The door swung gently open, and the first light of morning peeked in like a curious child to reveal a home left disheveled in the wake of the Void's rampage. Bon Bon surveyed her little cottage with tired eyes. Some of the wallpaper looked like it'd been eaten away, as had bits of some of the items strewn around the room; her books, the sitting pillows, the carpet, the- She simply was too tired to care at the moment. So much had happened over the last forty-eight hours, and she'd had so little sleep during it. As she wearily began to make her way to the hall beyond which lay her beautiful bed, she brushed past a rolled up scroll. She was halfway down the hall when the thought occurred to her that she always kept a tight control of the little things in her home, even the paper. It must have been Lyra. Typical, to leave a mess everywhere without stopping to think how it might impact others. So this thought slipped through her head, but it was almost immediately followed by another; Lyra hadn't been home since her kidnapping, and the place had been immaculate when she herself had been taken, so where had the parchment come from? She stopped in her tracks, and looked back down the hall. Was it a break-in? She hadn't noticed anything missing. Was she safe? What did the note say?
Slowly, begrudgingly, she made her way back, her eyes already half-closed as they were still headed to the bedroom for a deep half day of sleep. Gently she stood on one end of the parchment and unrolled the other end up. It was in Lyra's writing, even if she'd not signed it. It wasn't even dated or addressed to anypony, but it had to be to her. It read simply, I had to go with him. Sorry.
Though still deathly tired, her eyes opened wider as she realized what the note had meant. She took another look around the living room. Her lyre, her music, Adam's shroud...gone. She looked back to the front door in bewilderment, but was temporarily blinded by the rising sun. Groaning she put her hoof up to shield her eyes. Where had they gone? Were they still in Equestria even, or were they headed back to his world? Would they even see each other again? Somehow after all this time, after her constant frustration with her and her initial resentment of him, the both of them were gone, and she wasn't as satisfied as she thought she might have been even a few months ago. Her face fell. She the remembered blurrily that she needed to close the front door. As she did, removing all the extra light from her living room, she realized how lonely she felt. The tiny cottage felt bigger, emptier, without the two of them.
Sleep. She needed sleep. After that, she'd do what she'd always do to keep herself from thinking: clean and bake, bake and clean, until there was neither left that could be done on either count.
Vinyl Scratch
Far away in Canterlot, a young mare had a similar mess to come home to. Vinyl entered her home and business to find that the dance floor was bare, as were the tables and stage.
"Ms. Scratch," her bouncer exclaimed as he noticed her; he'd just been speaking with a contractor who would be handling the overhead glass repairs.
"Mornin' Lancer," she said with a yawn.
"Afternoon to you, ma'am," he replied, but the worry was evident on his face, "After the first night we'd thought you'd gone out partying, but when we hadn't heard from you next day we got worried. We had to go to the authorities to try and locate you, but they weren't any good at all. Where've you been? We had to get Neon Lights to stand-in as a favor last night, but there's no way that'll tide over the crowds tonight."
"Rest assured, Ah sadly wasn't on a two-day benda," she said wearily, her eyes turned red from being up for way too long, "Fetch me a set of the spares, would you; mine got taken from me."
Lancer was quick to grab a set of his employer's iconic shades, leaving her to deal with the contractor. Finally her stalwart bouncer was back with her requested spectacles, which she immediately applied. They'd get this place fixed up better than it'd ever been. Nopony would stop the party, no matter how high up the government food chain they were. That stallion, the slimy RSD Director...She'd find a way to get her research back, whether it was by taking him to court, or by just going up to him and decking him one right in his smug muzzle.
Bunsen Burner
Several hours before, in the valley outside of Canterlot, there was a sudden flash of deep blue magic. Ungracefully Bunsen Burner fell to the ground below with a grunt. Immediately he regained his footing and surveyed the land around him. He was on the main route up to Canterlot which spread every which way across Equestria; all roads led away from it. Banished he may be, perhaps, but that would not stop him from defending his world. Even if he was technically deposed he'd convince his troops to rally, and they'd face the Ruined threat, Princesses or no. He was about to activate his teleportation beacon to get back to his office and begin his disaster fallout plans, when he saw the white and black sphere in the distance. He was struck dumb, stiff as a dead horse, his hoof hovering over the beacon. All he could do was watch as it fluctuated in size, growing larger, then smaller, and larger again.
