The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: On The Road, Again

It was good to be on the road again. To be walking this path, to have returned to what felt like where they truly belonged: in the wilds, in the camps, on the untamed road.

During their first day, they encountered bandits, which Sol took out her recent frustrations on. During the second day, Sol heard there was a witch lurking in a swamp near a village, who demanded tribute and terrorized the villagers, and so Sol set out with her siblings to find and destroy this creature. It made the foolish error of challenging her with its dark magic, and Sol took great pleasure in the carnage that followed as Titan and Morgan only watched.

For a week, they traveled aimlessly back and forth in spite of Sol's usual cold focus, as Sol simply reveled in the freedom and the rightness of being able to walk this path. But at the end of their wild week, Sol finally took control of herself, reminding herself of the threat of the Tyrant Wyrm, and that no such wilds would exist any longer if she did not deal with the monsters she direly did not want to.

For she knew that the Tyrant Wyrms were evil, and destroyers, and that every time they stood against them, their dark voices tainted them. She knew that Equestria would treat Veliona like a hero, should the Dark Goddess and her deathless hordes aid in conquering the beasts: the most cunning and cruel of victories for Veliouna would not come with open war, after all, but with acceptance. And Sol simply could not accept that such an evil being would be allowed to live out its days beside her... worse, accepted, more than perhaps she was.

So perhaps for a little while, she did not mind leaving Equestria to flounder, demonstrating that it was she who could solve any problem, defeat any foe, even as the Wyrms returned to ravaging their territories. But she knew she had to save the nation: if not for the ponies, then because her siblings were getting anxious.

Sol knew what had to be done, and she would do it. It would perhaps be done at her own pace, and she would perhaps use the Wyrm's incursion as a method to cull some of the weak and foolish from their ranks, but what was the harm in that? She planned to save every innocent life in Equestria.

There simply weren't that many innocents left.

Was there anything wrong with what she was doing? She didn't think so. It was justified, and she had no place being here, fighting for these ponies, anyway. She was here because of her siblings, and she was here to protect her foolish siblings. She would destroy the Wyrms because yes, she recognized their threat, and she would find a way to unite Equestria, because yes, the nation needed to be united, under one banner and one strong ruler.

But it was only a fool who thought she was doing any of it because she cared for these people, or this nation. Sol cared only for two things: her siblings, and her victory over evil.

And all who defied her, she was happy to mark as 'evil.'

The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: Where We Belong

The open road awaited them again, after what felt like too long. Sol would never admit it, but even though Canterlot had been a fine base of operations... it hadn't been home. No, home always had been and always would be the open road, the fields and plains, the forests and even the dungeons that they delved, long before it would be a city. Sol always acted like she preferred the stone walls and the whitewashed, polished castles... but no fort nor home would ever feel as safe to her as the open road. No, houses and cities were nothing but gilded cages.

Titan and Morgan were much more enthusiastic and honest in their happiness to return to traveling together... although Morgan had insisted on bringing her Paladin. Of course, the Paladin himself had been the one to insist, but it was Morgan who acted as his voice and carried his word. Sol thought perhaps Morgan even disagreed with the decision, but all the same... here he was. Morgan was a servant to her love, after all; it was a weakness, Sol thought, but she thought that it was a vulnerability that was growing smaller, as Morgan became more tired and more aware of what she was giving up for this foolish young stallion.

And another would join them on the road, whom neither Morgan nor Sol desired... but Sol recognized his value, and Titan encouraged them both to trust in him. He was a Blood Seer, who had traveled with them for some time before as an adviser, serving alongside the other mages, hiding in plain sight. He was talented and young, and he was keen to learn more of Tyrant Wyrms. Sol did not trust him or his kind, and would gladly have put him under her sword... but she recognized his value, and he was assiduous in his research and, so far, had not been foolish enough to lie to them.

So they were not quite alone... but nor were they babysitting an army, and nor would they have to worry about slowing their pace or changing their ways. Their guests would simply have to learn to keep up with them on their travels, although Sol had no doubt that ever-generous Titan would help the two along when they stumbled, and Morgan, of course, would not leave her Paladin behind.

