Sleep, My Radiant Tear

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…”