Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Just a little tidbit: in my planning stages, I first planned out Part Two, then Legend, then Part Three, and I encourage people to read them in that order. For those who didn't, here's a handy guideline: anything in Part Two that references the events of Legend, that's foreshadowing for those events. Anything in Part Three that references it, that's a callback, even if the Part Three chapter was posted before the Legend chapter was. Just wanted to clear up the exact terminology.

Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen

"Up and at 'em, Spike!"

Twilight yanked Spike's blanket off of him, and he sat up in alarm. "What?" he demanded, looking around wildly, finally setting on the window and the dimly lit sky outside. "Oh come on, it's barely sunrise!"

"Exactly!" Twilight said, beaming. "It's a little something new I'm trying, to promote overall health and wellness! Star Swirl the Bearded once wrote that in ancient times, ponies rose and set with the sun. It was the invention of artificial light that allowed ponies to continue working well into the night, which in turn led to them sleeping through some of the morning. But that's unnatural, it's not what our bodies were built for. So, for a healthy mind and body, it's recommended that ponies should rise at dawn and go to bed at dusk."

"Star Swirl the Bearded wrote that, huh?" Spike muttered, blinking wearily.

"Yes indeed."

"Well then, I wish he was still alive so I could kick him in the crotch," said Spike, rolling over and curling up in his bed.

"Spike!" Twilight chided, lifting him out of bed with her magic and shaking him lightly before setting him down on the floor.

He sighed in exasperation and got to his feet. "Isn't ponies sleeping through the night the thing that set off Princess Luna and turned her into Nightmare Moon? It's kind of an insult to her, don't you think? Staying up late and sleeping through the morning is part of how we honor both princesses."

"…Okay, you may be onto something there," Twilight admitted.

"In fact, I think that to make sure the princesses are equally honored, from this moment on I'm staying up 'til midnight and sleeping 'til noon." He plopped back into his bed.

"Eh heh heh heh, no," said Twilight, lifting his bed and turning it upside down, depositing Spike unceremoniously on the floor. "I don't think society is quite ready to conform to that sleep schedule, and the world stops turning for nopony, and no dragon either. You'll keep a normal sleep schedule like the rest of us."

"All right, I'm up…" Spike grumbled, staggering down the stairs and mumbling unintelligibly. Twilight followed him, looking amused.

As Spike weaved and stumbled into the kitchen, Owloysius fluttered down and offered him a cup of coffee. "Hoo?"

"Thanks," Spike muttered, taking a sip. He winced. "Agh, needs some sugar."

He stirred some sugar into the cup and took another sip. "Nope, no good." He added cream, then hesitated, added another two spoonfuls of sugar, a bit more cream, stirred, and finally another scoop of sugar.

"Hey, chief, you want any coffee with your cream and sugar?" Twilight teased.

Spike took a big swallow of it, then shuddered. "Apparently I still don't have a very sophisticated palate," he rasped.

"I guess not," Twilight chuckled. She tilted her head. "Spike, do you hear that?"

"What?"

"It sounds like… drums," Twilight said uncertainly.

The sound increased in volume, and it became clear that it was indeed a beat being played on bongo drums. Abruptly, the entire library went dark, and a strobe light began flashing, as electronic music blared from every direction.

An ethereal choir of voices wordlessly vocalized to the music. From above came the source of the music: a group of pitch-black tadpole-like creatures, none of them bigger than a hummingbird, each with round red eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth. They slowly floated from the ceiling to Twilight, circling around her and singing.

In an instant, the music stopped and it was bright again, and all was back to the way it was before, save the towering black pony standing in front of Twilight. Annihilara resembled a faceless, hairless mannequin, but as Twilight watched, her mane sprouted, then her wings and tail, her red disk eyes and one needle tooth at a time, followed finally by her cutie mark, which caused her to twitch.

"Agh! Every time," she grumbled.

Twilight hastily bowed down. "Your Majesty."

"Hi, Twilight Sparkle," said Annihilara. "Sorry for dropping in on you so early. Can I have a word?"

"Absolutely, we were just getting ready for breakfast," Twilight said promptly. "Is there anything I can offer you?"

"You know, I am dying for a piña colada. Would that be a horribly unreasonable request?"

"No… no, I think I can do that," Twilight said thoughtfully. "Let me look up how to make that…"

In an instant, she levitated a book from the shelves and opened it to the right page, comparing it to the contents of her refrigerator. She chuckled as she looked over the recipe. "Looks like I have what you need. Mmm, this looks tasty. I noticed at the Gathering that you seemed to have a fondness for exotic fruits."

"Yeah, I don't have much of a sense of taste," said Annihilara. "So, stuff that I can really sink my teeth into, and get all the sweetness and juiciness, I like that. Helps me feel alive again, or at least close to it."

Twilight arranged a few bottles and cans on the counter and started mixing coconut cream with pineapple juice in a large glass. "Oh, Spike, this is Princess Annihilara," she said over her shoulder. "She's Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's cousin."

