Sleep, My Radiant Tear

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: Not of This World
Chapter 2: Enduring Pain
Chapter 4: Awaiting The End
Chapter 5: Eye of the Storm
Chapter 3: Viable Mentality
Sorry, Everypony

Prologue

We are one and same. Our purpose of why and how we live is ambiguous and that is what makes us different from each other.

ACT I

Prologue

“It’s been a long time since we last visited his home.”

“Yeah, well over six months I reckon.”

“Luna is still taking it really hard. She loved him but she never told him.”

A conversation was made to break the eerie silence that plagued the three ponies on their evening quest to their destination of the Everfree Forest. The head of the group, a purple furred and striped mane unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, had brought her friends, Rainbow Dash, a cyan pegasus with a multi-colored long mane, and Applejack, a blonde farming earth pony with light-orange fur, to help assist her in searching for documents that reside in the home of a long dead friend. It was by the order of Princess Luna herself. Twilight started to delve into her thoughts to a few hours ago when she was called to Luna’s royal chambers.

***

“Twilight Sparkle, it is nice to see you’re okay. But you mustn’t rest now; I have an assignment that is of utmost importance.” The dark blue princess stated as her sister’s protégé entered her room, not once turning her head from the sights out the window. “You remember Radiant Tear? Don’t you?” Her voice grew soft as she spoke that name. Twilight’s ears perked up on hearing that name and looked down in sorrow.

“I do.” Was all Twilight could say. She remembered Radiant’s kind-hearted and strange personality, his vast intelligence, and mysterious appearance. She saw his jet-black mane that drooped around his face, with a few locks that covered his forehead. His ruby eyes winking back at her and her friends during the night at the Gala. Even his beautiful cape that covered his body, as if he was holding a secret, gave him that mysterious look. It was one of the things that amazed her and every pony about this stallion. But it was his recent death from the Discord Event that weighed down upon the Princesses and the Mane Six. She simply asked, “What about him?”

“I need you to go to his home and find documents or anything that can reveal more about him. We know that he was kind-heart and a bit strange, and I know it seems like we’re disrespecting his soul by desecrating his untouched home, but we don’t know anything about him at all.” Luna said softly as she gave Twilight her assignment. The young purple mare looked up at her in question.

“Since when did you start taking interest in Radiant?” she asked the princess of the night. Luna sighed and turned to her with tears materializing in her eyes. Her tiara glistened from the shine of the moon that began to show.

“I…I…I don’t want to talk about this. Let’s just say he was an interesting character ever since I met him. I…” she tried to hide her face as she started choking up.

“Oh, Princess…” she slowly trotted to the princess in order to comfort her. Luna took a deep breath and looked back at her, tears staining her face.

“I gave you your assignment. Take one of your friends to accompany you…now please, leave me be.” Luna bluntly ordered. Twilight stopped and sighed, looking at the lunar princess as she turned back to the window, gazing up toward the moon that started to rise from the horizon.

“I’ll report to you as soon as I find anything…”Twilight said, before she heard a small sob as she closed the door on her way out.

***

The night had bloomed to its full glory not too long ago as the group entered the dark and unknown forest through a different path from the main road. Twilight used the magic of her horn to create light so that she, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash could see. This path grew from small to large as the ponies trotted onward to their destination. Broken trees were seen a few feet from the side of the trail and small hoof-prints were made against the small ridges of the trail. Soon, the light she made started to bounce off of a metallic sphere that is the size of a house. They looked upon the structure and saw a door with small dark brown paint splattered across the window. This was the strange and foreign home of Radiant Tear that crashed through the forest to make that trail.

“It’s still the same…big and plain, even that boring old paint.” Rainbow Dash kicked away a stone. Twilight walked up to the door and it opened automatically. The three ponies jumped and slowly walked inside the metallic home.

Lights flickered on and revealed what was within Radiant’s humble abode. A giant pillar jutted out from the center of the structure and eight comfortable containers complete with a set of pillows were attached to the giant pillar. Small veins ran along the pillar toward the eight containers, but the green light it gave out moved toward only one of the containers, which was open. This must’ve been his bed, they all thought. The walls had a counter that held a few chemistry vials and a few leaflets and paper, and just empty space between the counters. As the trio trotted to the leaflets and stack of papers, they found nothing relevant about Radiant Tear. It was just notes and certain events that transpired in their little town of Ponyville, like the Sisterhooves Social. Applejack looked to her right and spotted something strange.

“Hey gals ah found sumthin’. It’s on the wall over there.” Applejack pointed to a note that was stuck upon the wall. They trotted up to the note and gazed at it in question.

“‘Lift me Twilight’. What the, who would’ve left this he-…” Twilight looked what was under the note and saw a small hole that contained a lever. She looked in skepticism and used her magic to pull the switch down, causing a rumbling among the floor. The three mares felt the floor below them shaking violently and quickly ran out of Radiant Tear’s home. They hid behind the bushes and waited for some magical spell that could cause an explosion of some sorts. After a few minutes of waiting, it never came. They opened their eyes and looked at each other in an awkward silence.

“Huh, that’s funny. It felt like something crazy was gonna happen.” Rainbow Dash’s voice broke the awkward silence. They all looked over the bushes and saw nothing changed. Twilight jumped out the bushes and trotted back in to see the floor below the note open, revealing a stairway in the wall.

“Girls, come here. There are stairs down here!” the intelligent unicorn shouted to her friends. They all came back in and looked down the stairs. The stairway looked like as if it was dug just recently, but there were metal hooks in the wall that held torches that looked as if it were lit for weeks. They all slowly trotted down the dangerous steps, using caution so they wouldn’t fall down. In a few moments, they stumble on a small room with a thick wooden door. There was a small window with iron bars that allowed sight, but wouldn’t let in hooves. The group slowly peeked through the window and became immediately shocked.

“What the hay?!” Applejack screamed out.

“Whoahohoho, no way!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“It’s…an underground library and laboratory!” Twilight also exclaimed as she gazed around the subterranean chamber. The stairs behind the door were made from slabs of marble and it looks as if there was a ruby pathway that leads from the stairs to a grand door that was at the end of the path. Both sides of that pathway had pillars that ran from the ground up to the ceiling. On the left side of that path, the library had many aisles of books that seemed completely organized. There was a big table that was between half of the aisle. On the right side of the pathway, there was a building made out of thick glass with steel walls inside the compound. They saw something pink walk inside the glassy construct.

“Pinkie Pie?!” Twilight asked in disbelief.

“Let me see!” Rainbow Dash looked around and found the pink figure close the door behind her as she went in the laboratory. “No, I saw Pinkie before we left. It has to be another pony. Is this door opened?” Rainbow Dash wondered. Twilight tried pushing the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. Applejack tried kicking down the door with her apple-bucking strength. It still wouldn’t budge even when Rainbow Dash tried using her speed to crash through the door; all it did was bounce her back to the wall where she prepared herself.

“Well, nothing is going to work…wait…what’s that above ya Dash?” Applejack saw a small rectangular device that had some sort of lenses that was staring at them. It was like a camera, except that it gave them a feeling of being watched. Twilight tried to reach for it but it was too high to reach. A sudden breathing and a tapping noise was heard from the device.

“Hello to you all. Nod if you can hear me.” A deep male voice requested. They all nodded slowly and the voice chuckled. “Good. Now, as you may know, the door is locked and I will not open it until you bring three of your other friends and your two princesses. Do that…and the door will open to the truth you seek.” The voice said.

“Wait, who are you? What is this place?” the voice didn’t respond to Twilight’s question. They tried bringing his attention back until they gave up from the charade.

“We might as well do what he says. He won’t open the door until we bring everybody here.” the apple-bucking mare said. They all decided to head back and gather all of their friends so they could see what was behind the door.

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

A few hours passed as the moon had hit the middle of the sky, signaling midnight. The path to Radiant’s metal home was filled with excitement and curiosity as they neared the structure. The door and lights, as they did before, automatically turned on by itself as they entered the foreign home. The whole group, including the princesses of Equestria, decided to rest a little bit since the journey from Canterlot to Radiant’s home was a bit exhausting. They all had predictions about what may lie within the decorated cavern below, including the documents. As they all had a fun conversation about what was down there, they heard a loud click coming from the secret stairwell. Silence quickly fell upon the group.

“W-what is that noise?” Fluttershy, the yellow-furred pony with a long pink mane and tail, whispered shyly as she moved behind her friends.

“Well, the colt that was talking to us did say the door would open after we brought every pony.” Twilight stood up and went over to the stairway. Princess Luna looked down with her and decided to see what may have caused the clicking. She slowly proceeded downward cautiously and her sister, Princess Celestia, the white winged-unicorn with a colorful flowing mane and tail, followed suit. The whole group looked at each other and nodded before heading down. As they entered the small room at the bottom of the stairs, Twilight noticed something strange about the door. The door didn’t have the window that allowed her, Rainbow Dash and Applejack to peek within the underground cavern.

“Open the door. It’s unlocked” the same voice from before said. They looked at the source of the sound and found the same rectangular device that Applejack found when the stubborn rainbow-mane pegasus was bounced back from the door that refused to open.

“Who, or what are you?” the solar princess asked the pony that spoke to them through the device.

“All of your questions will be answered in time. I’ll have my companion guide you to where you need to be. It might take her some time, so go ahead and look around the library. Just keep it tidy. I spent a lot of time organizing them.” The voice responded. Princess Luna looked at the door and opened it slowly. She and the whole group, save for the ones who have already seen it, gasped in astonishment. They trotted down the marble steps and their hooves clopped against the pathway, which is actually made of rubies.

“How can this unknown colt make a pathway full of rubies or obtain such amounts of resources?” Rarity, the white mare with a fabulously curled mane, pondered aloud as she tapped her hooves against the red gemmed pathway.

“Wow…it looks just as Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash described it.” Fluttershy said, still in shock.

“Hahaha! These books have weird titles!” Pinkie Pie, the fully pink pony with her bouncy mane and tail, bounced around the books. Princess Luna looked at some of these books and read each title.

“Lineage of Kings, Theory to Magic Combat, Encyclopedia of…Nevaeh?” Luna asked at to what that word is. Celestia walked beside her and took the Lineage of Kings book out. Both Princesses looked around the cover and skimmed through it, seeing pictures of kings and queens, although there were a lot of kings than queens. They all were unicorns, pegasi, and alicorns and looked very evil and rich, each having their own history. She read their names and noticed that most of them had the title of “Dread”. She looked at the last page and saw, what she thought was Radiant Tear, with his colors inverted. The name of this particular pony was “Dread-Light” and he was black-furred, white mane that stuck out crazily, blue eyes and unkempt feathers.

Princess Celestia closed the book without reading any further and placed it back upon the shelf where it rested. The whole group spread out around the library seeing different titles of these books, but the books had initials of R.T. Were these books made by Radiant Tear? Though there were a few aisles dedicated to Equestria and its sciences and literature, the majority of these books contained information about some place of Nevaeh. No one knew what it may be, so they shrugged and trotted toward the laboratory.

The laboratory was the strangest of all that was down in this cavern. It was contained inside big thick glass as though it were a building. There was an open carriage that maneuvered around a small track by itself, a few mechanized arms that held vials of chemicals and did experiments with them, a few animals that were fed by a ghostly looking pink pony, and among a lot of experiments that was being held within this complex. Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash noticed that this was the same pony that they saw that walked in this building.

“Hey, she looks just like me!” Pinkie Pie giggled as she looked within. The pink ghost-mare had a medium length mane, her eyes glowed blue and had a leg jewelry that was colored emerald with a hint of yellow. She looked up at the group and smiled before disappearing.

“Whoa, she’s a ghost! I never saw one before!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed before she felt Fluttershy cling onto her, shaking and her eyes closed shut. The pink pony soon materialized in front of the group with a small smile on her face. Every pony, except Luna and Celestia, jumped back in fear. She giggled a bit before she spoke.

“It is nice to meet you all. My name is A.I. Pinkiana and my purpose is to help my master with his work whenever possible.” The ghostly-mare introduced herself.

“A-are y-you a…g-g-ghost?” Applejack stuttered, scared of what she’s seeing. Pinkiana shook her head.

“I am not, though my appearance is transparent in appearance and gives that kind of vibe to most ponies. I am an interactive hologram. My appearance is projected from a circular device above me. It’s too far advanced of technology for you to comprehend, but I will say that it’s projecting me, my personality and voice, and its projecting magic so that I can interact with reality.” Pinkiana responded with fascinating facts about herself. A buzzing static noise was made within the device she explained. She spoke to the buzzing noise until it buzzed no more. She trotted on the ruby pathway that leads toward the grand door. The whole group decided to follow her.

“Do you know who made this place?” Twilight asked. Pinkiana looked up and smirked a bit.

“Ruby Shine created this place. I’m sure you all know of him.” She giggled at every pony’s faces when she turned to look at them.

“THE Ruby Shine?!! He’s the most recent and critically acclaimed philanthropist and critic. He rated my boutique 5/5, which got me many customers!” Rarity yelled in shock.

“He tried my Sweet Apples’ Cider and wanted to make a factory here to help us make more cider. It would’ve helped my farm and family but I refused the offer though since it would create pollution and all.” Applejack said in surprise.

“He saw me one day and knew me from the Young Fliers Competition. He started rambling about never seeing a pegasus of my stamina and speed before and gave his backstage pass to the Wonder Bolts show!” Rainbow Dash grinned gleefully. Pinkiana giggled as she heard the group of friends talking about their interactions with Ruby Shine. She stopped and turned to the group with a serious expression as they reached the giant monolith of a door.

“Well, before you get too excited. Let me ask you this: what is the purpose of you being here?” she asked the group as her emerald jewels changed color to orange-red. Luna stepped forward and cleared her throat.

“Well, I wanted to know more about the Radiant Tear, because he has understood me more than any pony else. But…I think it’s safe to say that we all want to know more about the one that was there for all of us. His kind-hearted personality, mysterious appearance, and unexpected wisdom earned our respect and love.” Luna smiled as she gave Pinkiana her purpose of being here.

“So before I let you in to see his documents, I need you to promise me something. Whatever new you learn about him, do not weep or get angered by the contents that you will learn. “She stated before she touched the door, which made it glow unusually pink before the glow disappeared. It opened slowly and revealed what lied inside.

The room held a regal desk that had a huge book placed in the middle of the desktop. A quill sat on the front of the book, a bottle of apple cider was placed beside the book, and a device with a metal stick with a soft holey cover was place on the side behind the book. On the left side of the room, a bed with red-velvet sheets covered the mattress; many soft but small pillow covered the end of the bed. A nightstand rested beside the bed with a candle placed on top. There was a shelf of many books that rested on the right side of the room. Below that shelf was a desk splattered with ink on a bunch of paper that had some words on it. It looked as if it was in anger when the ink was splashed upon the paper. The walls had so many decorations and paintings made by very talented artists of Equestria. But that main attraction was the painting that sat above the fireplace behind the desk.

