After this Epilogue goes up, I will no longer be posting to Light of the Moon. I will be still posting weekly, and I'll be doing a series of shorts depicting the aftermath of the return to Equestria. Once I've got all the details hammered out, look forward to the sequel to Light of the moon, Lunar Legacy. But for now... Enjoy!

Epilogue: Dawn Breaker

It was bright. That was the first thing he knew. That and his entire body was suspended in some sort of liquid. Tubes were connected to various points in his body, with a respirator stuck in his mouth. He lifted his hands to examine them, finding to scars or anything on them. His body was whole. As he felt the muscles in his arms and legs recover, he could hear a machine working, opening a glass cover to his liquid bed. A metal framework formed behind him, pulling him over the surface of the predominately greenish liquid. Tubes and wires connected to his skin broke free as they did so, freeing him. As he moved to pull out the respirator, a voice to his left spoke up.

"Are you awake?" The dark haired woman standing there fixed him with her green eyes, waiting for his answer. He didn't reply right away, working to spit out the respirator and detach the rest of the wires from his body. The metal frame rotated him out of the pod, letting him place his feet on the ground. He moved his legs, testing his muscles to see if they would support his weight.

"Is everything working?"

He glanced again at the woman, this time deciding to test his vocal cords. "…Seems… like it." He said slowly, turning to spit up a bit of leftover liquid.

The woman nodded. "The muscle memory will come back rapidly. You just need to give it time."

"I'm… well aware. This isn't my first time."

"Oh? You realize we almost were unable to retrieve you in time." The woman glared at him. "You cut it quite close."

"Hmph." He rose up on his legs, staggering a bit as he did so. The woman quickly moved to his side to steady him. "…Thank you."

"Take it slowly."

"Right. What's… what's our situation?"

"We took heavy losses, and a vast majority of the Equestrians escaped."

"Gem and Ini?"

"Still alive, Leo," The dark haired woman said. "The Mad Rose King seemed to be in a good mood…this time."

Leo narrowed his eyes. Jehu Striate. Just thinking the name made him scowl. The Chaos Mage was a legend among the ranks of the Zodiac, the one who killed the god of the world travelling Babylonians. The Machine God Babylon and the Mad Rose King Jehu had torn apart almost three dozen worlds during their struggle. "That man… one day, we will be rid of him. He brings us nothing but trouble."

"That will have to wait," the woman said, consulting what looked to be a data pad. "Taurus and Pisces are still getting used to their new bodies, and you are still not combat capable."

Leo diverted his attention to the rows of pods along the walls. Identical copies of the body he was now in were suspended in their own pods, waiting for use. Other rows contained spare bodies for the rest of the Zodiac Knights. "…The only reason I am able to acclimate to this body is due to my Spirit of Obedience, is it not true, Virgo?"

"Very true, Leo. But even you will take some time to regain your former combat prowess."

"True enough." Leo flexed his hand, closing and opening his fist. "…The status of the Knot?"

"Still in possession of the one named Nanna Hymir. She seems to be taking to it quite well."

"How unfortunate that we do not have a Spirit of Order available for her." Leo continued walking, Virgo at his side. They were silent for a long time, neither speaking. The woman was busy working at a data-pad in her hands. Leo gave a rare smirk. "Perhaps she would be suited to the Spirit of Understanding?"

Virgo glared at him again. "You know as well as I do she would not reach my level within two thousand years."

"A jest, Virgo."

A scoff greeted his admittance. "You are not suited to it. Leave that to Pisces."

"As you say. Is there anything else I should know?"

"…Nexus grows in strength. Anastasia Striate recently killed Capricorn, so there is no one currently watching the City of Silence."

"Send Cancer. The Spirit of Sight will prevent her from being assassinated so easily."

"As you wish." They turned into a doorway and entered an armory. Suits of armor hung on the walls, and Leo went and pulled off a few pieces. He got into his armor quickly, and then summoned his sword. It appeared in a flare of golden magic, and he held it up to the light.

"The grasp of a weapon brings back my muscle memory," He murmured, quickly flourishing the weapon expertly before coming to rest in a still stance. "Perfect."

