Sleep, My Radiant Tear

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?