“Macha?” Twilight spoke the name with more curiosity than fear, unaware of even a passing myth that hinted towards the name. “What… What is that?”

“A witch. A monster. A thing that should never have been.” Aisling whispered viciously, her form still hidden beneath the blanket of her hair. Her arms had yet to rise from the stone coffin she lay across, her body still as the rock beneath her. Twilight heard Apple Bloom sniffling behind her.

“Was…” the unicorn began before letting her voice drop off, unsure of what to say. She turned her head, hoping one of her friends would know better what to do.

Zecora, the mare she hoped would know best of this monster that frightened Aisling so, was simply staring forwards emptily. Her usual wise golden gaze was vacant, a look Twilight was told more than once she would wear in the face of impossible knowledge.

Applejack had her head bowed, hat covering most of her face. It was clear she was only half listening to the frightened nymph, as her unseen eyes were currently looking down at the foal at her hooves. Apple Bloom was shivering against her elder sister, eyes clenched shut for fear of letting them fall. Even her jaw was shaking.

Rainbow Dash, however, was the only mare that had not a look of surprise, panic, or pain. Instead she had her eyes half clenched, her brow furrowed in what Twilight recognized to be concentration. Her stance was strong, wings held to her side, and breathing normal.

Her pink eyes briefly flashed to Twilight’s, seeing the unicorn unable to think of what to say. The pegasus’ jaw moved, though her lips remained shut. Twilight had little idea of what to make of the gesture. That was until Dash took a few hoofsteps forward as she began to speak.

“So, how bad is this thing?” Twilight felt a breath of air get sucked into her lungs faster than she knew she could breathe. Aisling’s head turned to the approaching pegasus, her green gaze wide and shadowed by her cascading hair.

“How bad is it?” The Fae repeated, as if the phrase was new to her. “Not bad. Worse than bad.”

Twilight watched silently as Aisling let her thin arms wrap around herself, shivering over the tomb. Her eyes fell back to the vacant hole in the stone.

“Crom took my family. He took my mother. But he never took my forest.” Her head looked back up, staring at the pair of mares looking back at her. “Macha… Macha tried to take everything. My home, my land, my forest, Brendan’s people!” The ponies took a step back at the shout, but not before letting their jaws drop.

“She… she killed…” Twilight found herself unable to finish the words. No wonder this creature was such a horror. But the swelling in her throat was conflicted as the Fae shook her head violently, her white hair waving as she did so. “Then what stopped her?”

Aisling didn’t answer, not before she began to move.

As agile as she was among the trees of the forest, the nymph leapt off the coffin, approaching Twilight with impressive speed. She quickly stood in front of the lavender mare, placing one of her thin hands at the base of Twilight’s neck. The unicorn could feel her shivering. But more than that, she felt Aisling turning her, forcing her with a significant level of strength to look at the far wall.

It was the same wall she gazed at before. The wall with the swaying colors of Brendan before Aisling, holding seeds of green with a coat of tan.

“Brendan stopped her.” Aisling spoke with a cold tone, her hand pointing towards the obvious figure. “He sealed her. He stopped her from taking everything, from ruining everything.”

“Her terrors stretch far beyond the boundaries of lore.” The suddenness of Zecora’s voice made Twilight turn an eye. The zebra, however, appeared no more collected than she did only a few moments ago. “I would expect nothing less from a goddess of war.”

But her words were still impossible to ignore.

“Wait, war?!” Dash incredulously asked the zebra, who only gave a shuddering breath before turning her head to the ground. The pegasus turned her head back to the nymph, hand still against Twilight’s fur. “Macha is a god of war?!” Aisling did not even shake or flinch at the words as they were bellowed by the mare. “How did this Brendan dude stop something like that?!”

“With the book.”

There was no hesitation in the answer. More than that, there was hope. From the moment Aisling had laid eyes on the tomb, this was the first time her voice sounded even remotely similar to the care-free nymph they found in the forest. Carefully, Twilight removed the Fae’s hand from her neck, turning to look her in the eye.

“Aisling,” she began. “How did Brendan seal Macha? What did the book do?” The Fae turned her gaze away from the unicorn. “Aisling please,” Twilight lightly encouraged. “If Macha did escape, we’re going to have to know how to reseal it.”

“Twi?” Applejack spoke, interrupting the unicorn. The mare gave a light sigh before turning to see the farm pony. What she did not expect was to see both Applejack and Apple Bloom staring wide-eyed at something now behind her.

Her eyes looked back at Aisling, hoping the Fae was looking back at her again. Instead, she too was gazing beside the mare, her features no longer in the terrified state they once were. Her trembling was gone, her form still, but her eyes as wide as the moment Twilight and her friends walked into this cavern.

Turning her gaze, Twilight followed their eyesight. What they beheld was deserving of their silence.

A figure stood just beside Brendan’s coffin, tall and lean in stature. Had Twilight seen the shape only a few hours earlier, she would have said she’d never seen anything like it before in her life. After meeting Aisling, however, that was no longer the case.