"It seems you're at least combat capable," Virgo said, a disinterested look on her face. "Did you need anything else from me? I need to make sure Capricorn's process has gone without a hitch."

"No," Leo said, running his hand along the blade of his weapon. With that, Virgo left. Leo stayed in the armory, thoughtful. "…So I am still a bit rusty. But I will be ready in time. Balance shall be restored. And next we meet, Tyr Hymir… I will kill you."

-x-

"Hey. Hey! Time to get up!"

Tyr blinked his eyes several times. He was in a dimly lit room, and what looked like bookshelves lined the walls. "Where… where am I?"

"Currently lying on a bloody mattress. Now get up!"

The female voice was familiar, and Tyr sat up. However, the woman before him was the last one he expected to see. The raven haired Mercy was looking down at him with a frown. He stared at her for a long time, unable to figure out what was going on. "…Mercy? Why are you… where am I?"

"One thing at a time. Get up." The woman flicked him in the forehead.

"Ow! Okay, I'm getting up." Tyr pushed himself off the bed, finally noticing the blood stains covering the sheets. His battle with Leo jumped to the forefront of his mind, and he looked over his body for injuries. To his surprised, all his wounds were bandaged up and healing. "…I'm still in one piece?"

"Not for lack of trying," Mercy said, beginning to fold up the bloody mattress. "You were almost ripped apart. It took Isabel and Willow the better part of a week to close up all your wounds."

"I see…"

"It's a pain in the ass that wounds caused by a weapon enchanted with Order can't be healed with normal magic."

"Why… why not?"

"Order is contradictory to Nature," Mercy explained like he should know this already. "Chaos is natural, so Order contradicts it."

"Uh…"

"Order magic can only be truly countered by Chaos magic. Remember when you fought against that AMP?"

Tyr glanced around at her in surprise. "You saw that?"

"We're always watching," Mercy replied evenly.

"Right…"

The raven-haired woman glanced over at him. Her demeanor almost completely changed, and suddenly her tone was much softer. "…You should sit down, Tyr."

Tyr staggered over to a nearby chair and collapsed into it. His body was exhausted and sore all over. "Does it always suck so much after a fight like that?"

"You fought an opponent on equal ground," The woman said. "Being tired and sore means you gave it your all.

"My apologies, Alpha, for I must take some of the blame," A soft voice murmured. Tyr looked over to find Fenrir, in her miniature form, sitting on a bookshelf. She looked a bit dejected. "Exerting my powers by invoking my Concept name has the unfortunate downside of draining you physically afterwards. You were unconscious for almost two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Tyr blinked. "I… wow."

Mercy finished with what she was doing and let out a sigh. "To be fair, you did hold up quite well against a much more experienced Order mage. Although if it wasn't for your friend, you would have died."

"Vanna…" Tyr frowned, staring down at his lap. His dragon friend had risked his life in or der to save his. And he didn't even know if the metalsmith had survived or not. "Did he…?"

"Never found the body." Jehu entered the room, that familiar grin on his face. "And dragon-kin are notoriously hard to kill."

Tyr let out a relieved sigh. "So everyone made it out okay, huh? That means… it wasn't for nothing."

Jehu and Mercy shared a somewhat confused look. Jehu's smile vanished, only to be replaced by a frown. "To be honest, I expected a bit more… anger."

"I can't really be angry when I was the one who pushed them to leave."

"Fair point." Jehu's grin returned. "So, did you have fun fighting Leo?"

"…I suppose. He was quite a challenge."

"And you fought him on equal terms, Alpha," Fenrir said proudly.

"But lost everything for it," a soft voice said. They all turned to see Isabel entering the room, eyes as red as blood. She gave Tyr a sad smile. "…I'm sorry."

"Isabel," Mercy warned, but it was too late. Tyr suddenly dropped his head into his hands, body suddenly shaking with despair. He cried. The tears he had held back in order to stay strong, to never show weakness came rolling out all at once. Mercy sniffled, wiping her own eyes. It was times like these she hated being an empath. "…Great."