Hearing a rush of the wind above him, he looked up. Even in the black of the night he could see her, his former teacher, blazing through the dark towards it, as well as the golden lightning bolt that she made to strike the anomaly. Within minutes the hellhole had vanished, leaving the night to be a peaceful affair once again. He stood only a moment longer, before he fell back on his haunches. He looked to the skies in growing despair, and he looked back on his memories; perfect, without fault. He'd received his warning about the expanse, but he'd become so consumed in containment and control of one tiny, infinitesimal thing, that he had risked all else to see it brought under his will.
He looked down at his teleportation beacon, a crown jewel in the melding of science and magic, the arcane and technical. He slowly brought it over his head to relief himself of it. The teleporter in his home estate of Pferdshire was surely still working, but he didn't know if the device had the range to do it. Probably not. Even if it did, he did not deserve the easy route, not for his sins. With great force he threw the device to the ground, cracking it's glass surface. He stomped on it with the fury he felt for himself, for his nonobjective thinking, his stupidity. The device was pulp with just a few stampings of his hooves. He stripped himself of his hardware and chucked it away. Now naked and metaphorically blind without his glasses, he began the trek north and west back to his home estate, a place full of it's own dark memories. News would spread over the coming weeks as he made his way there, and he'd hear all about the mad scientist who'd almost destroyed everything. He'd bare that badge of shame for the rest of his days.
Princess Luna
With the revelations she'd made about the former RSD Director, Princess Luna had seized the contents of his office when the place was being vacated for the new Director, a pegasus named Ditzy Doo. After seeing her device in action, she already had been considered for entry into the program if she chose it. She'd even gotten the recommendation of Lieutenant Swiftfeet. Though initially reluctant, Ditzy Doo agreed to the position, but only if one Vinyl Scratch's research were returned to her as well any equipment of hers, and that any prototypes based on her designs were destroyed. Specific requests though they were, the Princess had granted each of them after having been told of their context.
Now she meticulously had been going over every note of Bunsen Burner's, every meeting he'd ever gone to. She was looking for the sinister orangish-gold liquid she'd seen in his memories; the one thing he'd thought could kill her and her sister. Days she searched, and she did not find it. She tossed the files she'd made aside in anger, scattering them to the floor. Her guards watched from above, perched like gargoyles, waiting for a command before making any move. At last she calmed down, and she pondered the situation more thoroughly. The secret could never come to light, ever. Even if the world did not think that she and her sister were gods any longer, they were points of stability in the world now; if other nations had any idea that they could die, the global balance of power would shift irrevocably and the herd may become prey to them. She could not approach the stallion or his home in public so soon. It'd raise questions, make her look politically wishy-washy and weak.
Fine. If she could not take it from him, she'd ensure he'd never have a chance to use it or have anyone else use it for him. She could not destroy the stallion's work, but she could destroy his reputation. He truly would become a byword for 'madpony'; she'd make it so.
Celestia, the Maiden
Princess Celestia sat in her quarters, a fire roaring next to her, filling the enormous room with a tinglingly warm air that kept the cooling night away. Before her sat a small glass container with a latch on it, and within it swirled a greenish-yellow cloud; the Maiden. She'd had the jar made for her so that she had some place to stay, or more appropriately hide, so that the staff or guards would not become fearful thinking she truly was a spectre.
Gently she unclasped the lid, and opened the top. Initially the cloud did nothing.
"Can we talk," she asked simply.
With that the lights slowly blew up out of the glass, and settled gently down on her, her vision already blurring. In her mind's eye she now found herself on an extra long bench. A placid clear blue lake stretching out before her. The Maiden's true form was sitting right beside her, still in her lab coat and slacks.
"What is it, Dawn," she said gently as she glanced over to her, "What's troubling you?"
Celestia looked out across the imaginary lake, seeing if there was a boundary or an end to it in the vision; there didn't seem to be. She looked to the human and gave a little sigh, "I've lived a long time, and forgotten so much. I've tried to retrain the good over the years, but my memories take up a wing all their own in Canterlot library now. What I can't remember, no matter how hard I try, is our time together. I can't remember anything real before Discord."
The Maiden nodded silently.
Celestia paused, then said quietly, "Even if I can't remember, you do. Could you show me?"
"What do you want to see," the human asked.
"Everything," was her reply, "even the bad. I want to forget it all over again, but not because of some transformation. I want it to be mine again."
