It Is Always Best Forgotten

I have faith in you, Illuminous.
You shall be my salvation as well as many others.
The past is gone, now live on
You are my son, my angel, my life.
Have faith in yourself.
For I have faith in you.

His mother's voice was clear in his head. His mind was racing faster than his heart. The struggle to maintain both his thoughts and his tears were harsh on him.

The skies were abnormally dark. Black clouds shrouded the entire sky in a spiral above the castle. The silence could be heard as a harsh unforgiving mistress. He could have sworn he was deaf. So close to so many ponies and he could not even hear one heart beat, not one breath.

In the sea of darkened ponies of any kind, his eyes remained on one. Like a beautiful full-bloom rose upon blue bonnets, she stood out, the figure who remained the beacon of the past. Her short blood red mane and white coat shimmered brightly in his hazy thoughts of the past but there was no denying who this one small mare could be. The tears were difficult to keep back as they forced themselves heavily upon his eyes. One by one they dropped to the ground and the noise of the dripping tears filled his thoughts.

The small mare too shed the same tears yet she did not move. She could only cry with him.

"Rosy..."

"I-Illy..." Rosy's voice was much more delicate and forced as she was trying to sustain it all. She ran towards him and in a warm embrace, they cried upon each other's shoulder.

"Oh this is heart warming." The shrill voice came from the crowd.

And like so, a dark and veil silhouette of an Alicorn stepped out, energy flowed from her hooves, her dark glaring eyes staring right through him. Small, tense, celestial smoke surrounded her, a sign of utter power. The shadow flowed easily through the crowd as every pony stepped out of the way silently not even making a hoof beat as they did. She stood before them.

"Brother and sister finally reunited. How... Touching." She said in disgust. The thousand voices were in unison creating a terrifying one in its steed.

"You..." Illuminous had completely forgotten that the princess was right next to him. Princess Celestia's expression was that of utter fear.

"Bravo, you know who I am. I would have thought you'd all forget about me my dear granddaughter."

Celestia let down a gulp of fear and so did Illuminous, the nightmare was an ancestor of Celestia's? Why hadn't she said anything before?

"You knew about her?!" He dared ask, his voice shrill and upset.

"Don't assume much boy, she only knows me by the knowledge of that accursed grimoire."

Celestia looked down still as terrified as ever. The Nightmare could not only read her mind, but tap into the past. The library was sealed with the highest level of magic known to Equestria. It was an ancient spell that her father had placed.

"You are one of the ancients... from the Elven kingdom. How did you know...?"

"Your mind is easy to read my dear. It seems like you have weakened since I last saw you."

Illuminous thought carefully about this... it couldn't be because he had helped her was it? Celestia was emotionally strong until that point and he could see it, but... he didn't really take her power did he? Rosy stumbled to the floor weak of energy, she placed her head onto Illuminous' foreleg and fell asleep. An alarming feeling ran through him.

"What did you do to Rosy?!"

"Nothing at all, I didn't even touch a single hair on her precious little mane."

"I know what you want..."

A silence befell the atmosphere again.

"Only if you promise to leave everyone alone... I will give you what you want."

"Oh? What a noble little pony. Giving up your life for these pathetic beings. Fair enough, you would just escape as easily as you have before."

"What? Illuminous... you aren't planning to..."

Illuminous turned back, his eyes full of sadness and tears. "I am not giving myself a choice." He lowered his head. "I learned to live, the time I spent with everyone... it was much more than I could ask for. Everypony has always been so kind and so generous to me since I've began this whole ordeal. Seeing my sister safe is all I wanted to do since the beginning. I know I have much to lose... but losing everything while seeing it all go is worse."

He stepped forward slowly evermore closer to the dark figure.

"Surely, this would have ended much faster if your father wasn't so incomprehensible."

Illuminous stopped at his tracks. "What did you say?"

"To be honest with you, I hadn't a clue of who he had given his power too. Seeing his accomplishments in the past, I had thought too highly of him and thought that he had given his youngest descendant the bloodline, a quick one he is, on that very last second. Even managed to save himself from eternal damnation."

"Wait... what?"

"Just as you heard my darling."