Annihilara's expressionless, toothy stare turned to Spike, who had his back flat against a wall and was wide-eyed and quivering in horror. At the acknowledgment from Twilight, he calmed himself slightly and bent down in a small bow. "How do you do, Your Highness? I'm Spike."

Annihilara nodded to him. "Sup, brah?" She turned her eyes to the upper level of the library, where Peewee and Owloysius were looking down on her apprehensively. "Hey, bird boys," she said happily. "Come on over here." She held out an arm, and shadowy branches grew from it and extended all the way to them. The birds glanced at each other apprehensively, then stepped forward and perched on the solid shadows.

"You know, they say having birds in your house is an omen of death," said Annihilara, bringing them closer to her.

"Ha!" Twilight barked, grinning. "That's one particular superstition I don't believe. I've had them for a couple years now, I'm not dead yet."

"Yeah?" said Annihilara. "All right. Well, and having me in your house will probably damage your luck more than birds ever could, so I'll make this quick." She withdrew the branches back into her arm, and the two birds flew off.

Twilight placed the blended, iced, and garnished piña colada on her dining table, and sat down on the opposite end of the table with an oat smoothie for herself. Annihilara sat down and wrapped a snaky tendril around her colada glass.

"Let me ask you a question, Twilight Sparkle," she said softly. "Do you believe in the undead?"

Twilight shrudded. "That depends."

"Whether you believe is conditional on something?" Annihilara said in amusement.

"Yes," said Twilight. "You're the closest thing to undead that I've ever heard of. If you consider yourself undead, then I figure, you would know. Then I believe, because you're standing right in front of me. But if you don't believe you're undead… which I suspect you might not, since you asked me the question and all… then no, I've seen nothing to indicate that such things exist."

"That's a good answer," Annihilara said thoughtfully. "Well, let me clear up some of that confusion for you. The way I see it… see, I remember pretty much everything that's ever happened." She tapped her own head with a hoof. "I've got a line directly to the memories of everyone who's ever lived. And as far as I can tell, the undead are even rarer than gods. There have been only two creatures who could be considered undead: Queen Soledad, who was created by the Old Gods, and me, born from a freak accident. Both us were at the first Gathering of the Goddesses, so I guess when it comes to eternal life, it doesn't really matter whether you're actually still… living. I mean, look at Lady Kolassa. She has a beating heart, but she doesn't need one. And a defining trait of the undead, that they're made from those who were once mortal, that's also true of every goddess alive in the world today. So I think, no, the undead don't exist, at least not in the sense of hordes of zombies and ghosts and vampires. So while I kind of see myself as undead, technically, the undead are just a variation on the divine."

"All right," said Twilight. "Then I defer to your expertise, and my answer is no. So there's one mystery of life solved. Why do you ask?"

"Just an attempt at making casual conversation," said Annihilara, staring out the window. "It's been a long time since I spoke to anyone who was alive. I'm a bit out of practice… I'll work on it. I want to talk about that message that my cousins left for me. Celestia told me that if I ever had something on my mind, I should come to you, so… what do you think?" She stared at Twilight hopefully.

"Well, uh," Twilight pondered, "I think the best thing, before giving any kind of advice on matters like this, is to ask what you want to do."

"I… I don't really know," Annihilara admitted, staring at her drink. "I want to honor and respect the request that my cousins have made to me. But I'm afraid. Equestria's seen enough tyrannical rulers with fangs and nightmare eyeballs. One look at this face, and they're not going to assume this new management is anything good." She gestured vaguely to her own face, and wisps of black smoke started flowing around her making similar rapid gestures. "And my presence decays buildings, you know, that's just a fact. Even if I'm not bad luck personified, I'm definitely not good for building foundations. And I've never been trained for any royal duties. I lived with Celestia for a while, but that's about it. And this Cadance… what do you think? Is she any good?"

"Oh, yes, she is," said Twilight. "I think she'll be a fine ruler, but she's very nervous, I think she'd appreciate having some backup."

"Huh," Annihilara remarked uncertainly.

Twilight shot her a small, encouraging smile and quickly averted her eyes.

"Sorry to come to you with my problems," Annihilara said weakly.

"It's fine."

"Am I intruding?"

"No, Princess," Twilight said firmly. "Celestia asked me to be there for you if you had a problem, so I'm going to honor that. Also, you are technically my sovereign right now, unless you truly do relinquish that to Cadance, so I couldn't possibly turn you away. And you're sort of family, so—no, you are family—so you're welcome in my home at any time. And on top of all that, I like you, so no, you're not intruding at all."

"Well, something is bothering you," Annihilara insisted.

"No…" Twilight pronounced. "No, no… well… see, I know better than to pre-judge somepony for what they look like, and I feel I've gotten to know you—mostly from the things your cousins said about you before the Gathering—it's just that you might be the scariest thing I've ever seen in my entire life."