The painting had the Elements of Harmony glowing brightly within another element. It shone brightly with an orange-yellow aura like a sun. Below that element, there were two ponies, one of a small colt and the other was a stallion. They rested on either side of the painting and had different expressions. The colt was scared and eager while the stallion had regret and content. Between the two ponies lied a clock, and its white-greyish aura connected the colt and the stallion. Even though the ponies had no mane or tail, they were the same fur color and eyes.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” A voice came from the chair that rested in front of the fireplace and behind the desk. Every pony’s attention was now directed at the pony that sat at the chair, with his back towards them. His voice seemed a bit familiar to the group. A.I. Pinkiana walked beside the desk and faced toward the group. “You see, this element that’s surrounding the Elements of Harmony is survival. It’s an important factor because all species try to survive through life; may that situation be trivial or difficult. I know you are amazed at this work of art. It’s all symbolic really. It was made by Ruby Shi-I can’t hold it…hahaha…”He chuckled a bit before laughing loudly. It caused the Princesses and the Mane Six to put them in a defense stance.

“Turn around…show us who you are.” Princess Celestia demanded. As soon as he was done laughing, he finally answered back.

“Of course…but don’t be surprised as to what you see…” the mysterious stallion said as he turned around, revealing his onyx droopy mane, his grey-white fur, damaged red cape and a red mask that covered his forehead and nothing more. He smiled at the horror and shock they conveyed through their face. Their familiarities were confirmed.

“How can this be? You were…you…”Princess Luna was at a loss for words as her tears started to stream down her face.

“You were dead!” Twilight yelled aloud in disbelief. He smiled and took a drink of the apple cider. As he finished the remaining contents of the glass, he breathed for air and simply smiled.

“Well, it’s nice to see you too. You’re all at a loss for words, I know. And I’m sorry I didn’t get to have a conversation with you when I had the chance. Work kept me quite busy…” he turned his gaze at the other desk that had ink splatters. “But I have given you all a lot of my kindness…with the rating of the Carousel Boutique, the offer to make a factory that’ll produce Sweet Apple Cider, the backstage pass to the Wonder Bolts, and among other things!” He smiled as Rarity’s jaw dropped; Applejack’s widen eyes and Rainbow Dash grin as she remembered getting that pass. They were all speechless. “I have to thank you Twilight for that spell you taught me after Trixie’s-“he was interrupted by Princess Luna when she tackled him in a loving embrace. She cried deeply in his neck, happy to see that he’s alive. He had a confused expression before he hugged back and smiled. He whispered comforting words to help her feel at ease.

“What made you so busy as to not visit any of us?” Fluttershy asked curiously, hoping she wouldn’t ruin their moment. He slowly sighed and looked out the door, looking at the books in the library.

“Me and Pinkiana…”Pinkie Pie giggled at the coincidence she had just begun to realize as Radiant spoke. “…have a promise to uphold.” He looked up above at the ceiling, seeing the stars through the ceiling window up high. Memories flooded his mind, showing him parts of his life. “You see, I lied to you. All of you…I’m not really from this ‘Manehattan’ you speak of. I’m from somewhere different; you…could say I’m an alien.” He shrunk a little from hearing his friends’ gasping and looking at him. “Everything that I hold seriously dear is gone, and Pinkiana and I are the last survivors of our world. And I wish to open up to you for the first time.” He wiped his face as tears ran down his face. “Don’t shed any tears, you’re strong now.” He thought to himself and for Luna. Princess Luna managed to hold back any more tears and she kissed his cheek before moving back in front of the desk and sat down.

“I…w-want to know…everything.” She managed to get a hold of herself and the rest sat down with her. “We wish to hear about your life before coming to Equestria.”

“We want to know the real you! How you managed to keep all these secrets and what made you so nice!” Pinkie Pie said in her cheerful tone. Radiant Tear chuckled at the laughter she produced with her friends. But he looked down and thought for a moment.

“Alright…you’re comfortable right now? Not even sleepy from the night?” Radiant said concerned.

“I’m the Princess of the Night, remember?” Princess Luna smiled.

“Well, we’re all excited that yer still alive and kickin’. So we’ll be up ‘til yer sleepy as well.” Applejack pulled her hat slightly. Every pony agreed and nodded. Princess Celestia smiled and looked up toward the sky and saw a bright light. Every pony, even Radiant and Pinkiana, looked up in awe. The light started shining brightly through the window.

“Well, I didn’t think its light would reach us yet. So…without any interruptions, I shall read to you what made me…me.” He opened the book and smiled to his friends. “Let’s begin…”

Chapter 1: Not of This World

Friendship is such a confusing aspect. But then again, friends weren’t important in my previous life. All I had was my mother, father, A.I Pinkiana, and her.

Chapter 1: Not of This World

Deep into the cosmos of dark space, within the void of eternal night, there is a system of planets that surrounded the middle star of the Orion Belt, called Alnilam. Six planets surrounded that star and the 4th planet is my home. That world is named, as you now know if you have skimmed through the library, Nevaeh. It was in a safe distance to receive the sun’s solar rays so that conditions on our planet would be livable. But, Nevaeh isn’t like the fun, gleeful atmosphere that Equestria contains, nor did it have the kind of leadership the Twin Princesses uphold. It was a planet of savagery and slavery.

The Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth Ponies were placed in three sections throughout the planet, torn apart by hate and separation. They all contain malice of each other, but they all had a hate for one place where all the evil minds come from. That section was the City of Evil and Luxury, as I recall. It was a grand metropolis surrounded by walls of steel and magic so that no peasant would enter or exit except for permission or taken prisoner. Only the most malevolent of ponies could enter and live there. That was also where the lineage of kings ruled over all of Nevaeh. They had only one goal: to keep the lineage alive and keep dictatorship over all the denizens of Nevaeh.

***

“Were those kings called the Dread Family? I skimmed through that book of called Lineage of Kings and noticed that most those rulers had that title.” Princess Celestia questioned. Radiant smiled and nodded.

“Indeed. Their goal was to keep it alive AND pure. It may sound pitiful and disgusting, but a fun fact about this lineage: only unicorns and pegasus were the kings at the beginning of the timeline. But soon, they made a hybrid. The Alicorn.” He rested his chin on top of his hooves as he spoke. Princess Celestia and Luna looked at each other in worry. “Don’t worry, you are loved and not feared. But, I saw through the surveillance cameras that you were reading about the last king.”

“Surveillance cameras? You mean those things that take pictures?” Fluttershy asked, cocking her head.

“We’re getting off topic. I’ll answer that later…so…about that last king…” Radiant continued the story.

***

The last king went by the name of Lord Dread-Light and his reign lasted for a few centuries. But those centuries were very harsh for every pony because of the slavery and harsh treatment they were forced to endure. He gathered many strong slaves for his army, smart and experimental slaves turned into scientists to increase his power and malice, and the very weak were used as maids, butlers, and/or "stress relievers". He was very malevolent and he knew that even his subjects in his city hated him, but he fed off of that hate and it made him more powerful. It was that information that forced the Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies to drop their grudges against each other to eliminate Lord Dread-Light, before his power becomes overwhelming.

***

“Was he that evil?” Twilight expressed her shock. Radiant rolled his eyes from the interruption and thought for a moment.

“So evil, not even Nightmare Moon and Discord combined could reach that potential.” He responded. “All that you know of those villains pale in comparison to the evil Dread-Light committed. But what Discord and Dread-Light had in common was the power of mind manipulation. Discord transformed you six to the opposite of what you were.” Radiant began to list what they transformed into. “Applejack was honesty, and then she became a liar. Rarity was a generous pony but she became greedy. Pinkie Pie was full of laughter until she grew into hate. Fluttershy was kind but Discord turned her into a pony of cruelty. Rainbow Dash was loyal and dependable, but she turned lazily into sloth. Twilight, as she perceived all these events, lost the will to keep going and faltered into normality. Discord found me and…” He stopped there and shook his head. “Ahh! Sorry, I digress. Let’s get back to the story.”

***

As the three leaders unleashed the rebels toward the City of Evil, there was an ancient artifact found within the Animosity Desert, a barren desert a bit far from the City of Evil. My father, a pegasus named Radiant Stars, and my mother, a unicorn named Lunar Tear, found that artifact. It looks just like my steel home, except it was made out of stone and had alien artwork across the spherical anomaly. Two large but different shaped holes were embedded on the top and bottom of the strange artifact, as if two gems of certain cuts could fit in it. My parents each had heirlooms that lasted since civilization was born on Nevaeh. They were different gems; the Radiant family had an amethyst jewel that was heart-shaped cut while the Lunar Family had a diamond in a briolette cut.

Both of them placed the gems in the places that would fit, and then a purple and white light glistened around the stone structure. It exploded and separated into many pieces, revealing a black spherical jewel surrounded in a destructive aura. Radiant Stars got up close and tried to touch the artifact, but it did a small explosion that propelled him a few feet away. Lunar Tear tried conducting magic to extract the gem, but it surged back to her horn and shocked her. The onyx gem just floated there in mysticism. As they both got up and stared at the structure, confused on what to do, they didn’t notice that some pony landed behind them.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” a voice came from behind. They both froze and looked slowly behind them to see their ruler, Dread-Light, smirking at their fear as he arrived. “This is the fabled artifact that shall bring out the apocalypse. I spent part of my time sending out scientists to find it, but then they’d die if they couldn’t find it.” He chuckled at the sight of my parents tensing up when they heard the word “die”.

“Wh-what will you do now? Kill us?” Radiant Stars growled through his teeth as he stood in front of his wife in order to protect her. Dread-Light couldn’t hold in his laughter and doubled over in his sick humor.

“Muahahaha! Ahh…you two amuse me. No, unleashing this artifact is the purpose of my arrival.” Dread-Light stood up and smiled as his black horn glowed brightly and shot an unknown spell that swirled around the black jewel. The jewel absorbed the spell and the aura glowed brightly, tearing away anything within the aura in a noisy catastrophe.

“Let’s get out of here hun!” Lunar Tear yelled at her lover. They both ran for it, but Dread-Light used his magic to pick both of them up, flying away. He carried them to an outpost a few miles away from the gem and let go of them as they landed on top of the watchtower that overlooked the station and the entrance to the desert. They all looked out in a distance and watched it explode brilliantly, vaporizing the half of the barren wasteland and nearly blinding its spectators.

“What the…?!” both my parents whispered in awe as they were able to look at the horizon. The black jewel shot into space with that destructive aura trailing behind it. It kept going up into the sky until it disappeared to the blazing light of the sun. The soldiers at the outpost went back to their posts and patrols, although shivering from the sight of their lord smiling evilly.

“Hmhmhm, you two are commendable for your work on this. You’ve done me a great service.” Dread-Light smiled evilly. “From now on, you shall work for me on building up the strength of my soldiers to end this silly insurrection.”

“Hold on! We are not working for you!” Lunar Tear protested.

“You are evil and corrupt! I...WE...will not tolerate working with you!” Radiant Stars gritted his teeth. Dread-Light smirked and simply surrounded them in the same magic bubble he swooped them away in. He flew away and brought them to the City of Evil, which was now being attacked by the rebels. The magic barrier broke and shattered into pieces as Dread-Light neared toward the city, aiming his gaze at his humble abode. A large grey-bricked castle decorated in black evil-eyed banners and a river of boiling blood surrounding the castle came into view. It lied in the middle of the city and was very big; bigger than what any pony thought it was.

“Be grateful I haven’t taken your lives. This is the first time I’m being generous.” The evil dictator stated, letting my parents go as he landed on the balcony of the tallest tower. They both dropped hard on the floor and glared at him. “Rebels are trying to break in the city in an attempt to take my life. Experiment with what we have here in order to increase the strength of our soldiers and the growth of food.” He opened the door that lead from the balcony to a small laboratory. On the wall on the right, there was a workbench and a few tools, many vials of chemicals, and scientific apparatus. A bed large enough for two ponies was far in the corner. On the left side of the room, there was a glass cage that held a weak and frail prisoner. “Experiment on that slave…and when you-“

“No.” my father spat out. "I am not working for anyone of the likes of you!" Dread-Light looked at him in a bored expression and looked at my mother, smiling devilishly.

“Oh come now…we don’t need for this to be violent, right? Think about it…” Dread-Light shot out a magical substance out his horn and it stuck Radiant Stars to the floor. He tried to get out of its grip but couldn’t. “Would you like it if your lovely mare-friend became a widow already, belonging to me?” my father’s eyes widen at those scenarios. He couldn’t let it happen to her. He sighed and shook his head. The substance around his hooves disappeared and Dread-Light smirked, licking her cheeks before walking toward the balcony.

“Good boy…I expect this drug to be done quickly. I know your works with the rebels and my former scientists tried recreating them, but failed. Do your experiments and you shall be rewarded handsomely. Time is of the essence.” And with that, Dread-Light flew away to another part of his castle.

Many days passed and my parents did a tremendous amount of work for the dark and evil overlord. They increased the strength of his soldiers, created rations of food for the citizens of the evil city, and created new arsenal for the pegasus and unicorn soldiers. It was an impressive feat, even to their master whom has forced them to work. Dread-Light was true to his word and reward them with money and scrumptious food. It was unexpected to my parents, but it was a nice reward. The slave that they had within the cage was also given food in secret. But it was folly since he died on one of the experiments.

Soon, soldiers were running out and the denizens were forced into a militia, crudely trained but dangerous individuals. The rebels finally broke in after weeks of the city under siege. The rebels and the militia were in a standstill in within the city, fighting in a spectacular massacre. My father was in the middle of making a weapon on a workbench when Dread-Light opened the door and trotted to the balcony, gazing upon the battle that is taking place. My father slipped the sharp weapon under his right wing carefully and trotted up to Dread-Light and sat by his left side. My mother was napping in the bed, unaware of the situation that was about to transpire.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Dread-Light said as he smiled at the massacre. He chuckled and sat down, witnessing the battle below. "Hahaha...magnificent is my favorite word. It's almost spelled like...malignant!"

“How is this war magnificent? Millions are dying and you’re finding delight in this!” my father said in disgust. Dread-Light laughed maniacally and calmed down a few moments later.

“I find delight in pain, whether it’s physical or mental. Preferably mental pain.” He grinned. “You see, when I was young, I was interested in what goes on in other ponies’ minds. So I attempted to make a spell that releases my soul and dive into another’s mind and see what lies within. It worked after some miscalculations. But afterwards, I never felt more alive and powerful. I delved into many ponies’ minds and absorbed their intelligence, beliefs, and experiences. I met an assassin who, after I absorbed his experiences and such, aided me in the murdering of my parents.” Radiant’s eyes widen as he slowly stared at Dread-Light. “That is, after I ratted him out and saw him executed.”

“You are a sickly child! A freaking megalomaniac!”

