Epilogue: Back In Wonderland

~BlackRoseRaven

The young unicorn frowned curiously as he slowly strode through the forest, drawn onwards by a strange, reasonless feeling. He resembled his father, Scrivener Blooms, with his glossy black coat and tousled white mane and tail... but he had his mother's brilliant cyan-green eyes. And technically, he also had his mother's wings and teeth... although the leathery wings and sharp fangs clearly came from that darker half of Luna Brynhild called Nightmare Moon.

A necklace swayed around his neck, a glowing black star: it was precious to him, as it had been a gift from his father years ago. More than he liked to think of... he was sixteen years old, and had been without his parents for eight of those years. Yet all the same, he was strong, he did his best to be happy... and he clung to the hope that they were still alive.

Slowly, he stepped into the heart of the forest: a large clearing in front of a crystalline pond, a natural stone face jutting out over this like an altar. On one side of the clearing stood two massive ash trees: one twisted and strange, the other reaching high, branches eternally sweeping lightly through the sky, even on the windless days like this.

Antares Mīrus frowned in surprise as he saw that someone else was here, though, cocking his head curiously as he stared at a Draconequus in a patched purple suit. It looked back at him dumbly from beneath the black fedora on its head, a dragon-headed cane beside it and a notebook opened in one hand, a mala of onyx prayer beads dangling from the other as its jaw dropped before it spluttered: "What... what the hell are you doing here?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Antares blurted in reply in the same incredulous tone, and the two glared at each other for a few moments before the young stallion blushed, then stepped forwards and said awkwardly: "I... I mean, I'm Antares. What's your name? I'm sorry, you just... startled me. You're... no, you look like a Draconequus, but you're not, are you?"

"Oh come freaking on! It can't be that easy to tell!" the creature complained, looking hurriedly back and forth over himself before he grumbled and snapped his book closed, tucking it and the mala both hurriedly away. Then he sighed before sweeping up his cane, looking flatly at Antares. "Just call me Allonym. Come here, I got a story to tell you about your parents."

"You knew my parents?" Antares asked sharply, looking surprised, and the Draconequus smiled wryly, nodding slowly to the stallion. He hesitated, however, and then Allonym winced as he felt the young stallion's eyes drawing slowly over him, as his cutie mark of a constellation made up of nine different stars forming a rose gleamed quietly over his haunch. "You... you're telling the truth, and yet you're not."

"This is why you're going to be fun to work with, kid. You seem to be able to sneak up on me, and you've got those freaking x-ray eyes." Allonym muttered, and when Antares frowned, the Draconequus only smiled in response before he swept up his cane by the neck and spun it once, then gently bopped the stallion's nose with it. "What would you do if just your Dad had come back, at the expense of your Mom?"

Antares only looked down at this, and then he shook his head firmly, saying quietly: "That would never happen. Mom and Dad loved each other. They would do anything to save each other... but I know that no matter what happened, at the end they were together in everything. If Mom saved Dad at the expense of her own life... Dad would have seen it as a betrayal, and it would have been. I'm not glad they're both... lost... but..."

He stopped, then laughed a little, looking up and murmuring: "I know it sounds weird and all, but... I know Mom and Dad would pretty much attempt to kill themselves for each other. To save each other, you know? But I know, too, that... no matter how close they came to sacrificing themselves... they always stopped each other, too. Because they... they loved each other, so much. And it's not like they never loved me, or they don't love Twilight... or Aunt Tia, or Pinkamena, or Uncle Sleipnir or all their friends and family...

"But I also know that they... they were who they were because of each other. Because they were two halves of each other... they balanced each other out, gave each other strength, and I know that without that..." Antares smiled faintly, looking away. "Mom or Dad, alone, would still do anything for us. But I think that... they would also hurt a lot more, without the other, without that soul-link. They were like one person together. I can't imagine what it would feel like to be without that. The kind of tricks that would play on their mind, their heart, their soul... which would only be half a mind, half a heart, half a soul, without the other there. Sure, we would do everything we could to take care of Mom or Dad if they came back alone, but... I... I worry that it wouldn't be enough. And Mom or Dad would... use themselves up. One can't be without the other, like light and darkness, yin and yang. I mean, I look at Twilight, and see how much she hurts every single day... I think... of how much I miss them every single day... but I know the real reason we both keep going isn't... isn't even for ourselves. It's because we both believe Mom and Dad will be back one day, Luna and Scrivener will be back. And that the fact they're both gone, is... is actually a good thing. Because it means they're together... because it means that maybe we have the chance to save them both."

Allonym gave a quiet laugh, holding up a hand as he nodded firmly once, saying softly: "Because there's always light at the end of every long, dark tunnel, huh? And maybe... just maybe, Antares... you have what it takes to find them after all."

And Antares smiled up at the Draconequus, nodding slowly as the two looked at each other: storyteller and story-player, both looking forwards to the future and the tales yet to be told, the adventures to be had, and the darkness to be delved in the hopes it would give all that much more meaning to the light.

The depth of love shows not in joy,

But in sorrow, pain, and sacrifice:

Anyone can smile on a sunny day...

True love stays to weather the storm.

August 9th , 2012 – August 16th, 2012