The figure stood on two legs, standing far taller than Aisling, Applejack, or any of the ponies. A mane of red hung from its head, wrapping around its chin, bordering just below its lightly-protruding nose. Its skin was pale, eyes blue, clothes hardly a shade darker, and a smile over its lips that was impossible to ignore. But more than that, there was thing that Twilight could only equate to magic surrounding the being.

Simply, it was glowing.

An aura of brilliant yellow surrounded it, lightly moving around it much like the aura of a unicorn’s magic. Vibrant gold, auspicious yellow, and calming white. They were all colors Twilight was familiar and never felt anything short of peace while in their presence.

“Brendan?”

Twilight had to fight to look away from the figure, turning back to the Fae just beside her. Said nymph was lightly walking forward, stepping cautiously towards the taller figure. It was the first time Twilight had seen the nymph so cautious. This was a day of firsts.

The creature smiled, its lips widening until the whites of its teeth shone downwards.

“Hello Aisling,” the white robed shape spoke in a mature voice, its tone as kind and warm as the soft aura that glowed around it. “It has been a long time.”

Aisling embraced his legs. Brendan laughed lightly as he placed his hands behind her back.

Celestia stared at the odd creature before her, a storm of emotions churning within her. She felt rage, for this was doubtlessly the monster that had so easily, and so carelessly, harmed one of her ponies. She felt disgust, as the creature resembled nothing that she had ever seen before, wearing silk redder than blood and a mane darker than the night. But more than anything else, she felt what she abhorred to feel.

She felt fear, because this was a monster that had walked into her castle, walked to her throne, and now stared her down, all without a dash of effort. There was little she knew of this beast, and thus, no way to predict what could happen.

Celestia knew she had to learn more.

“What do you mean my god?” She questioned sternly, raising her stature to its tallest, meeting eye level with the oddly shaped beast. The dark-maned figure only smiled in amusement, her cheeks and eyes relaxed as she stared at the alicorn.

“It means as I say. I created you, and thus, I am your god.” The simplicity to which the monster spoke only made the diarch’s legs flex, preparing for an assault she could only predict.

The creature had yet to move since her entrance, instead staring at the diarch unmoving beyond the gates to Celestia’s hall. She couldn’t hear a breeze, yet it was clear the creature’s gown flowed. She didn’t feel the chill of cold, yet her fur stood on edge. The only thing Celestia was sure of was that the creature was magical, and more than likely, a threat to her and her ponies’ well-being.

“You created me,” Celestia repeated carefully. “Created my ponies as well. For what purpose would you have created life only to leave it?” Macha’s head fell to her side, staring at the alicorn with a blank gaze. It did little to ease the dread that slowly churned in the diarch’s chest.

“It is odd,” Macha noted, caring little for the question the princess spoke. “So easily have the rest of the steeds bowed to me upon my approach.”

Celestia felt her chest constrict.

“What do you mean by that?” She hastily accused, daring to take a step forward as she did so. When the creature did not respond, the diarch did one further. “What have you done to my ponies, monster?” The last word was spat as an insult and the creature took it as one.

The hovering chill that clung to Celestia became a deep freeze as its posture straightened, taking strides towards the alicorn. Celestia stood her ground as it approached, unwilling to give this creature anything.

But her defiance did little when it grabbed her muzzle with a deadly cold hand, holding her in place like an undisciplined pet.

“Mind your tongue beast.” The creature demanded in a voice close to that of the arctic winds.  “You may yet be able to resist my presence, but I am still your god and creator, and I will not allow such a loose tongue to bare itself to me.”

Celestia attempted to pull her head back, flapping her wings to escape the grip of the monster, but she did little more than tear a few hairs from her muzzle. She clenched her eyes in rage, alighting her horn with magic. She sent a beam of her raw power at the pale figure, unrestrained with her might.

The golden shine of her magic swallowed the room, blinding herself as it was pushed forth. She felt the hand holding her jaw release, allowing her to retreat. Celestia’s magic, however, did not cease its assault. She felt her concentration waning the longer she forced her magic forward, clenching her useless eyes shut as she commanded more and more of her ethereal force to smite the foe that so easily assaulted her.

Then, with a slow decline, the ringing of her magic began to cease, returning vision to the room once more. Celestia opened her eyes, thinking she would see nothing but dust and ashes in the wake of the creature, a pile that would be blown into the wind.

Instead she saw the figure still, holding nothing but a hand before itself.

Her red cloth was no more damaged than before, her black mane still blowing in an unfelt wind, and her eyes colder than the surface of ice. The snarl across her lips bode little good to the diarch. Celestia steeled herself once more, fanning her wings as she summoned an aura about her horn.

“Leave here!” She commanded strongly, furrowing her brow as she commanded the creature. “You are not welcome in my lands!”

“How do you resist me so?” The monster asked in disregard to the solar princess’ command. Its pale limb slowly fell to its side, though its angered features did not turn. “Not a thing of my creation has ever before resisted my will. Yet you…”

The goddess lifted its opposite hand towards the still defensive alicorn, pointing at her with an extended finger. Celestia repositioned her hooves, readying herself to jump. Instead though, the creature spoke on.

“You do not only resist, you attack. You dare to harm the goddess that gave your entire species life, permitted you to even grace Ernmas’s land.” As ready as she was for another attempt on her life, Celestia absorbed everything the creature spoke. She knew not what delusions made this pale creature believe she made her ponies, but she knew even less of who Ernmas was.