“I know, but what about you? Your past in the Radiant Family? It must’ve been a hard childhood, trying to live up to the family name.” Dread-Light cooed, laughing as he hit a weak spot in my father’s mind, leaving him stunned a few seconds until he looked at him angrily.

“…shut up…”

“Why? You were in love with your mare-friend, who was in the Tear family; which was the rival family.” The evil mad-pony kept going on.

“Shut up…”

“And even through all your accomplishments, you never shared a shed of the beliefs your family had and you were shunned by them. How cru-”

“SHUT UP!!!” Aeons passed as the evil deed done by my father was quick and swift. The blade flawlessly sunk into Dread-Light’s chest and momentarily, pierced his heart. Gasps escaped my father’s mouth as he realized what he has done; but he smiled nonetheless.

“…heh…heheh…hehehehahahaha…” Dread-Light cackled roughly through the pain he felt. Blood squirted out through the wound and he started coughing up the crimson fluids.

“That…was for me, my love, and every pony you killed throughout your whole reign and life! BURN!!” my father yelled in furious anger as he pushed the weapon deeper.

“Heheh…” he coughed and chuckled. “…urgh…don’t worry, the…lineage shall…live on. You’ll see…” Dread-Light cackled as his horn glowed tremendously. “Suffer my curse!” he yelled as he blasted magic and blood into my father’s body. Both of them were blown away from the explosion; Radiant Stars slammed into the wall next to the bed while Dread-Light plummeted to his death with the shambled balcony following him.

Many hours passed after my father was knocked into unconsciousness and my mother was frightened as she concluded that he wouldn’t wake up from his painful slumber, believing him to be dead. But as he awakened, the doors slammed open as the rebels broke into the laboratory. They looked around the workbenches, vials of chemicals mixed together, the new slave that was in the cage, and my parents tending to each other. They surrounded my parents trying to help tend to his wounds. A big stallion with a tattered beret with a red plus sign stapled against it pushed away the ponies in his way.

“What the…Radiant? What happened here?!” the head of the rebels asked as he made his way through the crowd. My father, chuckling as he stared past the rebels and out the window to the balcony, simply smiled.

“Colonel Skyblaze? Heh, well…Dread-Light…is no more. He has fallen…literally…” he responded as he pointed his hooves toward the balcony. The pegasus ponies galloped off the edge and flew down to investigate. Minutes later, they had with them the body of Dread-Light, broken and misshapen by the fall and impact of debris. Gasps escaped from the mouths of every pony and Radiant laughed a bit, feeling victorious. He retold his story from the time he and my mother found the artifact to that moment he got blown away from the magic curse from the dead king.

“Ha…you are full of surprises. Here, let’s patch you up. Soldiers! Go out there and bring the news to every pony! Tell it proudly, a new era has begun!” Col. Skyblaze yelled loudly and the soldiers cheered, galloping out of the castle and yelling out victory. As my mother and Skyblaze tended to his wounds, he looked at Dread-Light’s dead body and eyed it suspiciously.

“What did you curse me with? Bad health, imminent death, what is it?” my father thought to himself before he and my mother were lifted up by the pegasus ponies by surprise. “Whoa what are you guys doing?!” he yelled aloud.

“Showing you to your subjects…” Skyblaze responded when the pegasus group flew them around the city, showing the soldiers on ground the ponies responsible for overlord’s death. They flew to the walls of the entrance where the city militia was being dragged out by the rebels.

“Subjects?” my parents finally responded with eyes wide open as the moon.

“FELLOW SOLDIERS, DREAD-LIGHT HAS BEEN DEFEATED!! WE WILL BEGIN A NEW ERA!! SO WITH THAT, OUR NEW KING AND QUEEN, RADIANT STARS AND LUNAR TEAR!!” cheers rang out around the city as they all hailed their new king and queen from Skyblaze’s announcement. My parents looked around in awe and stared into each other’s eyes. They smiled and began to think about the future, making Nevaeh a now better place for all pony kind.

***

“After many years of rebuilding…” Radiant continued, a bit sullen now. “…civilization was back up on its feet and the new era began. It was an awakening of knowledge, a Renaissance if you would. Every pony learned new things, made different cultures; lots of things were being invented. Music, art, food, anything you can imagine. Even technology advancement jumped a hundred years. It made difficult tasks trivial.”

“So, what ever happened to the City of Evil? It can’t just disappear like that.” Rarity asked.

“Well, my parents and many other ponies rebuild that city and the castle was redecorated and turned into a university. It was now a city full of sophistication and benevolent ponies, from all over Nevaeh. My parents, well, they could barely take the pressure of king and queen. They distributed most of their power to trustworthy friends, but they still kept the title of king and queen.”

“Wait, doesn’t that make you royalty?” Twilight gasped. Radiant choked up a bit and coughed a bit. He chuckled a bit and drank from a new bottle of apple cider.

“In a sense, yes; but Nevaeh…never saw me as that. When my mother gave birth to me, my parents were very happy to see me as a unicorn. But…they…saw another thing…something that made the doctors tried murdering me.” He shivered a bit, hearing his friends look at each other frantically.

“W-why would they do something like that?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. Radiant Tear stood up from his chair and sighed, shivering from nervousness.

“I…promise me you won’t fear me…or treat me like royalty…after this…” he said softly.

“But-“

“Promise me!” he cut off Luna abruptly. She looked at him in surprise and nodded with every pony. He sighed and his cape started to lift up. It wasn’t magic that lifted the cape; it was his wings that sprouted up. His wings were a combination of organic structure and light metallic alloys. His feathers were the only normal part of his wings. Forever passed Radiant Tear as his eyes held sorrow and he walked to the right of the desk, sighing and choking back his sobs. He breathed in and opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t bring himself to say words. His head hung low; feeling shame and regret for revealing his true self.

“They’re pretty…” Fluttershy said, not scared at the fact he’s just like Princess Celestia and Luna. Radiant gasped and looked up, surprised by the compliment.

“Metal wings! Gosh, I want that!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“R-Really?” Radiant asked brightly, his tears flowing down his cheeks.

“Those are beautiful wings that you have. I don’t know why you would be ashamed in having them.” Princess Celestia spoke.

“You shouldn’t be, no matter who or what you are Radiant, despite all the things that happened in your life. You’re a good pony, nothing like Dread-Light.” Twilight said. Every pony nodded in agreement.

“You truly are a mystic stallion dear. Don’t let it all change who you are now.” Rarity added to the sentiment. Radiant was deep in thought hearing his friends sharing him the wisdom of friendship. He smiled, for a little moment before frowning.

“All of you are truly amazing on taking the tale so well. Any pony else would’ve freaked out or laugh in disbelief. But, we’re delving deeper into memories I don’t want to remember. It hurts greatly…” He whispered the last sentence before climbing in his bed and pulling the blanket over him.

“Wow…you don’t feel like telling anymore?” Pinkie Pie asked, wanting him to keep going with the story.

“At least show us the way to the guest quarters…” Twilight said. Radiant got a flask of something in it and a few pills from across the room with his magic and popped the pills and drank his flask.

“A.I. Pinkiana will show you the way to the guest quarters…or need be, the exit. I would…love to keep reading…but…it……hurts…” The pills took effect as he slowly drifted away to sleep, leaving Pinkiana to continue on with his life story.

Chapter 2: Enduring Pain

They all weren’t afraid of me or treated me like a prince. I’m truly surprised at the fact that they were able to take the secret quite well. But, will they be ready for the things I’ve endured?

Chapter 2: Enduring Pain

As Radiant Tear slowly slept, A.I. Pinkiana’s jewelry turned blue from the sadness she’s feeling for her friend and master. She walked by the desk and pushed the chair away slowly, but making sure that it wouldn’t touch the flames of the fireplace. She couldn’t bring words to apologize for Radiant’s secretive and tired attitude, but surely his friends understood, right? It was a great possibility that they did. As she quickly finished tidying up the room, even the splattered ink on the counter at the right of the room, she sat down on the floor and the device hovering above her shot out magic toward the book, turning the page to the next chapter.

“Is…he gonna be alright?” Applejack asked Pinkiana. She looked up from the book and looked at his sleeping form.

“He…” she sighed after a moment of hesitation. “…I hope so.”

“He has to be…he’s strong willed, isn’t he?” Princess Luna asked worriedly.

“Well, that depends on his mood. He has a complex mindset that even I can’t read.” Pinkiana said, staring into the night through the window above. The light that bloomed from nothingness was still shining. “That light…is our star system, where our planet resided. It’s been gone for a long time, but time, space, and light takes a long time for it to reach to other planets for those organisms to see.”

“It’s divine and tragic. To see a beautiful light that came from a dying star.” Rarity commented.

“If only we could actually see what Nevaeh was after their life-long war. It must’ve been beautiful afterwards, right?” Princess Celestia asked Pinkiana as the group looked back toward her, awaiting the continuation.

“For every pony, I concur. But as for Radiant…we shall see…” Pinkiana began reading.

***

My birth was a blessing to both the Lunar and Radiant families, yet I was a secret to all of Nevaeh because of my small reverse resemblance to the long gone dead dictator; I had white fur, black spiky hair, red eyes and neatly-kept feathers. My father and mother spent months trying to figure out what caused me to be born a winged unicorn. They took very small samples of my blood and analyzed the genes, after they calmed me down from the needle of course. I had the same genes and such, but after a while, they found something out of the ordinary. There was another gene that gave me my resemblance. After the discovery, my parents analyzed their blood and genes and soon found out that my father was the carrier of this gene. He came to the conclusion that Dread-Light did this to him before he fell to his death, though he had no proof to show it. But it didn’t matter; I was their son, the next generation of pony-kind in Nevaeh.

Life was a happy time for me when I was a small foal. I had my first birthday with my family and a few friends of theirs. They were really surprised at the fact that I was an alicorn, but they thought that I was a really sweet colt since I was my parent’s son. The décor and scenery of my party was very enjoyable. Chocolate gourmet cake, lots of streamers and party hats, I even said my first word as I had a bit of magical outbursts as I flew. I’ll admit, I was reminded of Pinkie Pie when she took care of the foals for the Cakes family. I was really adventurous and a bit of a troublemaker that day when I played hide and seek with my family and guests.

When I was around 4 years of age, my parents began teaching me the basics of mathematics, literature, science, etc. Well, maybe not basic since I learned up to 4th grade material, but they were feeling a bit experimental since the brain of a foal is a lot adventurous than of a normal aged pony. They taught me as many things as possible, as simple as possible since I was learning basic words and small studies of phonetics. When my mother started teaching me philosophy a few months before my 5th birthday, I was intrigued. At the time I was more in depth with knowledge and she taught me how to look at things with a different perspective and an open-mind. Most ponies, she said, were a bit close-minded and would seriously defend their opinions without knowledge of what they were speaking of. So she asked me to be a very nice stallion with good morals, an open-mind and keep expanding my intelligence. As you see, I took it to heart.

I was really excited to see what things that society had to offer when I was enrolled within my parents’ university when I was 6 years old. It was just like the castle Dread-Light resided in, except brighter, redecorated with new furnishings and learning apparatus and rid of any marks of the past. The university held students from Grade 1 through Collage Leveled students, though they were separated in sections so that higher leveled students wouldn’t corrupt any minds with hatred and perversity, jokingly or not. Anyway, my parents placed me in 3rd grade, even though I learned up to 5th grade material the year before this one. So all of these colts and fillies were learning 3rd grade material while it was all review to me.

Some kids didn’t like me much because I was like the youngest bookworm to them, but I was still able to make some friends. It was a bit difficult to make friends because I was a bit shy and their inconsistency in behavior really irked me. I didn’t blame them since I was a bit mature and taught more complex things by my parents. They all were kind to me since we were taught to be kind to others if you want them to be kind. It seemed to sound like a mirror thing if you ask me. They all would ask me for help and look up to me, even though I was 6 and they were a year or two, maybe three; I forget, I knew they were older than me.

Then as we all learned history in 4th grade, all of the fillies and colts had to learn about the Lineage of Kings, a book that told the history of the kings at the start of Nevaeh’s civilization. We learned about how some stallion millenniums ago, Blaze-Fire, infiltrated the capital of Nevaeh and killed its leaders after he forced them to write official documents and orders to not kill Blaze-Fire and listen to his every whim. He ruled with a ruthless iron hoof and made a government system that allowed slavery among the weak and other dreadful things. He called his son Dread-Fire, which started the Dread-Lineage. As we started to learn about the alicorn rulers of the lineage, colts and fillies started to see my resemblance toward them and they started to get scared of me, even my friends. Then after some time, they all wouldn’t talk to me anymore. I was a monster to them because of my opposite reflection of Dread-Light. Then during 5th grade, I met my one true friend.

Seeing her for the first time, she really wasn’t my friend since it was hard to trust anyone. She was only a year older than me; I was 8 and she was 9. Plus she was friends with those ruffians and gossipers, which added more to my paranoia of her. I didn't pay attention to her. From the best of my memory, she was a green-blue earth pony with a long topaz mane that was pulled in a knotted ponytail. A few bangs would cover her topaz eyes. She didn't have a Flank Insignia, or Cutie Mark as it’s called in Equestria.

Anyway, she was just so annoying! I remember I would take different routes to classes just to avoid this one filly. Soon she found out the routes I take and kept following me everywhere. I would seldom converse with her but no matter what I do to ignore her, she wouldn't take the hint. Then when I was in 6th grade, I learned teleportation when I was in Magic Classes. I felt a bit relieved that I learned this spell, even though it would wear me down because of energy consumption, at least I would have peace instead of bickering.

But later, her friends started being rude and uncivilized towards me. I was ridiculed because I kept avoiding her friendly advances and that has brought her unusually down. So I decided to obey and talk to her during my birthday. I went over to my lunch table, which only has her since my friends don’t talk to me anymore. She had a few boxes for me, which I assume were my presents. I opened them and got more boxes, but in neatly decorated wrappers. I opened one of them and got a small minty chocolate cheesecake. The second present contained a small mask that covered my forehead and nose. There was a red outline on the eyes while the whole mask was just white. I smiled a bit because of the intricate details that were put onto this little mask.

Then when I opened the third present, it brought me at sixes and sevens with the content. It was a simple piece of cloth. It was dark red with silver linings and sharp curled designs within the linings. I looked at her weird and she explained to me it was a cape because she thought that I was uncomfortable with my wings. I put it over my back and tied it around my neck. I trotted around the table and smiled. I really liked this small cloak. She gave me a compliment saying that it matched my eyes. I was stunned by the sudden compliment and it brought tears to my eyes. I haven’t felt happiness like this since I was a foal, when I had all my friends. I thanked her and introduced myself to her, even though she already knew my name, but I had to since I felt regret for avoiding her. She wouldn’t tell me her name because of that reason.

