Celestia again...

'I'm not sure we should let the Princess know about me...'

Daylight froze mid-step, causing the others to look at him with confusion. "Twilight?"

'Oh right. I forgot to mention this...'

"Anything else you 'forgot to mention'?"

'Sorry. I think that's it though.

Daylight continued walking, but stopped again when he realized that the others were just staring at him. "Don't worry, I'm not crazy. Twilight was just talking to me telepathically. Apparently she can do that now."

'I said I was sorry...'

"Let's just keep going." As they resumed walking, Daylight got another thought. "Hey Twilight, you can still communicate with the others, right?"

'Others...? Oh! Yes, why?'

Celestia made her way through the Crystal City, having been informed by one of the guards as to the direction Daylight and the others were moving.

Eventually she made it to the main square, where she began to wait. The hooded mare got some strange looks, but far less than she would have if everypony could see her wings. After a few minutes, she noticed the three bearers and Snowflake walk into the square.

As they got closer, she could hear Daylight talking. "Alright Twilight. Send Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to go find Pound Cake while we meet with the Princess. If we're lucky, we won't even need her help. You stick with us and... do whatever it is you do."

Celestia had only a single thought. 'I think I may have missed something.'

Daylight suddenly froze and started looking around. "Where?" On his second pass examining the square, he spotted Celestia watching them. He immediately broke into a run. "Tia!"

She nearly fell over from the force of his running hug. As they pulled apart, Celestia said, "It's good to see you too, Daylight. Listen, about when I left... I—"

"It's okay. We can talk about this later. Right now, we're close to finding the Element of Kindness."

"I know. I overheard you talking to Twilight. How are you doing that?"

"Uh... Twilight, what do you want me to tell her?"

"I guess I should just show her..." Twilight's voice answered from nowhere. With a swirl of violet flames, she appeared beside Daylight. It took her a second to get the flames to be completely absorbed, but there was eventually just the usual few flickering in her mane. "Hello Princess."

Celestia looked absolutely horrified. "Twilight? What have you done?"

"I asked his permission..."

"Twilight, you need far more than just the host's permission to perform a soul bind!"

Daylight stepped forward. "I told her to do it."

"What!?"

"She told me what it entailed, and It was the only option we had left. Discord would have killed all of us if she hadn't done it."

"Discord...?"

"He found us when we met Vis here." He said, gesturing towards the dragon. "It was only a stone construct, but he sent two of his Lieutenants."

"What happened?"

"Twilight dealt with them."

"Both of them?"

"Well, she got the dragon to leave by himself first."

"Dragon? Zmey Gorynych?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Who was the other?"

"Uhh..."

"Glatisant." Twilight provided for him.

"Right."

Celestia looked like she was trying to hold on to some false hope of something. "Where is he now?"

Twilight lowered her head in shame. "Dead."

Rather than whatever response Twilight had been expecting, Celestia looked extremely guilty. "I know what kind of spell you would have needed to do that, and I also know where you would have gotten it from. Twilight, I am so sorry. It's my fault you had to go through all this."

The flames in Twilight's mane died down completely as Celestia embraced her. Twilight hesitated a moment before returning the gesture. "I forgive you, Princess. It's all in the past now." she chuckled sadly before continuing, "It won't matter anyway if Discord wins."

After the two finished their reconciliation, Vis spoke up before anyone else had a chance. He looked a bit uncomfortable. "Princess Celestia?"

"Yes?"

"You remember that time when you taught me how to feel if another Dragon Lord was trying to invade my territory?"

"Vaguely, why— Oh dear."

"Yeah..."

"Everypony, follow me. We need to get to Luna, now."

The others ran to catch up as Celestia began to head back to the palace at a brisk pace. Twilight caught up first and took a place to Celestia's immediate right. "Princess? What's going on?"

"Something I'm going to need you to stay out of." Celestia answered as she shoved a slow-moving pony out of their way. She ignored the pony's ensuing remarks.