The Maiden looked away from her, and her shoulders fell. She didn't say a word in reply, but gestured to the air in front of them, and an image coalesced in front of them both. It showed them their shared memories, each from the other's perspective one at a time. It was the first time little Dawn had had french fries, made from real potatoes. The little pony had almost burned her mouth on them they were so fresh, but she couldn't stop herself from enjoying their taste. The ice cream afterwards helped fix that a little, but it permanently set her sweet tooth up forever.
Then there was the day the other pony arrived. Momma had called her her sister, but she'd never seen her before. She didn't even look anything like her. She hated her for taking away Momma's attention. As time went on she found that little Dusk wasn't so bad; it was actually kind of fun to have someone else to play with when Momma had to go to work. They'd make a game of hiding from the security teams when they did inspections of her quarters by hiding in her closet.
Then came the day when they asked her why they didn't look like her. The kids out in the park outside their door didn't look like them either. Why were they different? Were they people? It didn't matter to Momma she said: she would always love them no matter what, then it was time for bed and a story to go with. "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria..."
Then the fateful day, when Momma needed them to help her fix a problem even she couldn't handle. The metal door to the dark box she'd put them in was closing. She was panicked, afraid. She called out to Momma; what was going on? Momma couldn't possibly be leaving them. Momma's eyes were full of tears as she closed the door shut, and then suddenly there was a light from above like none she'd ever seen.
Shocked by the scenes before her, Celestia leaned back against the bench, all four legs hovering just above the edge of the bench. The images stopped, and the Maiden was left sobbing beside her, her face still turned away, both to hide her tears and shame. Something stirred inside of the mare, and gently she reached over with her forehooves to wrap them around her mother. She held her close, even wrapping her wings around her, and said softly, "It's okay. I forgive you."
Impossibly the Maiden's sobbing became harder, but she gently wrapped her arms around her daughter. They held each other on that bench near the lake for some time before the tears stopped flowing.
"How," was all the Maiden could shakily say.
Celestia's smile twitched even as her eyes too filled with tears, "Because so much good came of it. I could never hate you, only the circumstances that gave you the impossible choice you made."
Hundreds of years flashed by on yet another image, nations rising out of the dusty, freshly made terrain of the world, friends both old and new came and went, with the latest being her most recent student, Twilight Sparkle.
"No matter what," the little filly before the human exclaimed, "I will love you forever and ever!"
The red maned alicorn before the Princess swooped her up in another winged hug, her tired eyes closing as she smiled through the tears, "I love you Dawn, my little daughter. I will always be proud of you."
Discord
Though no one could hear it, there was an audible clapping sound bouncing off the walls of Discord's chamber far below Canterlot.
Bravo, he exclaimed, followed by a brief kissing sound as he below it to the air, Bravo! The realm is safe once more because Twilight Sparkle and her friends did the same thing they always do: shine a light on it until it's friendly or goes away.
He snorted in frustration, but his mood improved quickly as he thought about what the future held. Well, with oblivion at bay, I can go back to focusing on my next vacation. There's so much planning to do! First I need to find my keys and wallet. There was a jingling sound followed by a slapping of his furred frame, Done! Now to just leave.
A minute crack appeared in the structure of Discord's prison, almost impossible to see with the naked eye. Oh, it shan't be long now! Soon I can have my fun. The game will soon be on, his tone changed to a much darker one here, and I can't wait to whip the opposition. His chuckle was unmistakably heard even by the guards looking in at home, and they shivered, hoping it was just a very good dream he was having, and that the sleeping titan was not ready to wake again and began a tirade anew.
There was another watching from the dark who could see both of them, the guards and the Serpent, but neither, yes, not even Discord, could sense the presence. It was always watching, always seeing. It knew that Discord's threat was not idle wishing of a return to glory; his revival was coming, his insanity terrible and power unimaginable. It was prepared, however, and it had been since the monster's creation by humanity. In the crystal basin in its realm outside all others it watched them all, waited, and it too mused.
The time of my revelation is coming as well, Discord, but you will never see it coming. So this piece draws to a close for now. You may play as you wish. I will wait, as I have for so long. I am patient; I am fate's maestro. All beings fall under my conductorship, and all bow to the pluck of my strings, all answer my trumpet call, even you.
It looked down at the statue, it's blue light in enmity with Discord's red.
Soon there will be nothing left of you, it declared, not even silence.