The vast frozen expanses north of the Crystal Mountains hold some of the greatest forgotten wonders of history. Ruins of long forgotten races, artifacts of untold power, and treasures left behind by the gods themselves buried in places so deep, they may never be seen by mortal eyes again.

Hidden in the blackness of the lowest of these places, tucked away from all who might seek it, lays a dwelling of sorts. Upon first inspection one may mistake the place for simply nothing more than another of the endless tunnels and caverns of the great network. If they were to look further however, they would soon discover the countless runes, glyphs, and multiple other forms of written languages. All of sorrowful mourning and regret.

Continuing further any explorer with an ability to sense magical energy would be overcome by the sheer overwhelming power to be found here. It would assault them in waves, too forceful for most to resist.

It was in this complete darkness that a new presence now traveled, it wandered the blackened caverns with another great power spreading outward in its wake. The newcomer took no form as it moved, the very energy radiating away was the only evidence of its existence.

Light filled this place of sadness and sorrow, pushing away all negative emotion and thought as it moved, chasing the darkness back to the edges of the space. A tendril of energy broke away from the main body and traveled across some of the runes etched into the rock, causing the age worn stone to glow and smooth with renewed youth.

A tremor resonated from somewhere further down the length of the cavern, shaking the walls around the intruding presence. It was then followed by a voice, filled with a tone of the utmost grief. “I wish you would not come here Benevolentia, it does well for none,” it said in the tongue of old alicornian.

The approaching entity took pause before answering in kind, “It does me, dear brother. To see you, despite what you have done to yourself, in this most wretched place,” the one known as Benevolentia replied in a voice like chimes, soft and soothing. It greatly contrasted the other’s dim, gravelly tone.

Again the saddened voice came up from the depths of the darkness, though in somewhat of a calmer tone than before. “What I have done?” It replied in a quizzical manner. “What I have done is to remove a danger to the world. What I have done is to remove a monster never meant to exist, only by the blindness of the Forger that I do,” it boomed, seemingly closer.

“My brother, we are not mere monsters of old. We have all been given great gifts. Gifts meant to save this world, a world which you have now chosen to ignore,” the soft feminine voice reminded. She knew this would not be an easy subject to converse over, though she had to try.

Another wave of magical energy surged up the length of the tunnel, powerful enough to have outright erased most creatures of this world. Its power simply flowed around the presence that had come to call, merely glancing off its own being. “An interesting thing, coming from one who has such wonderful gifts, sister mine,” it boomed. “How thrilling it must be, spreading warmth and kindness wherever you travel, one such as myself can hardly imagine a thing as that. Or, have you forgotten what I am?”

“I have not forgotten who you once were,” she countered softly. “Who you have become was, as it still is, your decision. I am no judge,” the air around the energy shifted as the emotions manifested as physical reactions upon the world.

“Though you have been jury, as I recall,” the other pointed out in contempt. The tone telling the new comer of the thinning ice to which she stood. “Do not think that I have forgotten your own involvement in the downfall of the lesser five, why we now suffer in the dark while you shine in the light, you along with Potestas,” it snarled at the name.

Benevolentia bristled at this tone associated with her sister’s name. It burned her to hear the harshness. To hear the genuine hate, laced in amongst those words. Her brother sounded so bitter, it was not something she was used to. “You had every bit as much choice as we gave the rest of them. You chose to be lost to time, to be lost to us,” she said back in a longing, yet forgiving voice.

A long drawn out scornful laugh reverberated up out of the blackness and surrounded the visitor, it resonated with a vibration that drew the dust from the walls and scattered it through the air. “Is that what our dear sister told you?” He asked with a mirthful chuckle as even more energy wafted around the space. “That I merely declined her terms, locked myself away down here of my own free will because that’s what I wanted. If you believe that then you are even more blind than I thought, tell me, do the rest of you share in such simple minded following of her will? Bend to her every command, as I once conceded to?”

Benevolentia’s power spiked slightly at this, the floating dust vaporizing instantly as her temper flared at his misgivings. “Her words hold no leverage over my own thoughts of what you allowed yourself to become a part of, brother,” she said, regaining her composure. “I saw for myself what you became, at what you were all to become,” a quick burst of her own energy cleared her space of the darkness spreading around her from the negative emotions the other emanated.

The tension seemed to lessen by a minimal degree as the feelings from the dark lightened. “Yet, here you are again. Come to call on me and try to make some form of pointless amends,” there was no physical means to affirm the suspicion, all the same she sensed the equivalent of a shrug. “Why, sister mine, do you still try so hard for the lot of us?” He asked pointedly, followed by the faintest of whispers. “For me?”