"You know I'm not a filly anymore! I can help!"

Celestia suddenly stopped and turned to face the lavender unicorn. "I know, but it is imperative that you do not get involved. This dragon is possibly more dangerous that Zmey Gorynych himself, and he has been tracking us for some time."

Daylight's eyes widened in realization as he overheard their conversation. "Twilight, Tia's right. No matter what happens, you can not under any circumstances let this dragon spot you. There's no telling how he might react."

Twilight looked between the two of them before giving an indignant snort and vanishing in a flash of violet fire. They began walking again, extremely confused Snowflake and Osanna bringing up the rear, with Vis in the middle. Daylight took Twilight's place beside Celestia. "Why aren't you telling her?"

"If she finds out, she'll try to talk to him."

"Tia, you've been acting more and more like a Princess in the short time we've been reunited. You aren't one anymore. Twilight isn't your subject, she's your friend, and you need to trust your friends to know what’s right."

"It's for her own good. You'd better not be thinking of telling her anyway."

"You don't get to make decisions like that for your friends. You're going to have to decide what you want to be; our friend, or our Princess."

"I have lived far longer than any of you! I know exactly what I'm doing!"

Daylight glared at her for a moment before lowering his head and giving a resigned sigh. "Very well, Princess." With that, he fell back to walk beside Vis.

The iridescent dragon seemed to be handling the entire situation very poorly, and his spines had gone from standing upright to drooping. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Vis mumbled, "I don't like watching my friends argue..."

"She made her choice, Vis. She's not our friend anymore; she's a Princess again."

"I thought you two had something..."

"I thought so too. Apparently I was wrong."

Twilight Sparkle stood in another plane of existence, listening to her companions. She came to one conclusion; there was something going on that she needed to know about. With a telepathic pulse, she called Rainbow Dash to her position.

Within minutes, the cyan pegasus landed beside her. The perpetual layer of dust that covered everything in the plane drifted slightly away from the flapping of her wings. "'Sup?"

"Rainbow, I need you to do me a favor."

"Okay, what is it?"

"There's a dragon headed for the city. I need you to find it and tell me if there's anything I should know."

Rainbow Dash blinked. "I'm pretty sure nopony needs to know anything more than 'there's a dragon headed for the city'".

"Rainbow, just do it. The Princess is hiding something from me, and I need to know what."

"If you say so." She frowned and continued, "Not like it's any risk to me anyways..."

"Once we have the others, I'll be able to fix us. It won't be long now, I promise." Twilight said, placing a comforting hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"I know. You're doing your best, Twi." As she started to lift off, she added, "I'll be back in ten seconds flat!"

Twilight counted to ten, then grinned and shook her head. "Silly Rainbow..."

After making their way through the crowds of the Crystal City, the five travelers reached the gates of the Citadel. Those were locked too, and Princess Celestia was trying not to lose patience with the guards. "We are expected! Grant us entry!"

The guard glanced at his partner, slightly afraid of angering the cloaked unicorn. "I— I'm sorry ma'am. You— You cannot enter."

Princess Celestia let out a yell of frustration. She glanced back at her frien— former friends... and saw that they all looked worried about her. She turned back to the guards. Throwing off her cloak and flaring her wings, she barked, "What about now!?" Both guards immediately bolted.

Daylight shook his head as they proceeded onwards. "Nice. I'm sure you're giving everyone a real great impression." Princess Celestia flipped around and was about to retort, but he interrupted her before she had a chance. "Don't dig yourself a deeper hole, Princess. You should at least acknowledge that you still need us, and whatever you were about to say would not have helped convinced me to stay."

Princess Celestia looked at the floor. "Daylight... I really am sorry. I— I can't deal with this right now... Let's just go."

Without another word, Princess Celestia turned around and continued on. Snowflake hopped off of Osanna's back, ran over to daylight, and climbed onto him. "You didn't really mean that, did you? You wouldn't really leave, right?"