Eventually, I learned that Roxy was her name and soon, as we conversed with one another, I realized she was everything that I thought was perfect. She was a good friend, smart, well-mannered and open minded; which scared me since it seemed like she was a bit like me. I would seldom wear the cape and mask, but she doesn't mind since I wore on special occasions. My parents thought of her as family because she wasn't like the kids that would ridicule me due to my appearance. She even took all of the classes I had when I we were in middle school. She was even there when my wings were transformed into its metallic form; my disgusting, metal being.

I was with Roxy, studying for our exams in 6th grade literature and mathematics classes. My parents came up to me and asked if I could help them in one of their experiments. I was to fly as I normally do, along with a normal pegasus, a pegasus with abnormally long wings and another with small wings. My parents were going to record the flight session and find out what the difference of flight was between an alicorn, pegasus and abnormal pegasi wings. We began flying and it was pretty normal. I flew a bit fast, but Fly-Heart, a pegasus colt around my age with orange fur and yellow averaged- length mane and tail, flew like lightning. The other two, Pandora, a black mare with green eyes and very long wings, and Black-Veil, her twin but with short wings, were slow, but in different altitudes. Pandora was high and her twin was low, just barely off the ground. It wasn’t until 5 minutes that there was an explosion in the laboratories above us. The ceiling started to crack and every pony started to panic that it would collapse on them. I kept my cool, breathing deeply, and flew to the exit, yelling at the other ponies to get over here.

As I opened the door, the ceiling gave way and it fell. I saw a Pandora and Black-Veil huddle together, awaiting their demise or for some pony to save them. Fly-Heart wasn’t around, since he zoomed out of the door. I hurriedly flew to their side and pushed them toward the exit. We galloped toward the exit as fast as we can, avoiding any debris that either obstructed our path or is trying to crush us. I looked up above me and got knocked into the ground by a 5 pound boulder from behind. As I tried to get up, I got knocked by more debris, hindering me from exiting the room. Then, two large chunks of the destroyed ceiling landed simultaneously next to me, crushing my wings. The sudden pain from the force of the rocks piling on top of me caused me to go into unconsciousness.

Roxy and every pony within the university at the time pulled the rocks off of me. As they tried to drag me out, pain shot up through my back and I yelled at them to stop pulling. They were confused at first, but one of the little foals that was pushing the big boulders that crushed my wings asked for help. They all bucked at the debris and used magic to get it all off of me. My wings were bloody, flattened and mangled. My parents were devastated and nursed me back to health, with the exception of my wings. They paid for complex surgeries to fix it back, but it barely worked since my bones were far too broken.

So they did what they thought was better, science. They molded metallic alloys to the shape and weight of my wing bones. As they surgically replaced and implemented the alloys, they restitched and connected nerves and other things that allowed me to control my wings. It took many months of therapy and flight training to get me back to normal. It was a bit weird to fly with wings that are synthetic, but I finally got back my flight abilities back.

I first thought that my wings were beautifully crafted since my parents made it with small sophisticated designs. But other ponies really didn’t like it when I came back. They were all scared of me, fearing that I would be stronger and fearsome than Dread-Light, according to the rumors. Every pony would now avoid talking to me; even the teachers would shake when they would commend me on such a good job. So I did what I thought was best and draped the cloak Roxy made for me over my back and kept my wings out of sight as best as possible. This allayed every pony’s fear, thankfully. But Roxy didn’t like hiding my wings because she loved how they glistened in the sun and moons. As much as I wanted to listen to her and abide by the fact that I was beautiful in my own way, a lesson every pony knows, I couldn’t bring myself to stop wearing this cape. It was a prison, yet a shield. It was something I wanted to escape from it but I felt safe within the confines of the simple thick cloth and its designs.

As time went by, every pony forgot about my wings and felt more at ease around me. My parents taught me more things despite me learning in school, but it was because they believed that the teachers’ way of teaching were dull and boring compared to the way my parents taught me. If you were a teacher, you would want to leave an impression among the students to make them remember your lessons, right? That’s what my parents did when they taught me; though it was comedic and serious when they did their lessons.

They really wanted to teach me themselves, but I declined it because I wanted increase my social skills since the only friend I had was Roxy. I and she knew up to 9th grade material and we were now in middle school grade. We were growing more mature than others around us and we started…haha…it makes me blush as I say it but we became lovers. Some of the colts were envious since she was pretty much one of the beauteous pony in the university, despite her young age.

My mind ran rampant as I thought about the future for both of us: a big house that could be much grander than the university, since me and my parents live on the top floor like a penthouse, maybe a couple of kids, hopefully not an alicorn like me, playing in the backyard, and later that day, just me and Roxy alone under a gazebo in a romantic moment. I was set on that future, no matter what pressure or stress I was under. I kept it to myself because it was only a few months since we started being closer, and I felt that I shouldn’t talk about stuff like this until we were more mature in our relationship.

By the time we were in 8th grade, Roxy and I shouldn’t have been in that university anymore. We were in the top of our main course classes, except our elective classes because we were curious in other skills of the world, such as technology, music, cooking, etc. Everyone else was 13-14 years while we were 11-12 years old. Our favorite class was music since our favorite instruments were piano and strings. Every pony else were interested in loud instruments like guitar, trumpet, etc. But I didn’t mind since I believed that every kind of music was beautiful in a certain way.

I remembered when I was young; my mother would sing me her own lullaby to put me to sleep. Thinking about it now, I thought it was very beautiful, so I played the piano along with the lullaby. It was a simple rhythm but it becomes dramatic at the middle and fades away at the end, like a memory. I let Roxy sing the lyrics because it was a bit too high for me to sing, so I sung harmony while she sang the melody. I think every pony liked it, though it sounded really sad. It was in the key of G on the minor scales, which were my favorite kind of scales.

Leaving middle school and going into 9th grade was hard for me and Roxy. We were separated from each other and had to take classes with ponies of the same gender. Now, at this time, I was a bit more social now, but they were seriously immature than I am. You would expect that high school students were more mature, but that fact is deadly false. They only act mature when a stallion or mare that is unknown and older than them and of authority is present within their presence.

All these colts talk about is mares, hate, and sports, adding a lot of profanity in their sentences. I strayed away from those groups and stayed to myself unless spoken to. But when they do speak to me, it’s because they wondered why I wore my cape and why I dated Roxy. It was obviously out of the question that I didn’t answer the first question, but the second question was because I and she had some things in common. We were younger than most ponies in our grade, extremely intelligent, and were very open-minded. Those were the only questions they would ask me that I find rational, other than that, I will not say the other things they’d ask me; you know why.

When I and Roxy do see each other, it’s either in the halls or out of school. But these darn ponies would start whistling and such at her, sometimes the mares would do it to me but seeing Roxy react the first time, I think she made her point. One day though, something unimaginable happened; something I never thought would happen. I was walking Roxy home from the university, since she lived a mile away from the school. As we walked, a few colts, an earth pony, a unicorn, and pegasus, from our grade came out from an alleyway in front of us. One of them threatened me to go back home and leave Roxy right where she was. I didn’t understand at first, but then it hit me. They wanted to have their way with her! It was very sickening and I strongly declined. I wanted to solve this out in a diplomatic matter, but they wouldn’t listen to reason when all three of them attacked me. I had no chance fighting against them as I was thrown to the floor. I looked at Roxy, scared, alone, and crying from a distance. She cried for help, but one of the assailants formed a barrier with his horn, restricting any pony from interfering. After they finished beating me down, they started whispering what they were going to do with her after they would kill me.

Eternity passed as all of my senses left me as they told me these horrible things. Adrenaline filled my whole body, masking the pain that I was feeling from the beating. I screamed in animalistic rage before my wings stretched out, making my cape fall off, and my horn was sparking dangerously with deadly volts of magic. I couldn’t control my body; it was as if some evil spirit was controlling me. All I did was watch as their faces contorted in fear and their bodies shook violently from my steel wings and barbaric behavior. I stood there for what felt like many years until I stepped forward in a sudden motion, causing them to screamed and run, after the unicorn broke the barrier. It was foolish how they ran to the back of the alleyway, having nowhere to turn. As they were cornered, they pleaded for life and promised to go far away from here. My mind started thinking that they would go far within the afterlife as my horn started charging its magic. They closed their eyes as my horn was glowing violently bright white.

Right before I shot the deadly spell, Roxy pushed me down toward the ground. My horn aimed up and shot toward the sky, nearly hitting her. Every pony watched the spell launch up into the sky and it blew up in a small sparkling explosion. Confusion ran among the crowd and they all laughed. That was, until a sound that emitted from the spell. It was as loud as a thousand furious souls that created a giant thunderstorm. But there was a subtle cackling among those sounds that only I seemed to have heard. No one was worried about the cackling but the giant booming noise was enough to scare them. But, I was more scared than they were. I finally was able to take control of my body and I was shaking, scared of that power that I was able to pour out without any knowledge of it.

I slowly got up and picked up my cape, draping it back on my back in shame. I looked at the three assailants in disgust, making them cower a bit. Roxy walked beside me as I took her home. The crowd backed far away from me while some followed, albeit for a short time before I noticed. She was also scared to talk to me. I couldn’t blame her since that spell almost killed her. I couldn’t bring out words to express my remorse and sorrow, so all I did was give her a quick kiss and flew back home after I dropped her off. I couldn’t face her or any pony after that incident, so I just shut myself from the world and decided to work alongside with my parents in their scientific experiments. It hurts just writing this all. The memories are constantly flooding my mind; all of my doubts, fears and dreams too. I wanted to fit in, but no matter what, the path that I had taken left me miserable. I’m sorry. I just wish I could be a likable pony to you all. I’m sorry Nevaeh. I’m sorry…

***

Pinkiana stopped reading and inspected the last page of the chapter. All it contained was drawn images, remorseful messages asking for forgiveness and tears that melted within the threads of the papers. She just stared into the paper, having flashes of Radiant’s memories before her eyes.

“Is something wrong?” Princess Luna asked worriedly. Pinkiana shook her head and looked up from the paper. She simply declined and said nothing was wrong. The princess saw through the ruse and stood up, curious at what made the holographic pony stop reading. She only caught a glimpse of it all before it was closed hurriedly.

“…I…I’ll show you to the guest quarters.” Pinkiana said, standing up and trotting to the door. Every pony followed her lead quietly, fearing that they might awaken Radiant Tear. They conversed quietly among themselves after the door to his chamber was closed.

“How can Radiant, of all ponies, suffer something like that? It can’t be real.” Twilight objected at the whole story as they all walked along the glistening red pathway.

“I wasn’t created at the time. But I was told of this by his parents themselves. But I digress. The next chapter is about his life in seclusion, creating me, and the beginning days of the Destructive Collapse. I won’t say no more.” Pinkiana responded. She turned left, off of the pathway and past the entrance of the laboratory. They discovered another grand door, but it was a bit smaller than the chamber door to Radiant’s room. Pinkiana raised her hoof and simply touched it, creating a faint pink glow upon the door. Nothing spectacular happened, for only a door handle popped out of the side.

“Aww, I was expecting something better than that.” Pinkie Pie said sadly. Pinkiana giggled a little and opened the door, revealing a room with a kitchen, complete with many dishes, bowls, jugs, and cups along the counter. The oven had eight gas heaters on top, with a grill separating them into four units. A door led to another room unknown to the group, but they could guess that it led to the fridge and freezer with the haze upon the window. That was all on the right of the room, but the left of the room had furnishings of a dining room and living room combined. Many comfy, luxury chairs circled around a giant table and a few sofas were lined along the wall, facing an Equestrian television.

“This is quite…luxurious.” Princess Luna and her sister were getting a bit suspicious at the whole scenery that they were all in. But every pony else didn’t seem to mind.

“I know it’s too much, but Radiant wanted to do this. This was one of the dreams that he envisioned for him, family and friends.” Pinkiana explained. “The bedrooms are in the door beside the TV. I’ll be in Radiant’s chambers, in case he needs me. Good night.” And with that, she disappeared and the disk she was being projected from hovered out of the room.

Chapter 4: Awaiting The End

When the peace is disturbed, chaos runs rampant. But when the time comes where the end is in sight, we all join together and await the end. I felt them join together with me as destruction was near.

Chapter 4: Awaiting The End

As the two royal princesses of Equestria came back from their royal duties in Canterlot, they heard an argument between Radiant Tear and his servant friend, A.I. Pinkiana within the library as they descended the marble steps. Princess Celestia looked at her sister; feeling worried about how long their argument was going and how intense the fight was getting.

“Radiant, you’re trying to act big and strong for them! You are mentally weak; still a child deep down! You hide behind that apple cider and that mask. Let me read the next chapter, if you wish for them to continue!” Pinkiana tried to reason with Radiant Tear, un-phased by the yelling hologram.

“I shall continue to read them my past. I need to face what makes me weak and walk out triumphant and strong.” He smiled and stood up from the chair. “Override negotiation protocols.” Pinkiana froze a bit and looked down in defeat as he walked into his chambers. The lunar princess walked up to her and cleared her throat, startling Pinkiana a bit.

“What was that about?” Luna asked as Pinkiana gazed back at Radiant as he entered his room. She shook her head and motioned her head, signaling for them to follow. The jewels around her hooves shone orange.

“You’ll see soon enough. He’ll know I was right…” Pinkiana growled through her teeth as she walked down toward his chambers. Princess Luna and her sister looked at each other, worried for what might transpire tonight. As they entered the chamber, they noticed the furniture from the guest quarters is placed in front of the desk. Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and the three little fillies sat close to each other, leaving space for the princesses. As they sat down, they heard Radiant flip the pages to the next chapter as he sat down in his seat.

“Radiant doesn’t seem…right at all…”Applejack whispered to Twilight, thinking he wouldn’t hear it. His ears twitched a little and looked up at every pony.

“Don’t worry, I am well enough to read.” He smiled. He flipped another page and began reading.

***

Many months have passed since the artifact caused chaos and devastation among Nevaeh and its people, but those years were worth it. After avoiding rampant psychopaths and probing around the city for resources, we finally finished constructing the spaceship. The ship was filled with gasoline, titanium alloy-plated exterior and 6-inch thick windows and insulation, even a filter within the walls to keep heat and oxygen within the pod and recycled if used. A giant pillar contains a supercomputer that held all knowledge of Nevaeh. It was connected to each of the eight cryopods so that it would cryogenically preserve our bodies, but half preserve our minds due to a wire sticking into our neurological systems so we could be linked to each other subconsciously in another reality where we could learn the knowledge stored into this supercomputer.

As we came back to the university’s laboratory after a day of celebrating our success in the penthouse balcony and gazing at the scenery of the chaos-ridden city, we found out that our ship was missing. There were no traces of our ship, but there was one muscular pony in its place. He stared at all of us menacingly and trotted slowly towards us.

“It’s nice to make your acquaintance my lords. I am Stallifear.” His pompous voice boomed from his chest. It was sickening, but it was his unkempt blood-red fur and crazed yellow eyes that spelled trouble.

“Where the hay is our ship you heathen!?” My father yelled furiously. Stallifear simply smiled, not affected by the screams of Fly-Heart, Pandora and Black-Veil also questioning him.