"Wait... but why... how?"

"The spell I had used was one to send only the user who held the bloodline into the Twilight realm, a land where all evil rules. He had given it to you in the last seconds near to his demise. When the spell had not worked on that little mare, there only stood you as the last potential being. I thought I might as well let you know before you will befall your fate."

"So he is still... alive?"

"Yes, I wouldn't understand why that old fool hasn't chased you down. Maybe he was just glad to get rid of the bloodline that he didn't even bother with you."

"It... can't be... no my father would never do something like that!"

"But he did. He left you to die and didn't even have the decency to explain your fate to you. He doesn't care don't you understand?"

"But... he had saved Equestria... saved my mother... saved us."

"Saved?! Don't make me laugh kid. If he wanted to save you, he would have accepted his demise. Don't you think that after your petty little mother died he would be tired of all of that huh? Stubborn foal. How could somepony so pathetic be his drive all those years I don't dare understand. She was less than dirt."

"Shut up." Illuminous' glow began as a faded aura. His increasing anger only kept reinforcing it.

"Yes, your father could careless now of what happens to you."

"Shut Up."

Rage built within him. An intense fire burning him to ashes.

"He hasn't even come to your aid when you most needed it. He kept you from the world. Kept you from happiness. You both were just too blind to see that he treated you like caged dogs."

"SHUT UP!"

His mane burst into a white light. His anger raged, he was quickly becoming the demon that he so much feared. Angry tears vanished with the intensity of energy overflowing through his body.

The Nightmare grinned in amusement. "Angry towards the truth?! You could never handle truth could you? Is that what kept you blind all these years?"

Illuminous sharply lowered his head in pain. His teeth began grinding against each other from the sheer force that now overwhelmed him. The purity of this power slowly faded and dulled into raw emotion. This wasn't entirely his doing, yet he couldn't control these emotions. He yelled at the top of his lungs, the light exploded in pure rage.

Celestia looked away to shield her eyes, she could feel the power increasing. She had to do something, but there was hardly anything she could do now, with Illuminous' feeling running rampant through him causing such a devastating force, there was no way to even counter this power. She had never felt something so powerful since... since the day his father used his power to reanimate the elements of harmony. The only thing she could make out was the sea of ponies slowly vanishing in the light as they tried going against it like if it had been a powerful gust of wind. This horrified her. If they were truly the villagers then that would mean...

"Illuminous please stop!!!" She yelled at the top of her own lungs, yet her voice was shrouded by the raging white flames that violently began to fill the remnants of Illuminous' once sky blue mane.

Things around her began vanish. Chunks of rock being ripped out of the ground. The side of the mountain in which Canterlot stood against began to carve through, this unrelenting power was beginning to make out the worst of her fears. Illuminous had lost it. Lost the will to control it. Like she had so feared her entire life, this was it, her beautiful home and subjects were being destroyed before her very eyes. Tears began rolling down her eyes, and all she could do was beg to follow in this destruction.

She opened her eyes, trying to go against the blinding light. In the corner of her eyes, she saw a shadow running through the light. Suddenly, the light... broke. Thousands of white shards stood in the air beautifully centering towards Illuminous. Celestia made out the shape of Luna who was hugging Illuminous, holding onto him for dear life. the intense power slowly dulled to a point.

"Out of the way you meddling foal!" The dark voice yelled as The Nightmare's horn began to glow, poised towards Luna.

A dark energy shot out towards them and without even thinking twice, Celestia quickly made her way between them as she took the hit straight onto her chest. She gave out a loud grunt and fell towards the ground.

Luna slowly turned her gaze towards the fallen Celestia. Her eyes wide in horror. Too afraid of what a scream would cause, she held it in, tears inevitably rolling down her cheek. She turned to Illuminous. His eyes still glowing white and mane in a burning white flame as if he stood in a trance unable to see or feel anything. She held onto him still horribly afraid, her body becoming limp.

"This has to end now! I never wanted this, but if both of you must die, then so be it!"

Luna gasped. The burning pain that began from her back quickly filled every inch of her. She had been hit. No, she wouldn't fall now, she needed Illuminous to snap out of it. If only just a little more...