“I resist the wishes, demands, and delusions of all who attempt to harm my ponies. As a princess of these lands, it is my duty, my honor, and my right to strike down those who desire to do so.” Celestia spoke with the tone of a ruler, letting not a trace of fear or cowardice seep into her words. The former was difficult, but the latter was simple. She had no cowardice to show.

Then the creature’s eyes opened.

They gazed at Celestia with something the diarch could not place. It was difficult to read the emotions of a thing she had never seen before.

Slowly, Macha let her arm descend, her gaze slowly falling as her lips relaxed until they were placed again in the same placid expression of ease she had before. Celestia preferred the anger. Anger was always easy to predict, no matter the gender, race, or species.

“So that is.” The creature’s words came out as an epiphany, a dawning realization to something Celestia had yet to even grasp. “You have been blessed by the Stone of Fal.”

The creature released an audible breath of air as she finished speaking. Celestia did not let her guard drop, too sure that this beast would only try something new now. Her suspicions were nearly confirmed when she saw one of the pale slender appendages of the creature clench, pulling its dull claws against its palm.

“And I was sure the last of the treasures vanished with the death of the mortal.” The question to ask was too obvious, and if the diarch’s luck lasted, it would draw out the inevitable conversation.

“What mortal?”

“Brendan,” Twilight spoke the name testingly, watching as the figure offered his kind blue gaze to the mare. His arms never left the Fae still embracing him. “The same Brendan that… helped Aisling?” He smiled at her, nodding as he did so. The action was as warm as the air around him.

“The one and the same,” he spoke in the soothing voice like before, clearer than water and twice as smooth. “Though a fair amount of time has passed.”

“Too much time.” The quiet voice of Aisling uttered against his robes, her hands pulling at the alabaster cloth. “Brendan, I thought I would never see you again.”

“You’re appearance is nothing short of a gift,” Zecora spoke, slowly walking to stand beside Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “Though I now must question how you came from the rift.”

“Yeah, that… that is a good question.” Rainbow agreed with a nodding head. “I mean, this is awesome, like, insanely cool, but… well I thought you were dead.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight lightly cajoled the pegasus, pushing her as she did so. The mare only looked back with a miffed expression.

“What?” She genuinely asked. “I’m serious. The way Aisling is acting, I’m pretty sure this isn’t normal, even by her standards.”

“No, you are right.” Brendan spoke, earning the full attention of the ponies and nymph gripping his clothes. “I did pass, a long time ago. In this very room in fact.” He raised his hand until it was across the top of Aisling’s head, lightly rubbing her pale hair. The Fae squirmed gently under the pressure, the unmistakable sound of giggling coming from the nymph. “You never did change, Aisling.”

The words served to brighten the nymph’s already soaring hopes.

“You are Brendan!” She cheered gleefully, her smile wide and exultant. “You came back! And you are younger!” Twilight stopped her there.

“Younger?” The unicorn questioned, her logical mind slowly retaking the ground it lost to shock. “But… What happened?” She questioned earnestly, looking at the tall orange-haired creature and back down to the pale Fae. “What happened that made you seal this place? That hurt you? That… that did everything!”

A slow silence filled the room, the mares present turning their attention from the unicorn to the odd couple next to the stone coffin. Brendan looked down, letting his eyes look to Aisling’s large green orbs. The nymph looked back up to him, smiling lightly as she did so. Brendan returned it earnestly.

“Are you keeping secrets again Aisling?” Brendan spoke with a teasing tone, his features anything but serious. The Fae giggled at the act, but only twirled as she answered.

“I didn’t hide anything. I answered what they asked, honestly too. They are only here because I found a new friend.” The nymph finished her spin, stopping as she faced the earth pony siblings across the room.

Lights of blue danced across the walls behind them, illuminating the pair’s orange fur with a mixture of the light as well as Brendan’s still glowing aura. Apple Bloom looked back at the Fae, her form still leaning tightly against her elder sibling. Brendan followed her gaze, smiling at the pair of ponies as his eyes landed on them.

“It is nice to meet you.” He spoke kindly with a light bow, still almost towering over anyone else present. “I am Brendan, Keeper of the Book of Kells.” Aisling danced beneath him as she clarified the hanging question.

“The book that turned darkness… into light.”

Pieces were falling into place in Twilight’s mind, but there were still too many vacancies to call anything a theory just yet.

“It’s… It’s a pleasure ta meet ya Brendan.” Applejack spoke with unease clear on her tone, but honestly just as prevalent across her words. Her forehoof lightly nudged her little sister, who trotted forward under the force. The filly stumbled slightly, but not with any sense of nervousness or disdain.

To the contrary, her eyes were wide with wonder, staring up at the taller creature. Her jaw hung open, held upwards only by the skin of her cheeks. When her lips began to move, they asked a question no one expected.

“You’re the friend Aisling said she raced before, aren’t ya?” The question caught the tall figure by surprise, forcing his eyes to widen before making his smile grow. A genuine strain of laughter came from him.