“It’s in the Forbidden Forest, south of this little university of yours. I was told to stay by my true lord, Mane-Mare. We’ll be spending our last moments together.” His voice shook a bit. I assumed he was insane, but every pony’s eyes widened and backed up toward the door. They seemed to know who he was. Then something caught up to me; his last statement toward us.

“What do you mean last moments?” I asked him curiously. He laughed as there were explosions heard somewhere in the university. We all turned around and panicked as we saw some bits and pieces our towering university started to crack and break apart around us.

“Join me as your home collapses! Home isn’t safe anymore, is it?!” Stallifear cackled maniacally as debris landed all around us. My father took a hold of his beloved wife and flapped his wings, dodging his way out toward someplace safe other than the university, which was now collapsing into many pieces. I took a hold of Roxy and Pandora held to her little sister tightly and all of us, including Fly-Heart, flew up in the air and maneuvered our way around falling walls and glass shards trying to either crush or hinder us from escaping. As soon as we were about to clear out of the place, I heard galloping behind me.

“If I go down, I’ll take one of you with me!” Stallifear screamed with rage as he jumped high off of a ledge that was taken down as he was in mid-air. I felt Roxy slip out of my grasp as she screamed in horror, falling to her doom along with Stallifear. Time slowed down as my heart pumped with adrenaline and my instincts kicked in instead of staring in horror. I flew my way down to her, avoiding the debris as while reaching out for her. I looked to the left and see Stallifear trying to swim his way in the air to get to Roxy first. I look up above me and see a giant wall falling toward me at a slow but steady pace. I slowed a bit and kicked my hooves, propelling myself to go faster. I caught Roxy and pulled up into the air before we hit the ground. I heard Stallifear yelp in pain before he was silenced by the debris. I flew out of the perimeter of the university and set my eyes on the forest in the distance. I held Roxy tighter and discovered my parents and our friends at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest. They waved over to me and jumped a little. I smiled and landed next to them. As we landed, I gently set Roxy down, but she simply laid there.

“Roxy, we’re out now. There’s nothing to fear.” I said nudging her a little. She cracked open her eyes a little and breathed heavily. I looked at her worriedly. “Hey, calm down. Don’t start breaking down now, we made it out alive.”

“Radiant…I hurt……he…he…” she whispered painfully.

“Don’t worry, I heard him yell before he got crushed.” I said reassuringly. “Please, we got to go.”

“I…got hit…too much…go on without-“she gasped and coughed violently into the ground. As she finished coughing, blood was stained upon the ground and her lips. My eyes widened and tears were pouring out. “…go…without me…”

“No! No, no, no, no. Don’t say that! You’re gonna be fine. I’ll carry you to the ship and we can nurse you back to health!” I stuttered a bit, trying to concentrate my magic to heal her broken body. I tried…for the love of life, I seriously tried! But my mind was too addled for me to concentrate. I couldn’t bear the thought of her dying in front of me.

“Radiant, please we have to go…” Pandora tried to calm me down, placing a hoof around me, trying to pull me away. I shook her off and tried again to heal her.

“No, she can be healed if I can just try to concentrate!” I gritted my teeth and my horn glowed and sparked a bit before it disappeared again. Roxy weakly placed her hoof to my horn, distracting me from trying to save her.

“You…can’t do it. I’m…far too…broken. My time…has come…” her eyes let loose a few tears before she used up all of her energy to connect our lips together. I tried not to cry, but failed and hugged her softly; hoping I wouldn’t give her anymore pain than she’s already feeling. She fell on my arms slowly and smiled. “Don’t cry…I see the doors…to Paradise. Just know…that…I…love you. My…Radiant Tear…” her voice echoed in my mind as she let loose her final breath.

“No…Roxy! Please! I promised we could have a future together…don’t leave me!” I shook a little trying to keep her awake. She closed her eyes slowly, mouthing…good-bye and smiled sincerely. I cried into her neck and yelled her name as she slipped away.

***

Radiant’s eyes swelled with tears as they slipped out from his now red eyes. He could feel his mentality dropping low, but he wouldn’t allow it. He drank some of his cider but ran out of it. He plopped it on the desk, but it dropped to the side and rolled off onto the carpet. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, along with Spike and Fluttershy, cried as he forced himself forward.

“Radiant, you have to stop now! Reading your facial structures and analyzing your eye movements, you’re close to breaking!” Pinkiana warned him. Every pony also tried to reason with him, but he shook his head.

“No…I have to face it!” he yelled back.

***

I cried and rocked back and forth slowly with Roxy in my arms. For these few moments, it felt like an eternity trying to accept what happened. For these few moments, I cried like a child that lost everything. I felt my friends and parents nudge me, trying to snap me out of it.

“Son, we have to go now!” my mother tried to get me out of my mourning state. I shook my head slowly.

“Just leave me be. I want to join her…” I morbidly whispered. My father held me and turned my head toward the city, now ridden with dust, debris, rivers of blood and dangerous individuals.

“Is this the place you want to spend your last moments? This city is decaying and chaos is running rampant! She is gone. She died in your arms than in the hands of some corrupt individual. She’s in a better place and wants you to live on for her! What would she think if you stayed here and died?!” my father yelled, putting some sense into my head. I gazed into the city more in-depth and saw one of the buildings collapse, some flashes from magic spells, and fire burning through the smoldering debris and bodies. The sun was setting over the horizon, giving the destroyed city, peaceful fields and a lake beside us a tragic apocalyptic atmosphere. I looked down at her and noticed how peaceful she looked despite what has happened. I placed her on my back and flew over to the middle of that lake to the right of us. I moved her into my arms and slowly let her go, witnessing her body sink to the bottom until I saw her no more.

“Goodbye Roxy…” I whispered before flying back to the entrance of the forest. My parents looked down and hugged me, even my friends; apologizing for what had happened.

“You did your best Radiant. It’s okay.” Black-Veil’s tiny voice whispered next to me as I tried to hold back my sorrow. I looked up to look at the city again before we galloped into the Forbidden Forest.

“I don’t know who this Mane-Mare might be, so stay on your guard and be as quiet as possible.” My father commanded us a few moments after we entered. We nodded and trotted silently as possible and fast as possible. It was silent and the only ambience was the trees and bushes rustling against each other in the wind and the chaos in the city that was a mile away. It felt like an eternity walking around in that forest. We didn’t know where our ship was and Fly-Heart suggested he flies up to find out where the ship was. My father nodded and Fly-Heart flapped his wings and shot up in the sky. He looked into the distance and pointed east, deeper into the forest. We trotted on the pathway that headed to where Fly-Heart was flying, guiding us.

“A Pegasus has been sighted. What do we-“

“You take him down. No matter the cost. We can’t have anyone finding out the ship.”

“Yes ma’am.” A conversation was heard in our ears and we hid behind the bushes as silently as possible. My father looked through the bushes and whispered to us that there was one strongly-built unicorn guard fitted in camouflage clothing with a few side packs and a radio wrapped around his neck. We moved the bush a little so we can see what the guard was doing. He pointed his horn toward the sky and shot a spell toward Fly-Heart, hitting him dead center through his stomach. He fell down and landed hard on the path beside us.

“O-oh my…”my mother whispered as Fly-Heart’s shocked face stared at us. The guard trotted up toward the body, not noticing us behind the bushes. My father and mother looked at each other in the eyes and nodded before tackling him down and ripping off the radio. We all joined in and roughed him up a bit before our father extended his wings to make us back off so he can interrogate him.

“We can let you live so you can see another day. But if you don’t cooperate, I will result to violence and snap each of your bones until you talk. Now where is our ship?” my father growled at him, ready for anything the subdued unicorn might do.

“Argh…I won’t talk. Do your worst!” the soldier kept his trained mentality not to talk. My father smiled and stomped above his head, breaking off his horn. The soldier screamed, but was cut short by my father as he placed his hoof in the pained guard.

“Now I’ll ask again. Exactly where is our ship? We know it’s somewhere east, but give us directions and we’ll let you walk away.” My father looked at him sternly. The soldier reached into his pocket and nudged a map out of it. My mother took it and my father slammed a hoof down, knocking the soldier out. “Appreciate it.”

We looked at the map and followed the trail that would help lead us to the ship. We hurried as fast and silently as we could, hoping we wouldn’t find any more soldiers during the way. We would take breaks within the safe confines of nature itself, for only a few moments before we had to go. As we went on, the ground below us started to shake a little bit before it shook violently. The leaves fell everywhere, the bushes lost its structure, and a few trees fell. We used this opportunity to gallop on the path that we had to take, letting the falling trees and rustling drown out their noise. Black-Veil lost her stamina and started running slower than the rest of us. We didn’t notice it until it was too late as she shrieked, getting crushed by one of the falling trees.

“Sister!” Pandora cried reaching out for her. My father held her back and forced her to continued going forward. As I look back, her eyes stared at her, then me, reaching out painfully before going limp.

“Hey, you there! Stop!” we heard two patrolling soldier yell out to us. We looked back as we galloped and saw them catching up to us. Pandora closed her eyes and stopped in her tracks, outstretching her wings to block their path.

“Go on without me! I’ll hold them off! Get to the ship!” Pandora yelled, motivating us to keep going. Now, it was me, my mother, and my father, delving deeper into the unknown forest. I let loose a few tears as we turned to the final pathway that led to our ship.

“Fly-Heart, Black-Veil, Pandora, and Roxy…lost in a mere hour. What more is there can I lose?” I said my thoughts aloud, drained from the whole ordeal. I felt more exhausted and anguished than I had in my whole life from that point. My father nudged me forward a bit too hard.

“You’ll lose a home. Maybe our lives if we don’t get to the ship!” my father said bluntly, trying to coerce me to continue forward.

“Keep going my son. Do it for Roxy.” My mother softly whispered, also giving me motivation. As soon as we neared the end of the pathway, we saw the ship attached to a rocket propeller, stairs and platforms. The stairs provided access to the giant platform and the entrance to the pod. We hid behind the trees and inspected the area for more patrolling guards and for this ‘Mane-Mare’ figure. But there was nothing here, just the ship alone.

“No one is here. That’s strange. How can something of importance not be guarded?” my father whispered in question. We shrugged as we continued forward to the stairs.

“Stay close Radiant. Who knows what lurks in the darkness…” my mother advised me. I stayed close to them as we reached the entrance of our pod. We looked inside and saw everything intact. A.I. Pinkiana did a good job keeping the inside of the pod intact. Nothing was out of place or in disrepair.

“Creator Family, oh my, I thought you wouldn’t come! I kept them out of the pod and used my magic code to block access to the ship.” Pinkiana’s voice was heard from the inside. The pillar’s veins would blink pink every time she’d speak. The pod door hissed and it opened up a few moments after. “Here, the door is opened. Where is Acquaintance Roxy, as well as the others?” I bowed my head in sorrow, reminded of their pained faces and smiles. Pinkiana gasped and had a moment of silence. “Oh. I see.”

“It’s okay Radiant. They’re in a better place and they’re watching with smiles.” My mother smiled as she patted my back. My father hugged me and had a little family moment.

“Well, isn’t this cute?” a mare’s pompous voice was heard as she walked up the stairs to the platform, followed by three guards, one of them with a broken horn that my father stomped off. They had with them the dead bodies of Fly-Heart and Black-Veil. Pandora was dragged by her mane and was thrown in front of us. Her lungs rasped for air as she tried to get up, but she had no energy to do so. “She’s lucky to hold off my guards for you three to come this far, but…not lucky for her.” Her green eyes, regal purple fur, and luminous blonde mane were hard to forget as she stomped on Pandora’s windpipe, severing her spine and crushing her esophagus. I gasped a bit and tears rolled down to my chin, witnessing again the death of another dear friend. My parents were horrified and had no words to say. But the question was clear: why would this psychopathic mare go to the lengths of killing innocent children?

“Orders your lordship?” the guards looked at her for guidance. She smiled and closed her eyes.

“Shock them.” She commanded. Two of their horns glowed heavenly white and charged up. My father shoved me out the way and into the pod, taking the shot for me. They shot their spells and my parents screamed in pain, shadows dancing around the inside of the pod as they are being electrocuted.

“L-L-Lock Th-The door!” my father stuttered aloud to Pinkiana. I got up as the door closed shut. I ran up to the window and banged on the door.

“Pinkiana, Open the door! My parents are out there!” I commanded her.

“Negative Creator Radiant Tear! You’ll be in the hands of Mane-Mare!” Pinkiana said to me, worried for my well-being. I couldn’t do anything but watch as my parents’ torture go on. Mane-Mare raised her hoof and the soldiers stopped their spells.

“I demand that you open this door now!” her voice lashing out toward my parents as they rasped for breath. My parents groggily stood up and looked into each other’s eyes. They bowed their head and looked into my eyes in sadness.

“Pinkiana, initiate the launch sequence.” My parents said simultaneously. She gasped and fell silent for a moment before complying with their commands. I banged on the door harder, now in full blown panic.

***

Radiant Tear was holding back his sobs as tears ran down his cheeks like an abyssal waterfall. He laid his head on the table and felt himself breaking down. He tried hard to resist the painful reminders as he reads.

“Stop reading that book! You’re hurting yourself more.” Luna tried to reason with Radiant’s mysterious attitude. Radiant couldn’t look away.

“No! I have to…face…it!” Radiant tried to push himself over the limit.

***

“Mom, Dad, don’t do this please!” I cried banging against the door, my vision blurred as tears formed in my eyes. My parents lazily stood up, despite the pain they were in, and leaned against the door, placing one of their hooves against the window, matching it up to mine. Mane-Mare and her guards just stood there, watching the sentimentalism.

“Son, listen carefully. A.I. Pinkiana is going to help you learn more about Nevaeh’s knowledge, culture, everything that’s recorded in Nevaeh’n history. She’ll also help navigate the ship and keep you in check within your cryogenic state.” I looked to my father in confusion and pain as he said that.

“You mean we, right?! I can’t do this alone!” I yelled, my voice starting to crack into sobs. I looked into their eyes and screamed. “I lost too much already!! Roxy, Fly-Heart, Black-Veil and now Pandora is gone!”

“Child, there is a road in which we must take alone. Right now, it’s time for you to take that road.” My mother’s philosophy went into my head. I denied it, I couldn’t let it happen. I refused to let Mane-Mare win.

“Mom, Dad, close your eyes. I’ll get you in here!” I charged a blinding light spell and unleashed it, but ended up blinding myself. “Ahh…C’mon, get in! Pinkiana, open the door.”

“Launch sequence has been initiated. I’m sorry Creator Radiant Tear, but we must go to ensure our survival.” A.I. Pinkiana’s voice was heard as the cryopod behind me opened. It was connected to the central pillar holding the supercomputer. Mane-Mare cackled and bowed her head, ready to charge with a blade in her mouth.

