Many thoughts raced through Feilbach’s head as the stallion charged at him. In the few seconds he had to think, so many things clouded his common sense and reasoning. Taking the full force of the stallion’s tackle, he was sent flying into the wall on the opposite side of the room. He decided in that instant that it would be best to stay down and wait. He wanted to see just how this situation would play out, and exactly who would find the favor of the fates.

He watched as the diamond collided with the orb, and the room around him morphed into the gardens where he had claimed his first victim. He watched as Celestia’s body convulsed, soon returning to life and joining her subjects at the other end of the chamber. He watched as Big Mac darted across the room to check on Mister. He saw the orb he had trusted with his lover’s soul for so long slowly betray him.

The orb controlled everything that happened in this realm. This realm was the orb itself. He had allowed it to restore Fluttershy’s friends, thinking that it was her right to do so. Once he witnessed it revive Celestia, he realized it was more than just a right. It was a betrayal. He contemplated his next move for a few minutes. Just as he was going to act, the realm shifted once more into some majestic area. It looked like the night sky. He shifted his head slightly so as to look at his mane. He knew where this was going.

Sure enough, in a flash of light, Luna’s soul manifested itself, and would soon attempt to take its body back. Feilbach’s rational thought stopped when he realized this, leaping to his feet. He couldn’t tell if he was saying something, and if he was he had no idea what he said. The only things he could see and hear were the anger of the souls inside him and the sense of betrayal in his heart. He grasped the silver orb tightly with the smoke, determined to destroy it now. The betrayal was too much for his souls to handle. They snapped in a fit of rage.

But a light in the darkness shined through. His father’s voice pierced the veil of anger and spite, snapping him back to his senses. He released the smoke around the orb, saying something he couldn’t quite understand. He turned to Luna, spoke, and charged at her. He was unsure as to why he did it. There was something inside him that commanded him to.

Then he collapsed, and he heard his mother’s voice call to the ponies. He couldn’t understand her words, but he heard her. In a flash of light, he was no longer in the other realm. He felt the pain of the souls inside him as he was forcefully ripped from Luna’s body. He screamed in agony as he was released back into the throne room, a gathering of souls without a vessel. Desperate for an escape from this pain, he launched himself at the orb. In a blast of silver-black light, a body manifested itself around him.

It was his original body. The one he was cursed with the day he died. All of the souls entered the body, welcoming back their original home. He watched as the ponies that he had been so confident in defeating spawned from the orb he once thought was an ally. In the instant, his consciousness awoke. He was aware of everything around him, and he laughed at the ponies in front of him.

“You’re back now. How lovely. Killing a few helpless ponies would have been no fun. Now that you Princesses are alive, the real fun can begin!” He stood on his hind hooves, laughing maniacally.

Princess Celestia stepped forward, shooting a blast of magic from her horn. Smoke poured from the orb and encased Feilbach, deflecting the magical energy with ease.

Feilbach fell back to all four hooves. He closed his eyes and turned to face the window behind him. He chuckled, “Your efforts are wasted, Princess of Sol. You, your subjects, and your world are no match against the anger housed within these souls. Give up now, so as to not prolong your suffering.” He turned to face the ponies.

Celestia took a few more steps forward, anger in her eyes, “You shall not win this, Feilbach! A monster like you has only one fate!” She shot another magic beam at him, which was again deflected by the smoke.

Luna stepped up beside her sister, “This will end now! Only one side of this room will be living to see the daylight!” In tune with her sister, she added her own magic beam to Celestia’s. The smoke still easily deflected the energy.

Cadence stepped forward, “Everything you’ve done today…it can never be forgiven! You will pay for the damage you’ve done!” She added her magic to the other two beams. Again, the smoke was unaffected by the blast.

Feilbach sighed, “You are stubborn, and of that I am certain. You are also foolish.” With a wave of his hoof, the trio was cast aside into the wall of the room. The ponies on the other side gasped in horror, some of them gathering around to help them get up.

Fluttershy stepped forward, taking a deep breath, “This has to end, Feilbach. You can’t just show up and take over everything. As long as I breathe, I won’t let you win this battle!” Fluttershy ripped the pouch from her side, tossing it at the monster as hard as she could.

He caught it in midair with his teeth. He dropped it to the ground, laughing “What was this bag supposed to do? Give me an allergic reaction?” He stamped it with his hoof.

Fluttershy smiled, “It’s a present. Why don’t you open it…?” She bowed her head.