“Yes, a long time ago. When we first met, and before I first had to leave.” He placed his hand over the nymph’s head again.

This time, however, Aisling reached up with her slender arms, wrapping her pale fingers around his much larger hand, holding it in place. They both smiled at the action.

“Uh, excuse me?” Twilight cautiously interrupted the pair. When her voice earned their attention without apprehending gazes, she spoke on. “I know this is the first time you two have met in a long while, but… but I think we really have to know why you are here, don’t we?”

Twilight felt a pit of dread climb into body when she saw the cheerful look on Brendan’s face fade, his hand sliding from Aisling’s head. The Fae blinked as he did so, turning to look at him when his arm left her. He sighed before he spoke.

“You are right, unfortunately.” Brendan admitted, looking down at his long time friend with a somber expression, “As much I love seeing you again after all this time, I cannot say I have returned only to enjoy your company once more.”

“What has happened?” Aisling asked now, looking at glowing friend. “Brendan, what happened to the eye?” The tall figure shut his eyes for a moment longer than a blink before he opened them again. When he did, he looked not only at Aisling, but the ponies present as well.

“Aisling trusts you all enough to show you here.” He spoke first, nodding towards the five mares as she did so. “I have always trusted her with my life and never once was that trust broken. Aisling,” he spoke the Fae’s name as he looked down on her once more. “Do you want me to tell them? Do you mind?”

The nymph didn’t hesitate to shake her head.

“They are friends, and one has lived in my forest for some time. They are kind, so they should know.” Dash was having her normally thin patience worn to its critical limit.

“Know what?” The pegasus asked. “We have like a million questions right now. What did the Macha try to do? How did you stop her? Why did you seal the gate? How did you seal the gate? And why is this all happening again?”

BEGIN

Brendan smiled as he looked upwards, letting the silence linger before he answered. Twilight followed his gaze. Above them were more shifting colors, lines flowing with fluid traces of tints and hues of the light spectrum. Dancing like water, twisting like air, and as beautiful to gaze across as the endless landscape of the Equestrian country.

“After I helped Aisling rid her forest of Crom, I was forced to leave.” Twilight forced her vision back to gaze at Brendan. His eyes had yet to leave the ceiling high above. “I traveled the lands of Ireland with my mentor, spending the years hearing stories, telling tales, and shaping the book with a tool taken from the clutches of an ancient beast.”

“The Eye of Crom.” Twilight clarified, making sure her visual catalog of information was correct. The smile from the still ethereally glowing figure was all the confirmation she needed.

“When I returned, it was to find my home. My home that was ravaged by the Northman, taken from my people and me. I hoped to find something there, anything that would show me not all was lost in a world being ravaged by darkness. I found not one thing, but two.” His hand lightly fell over Aisling. Again the Fae gripped his hand, holding his far larger limb closer to her.

“My uncle survived the assault, and I was able to show him the book I spent years crafting; years of my life, my mentor’s life, and his mentor’s life. Years of work, generations of talent, all to create a book that would make the darkest of times be filled with the brightest of hopes.” The man took a slow breath before he continued. “I was able to show it to him; The Book of Kells. Not a few hours later did he pass.”

“Oh,” Twilight lightly spoke, kind to the sorrowful memories he was sifting through. “I’m sorry.” Brendan only smiled as his gaze finally fell from the color-dancing ceiling.

“It’s alright. He left this world in peace, and I was glad to help him do so. What is important, however, is not my last meeting with my family, but what transpired much later.” His eyes turned away from the small crowd again, looking at a far wall.

Twilight and the ponies around her followed his gaze, looking at another portrait of shifting hues. Unlike the many other reliefs and moving colors of the rooms around, this one did much more. It did not simply have moving colors, but it also had moving shapes.

Entire figures slowly moved across the portrait, shifting around one another with synchronicity and beauty. The circles turned like clockwork gears, normal blocks of colors swimming as if they contained water. Twisted lines that spun around one another loosened and tightened in a mesmerizing dance, drawing the eyes of the mare present as well as all of her friends.

But more than that, each mare saw something different.

Zecora, whose golden gaze was used to the oddities normally kept from pony eyes, looked past the moving portrait and saw the workings beneath. She saw the small figures shifting beneath the colors and shapes, guiding the lines and twisting the gears.

Applejack saw richness unlike anything she’d seen before. Like a tree aged to perfection, every limb, root, and twig of the picture was perfectly groomed. Every time she looked to see something different, she found it. Every time she looked back to see if it was still there, it was.

Rainbow Dash saw not a picture to admire, but an abyss. It wasn’t the cold and dreary darkness so many ponies feel, it was the opposite. It was the abyss she wanted. It was an endless place for flight and fancy, where she could stretch her wings and soar without fear of those around her, without the restraints of the grounds below or the thin air above. To her, it was freedom, in every shade and hue.

Apple Bloom looked at it with a feeling she had been desiring to feel all her young life. Her entire youth was so far filled with dreams of finding who she was, of discovering that talent no other pony could match. When that day would come, she knew, she just knew, that she would feel what she was feeling now. Unrestrained joy and happiness.

Twilight, for all of her intellect, vocabulary, and studies could only think of one word that described the image.