A second shot was fired, and Luna could no longer hold on. She couldn't feel her body at all. The pain was so intense, she couldn't scream either. Her tears followed behind her as she fell to the ground, letting go of her grasp on Illuminous who still stood in a trance. "Illuminous..."

"Both of them are gone now. Go now! Fill your heart with rage! I killed them both in front of you. Those who most cared about you! Aren't you angry?! Go! Release that power within you. Let it fill every inch of you. Let it consume you. Summon now the King of Destruction!"

Illuminous stood in a trance, still as the white shards.

The Nightmare gave off an annoyed smug. "What's wrong huh?! Did you give up on them all together?!" it yelled.

The glow slowly began again. A smirk ran right through The Nightmare's face. It began pulsing, small orbs of white and yellow light appearing and disappearing as it did. The Nightmare flinched at this sudden turn of events. Something was happening. Never in her ages had she felt something like this, or even seen from the Luminesciant bloodline. She could feel it, under her hooves, a wave of energy running through the ground and even the air itself.

Thunderous quakes filled the castle. A battle was been waged, one which they had no power against. No magic in Equestria could feel anything like this. Hidden at the secret library, dozens of wounded guards and refugees began making there way their under direct order of Princess Luna who stormed off galloping towards the horrifying energy.

The group of friends stood huddled together. They were strictly told to stay put after Rarity had gathered them and had come across Luna who asked of them to direct all of the wounded and every pony of the castle towards the library.

"What do you think is happening Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously, as she could feel the intense power as well.

"I don't know... but whatever it is, it can't be good. "

Suddenly, she began to feel the vibrations on the floor. A flowing of energy ran through the ground. As if... it was calling out to her... The others looked at her with worried expressions as she understood that they too could feel this.

The room suddenly exploded into a light which vanished as quick as it had come. From the source of the light stood a faded figure of a brown mature stallion. His features and even expressions resembled that of Illuminous'.

"Who... who are you?" Twilight asked the ghostly figure of a pony.

"It matters not who I am. I need you all to listen, for I have little time here."

The group of friends gathered around him in a distance. The refugees stared at them quizzically as if... they could not see the figure.

"I come bearing a message from Illuminous."

"Whats going on? What happened?" Fluttershy suddenly blurted out, unaware of her new found courage.

"He asks for your guidance and help now and forever. He entrusted me to give you this."

The ghostly figure suddenly irrupted into a ball of light, the elements of harmony began to float out of it, placing themselves respectively on each corresponding pony. "Go now." It said before it vanished.

"Come on, we don't have time." Twilight lead on as the group of ponies galloped outwards to the front of the castle.

Illuminous slowly landed. His bright blue eyes began shining through the white light.

"Huh... what is this? The little rat still has some fight in him. I guess I have no choice then."

The Nightmare's Alicorn figure suddenly grew a black flame around it. The remaining mass of the dark pony army began to vanish as it centered towards The Nightmare. She was gathering her remnants of power, slowly growing just as intensely powerful as Illuminous' current state.

His face showed something different... Not anger... Not sadness. A powerful determination. Whatever had happened in his trance state, the anger from before vanished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Illuminous struggled upon a massive force to maintain physical and emotional composure. He lowered his head, unable to pick it up from the sheer force. He didn't understand what was happening.

Suddenly, his shoulders felt more at ease. A hoof slowly made its way onto them and the force was lifted. He quickly looked up only to see a void of pure white, a brown familiar figure stood between it all.

"F-father........"

His father's bright smile brought tears to his eyes. He began to weep onto his shoulder. Illuminous couldn't hold back the oncoming emotions.

"Why..." He gasped between breathes, trying to regain himself. "Why did you never come?"

A sad smile grew onto his father's expression. "I've always been with you."

"But... how?"

"The day that Hemera had gone after you and your sister, I gave my soul to you. My son, my flesh and blood, I've never left your side."

His father hugged him. His anxiety still remained. He needed to know more.

"Why had you kept us from the world?"