"Sorry mom," Isabel said with a weak chuckle. "Since I was using Tsukiyomi so much to heal Tyr, I couldn't get up here without using the All-Seeing Eyes."

Jehu shook his head. "You gotta deal with the blindness eventually, love."

Isabel pouted. "I know, but I don't wanna!"

Tyr looked up at the three other people in the room with him. The nonchalant air they had around them was… infuriating. "You guys seem kinda indifferent about all this."

Jehu gave him an unreadable look. "When you've seen so many of your friends die, just losing them to another dimension isn't that bad."

"All your loved ones are still alive as well," Isabel agreed.

"Plus, we've simply been through the same thing," Mercy pointed out. "Multiple times, in fact."

"I… I see." Tyr frowned.

"Believe me buddy," Jehu said, moving closer. "If we could send you to them, we would. But we can't do that."

"…Right."

Jehu glanced over at his wife. She gave him a short nod. "Although… we do have something for you. A job opportunity of sorts."

Tyr looked up at him, confusion on his face The other man gestured for him to follow, so he got up and left the room. Fenrir hopped off her perch on the shelf to hang onto Tyr's shoulder. But the sight that greeted them both made their jaws drop open wide. Shelves upon shelves of books stood atop each other and stretched into almost visible infinity. "So… so many books…"

"An uncountable number to be sure," Jehu said with a grin. He swept his arm in a wide arc. "Welcome to our home, Tyr. Where you can find anything and everything. Oh, and I do mean everything."

"You live here?"

"Over there, mostly," Mercy pointed to a medium sized structure that looked like a house.

Fenrir frowned. "Is that a house? In a library?"

"Weird things happen here," Isabel said with a slight smile.

"This place is… unreal." Tyr moved to the edge of the balcony they were standing on. "Where… where are we?"

"In a place between worlds. This place exists but does not exist. It is both real and imaginary. Sounds awesome, right?"

"…Yeah…"

"Anyways, how would you like to work for me?" Jehu asked, turning to the other man. The violet eyes were narrowed, and the grin on the mage's face was… disturbing. "You'd have complete access to any book here, and any information you wanted. What do you think?"

"What?"

"Think of all the people—or ponies—you'd disappoint! You really want to just lay down and die after all that?"

Tyr narrowed his eyes. "Where are you going with this, Jehu?"

"I'm offering you a job, Tyr. We're offering you a job. What, you want this part of your story to end already?"

Tyr glanced around, finding the entire Striate family behind him—Mercy, Isabel, Passion, Anastasia and Willow. They were all waiting on his response. He let a sigh escape his lips. Without a way to get to Luna, he had nothing else, did he? But what Jehu said… It caught Tyr's attention. "My story… end?"

"Yes! Every story has their arcs, their climaxes and their resolutions," Jehu said with a laugh. "But if there's one thing I've learned from working in this library, no story ever truly ends."

"…Why?"

"Because whenever a story ends, a new story awakens," Jehu said, gesturing to a nearby bookshelf. Tyr looked, and spotted an open book lying on a somewhat clean shelf. As he watched, the pages filled up with text before ending suddenly. The book closed, righted itself on the shelf, and then another book appeared on the shelf beside it. The cover was similar yet obviously different. "When one sees a story, sometimes they are inspired to continue the story, or form something similar. And endless array of stories creating more stories. And an ever growing Library to house them all."

"…You've been here a while." Tyr said, more of a statement than a question.

"We're much older than we seem," Isabel pointed out with a small giggle.

"So I'm offering you a job," Jehu said. "You work for me, since your own world hates you and the world you wish to live in you don't know how to get to."

Tyr stared at him flatly. "…Thanks for the reminder."

"You're welcome!"

Mercy frowned. "So, we've made you the offer. Are you willing to join us?"

"Just to point out," Ana spoke up, pulling her headphones off her head to rest around her neck. "Joining us is permanent."

"So no take-backsies!" Passion said cheerily.