Beautiful.

STOP

RESUME

“I shared that image with anyone who wished to see.” Brendan spoke on, letting the mares continue to draw themselves into the image of the moving picture. “I spent the many years I still had to my life traveling the lands, letting those who were in the midst of darkness know that there was still light in the world.”

“Slowly, over time, the age of the North Men came to an end. The darkness was lifting over my land, and my people began to feel hope once more.” The silence that followed his words was tenser than it should have been. “But then everything changed.”

STOP

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Applejack spoke up.

“That’s because you have good instincts.” Brendan complimented with a smile towards the mare. “But you are right. It was not a change that benefitted the world. Because it wasn’t one the world wished to make.”

“This… this was when Macha came, isn’t it?” Twilight ventured, tracing the lines in her mind as they connected. Much like Applejack before her, Brendan nodded as he responded to her question.

“Yes,” he spoke simply, his voice barren of the light his body continued to project. “And it was because of my actions.” Even with the warmth of his voice, his aura, and friendship about him, Twilight felt a chill through her coat.

“Why is that?”

BEGIN

“The point was sealed.” The ethereal voice of Macha spoke to the diarch, her steps slowly moving around the alicorn. Celestia mimicked the action, slowly trotting away from the self-proclaimed god. “A beast from the realm of magic had made the center his home. Like the mindless beast it so very much was, it took the magic of that flowed from the Ley Lines, eating until it could eat no more.”

“It fed on magic,” Celestia clarified, her eyes watching every detail of the pale figure closely. “It ate the life blood of the world.” With her keen eyes, it was impossible to miss the clear grin the dark maned monster gave her.

“Indeed.” The creature raised one of her arms, letting it slowly trace down her opposite arm. Celestia only imagined it was the path of a vein. “The beast was beyond the comprehension of the mortals around it, naming it after things they also could not understand.”

The creatures hand rose away from her arm, lifting into the air until her open palm sat in the air.

“The dark one, crooked beast, the sin taker, there were many names, but there was ever only one that I preferred.” Macha retracted her slender fingers until only one remained extended.

“Crom Cruach.”

“Crom!?” Dash shouted in shock. “That Crom dude was keeping Macha away?!” Brendan nodded slowly at her words.

“He did, and he was, though I am sure it was not his intent.” Brendan looked back down to Aisling, holding the Fae close to him as he spoke on. The nymph was only too eager to lean back against her long passed friend. “Crom was not a beast with origins in this world. He came from the realm of which the Ley Lines grew, the world that has no shape or form, only magic.” His kind eyes looked back to Twilight, smiling at her near sparkling eyed expression. “It is not as fun as you think.”

“Huh? You’ve… you’ve been there?” Twilight breathlessly asked. The very idea of a world of only magic fascinated her to no end. Here, in a place saturated with the magic of a Ley Line Focal Point, she could lift a stone the weight of tons until it flew into orbit. In a place of only magic, with nothing to weaken its presence, Twilight couldn’t pass the idea that she could create life of her own.

“I did, when I ventured into Crom’s lair. I’m sure Aisling told you that I slew him, right?” The Fae smiled up to him, nodding with her gleaming green eyes. Brendan spoke on. “Crom was a beast that fed from the world, and its appetite took too much from her.” It was only too obvious who ‘her’ was. “When I fell into his lair, I was taken from this world and into his. There, I took his eyes, blinding him, trapping him in his world forever more. And it is there I have trapped him since.”

“That must’ve taken a mighty fine amount of courage ta do.” Applejack genuinely complimented the taller creature, adjusting the brim of her hat as she did so. “But how did that help this Macha thing?” Brendan released a breath of air as he continued to recall.

“Because Crom sealed the gate between our worlds with his, taking any magic that came near him, be it from the Ley Lines that were once so rich, or the lives that lived near by.” Aisling gripped his robe a bit harder. Brendan paid no mind. “With him gone, and decades passed, the magic flowed once more. And with the release of that magic came a new beast.”

“Crom…” Celestia began, but stopped herself. She couldn’t instigate this foe. This beast, this Macha, was strong enough to withstand her magic with barely a hoof’s distance between them. She had to learn more before she allowed another strike to fly. “Crom prevented you from awakening?”

“Not prevented, resisted.” Macha continued to circle the diarch, and so too did Celestia let her slow trot around the dark haired monster to remain. “As great as I am, I had not the power to command a beast of the magical realm. Crom and his brethren bowed to no god of any standing, but not for his great strength, rather, his great inanity.”

“Inanity?” Celestia mimed. “I do not understand.”

“As I said, he was a beast, mindless in purpose or intellect. He wished to feed on the magic of the world, and he did. His feasting, however, weakened the hold I had over the forest.” The creature let her arm slowly descend until her slender hand was just before her cold eyes. She gazed at it as if to look for something new. “The lifeblood of the world is my lifeblood. When Crom feasted, he took that power from me. As unintentional as it was, he prevented my actions through his own.”

“And when he was defeated?” Celestia questioned, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer. “What did you do then?” The creature smiled as faintly as any other expression she had given. But it was the words Macha spoke, not the lips she curled, that made Celestia’s breath catch.