"I did it to protect you both. I've spent several millennium roaming this world, freeing it from the shackles of evil it held. At the War of Elven when King Sol was defeated, those who still remained believed the bloodline was lost forever. King Sol knew his defeat was imminent. In his last waking moments, he embodied himself in a power and was given to a pony in the bloodline, until it was finally given to me. At first, I couldn't control his power and I was the tool of destruction. It wasn't until I met Hemera that I had truly stopped those ways."

"Hemera?

"Or what you would call her 'The Nightmare'. King Sol had taken the life of her father at the war of Elven. She didn't realize who I was. But we fell in love. We had a child and decided to name him Illuminous. One day... when I lost control, my powers left her... unstable... the remnant of what she had once been... she found out about me then. Of who I was. The bloodline had not only caused her the life of her father, but also her body as she had become ethereal, a ghostly figure. She swore to end the bloodline, and went after both you and me."

"Wait... what?"

"I too swore never to use my powers again. One day I stumbled upon Equestria. Well out of the reach of Hemera, I would have called Equestria my home, the only problem was that a creature that I had created, known as Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, rampaged the land. I had made him an image of myself, as powerful as I. I didn't know what to do then, I would have been able to get rid of it. Then the last line of Alicorns presented themselves. I wanted the last thing to do was harness a good power to rid the land of evil and so I created the elements of harmony."

"What does this all have to do with anything?"

"Well, when the time came to finally rise up, there were only two ponies and six elements. I had used my will to infuse into the other elements. After honing both Celestia's and Luna's skills, we went up against the spirit and successfully managed to get rid of him."

"Then you..."

"Yes, I asked Celestia to give me her blessing as I embed my power into her to release me from this eternal damnation. I did the mistake of knowing that Illuminous wouldn't worry if I would leave. When the spell was being cast, and Illuminous stood beside me, I quickly rearranged the spell... sadly it had been too late, and he died then. I was reborn. Only then did I understood what I had failed to do so many times before, grief stricken I left Equestria. I met your mother in my new life, and when I had you, your mother chose to name you Illuminous... the light of hope in her life..."

"Hope wasn't enough..."

"Don't take her death as a false hope. She had fallen ill, but she never hoped to get better. No, her hope was set on something else."

"What do you mean?"

"She hoped upon you to become a better stallion, to be the faith and salvation of those you loved. She was truly something else, like... a guardian angel. Right now, I honestly believe she is watching over us, you and me."

"But... I was never any of that..."

"Really now? I saw how you saved your friends countless of times, both emotionally and physically. Never seen a braver pony like the one that faced off an Ursa Major."

"Celestia and Luna... are hurt because of me..."

"There is still time to change that. Still time to fight for what you believe. You need the elements of harmony, the friends you made on the week long journey I first prepared for you and Rosy."

"You planned this all along?"

"There had been no other way. This is it Illuminous. You truly have become greater than I had ever been. The only thing you need to do now is ask yourself this. What is it that you want to do with your life? I'll say hello to your mother for you."

"Wait you're leaving?!"

"I lived long enough, but finally now, I've found redemption."

With that, his father's image faded as he walked away. The white void began to replace itself with surroundings of a destroy Canterlot. He looked deep within himself and finally understood what was needed to be done. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to protect everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doors of Canterlot burst open with a group of ponies bearing the elements of harmony.

"Princess Celestia! Luna!" Twilight's horrified shriek gave way to the silence as she saw the tattered fallen Alicorn.

"This ends now Hemera."

"You might know my name, but you will never defeat me."

Before they could set things right, Illuminous and Hemera vanished. The dark clouds above began bursting into bright lights. Huge forces clashing against each other.

The group of ponies galloped towards the fallen Alicorns and desperately tried aiding them. Luna would not awake. Celestia however had enough energy to speak in short gasps of breath.

Applejack set Rosy down with Princess Luna and Celestia out of harm's way.

"D-don't w-worry a-about us. Y-you need to h-help Illuminous."

"But Princess!"

"Go..." The Alicorn shut her eyes.

Tears flooded the group of ponies but in a sort of surprise, Fluttershy suddenly snapped them out of it.

"We have to help, there is no time, the Princess knows this." the shy little Pegasus was now braver than ever.

"What do we do?!"

"I-i don't know...."