"Oh," Annihilara said. "Well, thank you!"

"That's a compliment, Princess?" Twilight said in surprise.

"Not really, but it's nice to finally hear it in so many words. Nopony's ever said that to me before, which kind of makes me feel lied to, since it's obvious everypony's thinking it. I know I'm scary. Just look at me."

"Oh, I am, Princess. I am."

There was a long silence. Annihilara leaned down and drank some of her colada through a straw. Twilight took that as a cue to take a few gulps of her smoothie.

"So, you think she needs backup?" Annihilara finally said.

"I think she'd like that, yes," Twilight confirmed.

"I don't know…" Annihilara muttered.

Twilight scuffed the table with her hoof. "Listen, Princess… may I call you Annihilara?"

"Of course."

"Okay. Your cousins seemed pretty unconvinced that you're a bringer of bad things, and even if you do cause decay over time, that's easily fixed, it hardly seems like a reason to subject yourself to centuries of isolation. Is there some other reason you keep to yourself? Because from the way I saw you show off in front of a crowd, even the way you came into my house, you seem like such a social creature, who wants to be loved. Why do you stay away from all of that?"

Annihilara slumped in her chair. Her shadowy tendrils sculpted a pitch-black sphere out of a piece of her body, and she started toying with it absently. "I just feel like everything I am, and all I'm capable of, is to ruin and not repair. I am death. You know? I'm not bad, but I never make anything better either."

"You have a family who love you very much," Twilight said gently. "They like to be around you. You make things better for them."

Annihilara didn't react.

"A pony is a lot more than what their cutie mark says," Twilight continued. "A name and a cutie mark is just a place to start, like the foundation upon which a pony is built. You can build anything from a foundation. I think going to see Princess Cadance, and you two helping each other to run Equestria, would be a great place to start for you. And I think your cousins know you're capable, or they wouldn't have called you."

Annihilara's jaw tightened nervously. "There is another reason."

"Hmm?"

"They're going up against Mitgaeard," said Annihilara. "They may die. And if they die, I get the sun and the moon. I'm not just the heir to the throne; the forces of the universe have made me the heir to that job as well."

"Oh my!" Twilight gasped. "I didn't know that."

"Yup. They probably wanted me in Canterlot to make sure I wouldn't fall asleep again, so I'd be there to command the cycle, and it wouldn't fall out of order."

Twilight reeled for a moment as she processed that. "I'm sure they don't think they're going to die," she decided. "They want you in Canterlot Castle because they love you and they want you to be happy."

Annihilara peered at Twilight with interest. "You know, I think I'd have come to you for advice even if Celestia hadn't asked me to."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"The way she looks at you," Annihilara said.

"Who?"

"Celestia. She loves you so much."

Twilight beamed. "I know she does. She's like a second mother to me."

"Yeah, I could see that," said Annihilara. "I've never seen her so sad, though, as when she looks at you. Not even when she was banishing Luna."

"I make her sad?" Twilight whispered. "Why?"

"Because you're going to die and she's not," Annihilara said bluntly. "Celestia hasn't bonded with very many ponies over the centuries, and none as closely as she has with you. But those connections she makes, they don't last forever the way she does. She's going to get a lot more time with you than she does with most ponies, you being a bearer of the Elements, but not forever. Your mortality… totally freaks her out."

Twilight slouched sadly. "Well… even if there was something I could do about that, I don't think I would."

"Smart," said Annihilara. "Eternal life can be kind of a lonely life."

Twilight reached across the table and touched Annihilara's hoof. "It doesn't need to be."

Annihilara's hoof became coils, which wrapped around Twilight's forearm with a firm grip. "Thanks for helping me talk this through," she said.

"Are you going to the castle, then?" Twilight asked.

"I'm going to… think about it," Annihilara replied. "I really do wish there was something I could do about my face. I've got, like, a 'devourer of souls' face."

She sighed and stood up, wandering away from the table with little of her usual flourish, simply walking as a normal pony might. "I'll see you later," she said to Twilight. "Whether I decide to ascend to the throne or not, I will probably be talking to you again very soon."

"All right, Princess," Twilight said warmly. "Thank you for stopping by."

"Thanks for having me." With that, Annihilara became a cloud of black mist which drifted out the window.

"So, she's… family?" Spike said nervously. "What, like your aunt or something?"

"Well… whatever she is, it's distant," said Twilight. "Only through my brother's marriage to Cadance, plus a couple dozen generations removed, and… well, I've never been clear on exactly what the family relationship is between Cadance and Celestia, so I couldn't tell you how Annihilara is related to Cadance, let alone to me. But, you know, as long as you love and care about each other, family is family. I don't need to know our exact label to know that."

She pulled Spike into a hug and gave him a little noogie. "So, you're looking nice and awake."

"Oh yeah," he agreed. "Being ambushed by a humongous death goddess is way better than a cup of coffee."

Twilight giggled. "Oh, Spike."