“I began to retake my land.”

“The dark times of the North Men ended only to begin a time for the Old Ones.” Brendan spoke his words without joy, without peace. If not for the warm aura that continued to exude from him, Twilight was sure she’d feel a chill at the implications.

“Old Ones…” Dash repeated, licking her lips as her mind connected dots she was only half-way sure of. “That… That includes this Macha thing?” Instead of the tall figure, however, it was Aisling that answered the pegasus.

“Yes.” The Fae responded with a shake of her head. “She came from long ago. Before me, far before me. But she was gone, gone before Crom.”

“A terrible creature that let no creature stay,” Zecora spoke from the back, narrating her own knowledge of this Macha. “Such was her power as a Fae.” That got a reaction.

“This Macha’s a Fae?” Applejack asked the zebra. It was short question, as her attention quickly turned to the other current nymph in the room. “She’s like you? She ain’t like this Crom?”

“No,” Brendan spoke once more, his head shaking lightly and his orange hair shifting as he did so. “Macha was… is a god. Her power was drawn from the Ley Lines and, like all Fae, she needs to be near their point of origin.” Twilight did not miss the way his hand pulled Aisling a bit closer to him. “When Crom was defeated, and the center was opened again, she came back.”

“But what did she do?” Apple Bloom asked, speaking to the pair without fear, only confusion. “She sounds like a meanie, but what did she do to ya?”

Twilight had not missed a single action of Brendan thus far, so enraptured with everything about him that her mind refused to let even the minute details slip. That was why it was impossible for her to miss the way his free hand clenched.

When he answered the filly, his words told too much.

“Crom took Aisling’s people. Macha took mine.”

Celestia’s eyes could not open further.

Her trotting had stopped as she stared at Macha, watching the beast so easily confessed so heinous a crime. Her broad wings fell, nearly grazing the floor in their descent. The silence between them was thick. Yet, despite the clear horror written over the diarch’s features, the dark haired goddess only continued to look back at her, smiling faintly as a summer’s soft breeze, as if expecting an encomium.

She thought it was a game and that she believed she was winning. Worse yet, Celestia knew she was.

“You killed them.” Celestia repeated what she had heard, her voice hardly audible even through the still air. “You killed an… entire species…”

“They no longer worshipped me. They no longer knew me.” The admittance was warmer than the cold logic the goddess gave. “It was asimple thing without the others. The Ley Lines were rich once more, and it allowed me to return. When I did, I returned to a land that looked to the abstract, worshipping emotions over things.”

“But why did you kill them?” Celestia asked once more. “You claim to be a goddess, a ruler to those below you. Why not teach, guide, or aid them? Why did you kill an entire species.”

“It is easier to create something anew than to repair what is broken.” Macha’s eyes looked at Celestia, looking down at the alicorn. “They knew of me before, and they worshipped me as your steeds have already done. To create with the Ley Lines is a far easier task than to mend with my hands.”

Celestia felt bile rising from her throat, causing her chest to constrict painfully. This was beyond any horror she was forced to observe in her long rule. Not the trials of Discord, rebellion of Sombra, or even the betrayal of her sister compared to the evil of which this Macha so easily told. Her wings shuddered as she righted herself, steeling her eyes forward.

“You claim it was so simple,” she began to challenge the deity, her hooves digging into the stone as she spoke. “Yet here you stand without a kingdom, a people, or a crown. You were defeated by those you attempted to kill, weren’t you?”

Macha did not adopt the anger Celestia now wished to burn, the reminder that this creature was not the goddess she claimed to be, omnipotent and powerful. But instead, the black maned creature slowly blinked, her eyes turning tiredly from the alicorn and to one of the many painted glasses across the room.

“Defeated.” Macha spoke the word charily, working it through her ethereal voice. “I was defeated by one of the many I attempted to end, but not by him alone. He had a tool that did not belong to his people.”

“I returned to Aisling’s forest to find much of it gone.” Brendan’s inviting tone was gone, lost beneath the chill of his memories. “It was little different than the rest of the land. Trees burned, homes destroyed, and lives lost.”

Apple Bloom shirked her way back to her sister, searching for an embrace with her kin. Applejack easily took the filly inter her hooves, letting her little sister lean against her. The sniffling was far more than simply understandable; it was expected.

“At that time… I was old, far older than any of the warriors that attempted to resist Macha. But I had an idea that could stop her. Aisling,” His attention turned to the Fae still beside him, gripping his white robe tightly. “You didn’t approve.” She looked up at him before she spoke.

“You know why.” It was a statement, not her tone nor words giving room for otherwise. “You told me when you found me. You said goodbye…” The nymph’s head fell against the taller figure’s legs, all the signal Brendan needed to place his hands behind her back. “You used the book. You used your life.”

If not for the already cold air, Twilight was sure she would have been frozen.

“His what?” The unicorn spoke, her shock palpable. “You what?” Her question was quickly redirected to Brendan, who looked back at her with a somber expression. She watched his eyes look beside and around her, doubtlessly to the other ponies in the room. Twilight was not the only one that had the look of horror on her face.