Suddenly, Illuminous stood over them. Weakened and battered, Hemera had been too strong. She followed shortly after landing opposite to them, the dark power surrounding her still.

"Illuminous!" They all surrounded him.

"Take it easy, we'll take care of her." Applejack said reassuringly.

Everypony began to concentrate their own will into the elements of harmony. Suddenly a blast of a rainbow encircled Hemera and a it dispersed as quickly as it had happened. Hemera still stood as strong as ever, the elements had failed.

"What in tarnations is going on?"

"Muahaha, you silly little foals. The elements will not work against me in this state. Nothing can stop me."

Illuminous stood up, slowly making his way towards the center of the ponies. Everyone turned to stare at his cutie mark. It was a completed circle of shards in a shape of a compass rose, golden and bright. They began to spin. A power began to form onto him again. This was unlike anything felt before. This was... pure power, grand and majestic.

Illuminous focused onto the elements and they began shining in a white light. The group of ponies began to concentrate their entire will one last time, exhausted from the previous. A sphere of white and bright rainbow colors engulfed the seven ponies.

A force of pure energy shot out towards the Alicorn, suddenly taken a back by the purity of it.

"What?! What is happening?! NOOOO!!" Hemera burst into a white purifying light.

Everypony began awoke to the beautiful sounds of an angelic voice of a mare singing. The group of ponies turned towards the faint figure of Illuminous, a golden glow around him. It seemed like his figure was... vanishing almost, fading from this world. Fluttershy rushed to him.

"Whats going on?! What is this Illuminous?!" She asked alarmed.

His sad smile told her what she most feared. She hugged him and cried onto him and finally stepped back into the the group of ponies.

His glow began... fixing things. Canterlot slowly began repairing itself. Thousands of unconscious ponies returned to their homes. Illuminous approached Celestia, Luna, and Rosy.

Celestia awoke upon his presence, seemingly fully healed.

"What... is this... wait... no you can't be... but why?!" She said remembering the events of the past.

"It had been the only way."

He walked slowly towards Rosy who was still fast asleep, he lowered his head to give her a kiss on the forehead. "Goodbye Rosy, you're big brother will always watch over you."

He walked over towards were Hemera who was now a small filly, still as knowledgeable from before but... reborn... purified.

"The only thing I regret, was not making you happy all these years." Illuminous' voice and his fathers said in unison. The small filly began to cry at this sudden realization of who she had become. "Promise me, you will watch over this land and be the great leader you had been born to lead, leave this all behind."

She only nodded.

Illuminous walked over to Luna for his final farewell. He nudged her slightly with his nose, awakening her from a her slumber. She looked into Illuminous' face who was smiling brightly over here as she was laying down. She quickly got up and saw his fading image.

"Illuminous... what is going on...?"

He smile turned into a sad one. She still could not understand.

"I'm afraid this is farewell..."

"Wait... what? What are you saying?!"

"This is goodbye... Luna..."

Tears began to swell up on her eyes, sadness began filling in her concern.

"No... no no no... you can't leave... you can't..."

Illuminous kissed her which snapped her out of her increasing sadness. She hugged him afraid to let go.

"Luna..."

"Please... don't say anything anymore..." She said, her tears rolling down and falling onto the ground as it went right through him.

"Luna... I know." He said as he placed his ear against her belly. "Take care of him. And take care of Rosy."

Her tears held no end. He had to say something...

"Luna... I promise you... I'll be back one day. I don't know when. But I know one day I'll come back, if only for you. I want to thank you... for making me truly happy. Thank you so much."

Luna kissed him one final time. The sunrise appeared through the dispersed small dark clouds that still lingered and began to fade. Illuminous' gold glow faded away. It was finally over.

This new day marked the era to true harmony. A true hero is born from the ashes of yesterday, one with an unbreakable spirit, and the will to see what is righteous. In truth, neither malevolence or benevolence exists. For this pony tale tells of one such hero who fought on both sides to find what truly mattered. May this tale, and this era of peace, never end.

===================
Author's Note: Well... after being hospitalized and what not, losing determination and a bunch of other personal issues, I finally bring you this. I hoped you liked it. Sorry everyone for being so late. I hope this was actually worth it.