Tyr looked around the family. Jehu and Passion were both watching him with wide grins. Mercy seemed a bit annoyed he hadn't replied yet, while Isabel looked like the picture of patience. Ana was simply waiting, and Willow was playing with a flower on her arm. He stayed silent for a moment, reaching into his shirt to extract his necklace. He looked down at the so-called Element of Valor. It had reverted to its default state, pure silver with a rainbow of colors across it and a dark blue shield in its center. The light it once held was gone however, and it looked like a normal accessory. He let out a sigh. "…Yes. I'll take the job."

"Even if I make you kill?" Jehu asked the question with a savage grin.

"I'm no stranger to death."

"Even if I make you steal?

The silver eyed man frowned. "I can do that."

The glow in the violet eyes grew menacing. "Even if I ask you to sell your soul?"

Tyr let out a heavy sigh. "As long as it's not for anything pointless…"

"Even if you never see your friends again?"

That made the silver eyed man pause ever so slightly. But he pressed on regardless. "…If there is no way to ever see them again." Tyr stared back at the other man with determination in his eyes.

"I have your word?" Jehu held out his hand. Purple sparks danced about his arm as his cloak's sleeve slid back to reveal an intricate black geometric tattoo. It almost looked like tribal markings. Tyr glanced about at the others. Mercy looked impassive, but her vibrant green eyes were menacing. Passion stood between a pair of hyenas, both made of metal. One was a blazing red, and the other was a more subdued violet. Isabel was seated on a chair, seven white robed masked performers arrayed behind her. Ana was accompanied by what looked to be some sort of floating wolf made up of stars. When he turned back to Jehu, the man was surrounded by several snakes made of chains. Tyr reached out and grasped the other man's hand, his own silver tinged magic flaring to life and Fenrir appearing at his side in her wolf form. It was obvious what was going on. These were the Chaos Spirits bound to this family, and they were waiting for his answer. He steeled himself.

"You have my word," Tyr said. With that statement, the Chaos Spirits seemed to come alive.

"Repentance," The snakes behind Jehu whispered.

"Mayhem!" The hyenas beside Passion laughed.

The performers around Isabel shifted to look at the center one, one more elegantly dressed. The mask on its face was the stereotypical frowning drama mask, yet there were no eyes. It spoke. "…Tragedy."

The star-wolf grinned, showing off its rows of teeth, almost like a shark. "Agony!" It said, almost cheering.

Fenrir stood up proudly beside her Alpha and howled in answer to the welcome. "Carnage!"

Jehu's grin was a mixture of manic glee and genuine happiness. He flung his free arm out wide. "Well met then, Concept of Carnage! Welcome to the Sleeping Library, Tyr. And welcome… to the family."

-x-

Luna awoke to the feeling of wind on her face. She slowly blinked her eyes open, shaking her head to get hair out of her face. Craning her neck to look, she found herself in a small clearing in a forest. A familiar forest. She struggled up to stand, immediately falling back onto her butt when she tried to get up on two feet. That's when she noticed. Her four limbs were no longer arms and legs, but were now just two pairs of legs that each ended in a dark hoof. She noticed a pool of water off to the side, and slowly crawled over so that she could see herself. She was covered in dark blue fur, and her head was again crowned by her long, flowing mane, parted only by a dark blue horn.

She was a pony again.

Unbelieving, she forced herself up to her hooves, finding standing on four legs came much easier than standing on two. As her eyes scanned the area, she felt the familiar magical traces from the world around her, and as she let her magic flow forth, she could feel the celestial bodies above answer to her power. The moon slowly set from its place in the sky, making room for the sun to usher in a true day. Now in the light, she slowly walked over to the nearby pool of water and looked at herself. She was indeed a pony again, but the only thing her eyes could see were the tears streaming down her face. She rubbed at them, losing her balance and falling onto her side. But at this point, she didn't care. She was alone, and no elation at being safe or home again could make her feel better. Only one thing could.

"Tyr," She murmured into her hooves, bowing her head into them. The tears flowed freely as she sobbed her beloved husband's name. "Tyr…!"

She was still crying when Celestia and Twilight found her a few hours later.