“I spent my life writing the Book of Kells,” Brendan spoke on, his hand rubbing slow circles over Aisling’s back. “Over the many years I showed it to the people of the land, it became not simply a portray of hope, but a vessel. It was blessed by many lives, many tears, and many prayers.” The unicorn watched lips begin to form words, but then quickly change into something else. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Tools of metal and wood could not defeat Macha, but I saw that text of wishes and prayers could. When I confronted her, in the very place where we now stand, I let prayers kept within the text free. They weakened her, turned her into a state where her power meant nothing.” Brendan gave a small smile, but Twilight wasn’t sure why. “That was when I used the Eye of Crom to seal the portal, trapping her and ceasing her reign.”

“You gave your life for the safety of all,” Zecora spoke with reverence in her words, “Now I know why you don a white shawl.”

“He was a fool of a boy.” Macha described the man with disdain, a faceless figure that Celestia now swore she would revere past this moment. “His actions changed little in the wake of my plans, only prolonged them for eras I could little stand.”

“It sounds as if he did end your plans.” Celestia challenged, but only so much. Instigation was working wonders, but too much would earn scorn. Scorn would be met with violence, and she was not yet sure she could endure the magic of a creature that slew a species from the planet.

“No, he did not.” Macha’s eyes looked beyond the diarch and to the throne, the golden seat at the end of the hall. Her pale bare feet slowly carried her towards the object. “His people are still gone. Their monuments now naught but dust. Their history is lost.” She stopped enough to give Celestia the coldness of her gaze, the smallest ghost of a smile about her lips.

“You are proof that my steeds are now my new people.”

Celestia let the horror of her words absorb her as she stood frozen like stone, staring at the creature that continued its march. Macha walked gracefully across the floor, the dark of her mane flowing behind her and red of her dress lightly licking the air. Her feet made hardly a sound as they ascended and descended.

The dairch could summon little will to stop the goddess as she walked up the golden steps, turning as she reached their apex. Her tattered red dress lightly whipped about her, stopping only when she leant back.

Macha easily, inconsiderately, placed herself on the Throne of Canterlot.

“You see it now.” She commented to the stunned alicorn, her head lifting up till Celestia could see the underside of her chin. “You see now why it was so easy for me to enter this place, to walk to your presence and past your guards. Time has passed, but your species of mortal are far better to serve then the men from before. You, and your steeds, are far more understanding of power.”

“I do not.” Celestia challenged.

Her wings rose back to her sides, extending to increase her already grand stature, moving until she stood in front of her own invaded throne. Macha watched her with the same cold eyes, but the diarch felt a fire inside of her great enough to rid her form of the cold.

“I stand before you with only the thought of your wickedness. I see no good in your actions nor reason to follow. You are a monster, a murderer, and I will not allow my ponies or myself to ever see you as anything but this.” Celestia took pleasure in the faint snarl that curled the goddess’s lips.

“Your plans have already ended, as you said, yet here stands one of your creations, challenging your rule as the men from long past.” The diarch let magic flow into her horn. “So long as there are those who challenge the tyrants, your dream of rule is just a fantasy.”

“My words were that my plans were not ended, merely extended.” Macha crossed her legs on the throne, looking down at the alicorn as she interlaced her pallid fingers. “There is still much I must do.”

“The Eye of Crom kept Macha away, sealing the Ley Lines from her use. I returned the Eye at the cost of my life, but so that the world continued to live.” Brendan turned his eyes back to the Fae at his legs, smiling at her with the warmth that matched the glow around him. “And much good must have happened after my passing. You’re still here.”

The Fae caught on quick.

“And it’s still my forest.” Brendan laughed as Aisling giggled at her words, a familiar mantra the two shared, and now one the ponies understood. Twilight smiled at the affections the two shared.

“So, you’re back to stop Macha again then, right?” The question from Dash took the unicorn by a small amount of surprise, but she caught on quick to the pegasus’s logic. “I mean, that’s why you’re back. She broke out or something and you’re here to make sure she stays down this time.”

Twilight did not like the somber expression Brendan had.

STOP

A still collected in the air, eyes turning up and towards the tall figure, his own eyes avoiding the collective of gazes focused on him. Aisling’s bright smile slowly faded until it was but a ghost, then a phantom, then gone. Her green eyes stared at her old friend, waiting to hear the words that agreed with the pegasus. They weren’t coming.

“No,” Brendan finally spoke. His head lightly shook as he spoke, stopping only when he looked back at Aisling.

He stepped away from her, though not far. Only far enough for him to descend to one knee, to let his eyes reach the same level as the nymph that had guided and aided him so many centuries ago. She looked back at him, her eyes vulpine and unsure.

“Brendan?” She spoke his name like a question. He didn’t respond. “Brendan, you’re back. What’s wrong?”

“Aisling,” he spoke, raising his arms to rest on her shoulders. “You know I am not really here.”

The words did little good for the Fae.

“Yes you are,” she argued, her thin hands raising to grip one of her larger arms. “I can touch you, I can hear you, and I can see you. You are here, that is what it means.” The spirit’s head shook once more.

“No,” he spoke again. “I am there.”

His free hand lifted from Aisling’s shoulder traveling a short distance in the air before resting on the stone coffin beside them, his coffin, his tomb. The swallow in Aisling’s throat was audible.