Feilbach stared at the bag in curiosity. “A present? What in the world are you talking about, pony?” He kicked the bag with his hoof, growing ever more curious.

Beside him, the orb flashed silver once more. In an instant, Feilbach realized what was inside the bag. It was too late to react; the entire room was once more absorbed into the orb. When the ponies landed on the other side, they searched the area over with their eyes, searching for some hint as to where they were. Feilbach and the orb came crashing down from the sky, landing with hard thuds on the ground. He stood, his expression fading from confidence to horror. He stared at the giant tree in the distance.

From the fallen orb, two balls of light shot forth, taking shape in front of the ponies’ eyes. One took the shape of an alicorn, similar in size to the trio across from it, except it looked even more majestic. The other took the shape of a Pegasus, floating lazily off of the ground. Feilbach turned to see them approach him. He leaped back in horror.

“Mother, what is this madness?! Why have you brought me here?!” Feilbach flailed his hooves, trying ever harder to avoid the two figures.

The alicorn spoke, “Welcome home, son. This will now be your grave, as it was mine.”

The Pegasus chuckled, “You’re not afraid, are you Feilbach?”

He collapsed to the ground. His crimson eyes reverted back into normal ones, his mane turning color from silver to brown. His coat shifted from black to white and back to black. It continued shifting.

Mister dashed over beside the figures, his body transforming into a ball of light like them. “Son, this is the end of the road. Let go of the anger, and come back to us!”

Feilbach leaped to his feet. He stepped back cautiously, and then started a mad dash toward the tree in the distance. The figures followed after him, as did the other ponies. They followed him all the way to the giant tree…

At the top of the tree, a sad looking colt sat on the highest branch. Beside him was a friendly-looking filly. The Pegasus’ figure stepped forward to Feibach’s side. “You remember this, right? The day we met.”

Feilbach turned toward her. He looked at her with horror in his eyes. “Of course I remember it! But…Why the hell are we here?!” He leaped back, away from the Pegasus.

“Your soul is still tied to the orb, you know. The orb wanted you to see this. To see who you were before.” The alicorn stepped up.

Feilbach stared at her with fright, “But who I was doesn’t matter anymore! The colt in the tree is dead!” The area flashed silver, and suddenly the tree was gone.

All around the ponies, bodies were lying lifeless on the ground. In the spot where the tree had just been, an alicorn was being cradled in the arms of a stallion. They spoke softly to one another.

“This is the end, isn’t it? This war was a mistake.” The alicorn looked at the stallion.

The stallion had tears in his eyes, “It was a mistake. Pointless violence. But this isn’t the end! You’ll be fine, we can take you back to the Princess and she’ll help you!” He pulled her closer.

The alicorn chuckled, “No. This is it for me. But Feilbach…He had his whole life ahead of him. Why must it end like this? I can feel his presence fading, Zulema. Our son is dying with me.” Tears fell from her eyes.

The stallion lowered his head to hers, “I can feel it as well. There is one thing we can do, Merlene. We can…” His voice trailed off.

The alicorn smiled, “That is an option. Let’s do it…” She closed her eyes.

The stallion placed his hoof on her side and rested his head on her own. Her horn began to glow, and in a single instant, a tree burst from the ground and swallowed the pair. Two white orbs burst from the top of the tree, spinning around one another, rapidly increasing in size and speed. They split apart from each other and flew back together, colliding into one single orb. Silver in color, it shined so brightly that all of the ponies in the field immediately ceased their fighting and dropped their weapons.

The bodies of the fallen soldiers raised into the air, being swallowed into tiny black gems. They flew into the orb as if it were vacuuming them in. Hundreds upon hundreds of tiny gems entered the orb. A single blue gem shot out of it, zooming through the sky toward the castle in the distance. The orb gently lowered itself back into the tree, falling to the ground with a thud.

The white figures of the alicorn and stallion bowed their heads, turning away from the scene. They refused to look at Feilbach. They refused to acknowledge the other ponies.

The Pegasus figure floated along the ground to the group of ponies. “You gave him my present. Thank you.” She looked Fluttershy in the eyes.

To everypony behind them, the two pegasi looked almost identical. The white figure’s eyes had a gentle red tint, whereas Fluttershy’s were blue. They both had gentle expressions on their faces, and their coats and manes were seemingly the same colors. Fluttershy nodded to the Pegasus, not saying a word.