“Soldiers, on my command, we kill the child’s parents.” Mane-Mare managed to say with the blade in her mouth. My eyes widened and I could barely gasp since I was trying to recover from the flash.

“Ma’am, he’s just a kid! Don’t scar him any further than necessary!” One of the soldiers said, denying the request. She stared at them in anger.

“So I hired a bunch of cowards? My agents recommended your group because you were the best and you follow a simple command! Very well then! I’ll do it myself!” Mane-Mare furiously yelled.

“Please don’t kill them!” I screamed repeatedly as I got up from the floor and rushed toward the window. She looked at me and smiled and spoke in a soothing yet devious tone.

“You either die with your parents in this devastated chaos or let their deaths burn in your mind! But, I wonder…what will you be more comfortable with?” she smirked devilishly.

“Don’t listen to her wicked words. Live on for us, for Roxy and for the good of Nevaeh.” My parents countered her words.

“You should know how this ends child! I will torture them as you launch up and let the fires of the rocket burn them alive!”

“You’re the last and best hope Nevaeh has at preserving our knowledge! You’re the true voice of this world!”

Time slowed down deciding what I really wanted. I couldn’t let my parents down and let our work be for nothing, but I didn’t want them to painfully die. I could’ve coerced the soldiers into betraying her, but my mind was at a standstill at the options I had in my time of panic. If I choose to open the doors, Mane-Mare would leave the planet and my parents would be fully disappointed in me as we await our deaths from the sun. If I choose to refuse, then my parents would be slain in front of me. After what felt like an eternity, I have chosen the obvious decision.

“I’m sorry mother and father.” I regretfully said. My parents gasped, my father shaking his head and my mother burying her face into the side of his neck. “Pinkiana, start the launch.”

“Acknowledged Creator Radiant Tear. Launching in T-minus sixty seconds.” Pinkiana loudly stated. My parents cheered and I smiled at them, but as I looked toward Mane-Mare, she kicked the soldiers down.

“Don’t you dare hold me back! I’m slaying his parents!” Mane-Mare furiously screamed, losing the rich accent of hers as she lunged forward toward my father. I watched in sheer silence and fear as she whipped the blade against his throat and slashed. My mother screamed his name in shock, pain, fear, a lot of conflicting emotions that was too much to comprehend. The evil mare backed off and smiled sadistically at me and watched as my father looked me in the eyes and held his hoof in place with mine as he slid down into the floor. I couldn’t stop staring at the amount of blood that stained the window and his pained eyes that stared back at me. I breathed heavily and the tears wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t think rationally and all I did was scream.

***

Radiant Tear couldn’t take it anymore. His sorrow unleashed into a stream along his cheeks as his horn and eyes glowed brightly and shot into the air, forming into a circle and revealing his memories through his eyes.

“Wh-what is this? Applejack whispered as they gazed into the weird spell.

“It’s his Memory Revelation Spell. He couldn’t hold in his sorrow so instead of speaking his tale, he will show you through his eyes.” Pinkiana explained as the memory started to show the ship shaking violently, making Radiant Tear fall on his back. More blood splattered upon the window and he tried to stand up to see what was going on.

“No…please let that not be my mother!” his thoughts rang out of his glowing mouth like a distant memory as he managed to crawl to the door. As he got up, he saw his mother, her mane and fur smeared with blood, trotting up to the door, smiling as she made eye contact with him.

“She is finished. My husband…your father…his death is avenged. Allow me to guide you in your time of need, my son.” She said to him as her horn glowed. The magic essence on her horn broke away and phased its way into the pod. She smiled before she fell next to his father’s dead body. Radiant looked up to the soldiers and they bowed their heads in shame.

“Kid, I know it’s late to say, but I’m sorry for everything that’s happened. If we’d known that sadistic mare was paying us to do this, we wouldn’t have taken the job.” The soldier with the broken horn said aloud. The other two nodded in agreement and placed Pandora’s body next to his parents’. “Wherever you may be, remember us. Remember Nevaeh.” They all said, saluting to Radiant. A few moments passed before he saluted back, nodding. They ran down the stairs and watched in awe as Pinkiana loudly counted down.

“Three……two……one…launching.” Her voice exclaimed loudly, vibrating the whole ship as he rumbled violently and propelled into the air. He waved down and as they waved back, he took a look up into the city as the ship loomed high into the sky. The city was in ruins as smoke trickled its way upward and buildings falling into shambles. Radiant sniffed as he watched the scene, whispering goodbye to his home planet. As he turned around, he gasped, seeing his parents, friends and lover in front of him, but as phantoms of the afterlife.

O-o-oh my…?! H-How did…how!?” he asked, surprised and in disbelief. The audience watching the memory gasped and Fluttershy began crying as they continued to watch in awe.

“My spell allowed our corporeal form to take shape and spend our time with you, however sacrificing my life in order to do so. We have a lot of time to spend before we have to go. So we can truly spend our last moments.” his mother explained as they walked up to him and gazed out the window as the pod separated from the rocket once they left the gravity of Nevaeh.

“Look at that. All that bloody chaos that you have avoided. I’ve never been so proud to help you get this far.” his father smiled toward his son.

“Remember when we learned about survival of the fittest; that the strongest will always survive? Heehee, guess you’re the strongest now!” Roxy’s upbeat attitude impressed even the princesses of Equestria. She’s dead and yet she still had that positive attitude.

“You’re the strongest of them all Radiant. You’ve endured a lot and even though we all didn’t survive, you’ve shown a lot of the colts and fillies in our school what you’re made of.” Fly-Heart complimented.

“Yeah, we saw them in the afterlife and they now have respect for you now!” Black-Veil remarked.

“Wait, they died during the conflict?” Radiant’s voice shook a bit, still trying to take it all in.

“Mhm, but some of the jocks are still mad that you’re better than them.” Pandora smirked. He chuckled a bit and looked out more.

“Creator Lunar Tear and Radiant Star, what is this feeling I am having? I’m sensing sadness and relief that you are okay.” Pinkiana’s voice whispered since her normal tone would vibrate the whole pod.

“You’re feeling humanity my dear.” His father answered. “Don’t worry, we are okay. Let’s…” every pony sniffled as he wiped his tears. “Let’s get Radiant into his pod.” Radiant looked at his friends and they all nodded. He sighed and trotted up to the cryopod, which was directed toward the window so he can gaze into the stars one more time before slipping into the reality that Pinkiana constructed within the supercomputer. He climbed into the pod and laid himself as straight as possible. The pod didn’t close right away, which confused the poor boy. He looked at his parents, friends and lover as they smiled at him and began singing a lullaby to him as a wire was stuck into his spine, electrically and neurologically connecting him to the Central Pillar.

“We love you, Radiant Tear.” They simultaneously said as they each phased away into nothingness. He looked at Roxy and he expected her to disappear, but not yet.

“Radiant, I know that…” she choked a bit trying to talk. “…it’ll be hard for you to move on. But please…move on…for us.” She cried a little, giving him a kiss before the pod closed, sealing him from the outside. Before he slipped into slumber, he saw the sun showing itself from the shadows of Nevaeh and saw Roxy’s corporeal form fading away slowly.

“Good…bye…”he said before black shadows swept his vision. As the memory was finished displaying, the magic aura dispersed and his eyes and horn stopped glowing. As his pupils and eye colors came back, tears streamed down his face and he fell on the ground, shaking and crying in his pain of reminiscence. The mask that he wore fell off his face, bouncing around before it was unmoving. His face revealed a small unusually colored scar across his face.

“Radiant!” Luna yelled, being the first of every pony running by his side. They all said his name to get his attention, but he just lied there in pain. Pinkiana just stood there, watching in thought and sadness.

“We need to get him to the hospital. He won’t respond!” Fluttershy said, clearly in panic.

Everything around Radiant seemed to reverberate around him and his vision blurred as he was being rushed to the nearest hospital. Memories flashed through his mind as he was placed on a stretcher and rushed to somewhere within the compounds of the hospital. His mind grew dark and he saw nothing except a light over his being. He was alone in the depths of his mind and reached up toward the light, which was slowly floating away before it severely blinded him.

“Nurse, I think he’s regaining consciousness!” Radiant Tear heard Luna’s voice as if it’s from a distance. As he looked around his surroundings, he realizes he’s in a white room with closed curtains and a few ponies surrounding him. Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle and A.I. Pinkiana were in the room with him while the nurse came in and examined him.

“Can you speak?” Luna asked him. Radiant barely turned his head and nodded a bit. It was hard for him to move for some unknown reason. As he blinked slowly, he felt tears burn in his eyes before dripping down.

“T-Tears? What…h-happened?” he could barely speak as he looked toward his friends. A.I. Pinkiana trotted up to him.

“You didn’t heed my warning and you did the Memory Revelation spell, which in turn caused you to have a mental breakdown.” Pinkiana bluntly explained to him.

“You…were severely broken. We waited at least 8 hours to see if you’d be alright, but you have to stay here for a while.” Twilight mumbled looking down, remembering his pained face. Radiant sighed sadly and looked up toward the ceiling. A mare with a nurse headwear and a red medical cutie mare walked in and examined him. As she did her job, Luna looked at Pinkiana and saw the jewels turn into deep cerulean blue as she walked out the room. Radiant tried to move out the bed, but the nurse gently put her hooves on him, putting him back on the bed.

“Don’t try to move. It’ll hurt more if you try.” She told him softly. He kept trying to do so, and eventually, he gave up. It was futile to resist in such a state. “I’m sorry sir, but you have to stay until you reach full recovery. For now, get some rest.” The nurse said before walking out the room. Luna gently placed a kiss on his cheek before leaving the room with her sister’s protégé.

Radiant Tear was alone in his thoughts, processing everything that has happened to him for the past few days. He revealed his existence to his friends that thought he was dead, told them of his past and true self, and still couldn’t face the past with a strong mind. As he slept, he remembered the faces of his friends and family. He lastly saw Roxy’s face before going into deep slumber.

“I’m…sorry…my friends…”Radiant whispered into the air before delving into the nightmares that plagued him ever since leaving Nevaeh.

Chapter 5: Eye of the Storm

Loneliness clouded the depths of my mind. No therapy or medication could ever fix this broken shell of a pony.

Chapter 5: Eye of the Storm

After a few weeks of recovering from the breakdown, Radiant Tear was released from the hospital and was allowed to return home. He seemed happier and social than ever before. As the days passed, he noticed a few ponies from town entering his domain to read some of the books of Nevaeh’n culture. His assistant, A.I. Pinkiana, explained that Rarity and Twilight Sparkle somehow slipped out a few words about Radiant Tear and his underground library and laboratory and now there’s some ponies visiting. As more and more comes to visit, he decided to buy more provisions to make his guests feel more comfortable. It wasn’t much of a hassle to get it all together with the money he had left over from his time being Ruby Shine. As he was in his room, taking a break from revisiting theories from Nevaeh’n scientists to experiment theories of life taking form from thoughts and mind, called tulpas, A.I. Pinkiana’s voice from the speaker on his desk emitted.

“Radiant. It appears that the Princesses of Equestria and the rest of the company have come to listen to the rest of the story, as per your request. Are you fit to read today?” Pinkiana briefed him as he was in his room, away from the cluttering guests roaming his library. Radiant Tear looked up from his book and nodded, smiling at the good news.

“I’m feeling fantastic. Can’t leave a cliffhanger like that. I guess we should close down our little library for the day.” Radiant responded as he placed a bookmark on the page of a book entitled Dante’s Inferno. The sun was shining at its highest peak and Pinkiana helped ushered the ponies out of the cavern before bringing in company. As they walked along the red carpet, adorned with regal design, they noticed that the place was more luxurious and lively. Bathrooms and dispensers were made to accommodate the guests as they come to learn about Nevaeh and its culture and technology. As the group walked into Radiant Tear’s room, everything was neat and tidy instead of messy and ink blotches splattered around the corners of the room. He greeted them with hugs and smiles and sat them down on the couches and bean bags that were set around the desk.

“It’s nice to see you all again. I know I’ve been busy with guests and all since I’m apparently the pony who spat in the face of death itself and lived. But enough of that now, I want to continue on with the story since I left you guys hanging after my parents and friends’ death.” Radiant’s words at the end left the ponies in confusion.

“Radiant, are you okay? You normally seem forlorn at the subject of…death.” Twilight hesitated but managed to ask him as he hummed happily, turning the pages of his book.

“Well, I’m forced to take medication to combat my devastating depression. It’s strong enough that I’m happy and moved on from the past when clearly, I am not!” He said smiling as he found the page they left on. It left a bit of a morbid and confused expression on their faces, but they shook it off and began with the next part of the story.

***

As the darkness rescinded from my vision, I see a giant room the size of a high school gymnasium. It was decorated with white colored bricks and some flags of Nevaeh's nations adorned the walls. There were no seats but only a bed with a variety of pillows and cuddling accessories, and a giant desk with lots of books. In front of that desk was a giant library that stacked up toward the ceiling. It was spacious enough so that a pegasus could fly through the aisles. The books were alphabetized and organized neatly and held almost all of the knowledge of Nevaeh and its upcoming researches. There was a television screen that was really advanced for its time and it had all the channels of my civilization, even the foreign ones. The news channel and any others that showed live events were expunged due its worthlessness; plus there were no more events that would happen, except the event of survival in which I was in. Behind me was a window that showed the outside of the space pod. The sun was flickering like a fluorescent light bulb as it was nearing the end of its life.

“I’m sorry Creator Radiant Tear.” A.I. Pinkiana formed out of nothingness right next to me. Her appearance was different before as her hair covered the left of her face and her eyes held pupils. Those eyes showed sorrow and guilt, not because of the mutual feelings we both had, but the inability of helping my parents due to the incapacities of being confined to the pod. “I wish I could’ve done something but I am locked to the mainframe.” She managed to say to me. We both watched as the sun and Nevaeh zoomed out away from us, despairing over the fact that we will never see our home again.

“How long will it take?” I asked her. She didn’t understand the question until I slowly replied back. “…to get to the nearest planet with intelligent life?”

“Calculating the speed of the space pod and the probability of finding another sentient life form, it will probably take about 1,000 years until then.” She answered as the data ran through her head and calculated in a moment. I couldn’t grasp the idea of living a thousand years within my head; it was too much of an insane idea to comprehend. “But cryostasis has hindered your aging process 100:1. Every hundred years, you age. So right now, you’re 12 years old. By the time we reach that planet, you’ll be 22. But that’s just estimates. I’ll gladly-“

“No, that’s okay…I guess a thousand years won’t be so bad. I’m in my own mind so…can’t I just make up some form of entertainment or something?” I asked curiously, to escape the agonizing pain of emotion and horrific imagery of past events. Pinkiana sensed what I was trying to do and sighed.

“Creator, I cannot let that happen. At your current mentality, you’ll become lost in series of illusions to lose yourself from the business at hand. There is preparation that needs to be done. The pertinent knowledge you’ll need to have to keep Nevaeh alive.”