“I am here to warn you, to warn them.” Brendan’s eyes turned to the ponies watching them, caught with their guilty voyeurism. “Macha has returned to finish what she began so long ago, but I can no longer act to stop her. All I can do now is share a message, a secret that will guide you and your friends.”

Aisling didn’t speak, she didn’t know what to say. Twilight felt her jaw shiver as Brendan began to rise. She suspected what was happening, saw it as the logical step to how the spirit of a long past life was acting, but she didn’t want to accept it. She couldn’t.

“Macha is strong, and her plans are sinister, but she does not plan to enact them alone.” He took in a slow breath before speaking again. “The book tells of how to stop her, of where to stop her, though not what her plans are.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Dash spoke up, trotting lightly forward before stopping. “Hold on, you’re talking like… you’re not gonna be here.” Rainbow felt her ears fold when Brendan turned to look at her. She saw in her eyes what she hated to see anyone’s eyes.

Pain.

“It is because I will not.” The gasps were only too expected. “My being here now is nothing more than a gift to answer my wish, and my wish was to keep Aisling safe.”

“Brendan,” said Fae spoke, holding his arm closer as she did so, “Where are you going? Why are you leaving me again?” Even with his smile, Twilight could only describe the look on Brendan’s face as sad.

“I’m going back, back to the Island of the Blest.” Brendan’s hand lifted and fell over Aisling’s, dwarfing the nymph’s smaller hands as he cupped them close. “I’m going back to my family, to be with my people.”

“No,” the Fae whispered miserably. Twilight felt a ball growing in her own throat. “No, you can stay, you can help. You help my forest. You belong here.” Her words became more and more desperate with every passing offer.

“But I don’t Aisling. I belong in the Land of the Young, the place where we all reside once we have past. Aisling,” Brendan’s hand cupped the Fae’s cheek. Tears ran down his palms as he did so. “I lived my life once already. I do not have the right to return to it.”

“But you can,” the nymph continued to implore. “You’re here now, you can stay. Please stay.” The nymph turned her head into the hand she held, pushing her weight into the touch of her long time friend.

She pushed right through him.

Aisling’s head whirled as her eyes opened wide. Her green eyes looked to her friend, horror and confusion written across her features.

Brendan was fading.

“Brendan!” She cried, reaching for him once more. Her hands passed through him. Twilight and her friends gasped behind her, frozen still by the sight. Aisling was little different, her hands held outwards, grasping through the cloak of her friend.

“I’m sorry Aisling,” Brendan spoke once more, the golden aura about him fading, his form turning into nothing. “I have done all that I can. The island is calling me back.”

“No!” The Fae cried again. “No! Don’t go! Brendan, don’t!” Her desperate pleas did not stop his vanishing body. Only more began to fade with each cold passing moment.

“It’s alright, Aisling.” He spoke once more, regretfully once more. “I’ll see you again. I promise.”

And then he was gone.

“Brendan!” Aisling cried as she reached for the fading light, grabbing at nothing. The warmth and brightness of the spirit’s aura gone.

“Brendan!” The Fae jumped at the light, once more holding onto nothing. She fell to the floor in a heap.

“Brendan…” The nymph was still on the stone, weak sobs racking her small form.

The glow of the lights around them only served to make the sight of the weeping Fae more sorrowful, the moving colors painting the image of sorrow. Her hair cocooned her, pale white strands distorted across the cold stone floor.

Tears fell down Twilight’s cheeks, unable to think of a single thing to say. Dash, not far from beside her, had her wings against the ground, hanging from her sides pitifully. Applejack had moved her hat over her eyes, keeping hidden the expression of grief she hated to wear. Zecora bowed her head, letting her own tears lip from her golden eyes.

Apple Bloom, however, was galloping.

It took a moment for Twilight to realize what the sound was, the clopping of hooves over the stone. When she was able to focus her gaze, she saw the filly quickly running for the nymph. A moment later, the little filly had her hooves around the Fae.

“Ah’m sorry,” the earth pony foal spoke in a miserable tone against the pale mane of Aisling. “Ah’m so sorry.”

In a flash, the nymph wrapped her own slender arms around the filly.

Her cries were more audible, the sight of her crying body more clear, and the dread only that much easier to see. The two embraced one another, unclear as to whom was comforting whom.

Twilight watched, tears still running down her muzzle, as Zecora joined the pair, her stripped legs wrapping around the smaller two beings, her head nuzzling over the Fae’s pale hair. It took only a short amount of time before Applejack joined them, her plaintive nature obvious even with her hat hiding her features. Rainbow Dash settled behind them, her wings and hooves blanketing the ponies beneath her, tears falling over the mares and nymph.

Twilight felt her hooves moving before she was aware she told them to. Her trot was slow, her mind still hazed by the scene she had witnessed. When she was standing just before the Fae and her friends, she wrapped her forelegs around the group of ponies, tightly holding onto them.

“I’m sorry Aisling,” she miserably whispered, clenching her legs around the group tight. “I’m so so sorry.”

Aisling let none of them go. Next Chapter: Second Encounters Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 46 Minutes