It was a compromise Sol only allowed out of the love she had for her siblings, and the little usefulness she could see in these ponies accompanying them. The Blood Seer for his strange and dangerous powers, the Paladin for his connections to the Holy Order, and because he was high enough rank to make it easier for them to pass through waypoints controlled by soldiers of the faith, who lived in and between every barony to help keep the peace.

Veliuona would be staying behind, in Canterlot: they would communicate with her when necessary by night magic that she had taught Morgan, and when information needed to be passed along but was not urgent, by simple magic letter. Sol knew Veliuona would use her time in the city to twist and manipulate what minds she could into seeing the world through her dark lenses... but she also knew that Veliuona would not risk doing overmuch, for fear that it would bring Sol rushing back... or worse, might encourage Sol to herd the monstrous Tyrant Wyrms straight against the city. Sol, after all, cared little about saving the baronies: even her desire to save Equestria waxed and waned with her mood, which was as ever-changing as the sun's journey through the skies above.

For now, though, Sol knew that one way or the other, the Tyrant Wyrms had to be stopped: and so it was with that in mind that she set out, with her siblings and allies beside her, ready to find the source that had brought about all this evil, and put a stop to this grave new threat to the nation before it could become any more dangerous than it already was.

The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: Regrouping

Their course was set: they were on the return to Canterlot, to gather more supplies and develop new methods of fighting back against the threat of the Tyrant Wyrm. They had repelled at least part of the invasion, and Sol felt that this was not a foe any army could march against: not with the terrible powers that the Wyrms had.

No, it would be better to train the armies of Equestria to learn to repel and survive the invasions of the Wyrm, how to defy them and defeat them. But hunting down the source and the pack-lords among the beasts, that was something that Sol wanted to do with only her siblings at her side.

But the thorn in her hoof was Veliuona: she did not want to leave the dark goddess in Canterlot, where she could work her malign manipulations over the ponies there. Nor did she want to bring Veliuona with her: she was not blind to the fact that the Goddess of Cursed Shades seemed to have some strange and evil intent on Morgan, whatever she might say otherwise. Worse still was the fact that Veliuona walked with an army of the dead. There was no telling what they would do, clustered in the home of the living...

Sol had at least devised a partial solution: she had asked Veliuona to divide up her army of the dead, to send small contingents to every city around Equestria, where they would help defend them against attacks from Tyrant Wyrms. Veliuona had agreed... although she had been less pleased when she had discovered Sol had already sent messengers on ahead to warn of the incoming platoons of living dead, and that shelters were to be erected for them outside of city bounds. Sol knew it was still dangerous, like having caged beasts outside the city walls for defense. But it was better than having the undead inside the cities, and it was far better still than having that entire army congregating in one area.

Sol did not know what she would ask Veliuona herself to do: as much as she valued the Goddess of Cursed Shades as an ally - whether she would admit that or not - she didn't trust her. She hated her, and perhaps feared her, and most of all, did not understand the creature, nor was willing to acknowledge what similarities they possessed.

Veliuona, however, helpfully provided a solution for her: she wished to return to her own dark tower, where she could gather more Velites and soldiers to bring forward to their cause. Sol disliked the idea of the goddess bolstering her armies further, but all the same, knew it was necessary. If the people of Equestria were to survive the wrath of the Wyrms while she and her siblings searched for the source of this evil, then they would need every weapon and defense they could find, and the undead were the only creatures they knew of that could withstand the poisons of the Tyrant thralls.

So there, at the crossroads to Canterlot, they went their separate ways: yet Sol knew this was far from the last time she would see Veliuona... and she did not know whether or not she hoped that the next time they met would be as friend, or as enemy.

The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: Sinner

The Paladin was weak, and the Paladin was foolish. This was something that Veliuona had known from the beginning... but how weak and how foolish was something she was still learning, with both interest and perhaps the slightest feeling of pity. After all, she had no designs on him, and knew that antagonizing Morgan or worse yet, Sol, would just work against her.