“What a touching moment of self-sacrifice!” Feilbach’s voice called from beside the tree. “It’s a shame that your attempt to give me life left me with one of despair and loneliness! Even after Amber came to me, I knew it wouldn’t last forever. The tree was going to die and I with it!” His eyes turned crimson once more, his coat and mane changing back with them.

The alicorn stepped forth, “We had no idea your life would be bound to the tree! We thought the gem would give you life, not a curse!”

“Ah, a curse it truly was. What is life when you simply sit and wait for the day you will die? The only happiness I had was waking up to find myself with Amber. To wake up and realize I wasn’t dead yet, and that I would see her face once more! But I knew I would die. And I spent every moment of the day wondering when death would come.” Feilbach leaped to the lowermost branch on the tree.

The Pegasus flew up to meet him on the branch. “You’re right, that’s no way to live life! But at the same time, at least you still lived!” She tried to place a hoof on his shoulder.

He leaped to the next branch. He scoffed, “Bah! My life was a ticking time bomb. If I had known you would give your life to revive me, I never would have accepted your friendship. I spent thirty years waiting to die, and just when its comforting grasp held me, you took it from me. I awoke to watch the pony I loved turn into a gem and enter the orb that caused this mess…” His voice faded off.

Fluttershy stepped forward. She spoke softly, “The thought of getting to live, especially without Amber, was too much for you to handle…” She understood where he was going with all of this.

He laughed, “You are correct, my little pony. Without Amber, my life held no meaning. After thirty years, she was the only meaning I had when I died. My only friend. The only pony I so much as spoke to. So tell me, Amber… Do you hate me for what I’ve done? I took your gift of life and used it to become this monster you see before you. Do you hate me for wasting such a precious gift?” He turned to look at his Pegasus friend.

She glided over to his branch, stared him in the eyes, and smiled, “Of course I don’t hate you! Even after everything you’ve done, I still love you, Feilbach! I could never hate you, no matter how horrible the things you’ve done!”

Feilbach leaped away from her as she spoke these words. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You must be joking! After seeing all the evil things I’ve done, you still love me? This is impossible! There is no way you can mean that!” His eyes caught the opal pendant around her neck.

Amber followed his eyes to her pendant. “You remember the day I gave you this pendant? That night, you had a terrible nightmare. You squirmed and screamed for hours. I sat on the branch and held you, trying to comfort you. Do you remember the song? The song I sang to you? The song that ended your nightmare?” She turned to face the highest branch in the tree, and in a flash of light, a young stallion and young Pegasus mare sat in the branch. The sky turned to night, and the stallion began screaming and tossing around. The mare held him firmly in her arms, singing a soft melody…

“Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head…
Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed…
Hush now, quiet now, no need to be afraid…
Hush now, quiet now, kinder words are never made…
Hush now, quiet now, for you I will stay…
Hush now, quiet now, for you I lead the way…
Hush now, quiet now, and let this melody…
Hush now quiet now, soothe the body…”

The voice repeated this melody several times over, before finally fading away. The stallion’s screaming stopped. Feilbach leaped to the uppermost branch, listening intently to the gentle lullaby. He leaped to the bottom of the tree, and dashed toward the alicorn and stallion. His body returned to the form of the stallion in the tree, his eyes filled with tears.

His voice was still hollow, and he cradled his head in his hooves, as he screamed, “Make this stop! I don’t want this anymore!” The silver orb flashed once, and Feilbach stopped dead in his tracks.

He collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony, as hundreds of black balls of smoke ripped from his body, flying wildly all around the tree. He convulsed uncontrollably, the pain tearing at him, all of the lost souls flooding from his own. The three white figures gathered around him, each placing once hoof over him. In an instant, they disappeared into one single white ball. The ball engulfed Feilbach’s struggling body…

The souls wildly swarmed the tree, covering it top to roots in black smoke. After the final soul left his body, the white light faded away, and a stallion was left lying in the grass where the monster had just been. He struggled to stand up, his knees weak from the pain, and his head throbbing from having so many memories ripped out of him. He looked around, as if hoping to find a single person in the massive heap of souls on the tree.

Fluttershy stepped forward, making her way over to the stallion. The other ponies watched as she did.

The stallion stared at her the entire way over. He smiled as he asked her, “Is it over yet, pony? Can I go home now…?” He collapsed as he finished his question.

Fluttershy knelt beside him, whispering in his ear, “Almost. Just a little longer. You have to keep fighting. You aren’t free yet…”

“Mother…Father…Amber…Help me…”

Next Chapter: Chapter 21: The Soul of a Friend Estimated time remaining: 12 Minutes