"No. At least, not until Discord is taken care of. After that..."

"You can't just leave us!"

Osanna and Vis picked up their pace to catch up with them. Osanna began to keep step with Daylight on his left. "What's this about Daylight leaving?"

Daylight sped up, both to catch up with Princess Celestia and get away from his pestering friends. "I'm not leaving! Stop worrying!" He called back at them. With the sudden rapid increases in speed, they all quickly caught up with Princess Celestia at the doors to the throne room.

After a long period of service, Pound Cake was finally able to relax. "Ahhh..." he sighed as he laid down on his bed. *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* "Dammit... COMIING!" He slid sideways off the bed and onto his hooves, then went to answer the door. He didn't like what he found.

"By order of Her Majesty, Princess Luna of Equestria, you are to report to the Royal Citadel."

"... Yay."

Pound Cake entered the throne room just in time to hear the tail end of a conversation. Princess Luna was talking to the travelers he had met twice before, and this time the hooded mare was back with them. 'Guess she really did get the Captain...'

"And where is Twilight?" Luna was asking. "After you told me, I was looking forward to seeing her again."

The hooded mare answered, her voice overlayed with tones of regret. "There was... An argument. It seems that I have lost my friends in order to reclaim my role as Princess."

Pound Cake couldn't help it. He tried, but it came out anyway. "WHAT!?"

In the ensuing awkward silence, everypony turned to stare at him. The hooded mare leaned over to Princess Luna and quietly asked, "He doesn't know about me?"

"No. The only ones who know are my personal guard."

"Do know what his outlook is?"

"I... do not."

"Then this could potentially end very badly."

Pound Cake quickly bowed when it finally sunk in that he had just interrupted the conversations of one or more Princesses. "I apologize for my outburst, your Highness!"

Princess Luna took a few steps towards him. "Rise." As he obeyed, she asked, "What do you know about my sister?"

"She killed my family."

The hooded mare visibly winced, and mumbled, "Yes, this is definitely going to end badly."

Princess Luna simply shook her head sagely. “These travelers have informed me that my sister is still alive. If you were to meet her, what would you do?”

Pound Cake made a confused face, but started to answer anyway. “I guess I would...” He thought for a moment before finishing, “Ask her if she was sorry for what she did.”

“You would not react with hostility?” Princess Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. I would give her a chance to explain herself before jumping to conclusions. Though I was just a foal at the time, I remember that my Aunt Pinkie would always say nice things about her, and I refuse to believe that she would just turn evil.” A small light started to radiate from a covered pedestal beside the throne.

The Lunar Princess turned and nodded to the hooded mare, who slowly pulled off her cloak. As Princess Celestia began to walk towards the shocked pegasus, she said, “Thank you for your faith, Pound Cake. And to answer your question, I truly am sorry for everything I have done to my little ponies.” To the surprise of everypony in the room, the alicorn bowed to the young pegasus and asked, “Will you forgive me?”

Pound Cake noticed that Princess Luna had tensed, as though prepared to defend her sister from an attack. Careful not to move too quickly, he moved to directly in front of the bowing Princess and said, “I miss my family with all my heart... but I know that everypony can make mistakes, even a Princess; they just make... Princess-sized ones. Sometimes all it takes to fix your mistakes, is to show a little kindness.” With that, there was a flash of light from the pedestal by the throne.

Princess Celestia stood up, and looked in the direction of the flash with a small smile. “Congratulations, Pound Cake. You are now the new bearer of the Element of Kindness.”

In the plane of the original bearers, two ponies welcomed a timid yellow pegasus to their group. A third pony—a lavender unicorn—would have liked to join them, but it could wait until later. In her signature swirl of fire, she jumped realities and found herself in the throne room of the Royal Citadel. Instead of dying down like usual, the flames stayed surrounding her, singeing the ground where she walked. “Princess Celestia. You should have told me about Spike.”