With an unseen smile she moved forward in spite of the negative energy before her, ever repelling the outside world. “Because brother mine, I still have belief that you can come back. That my true brother, is still in there somewhere.” Her aura of energy brightened slightly. “And I pray that someday you prove me right, like you did on that day so long ago,” she said stopping before the unseen barrier of the prison.

“No. This is me now. This is my true nature, a force of destruction, darkness, and disharmony,” came the voice again from the shadows, though now was definitely moving closer. “Just as the Forger intended me to be, as was intended for those of us you banished from your precious light. This is what we have become!” It said in a dangerous wrath filled way. The darkness thickened to a point it consumed the light that came too close. It absorbed it and moved on as if looking for more.

A massive black hoof emerged from the approaching shadow, almost as if lifting out of oil it dripped the blackness to the ground only to spread more as the upper leg followed suit, then a chest, twice the height of Celestia herself. Finally a neck and head resolved out from the darkness wafting away from the very being itself. “This is what comes from performing the Forger’s will dear sister, I suggest you look well. And fear,” as the last of its body resolved the massive Alicorn took another advancing step forward. “For this is the intent for the lot of us.”

“No brother. ‘Tis not,” Benevolentia replied smoothly, her own energy moving forward to meet his. “Your darkening was never the intent. As was never the intent for Potestas to glean such power for herself,” her energy condensed and began to take shape. “We were meant to work together, to defend this world together,” she said stepping forth from what she was to what she had been. A massive golden yellow Alicorn with a gracefully flowing pink mane and tail stood before the darkness. She radiated warmth and light as if a star had appeared in the dark space around them. “We were meant to be together, always, brother mine. That was the gift meant for us.”

Fully resolved from the ever-present darkness behind him the flickering form leaned closer to the only being to ever have visited the dwelling since the beginning of his incarceration. “Not all of us, it would seem,” he said, face slack with genuine regret. “I would do things differently, you know,” he added looking at the restored texts along the wall behind his sibling. “Had Potestas only believed us. Believed me,” a soft chuckle following the last of it.

“She did eventually, she just,” the other Alicorn stopped as she considered her words. In truth she never knew the true reason for why her sister had done what she had.

“Does the reason really matter?” the one standing in the darkness asked, never taking his analyzing gaze from the regenerated wall. “Her stubbornness was only overcome by the death of one of our own. Until Aequivalere met his end at Cromithia she cared very little for the task we all were given,” he said placing a hoof against the barrier between them eliciting a static charge being released along his limb. “And now the six of you that are left have finally fallen out of balance with the world, no longer bathed in harmony’s light. Because you are out of balance with each other. As attested by those ridiculous trinkets you insist on becoming,”

“Those ridiculous trinkets, brother mine, are a symbol to those who would seek our help, a promise long upheld by those who made it,” her own hoof finding its way to the barrier that separated the two. “A promise you still share, regardless of what you may claim to be. If you did not then you would have long since faded from this place, you would have faded from all being,” she said with a smile as she placed a small stone orb at the base of the barrier. The stone shimmered before reshaping itself into a large black leg guard made from a shimmery metal. Pressed into the material on the front was a jewel, a violet diamond in the shape of an elongated teardrop.

Unable to do more than stare the dark Alicorn waited for his mind to play catch-up. Of all the things she could have done, this was certainly the least expected possibility. He had done so much, become so much, all in the way of the darkness. All the while under the assurance it was for the better.

“The time is here, dearest brother of mine, to cease in your running and return to where you are needed,” she said offering up a soft smile. “And to seek out your newest bearer, for the end.”

“Kamarag was right after all then, was he,” the stallion murmured looking over the artifact at his hooves in deep contemplation. It had been a very long time since he had last seen it. Perhaps she was right, perhaps he could be redeemed from the darkness that had claimed his soul for so long. Unless. “What of Potestas?” He queried with a glance.

“She knows nothing of this, I am here on my own intent,” she said reassuringly. “Potestas believes she can finish the plan alone, that the six of us will be enough to stop what approaches, however.”

“However, without balance you will not be capable of calling upon harmony’s light to project your will,” he finished for her, realizing the underlying reason for her to become so desperate as to offer him release. “So why bother with me, if without Aequivalere there can still be no balance?”

“Because, Tristitia, brother mine,” she said inching closer while edging the offered item nearer the barrier between them, her smile brightening. “Balance has not been lost for good. Aequivalere lives, and he moves to join us. Very soon.”

Author's Notes:

Have a bombshell on me, as for the next chapter, well. I hope you’re all ready to rumble! ~Dollars

Kind of a short chapter but the next one's gonna be great! -Jake