Chapter 3: Interbellum
A/N: I'm finishing these chapters way faster than I thought I would and I have no idea why.
Luna and Twilight looked at Celestia as she panicked. Krieg simply kept smiling and started to descend.
"What's wrong Celly? Aren't you happy to see me again after so many years?" Celestia backed up until she bumped into the fallen house Cadence was under. She looked as Krieg's hair began flowing in the air and took on a look similar to Celestia and Luna's.
"How? How can you possibly still be alive?" Krieg's smile became crooked.
"What's going on, princess? How do you know him?" Twilight asked. Celestia frowned as she looked at Krieg.
"His real name is Jupiter, an abomination of nature. He was banished from Equestria by mine and Luna's father a thousand years ago." Jupiter shook his head while his smile only grew.
"Aren't you leaving out a teeny tiny little detail now Celly?" Celestia clenched her teeth so hard that they almost cracked.
"What would that detail be?" Celestia quickly turned to Luna and tried to glare her down. But Luna simply kept looking at Jupiter as his smile became warm when he looked at her.
"You've grown so much Lulu." Luna quirked an eyebrow at Jupiter's nickname for her. Then, she felt a severe headache and a number of images started flashing in her head.
"Come on Lulu, I know you can fly faster than that."
"Don't cry Lulu, I'm sure it will be ok."
"Whatever you decide, I'll there right next to you."
"I love you Lulu. I'll say it as many times as I need to. All you have to do is call me that again."
"Big… Big brother?" Jupiter smile grew as tears started rolling down his cheeks.
"I'm here Lulu, big brother's here." Luna started shacking as some memories from long ago started coming back. Suddenly she rushed to Jupiter, jumped and enveloped him in a hard hug. Jupiter hugged back and brought his wings around them.
"Big brother!" Luna cried out as the tears started flowing out. Jupiter hugged her harder.
"Shh, it's ok now Lulu, it's ok. I'll never leave you alone again." He said as he began stroking her back. Meanwhile, Twilight was looking back and forth from Celestia, Luna and Jupiter.
"Will somepony PLEASE tell me what the hay is going on?!" Jupiter let go of Luna and flew up into the air.
"My name is Jupiter. I am the oldest child of Caelus and Terra. I rule the Twilight, the mixed essence of light and darkness. I am also the true heir to the Equestrian throne." Jupiter looked at Celestia and smiled a mocking smile. "Did I leave out anything, little sis?" Celestia glared at Jupiter.
"You forgot that you're an abomination of nature, a freak that never should have been born. And you caused the events that lead up to Nightmare Moon." The princesses gasped at that. Luna looked at Jupiter as that time was still missing from her memories. Jupiter's smile disappeared and was replaced with a hard glare that made Celestia regret what she had just said.
"Am I Celly? Am I really? Maybe you should work through that small brain of yours and maybe you'll remember that you're the real cause of me losing my little sister for so long!" The last part was said in such a demonic tone that it seemed to come from the darkest deeps of hell itself.
Twilight didn't know what to think. Jupiter and Celestia kept glaring at each other when an Equestrian soldier was tossed across the town.
"We can deal with all of this later. Right now, we need to end this war." She said. Jupiter looked at her and nodded his head.
"You're right. This war ends now." Celestia looked up at her brother.
"Does that mean you surrender, Jupiter?" She asked. Jupiter returned to glaring at her.
"No, it means that Equestria is no more." Celestia's eyes widened and she found the energy to stand.
"You can't be serious! There is no way I would give this land to you!" She screamed.
"To bad for you that it only need the majority of the royals to win." Jupiter turned to Luna and smiled a warm smile that she returned.
"I vote that we end this war." Celestia stared at Luna with her mouth wide open. Never, since Nightmare Moon, had Luna gone against her sister.
"I vote for that too." This time, it was Twilight who Celestia stared at.
"I vote against!" Cadence yelled. She had managed to crawl out from under the house and was glaring at Twilight, Luna and Jupiter.
"I also vote against." Celestia said. "I guess that means the war keeps going." She said while smiling a smug smile. Jupiter however, smiled one right back at her.
"And I vote for an end to the war." Celestia quirked an eyebrow at Jupiter. "Caelus may have disowned me, but Terra never did. So I'm technically still a royal of Equestria. I win, Celly." Celestia again stared at Jupiter. Then, she jumped towards him but Drake and another griffon flew in and quickly restrained her. "Good work men. Now then," Jupiter clapped his hands together above his head, generating a loud clap that could rival thunder.
With that, the war between Equestria and Utopia ended with Equestria's loss. Some citizens of Utopia moved over to the former Equestria land and the restoration work went under way.
Two weeks after the war, Jupiter was going over some documents in the archives when Luna came in. He didn't notices her entering the room until she nuzzled his neck. He turned his head and smiled when he saw her. His eyes were the same as his post-transformation but the horn and wings were gone.
"What are you doing brother?" She asked as she looked at the documents that were in a different language from the Equestrian she had learned.
"Just changing some of the old Utopian laws. Now that equines are official citizens of Utopia, it would be stupid to forbid interspecies relationships with them." He said. Luna nodded her head before once again looking at the documents, this time noticing that some of them were in Equestrian.
"Why are some of the documents in a different language?" Jupiter smiled at his sister.
"This is the official language of Utopia." Luna still looked confused at the strange language. Jupiter shook his head with his smile only growing. "Utopia uses a different language, well at least in areas that have been controlled for a long time. Krieg, for example, means war. Some of the citizens from the early times who learned Utopian took to calling me that, and the name just stuck with me."