“The heck do you mean by that? Do you mean I’m forced to learn ALL of the intelligence of that cursed chaotic world?”

“Not all of it. Only the necessary things, like science, survival, logic, literacy, mathematics, all the necessities. It’s all listed in order of importance as per your parents’ instructions. You learned most of the things due to your supernatural ability to learn, which I still have a failure of understanding.” I gazed down in the floor after Pinkiana finished, seeing the faces of everypony in the afterlife deep in the subconscious and imaginative part of my mind. They are depending on me to make sure our existence and knowledge is known to the next life that lies somewhere in this galaxy.

For the next century, I was being taught of all the necessary knowledge that I needed to know. As soon as that was done, it was then that I was ready to be injected into a simulation of reality to use all the knowledge to embed it into my subconscious. Pinkiana’s eyes were glowing brilliant blue as the environment changed and random ponies were materializing. There were a few ponies that seemed to look familiar as they walked through the streets that were collapsing in place and phasing through the random ponies. I saw Pandora and Black-Veil flying through the skies and the castle forming in the distance. My heart raced and pounded in excitement. Pinkiana was creating Nevaeh back to its former glory but in a simulation.

“As I taught you the necessary things needed, I was processing the planet of Nevaeh through geographic books, other documents, and memory. Even the citizens were scanned and placed in this simulation I created.” Pinkiana explained as we teleported back to the castle. "Many algorithms, scripting, and other stuff to keep this simulation ongoing."

“Wait, are you saying…even…even…” I couldn’t finish my sentence as the doors of the castle opened and my body shook in excitement.

“Welcome back, Radiant Tear.”

***

“Excuse me Radiant, but this is important. Nurse Red-Heart is here to refill your prescription.” Pinkiana interrupted. He looked up from the book and placed a bookmark on the page where he was on. As Radiant Tear got upstairs to the entrance to meet Nurse Red-Heart, he could feel the medication slowly losing its effect and hurried along to pick up his medication. As he got to the pod entrance, he met the brightly-lit pony and forced a smile, trying not to alarm her.

“Hello Radiant Tear. Here’s the medication you need.” Red-Heart said as she gave him the package. He smiled and used his magic to take it.

“Thank you Red-Heart. I’m sorry you have to walk all this way to give me my pills.” He said putting on a smile. She smiled back and headed back. As she left, he rushed down the stairs and taken a misstep, falling and rolling down the stairs like a snowball. As he stopped and landed, he tried to get up but the pain surged through his nerves and he stayed where he lay. His emotions and mentality was slowly debilitating when Pinkiana came to him and helped him down a pill.

“Are you okay Radiant?” she asked worried about his condition.

“I’m fan-freakin’-tastic. I should just off myself right now and save you all the trouble.” The pills hadn’t taken their effect yet, but it was a much better response than five paragraphs of his depressive ramblings of why he should just end his life here and now. Pinkiana descended the marble steps with Radiant, helping him as he walks down the steps slowly and in pain. Everyone looked back and helped him to his room. As they let him down, Pinkiana insisted that he gets some rest, but Radiant wouldn’t have any of it. He tried to sit back to his chair, but was restrained by the two princesses.

“Radiant Tear, as your princesses we command that you cease this tomfoolery at once.” Both princesses commanded assertively and loudly. Radiant struggled a little and yelled a few obscenities until Pinkiana requested Twilight to put him to sleep with her magic. She complied and everyone watched as her horn lit a soft purple hue and floated in to Radiant’s nose, the spell going into his brain. As he started to calm down, he smiled a bit and snored happily. It hurt Luna seeing him this way. He didn’t seem himself anymore. What happened to Radiant Tear?

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Pinkiana apologized as she sat down on the chair, turning the pages of the book to the point where he stopped reading. “Now, the next part of this story was going to be kept from you as I examined his facial structures, tone of voice, and his sudden perspiration before he left to get his medicine. Let us continue on…”

***

As the year 899 came to a close and year 900 came, I was currently crowned king of the illusion of Nevaeh, living peacefully and making sure everything goes as it should. The minute I saw my parents, friends and love from the opened doors of the castle, I lost grip of reality and accepted this simulation as home. Pinkiana was nowhere to be found after my parents ‘died’ sometime after we were injected into this fake world. I felt as if I was able to cope correctly and later, I pushed aside the events of losing everything and everyone as a nightmare; thinking that it was a cruel prank that was played by a unicorn.

As I walked through the gardens of the castle roof alongside Roxy, Pinkiana slowly formed in front of us with a new look. It was just like how she is today, medium length hair, glowing blue eyes, and a bracelet around her legs that shone a certain color that matched to her emotions. I cheered and hugged her, and she hugged back, twice as excited to see me.

“Radiant! I’m sorry for not visiting. I’ve been so busy searching and searching but now I finally found it: a hospitable planet!” Pinkiana’s news surprised me and I smiled.

“Is that what you have been doing all this time? Looking through the cosmos and finding a new planet?” I asked her, curious as to what made her look for such a long time.

“Yes, and as I scanned the planet, you’ll never believe what the population consists of! But I won’t tell you. I’m going to leave it a surprise until we get there. I’m setting the ship to go on course to this planet.” She said as she jumped for joy. I was about to join her until she said the last two sentences. That sentence changed my perspective on this virtual reality slightly.

“Wait…” I said as I was processing those last two sentences. “Setting course? Pinkiana, how are we going to set course. Are you building a ship to that planet?” I asked her. She looked at me and gasped, her bracelet turning blue.

“Radiant, please tell me you didn’t lose grip of reality. Please, you were fine last time we saw each other!” she yelled, shaking me a bit. I could only look at her, confused to her behavior. “This place is a simulation only to put your knowledge to the test. I’m still surprised that Nevaeh is changed due to your scientific discoveries but this is only an illusion!”

“Pinkiana, stop it. You’re crazy, this isn’t an illusion.” I said, slowly tearing up a little. The memories started to flash in my mind. Pinkiana backed up and her eyes glowed white, the environment changing back to its normal setting; the giant library, the desk, TV and bed slowly forming around us. Roxy looked to me and held on for life.

“Radiant! What’s going on?!” her eyes frantically looked around as my reality started to break apart.

“Don’t let go!” hysteria ran through my mind, remembering all the horrible things that happened. Slowly, she started to dematerialize.

“I love you Radiant! No! Ahh!” she screamed as she disappeared from my grasp. I looked in place and slowly looked away, turning to my friend who snapped me from the illusion. Pinkiana felt regret for breaking me out of it; no doubt about it. Before I had the chance to say anything, shock took over me and I fell upon the ground, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. The last thing I head was Pinkiana’s desperate pleas for me to wake up.

After what felt like hours, days even, I woke up to a black sky, dotted with many stars. I looked around my surroundings and saw a terrifying yet beauteous scene. I was floating along small chunks of earth and many other giant pieces of dirt and stone was flying by me; the sun in the background shining brilliantly. Some of the debris was gigantic and held cities and villages. As I jumped and floated freely, using my wings to fly toward these cities, I saw many equine bodies, bloodied or peaceful, floating endlessly in the void. I looked around the forsaken area, trying to ignore the dead bodies floating around. As I floated further, there was a shadow of a medium sized debris in front of the sun, a bit away from the rest of the debris. I floated further closer and saw leaves floating around me. I drifted closer and landed, looking at the forest that rested on the piece of land. As I sensed dreadful similarity, I saw a small lake by the right side of the entrance. I slowly trotted toward it and gasped as I viewed Roxy’s body floating on top of the water; her dead eyes staring right back at me.

“No…no no no no no!” my terrified screams echoed into the void as I ran into the forest. Tears blinded my eyes, but it didn’t stop me. I ran in any direction that I thought would be safe. Fly-Heart’s dead body landed in front of me, his shocked face and eyes staring up at me. I continued running through the forest, despite the ground shaking violently. I heard a small shriek behind me as the last tree fell. I look behind to see Black-Veil’s dead body crushed by the tree; her eyes staring right at me. Adrenaline pumped through my body as I continued on, sobbing silently as Pandora’s pained screams rang out through the forest; as if it was directed toward me. The exit was in sight and I smiled in relief, hoping that this would let me escape this horrific dream. My mother’s screams were heard as I entered the perimeter of the launch area of the ship. I flew up into the air and saw my father, stabbed by the blade held by Mane-Mare. I felt so much animosity, so much anger that I dived toward her, in a fit of blinded confusion and anger.

As I neared closer to her, she looked up to me and smiled evilly before everything turned to black. The sun, land, everything faded away into existence. I plunged downward into nothingness; my wings flapping but no results. I felt the aura of malignity and saw faces of those who put me down. They lashed out their hatred on me and tears swelled in my eyes. All of the horrible things about me: my love for Roxy, my atrocious wings, I couldn’t take it anymore! My horn slowly boiled up deadly sparks before a wave of light from the tip of my horn washed over me.

My eyes soon adjusted to the light and I could see the dark red skies of Nevaeh, the morning moon making its orbit. I got up to see the University and the city in smolder and ruins over the cliff. Smoke floated out of the university, my home becoming the shell; an epitome of what it wasn't supposed to be. I could still hear the screaming and explosions far from the city. I looked behind and saw a treacherous mountain. I didn’t see that there when I lived in Nevaeh, but the explosions seem to be coming from up there. I shrugged and looked out at the city, sitting down by the Cliffside. As I overlooked the whole city, I didn’t hear a pony land and sat beside me.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” I jumped and turned to the side. The pony beside me looked vaguely familiar. In a split-second, I realized he had the inverse colors of me. I knew exactly who he was.

“No…you can’t be. You’re dead!” I stammered in my words. “Y-You…you can’t be…” fear took control of my body.

“They call me the Weaver of Destruction, Nightmare of Nevaeh, and beyond many other names! But yes…”the black furred pony licked his lips in delight. “I am Dread-Light.” He slurred his words playfully as his malicious smile sent shivers down my spine. I backed away as I started to see the resemblance between us; the same facial structure, mane, even our cloaks, though they were opposite colors. He was just like how my parents explained him to me.

“You can’t be him! We are not the same!”

“Of course we are the same!” he walked slowly to me, cocking his head. “We have the same elements of all ponies; our horns, our wings, and our constitution!” his muzzle touched mine, feeling his breath upon my lips as his wings threw off his blue cloak. I held my breath; fearing for the worst. But his eyes lowered into angry slits and he turned, his unkempt wings slapping across my face as his back turned towards me. “But that is what you lack: your fortitude. The way you accepted things despite feeling hatred for them is…so…so…pitiful.” He spat on the ground. He looked back at me and smiled. “But you can turn it all around! This world you’re about to come into contact with is ripe and ready for our rule. Your intelligence and my dark magic, should you choose to synergize our souls together, would show this universe the true power of the Alicorn!”

I looked up to him and asked, “What are you saying? I can’t work with someone like you; a pony so truly evil and sadistic. Why shou-“

“It’s because you are weak; just like your father!” Dread-Light stomped a hoof toward me and expelled a spell toward me. I moved out of the way and heard a small pop. I looked back at him and smiled. He grinned even wider as a vicious sound came from the pop behind me. I recognized the sound as the spell I shot out when I tried to kill the three ponies in an attempt to defend Roxy. “Remember those screaming souls? Where’s the cackle?” he laughed so ominously. It was him who took over my body and displayed such animalistic behavior!

“Why…why me?” it was the only question I could ask. He looked up in wonder and cackled.

“I have to keep the lineage alive, don’t I? That’s my role as…your true ruler! Now you could rule the land below with me or let me assume direct control!”

***

A.I. Pinkiana stopped reading and looked at Radiant Tear’s sleeping body, wide-eyed and shaking. Her bracelets turned yellow with a mix of blue. She slowly put the bookmark in the next chapter and closed the book. Everyone can sense her fear as they slowly realize what happened to him. Princess Luna saw a flash of Radiant Tear back in the Discord Event, smiling maniacally atop the mountains of Canterlot; his blue eyes taunting them as he rained hell upon the royal city.

“It wasn’t Radiant Tear that we thought we killed. It was Dread-Light.” Luna suddenly spoke. Everypony looked at her skeptically. “Think about it...his eyes were blue instead of his ruby eyes. He wasn’t even himself when we fought him; and when we defeated him, he didn’t change back or anything.”

“I suppose yer right. I don’t think after what we did, he wouldn’t come back from all that.” Applejack added.

“But what about his weird mood swings? H-He’s becoming a bit angrier than he was before.” Fluttershy interjected.

“The nurse diagnosed his condition as post-traumatic-stress disorder. And judging from the looks of things, I don’t think Dread-Light will ever come back, as Applejack says.” Twilight answered Fluttershy’s question. Pinkiana sighed contently.

“I don’t have any information about what happened before I finally came out of hibernation and calibration, but I’m glad to hear that it’s over.” Pinkiana smiled and looked over at the still bright light up at the night sky.

“Ooh! It’s night already? That was surely fast!” Pinkie Pie bounced around tiredly.

“Well, we’ll be on our way. We’ll come back tomorrow?” Rarity inquired. Pinkiana shook her head.

“This is going to have to be a weekly thing now. I’m doing this for Radiant Tear’s health. I’m sorry.” Pinkiana walked them to the exit, hearing their conversations. She felt something she hasn’t felt in a long time; relief that everything was going to be okay. A.I. Pinkiana was sure that after what she saw in Radiant’s new friends, the future may not look so bleak after all.

Chapter 3: Viable Mentality

Life is a confusing aspect. As we grow, so does society, technology, and way of life. But when something comes and disrupts it, we all go berserk, putting our trust into the hands of fate to make everything better. Nothing ever goes according to plan; it never does.

Chapter 3: Viable Mentality

As Radiant Tear woke up, he looked around to see the sun shining brightly through the ceiling window above him. The sky was crystal clear, devoid of any cloud formations. He moved the blanket away from his body and ruffled his hair a little bit. He looked at the refrigerator placed in the corner of the room and opened it, taking a bottle of apple cider out of the cold container.

“Ahh…sweet taste of sweets.” He said as he gulped some of the cider down. As the drink was being pushed into his stomach, so was his guilt and sorrow. He shook his head and smiled, putting on his mask before going out of his chambers. The laboratory was in full power and everything; experiments theories, and concoctions were being checked so that nothing harmful and destructive would happen in the later future. He went to the library and did a full check on the books and organized them a little bit since his friends might have poked around a little. As soon as he was done, he went into the guest quarters and sees his friends eating, socializing and watching some shows on the television. He noticed a few fillies and a little baby dragon with Rainbow Dash as they watched TV.

“I see we have more visitors here.” Radiant Tear said, startling the small fillies and baby dragon. “We have Spike, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, and Applebloom.” He smiled as they gasped excitedly.

“Whoa! He’s alive?” Spike asked dumbfounded at the pony in front of him. The three fillies tackled him in a tight, love-filled embrace.