But the Paladin was weak, and the Paladin was easy to manipulate... so easily twisted, as a matter of fact, that Veliuona was forced to manipulate him purely to halt the trials of others upon his head. He was foolish, and he was easily led astray, and most of all, he seemed to crave power: Veliuona wondered if Sol knew about his failings, or if she suspected, as the Goddess of Cursed Shades had come to, that it was not poor Morgan the Paladin loved, but rather... Morgan's power.

Still, the Paladin was also nothing more than a pawn, and one who was barely worth the time to look over: unicorn or not, he had no magic that could sap Morgan's strength, and Paladin or not, he was no strong fighter, no first-class warrior. He was a son of the Order, with no parents to return home to, his whole life taken up by the church. He was named, as all lost children were, with a name that spoke of his abandonment. A cruel reminder, Veliuona thought, that he had been born into the Order's chains.

The Paladin was terrified of her. But terror had an allure, and it had not been long before the Paladin was sneaking in and out of her encampment in the dark of the night. She would play host to him, mostly because the one advantage the Paladin held over her was his closeness to the legendary siblings... although she learned precious little from him. Partly because she did not want to use him to spy on the siblings, as she had no doubt that sending him on such a mission would end with his head on a platter, and Sol turning on her. Sol did not miss details: as it was, Veliuona suspected that Sol knew that the Paladin was visiting her secretly.

Poor Morgan, Veliuona thought! Her lover, a traitor to her. Perhaps not yet in the ways that Veliuona suspected he one day would be, but to love another, and to discover that they had been holding clandestine meetings with another... Veliuona knew her own wrath would be terrible, and that was even before considering what such secret meetings might hold. It was a breach of trust: so strange and ironic that a goddess of darkness should not be the one to call these meetings, but who was, in fact, trying to urge the Paladin to speak up.

That, perhaps, was her one wish, her one manipulation: to use the Paladin to bring Morgan back to her, back to where she could teach her, instruct her, show her their kinship. For she knew that Morgan was just like her, in her heart of hearts: she longed for a greater goal, but one that could only be accomplished with shadows and dark powers. She did not belong in Sol's blinding day: she, too, was a creature of the night.

Veliuona saw Sol only as a dangerous ally whom she knew would one day turn on her... but Morgan, she thought, could still be twisted. Could still be...saved, perhaps, was the word she was looking for.

Because for some reason, Veliuona did not expect even the love that Sol had for Morgan... would ever be enough to outweigh the tyrant heroine's love of herself, and hatred for the long, dark night.

The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: With Equal Gaze

When Veliuona and Sol spoke, after the Tyrant Wyrm ambush, it was as equals. For the first, and perhaps the only time, they gazed into one another's eyes without judgment nor suspicion, and spoke to each other with respect and candor.

They spoke of the Wyrms. They spoke of the country. They spoke of each other, and what they would have to do, and how ready they thought they were for the evils ahead. But although they had found respect for each other, they were soon left wanting more, for they both carried a dangerous pride, and an equally-dangerous desire to see themselves treated in the way they thought they deserved.

Veliuona and Sol were very similar in many ways: both wielded forbidden magic, although one spoke haughtily of the arts of light and the other arts of darkness. Both desired control, and to see order in Equestria. Both thought very little of all outside their chosen family, and a few choice champions who had demonstrated their mettle.

But it was this similarity that bred contempt in one another. They were blind to where they were the same, and what they shared. They saw only the qualities in each other they hated, and could not swallow the bitter rivalry between them. Or perhaps, to be fair, Sol could not: if not for her constant provocation, how she could not help but tilt conversations in her favor, always making further demands of the dark goddess, they may have all the same found some middle ground, some meaning between them.

But, as Sol would learn, if one spent all their time accusing another of being heretic and traitor... eventually, they would drive even those with the best of intentions and the greatest of patience to committing the very acts they so loudly warned of.