The door opened and a dragon wearing Utopian armor came in.
"Excuse the intrusion my lord. But the trial against the captain of the loyalists is about to begin." Jupiter turned to the guard and nodded before he stood up from his chair.
The guard escorted Jupiter and Luna to the throne room where the loyalist captain was restrained between two dragon soldiers. Jupiter sat down on the middle one of three thrones with Luna on his right and Celestia on his left. Drake walked up before him and rolled out a scroll and started reading.
"The green Pegasus with a red mane and tail that is before us is guilty of crimes against Utopia and her people. Fire Leaf has conspired with others to start a civil war, a charge he doesn't deny." Jupiter looked at the Pegasus who glared back.
"Do you have anything to say before I deliver my verdict and seal your fate?" Jupiter said. Fire Leaf stood up and held his head high.
"Glory to Equestria!" He shouted. When he looked around at the people who had come to watch, many of them ponies, he felt betrayed as none joined him in his wish to return Equestria. Jupiter sighed.
"Take him to the dungeon, I'll deal with him later." The soldiers grabbed Fire and dragged him out of the throne room. Jupiter and Luna rose from their seats and also left. Then, a unicorn soldier came running to Jupiter.
"My lord, we need your help!" Jupiter nodded at the guard as a sign to continue. "Some residents of Ponyville have reported strange things in the Everfree Forest. We sent in some soldiers but they came out, running for their lives a little after dark. They said, and I quote, 'The dead rose from the ground and tried to eat them'." Until the part of the dead, Jupiter hadn't paid any attention. But after, he got a look of horror which quickly turned into one of determination. He made his way to the closest balcony and summoned his wings while Luna ran up to him.
"Brother, wait! What's wrong? Why are you leaving?"
"To do something I should have done a long time ago." He said and took off towards the Everfree Forest.
It didn't take him long to reach the forest. He had hardly touched down before he entered it and quickly made his way towards the center. After reaching about half way there, a dark, skeletal hoof shot out of the ground and grabbed his leg. Jupiter stared at the hoof and his eyes flickered. Then, the hoof exploded with such force that it also blew up the body underneath. He turned around when he heard something in the bushes behind him.
An earth pony with a grey coat and a blood red mane emerged from the bushes, looking at Jupiter with wide eyes.
"Jupiter?" She asked with her voice filled with doubt.
"Mitta?" He asked. The mare nodded her head as her eyes began filling with tears. She slowly walked to Jupiter before she reached out a hoof, only to be pulled into his arms. "Oh Mitta, I've missed you for so long. I'm so, so sorry you had to be stuck with those psychopaths." He said as the tears started rolling down his cheeks. Mitta finally let the tears lose and hugged Jupiter back.
"Jupiter, it's horrible. Every day, they keep throwing that party. Please don't make me go back there." She cried as Jupiter stroked her mane.
"Don't worry Mitta, Caelus is gone. You can come with me, back to Canterlot. No one can stop us from being together now." He said. Mitta pulled back and looked him in the eyes. She then pressed her lips against his. They stayed like that for a while before Jupiter pulled back. He placed his hand on her head and it glowed and Mitta passed out and he took off towards Canterlot, with Mitta safe in his arms.
Luna was waiting on the balcony when they returned. When she saw Mitta, she felt how she should know her, but couldn't remember.
"Who is she, brother?" Luna asked after Jupiter had put Mitta in his temporary room that he was using until his old room is found. He looked at Luna as he stroked Mitta's mane.
"A friend that I did something terrible to under our fathers rule." Luna looked at her brother with concern. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were still wet. She nuzzled him but he didn't return it, only observing Mitta as she slept.
Then, Mitta slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times before looking at Jupiter and Luna.
"Jupiter? And Luna? Where am I?" She asked. Jupiter simply kept stroking her mane as he smiled.
"You're in Canterlot, away from them." Luna slightly flinched at the demonic tone her brother used when he referred to whatever he had saved Mitta from. Mitta, however, looked relieved.
"So does that mean that I'm not going to turn into 'that' again?" Her voice was full of enthusiasm, enthusiasm that disappeared when Jupiter's smile faltered.
"Not yet Mitta, we need to wait for the twilight, when my power is the strongest for me to break the curse." Mitta's smile disappeared before it returned, only a little smaller.
"Well, what harm could it do to wait a little longer?" Jupiter pulled Mitta into a tight hug, and Luna could feel how she was becoming jealous of the earth pony being so close to her brother. Then, a Pegasus guard came bursting through the door.
"My lord! Somepony just appeared from the Everfree Forest. He said that if you don't return what you took from him, he'll kill your daughter." Jupiter let go of Mitta, who had a look of pure terror on her face, and turned to the guard. The guard felt his blood run cold from the look of pure rage in Jupiter's eyes.
"Where is he?" The guard saw his life flashing before his eyes. "Tell me, or your life really will be over!" The guard felt his legs give way as he fell down on the floor.
"He and his men are making their way here." Jupiter rose and took off towards a balcony with Luna following him. Mitta stayed behind, hiding under the blanket.
"Brother, where are you going this time?" Jupiter stopped when he reached the balcony and had summoned his wings. He looked at Luna with sadness in his eyes.
"I'm going to do something I couldn't do back then." He said and took off. As he was flying, he could only think of one thing. "Don't worry baby, daddy's coming."