“Hahaha! Yes, I’m alive, you little tykes.” He responded, giving back hugs to the little crusaders.

“We’re so happy you’re here!” Applebloom said as she nudged her head across his neck.

“We tried to find you everywhere. You weren’t in the Everfree Forest. You weren’t at the school. You weren’t anywhere!” Sweetie Bell said a bit dramatically.

“But we never gave up as Cutie Mark Search Party! But…wait, why is your fur a little greyish in color?” Scootaloo noticed as she rubbed her hooves across his back.

“Well, that’s something I’m trying to figure out myself.” Radiant Tear looked toward the medical part of the laboratory. “It’s a little complicated for you to comprehend. But we’ll get to that later. I need some nourishment.” He said as he got up and trotted to the kitchen, fixing himself some toasted seasoned hay and some grapes. He ate a little slowly and started reminiscing on his memories. Radiant Tear shook his head hard to get the memories out of his mind as he ate. The apple cider didn’t push his sadness far back, he thought. He continued to eat and taste the seasons of the hay and the juices of the grapes. The conversations were being held out normally. As soon as he finished his dish, Princess Luna came from behind and nudged him a little.

“You’re quiet today. I know we finally see you alive and well, but you used to be so…kind-hearted and a bit talkative.” Princess Luna said, looking into his eyes. He looked away, sighing a bit.

“Things come and go. We all change as the stream of time continues forward. What we remember, what we learned, consciously and subconsciously, will affect us no matter what we believe. I held secrets for such a long time and I thought it was time to reveal them to you, my friends.” He responded while Pinkiana put his dish away. “Well, I’m going to freshen up a little bit. Come to my chamber whenever you’re all ready.” Radiant Tear got up and trotted out of the guest quarters. He trotted up the staircase and into his metal abode up in the surface. The sun was rising over the horizon slowly, so it was still dark a bit. Nearby, there was a river and he drank a little bit of the water and swished it around his mouth before spitting it out. It was a rapid current going on and he didn’t worry about any pony drinking from the same spot. He soon dipped his head in and brought it back out, shaking the moisture and drips of water out of his hair and fur. He rubbed his hooves across his face and hair, making himself look neat and kempt.

“…ra…dia…” A voice whispered through the trees of the Everfree. Radiant looked around cautiously and peered through the bushes, leaves and branches, searching for the source of the sound. He shrugged after a few moments and returned to the caverns below. As he entered his chambers, he saw eyes stare at him in anticipation and guilt.

“Dude, I’m…surprised…” Spike said sadly. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were huddling together, holding back tears.

“I take it you brought them up to speed.” Radiant said sullenly as he trotted to his desk. “Don’t worry, I’m alive. Isn’t that what counts?” Light glowed over the handle of the small fridge and a bottle of apple cider floated to his mouth as he drank a few sips. “Sorry, I’m a bit dehydrated. So, let’s continue…if it doesn’t bother the little ones.” He looked at Spike and the triplet crusaders. They nodded for him to continue.

***

I was now hidden away from the world and the torments that it brought for me. My parents couldn’t understand why, but they accepted my decision and let me work in their laboratories. I couldn’t create anything good with my mentality at the time, but my creativity helped other ponies create many inventions. Even though I hated Nevaeh for its slow acceptance, my parents would keep teaching me to be optimistic and keep learning through these experiences.

As these inventions I thought of were being created, my parents were congratulating me and wanted me to take the credit for these new devices. But I went against it because of the rumors that the public are saying about me. I was an Angel of Death, a new legacy to the Dread Lineage, and other many horrible names. They never come to think that I also have feelings; or maybe they just want me to fade away slowly and painfully! I really wanted to do prove them wrong, but my parents are trying to keep the paparazzi off us as it is, plus tutoring me more in other subjects, like engineering and genetics. I felt bad for my parents to having to deal with this kind of pressure, so I went through the trouble of developing our own personal assistant.

And the idea of A.I. Pinkiana was born. On my free time when I wasn’t thinking up of more scientific inventions and theories, I sketched out a design for her. At first, I thought it would be a robot, but the design I created was clunky so I scrapped the design. I constantly kept trying to find a way to design a way for her existence to be a reality. But after a while, I kind of gave up. I kept thinking of a design for her but I still couldn’t make one.

On my 12th birthday, I was given gifts from my parents and their friends. They gave me lots of presents that revealed clothes, games, and some electronics. After the day was done, my parents showed me their present. It was a small cylindrical disk with pink electric veins running along the sides and top. I didn’t understand this until it hovered above our heads and a pink holographic pony, no cosmetic features such as a mane or tail, appeared out of the bottom of the disk. My parents made her existence a reality. I can never thank them enough because not only was she able to help us whenever we needed it; she was a friend. Maybe more close, like a sister. But, she never once hated me for anything. She just accepted what I did, even if she didn’t respect it.

A few days after my birthday, me and Pinkiana were on the balcony, gazing up at the moons and the stars. We were conversing about theories of landing on one of the moons when I saw four ponies flying to our balcony. It was Fly-Heart, the twins Pandora and Black-Veil, and they were also carrying Roxy. I was surprised that they visited me, but I felt happy that I got to see her again. I introduced them to A.I. Pinkiana. They were scared at first because she had the appearance of a ghost, but when I explained to them how she came to be, they were amazed.

We spent the night playing games and talking about recent news, due to the fact that I’ve locked myself from the outside world. They soon asked if they can see my wings again. I shivered a bit and shook my head, scared of what they might say. I know they were my friends, but these wings scared every pony from talking to me. But Roxy and Fly-Heart begged for me to remove my cape. I looked to Pinkiana and she nodded, curious as to what my wings looked like. Revealing my wings took a bit of an effort to do, but I eventually took off my cape as I walked toward the balcony. The sunshine from the sunrise gleamed off of the metallic parts of my wings.

But that wasn’t a sunrise, I realized. It was a bright white and orange light that blasted out far into the cosmos. An explosion was heard before high winds blew every pony to the wall. After a few moments, the wind stopped and a pained howl was heard all over Nevaeh. I ran toward the balcony and looked to see a few buildings collapsing from the gale that passed. The stallions, mares, and foals below ran around and screamed in confusion. Our fair planet descended into a state of fear and bedlam.

My parents and the scientists in the city studied that light up in the sky for a few days before my parents recognized it as the artifact that they found years before my birth. After a few days of observing, it was revealed that the artifact unleashed chemicals toward all the stars in the galaxy that would decrease the lifespan of the stars, thus making them die in a fiery death. It was a matter of time before the chemicals made contact with our sun and destroys us all. My parents brought me, Roxy, A.I Pinkiana, and our three friends in a secret meeting. We were theorizing a way to avoid all of this mayhem and death.

A whole mess of theories were thought up and spoken. Over 100 theories were thought up and discarded. After a few hours of theorizing, Roxy spoke out her idea of escaping the planet by a rocket-propelled ship and using the force of the explosion of the sun to blast us out of the star system and, if lucky, the galaxy. My mother scoffed at the idea, but my father was on to something. He ended the meeting abruptly and locked himself in the university’s library. We were confused at this and tried getting his attention, but he wouldn't answer any of us.

After a week had passed, he finally came out of the library and revealed a blueprint of our spaceship. It was a big spherical pod, like what you see when you entered. It had a giant electronic mainframe that connected to all the containment beds called cryopods, which would put us in cryostasis so we would be frozen in time and our bodies would be preserved for when we land on the next planet. Our minds would be connected into a virtual world in which we could create ourselves just by using thought. It was going to take a lot of time to find resource since chaos was running rampant through society and nature; and it was only a matter of time before our sun would explode and destroy us. This was the beginning of the end.

***

“This…this shall be it. I’ll read it to you tonight. I’m going to step outside.” Radiant Tear said as he got up and trotted out the door. “I want to see what it’s like outside since I left…”

“We’re going with you!” Scootaloo said as she and her friends got up and followed him. He turned to see the three of them walking beside him. Then he hears Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hover beside him, even Rarity and Applejack run to his side. He looks back and sees Twilight and the Princesses catching up to them.

“A.I. Pinkiana, you should tag along.” He yelled at the laboratory, catching her attention as she was tending to the garden of unknown flora.

“But what about the-“

“Forget about it. They’ll survive for a few hours. You never explored Equestria after you recalibrated your batteries for the sun.” He convinced her as the little disk hovered out of the glassy complex and appeared beside him.

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

As they exited the metallic pod, Radiant Tear gasped as he shielded his eyes from the afternoon sun. He continued walking a little and his eyes soon adjusted to the afternoon light. The Everfree Forest looked a bit lusher as he gazed around his surroundings. But there was the matter of the big crash trail the pod made when he first came to Equestria. He chuckled and heard Pinkie bounce next to him.

“You don’t know how happy every pony will be to see you! It’ll be like a ‘WELCOME BACK!’ party!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully exclaimed as they walked out of the Everfree Forest.

“Radiant, I seriously want to race you with those awesome wings of yours! C’mon, what do you say?” He kind of shivered a bit, but Radiant simply smiled and expanded his wings out from under the cloak. As he done so, he accidentally made a tear in the already damaged cloth. Every pony was silent for a moment until Rarity tugged a bit on the cloth.

“I think I may be able to fix that for you darling. If you would let me.” She proposed. He thought about it and nodded.

“Just, uhh, don’t overdo it.” Radiant requested. It wasn’t that it was bad but he knows that when it comes to fashion, Rarity could go a bit over the top. He unwrap the cape from around his neck and placed it on her back and chuckled. “Haha, it looks nice on you.” He smiled as he said that.

“There’s the Radiant we all know.” Twilight exclaimed. He chuckled a bit and flapped his wings.

“I haven’t flown in a while, so I won’t be up to your expectations Rainbow…” he said as he hovered a few meters off of ground.

“I and Luna will be heading back to the castle. We’ll be back by moon rise.” Celestia announced as she flew away. Luna followed her not after giving Radiant a peck on the cheeks. He hovered there silently and in shock.

“Heheh…one two three GO!” Rainbow dashed by Radiant as he recollected himself. He looked and hurriedly flew up to catch up to her. Winds rushed past his mane and face, nearly blinding him a little. He ended up knocking into a branch and he fell onto the ground. He grunted in pain and held himself up. There were black tipped hooves and striped legs in front of him, donning gold rings surrounding the left leg. As he gazed upwards, he recognized her as Zecora, a zebra that also lived within the Everfree Forest. Her face looked at him in astonishment and amazement.

“…I can’t express my delight. Radiant Tear, it’s nice to see you alive and alright.” The friendly zebra hugged him tightly. He returned the hug and chuckled.

“Likewise, Zecora. It’s been long. Plus, its fun hearing you talk in rhymes.” Radiant chuckled. He heard his friends gallop beside him.

“You alright Radiant?!” Applejack asked worriedly when they got up to him. He smiled and nodded.

“I’m alright. Just having a nice conversation with-“

“Wait…you have wings? How come they haven’t been seen?” Zecora asked as she gazed at his wings.

“Oh, right. Haha…my cape hid it…” Radiant nervously mumbled. “I always had wings but I was a bit scared to show it.”

“But I never see wings that glimmer!” Zecora poked at his wings with a hoof and examined it a bit. “Is this real or fake silver?”

“Trust me.” Twilight giggled a bit at her reaction. “We thought he didn’t have any wings at all.” Zecora smiled and hugged him again.

“I’d like to stay, but I need to go home. Good luck Radiant Tear, and remember you are not alone.” She rhymed as she smiled. She trotted off into the forest, happy to know that he’s alive. Behind them, they hear Rainbow Dash landing behind Radiant and nudged him a little.

“Where were you? I thought you would’ve caught up years ago!” she exaggerated. The alicorn alien chuckled and flapped his wings and flew past her. “Hey! What the-…Oh that little…” She jumped and dashed into the skies, catching up with him.

After a few hours of spending time with his friends, he felt more content and satisfied than he ever had for the past months he’s been declared dead. His time with his friends has been lovely and also tiring for a pony that hasn’t been out in the sun for months. He tried his hand at apple-bucking at Sweet Apple Acres along with Big Macintosh and conversed with Granny Smith. He wasn’t as strong as the Apple Family, seeing how he only got all the apples down with 15 kicks. Next, he picked up a few books from the library Twilight resides in and a few muffins and cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner. Finally, he got an adorable adult cat from Fluttershy as a gift of kindness.

As they walked toward the Carousel Boutique, Radiant looked up to the sky and thought to himself as the whole group walked. Were his parents proud of him and the world he found? Was Roxy proud too? He’ll know when his time comes. As they walked into the shop, Rarity bumped into Radiant and they both fell onto the ground.

“Oof! Who dares- Oh! Sorry Radiant, I didn’t expect to see you all here.” She got up and dusted herself off. The fashionista looked around and gave Radiant his newly designed cape. It was still in its dark-red color and there were silver linings along the edges. The only thing new was his initials stitched into the cape in a cursive style.

“Oh Rarity…this…nearly looks like the way it was when I first received it.” The alicorn stallion said as he held it in his hooves and examined it. “I love it Rarity. Thanks…” he smiled as his mind began to go back into that memory when he received his cape.

***

“Hey Radiant, I have one more present for you!” Roxy said to me as every pony in the lunch room left. Soon, it became desolate, only me and her. I rolled my eyes and sighed a bit.

“Fine, where is it?” I said a bit bored. I’ll admit the cheesecake was very good; almost as good as the first time I had one. The mask was detailed and intricate, but I felt that it would only be worn on occasions like Haunted-Sunset, which was basically Nightmare Night in my world.

“Right here!” she eccentrically exclaimed as she placed a box in front of me. I opened the box and saw a silky dark red cape with silver white lining along the edges. I was perplexed at the present and gazed back at her with question. “C’mon Radiant! Try it on!” I placed the cape on my back and strutted around a little, getting a feel of the simple cloth.

“Huh, I like it! What purpose does it serve?” I asked curious as to why I was given a simple cape. She giggled a bit.

“I thought it was obvious. You’re uncomfortable with your wings so I thought I’d give you one so you could hide it. I don’t mean to make you look regal or anything. Plus…it kind of matches your eyes” I was taken by surprise at her comment. I never thought any pony would ever say that to me. For my whole childhood, I seldom had any friends and never felt appreciated for my actions. This felt like a new start in my adolescent life as I hugged Roxy and thanked her.

How can one not enjoy the little things in life?

Sorry, Everypony

I have decided to cancel this because I am not good with long term plots and settings. I have worked hard on this and I feel that it's really a hassle to work through this because of no motivation.

And the fact my OC is an alicorn. Gah, what was I thinking? But, I had planned on two endings where one of them he dies and the other where the evil villain inside him assumes direct control.

In all instances, I am going to use my OC again, but in a different story! Hopefully, that one will work out better than this one. I have worked on this for over a year and well...ideas don't usually work.

Well, sorry but unless I got the motivation or some other pony wants to have this story. It's cancelled.

~Sketchy