All-American Girl

by Shinzakura

Book I Epilogue: Dearly Beloved

In the middle of the Whitetail Woods, Nightmare Moon crashed onto the ground, leaking magic from the huge wound in her side.  She struggled to stand up, and she looked withered and fragile, the outpouring darkness weakening her by the moment.

A figure approached, a mare.  “We haven’t much time.”

“No,” the Nightmare agreed.  “We haven’t.”  And with that, a mist tore away from where the Nightmare stood, towards the other mare.  She grimaced in pain for a few seconds before she closed her eyes.  When she opened them again, the Nightmare stood in her new body.

Nightmare went to approach her former host.  “Sleep, dearest one.  You have earned your rest, and when I am victorious, your name will be legion.”

The old host, a pegasus mare so charred and scorched that she was all but unidentifiable, weakly smiled before passing.

Who was she? the host asked.

For a moment, Nightmare looked sorrowful.  “Somepony I had an agreement with, as I do with you.  She fulfilled her part of the bargain, marvelously, and for that, she deserves to be honored.  See that it happens.”

You don’t strike me as the kind of mare that really cares.

“Ah, but you see, you are wrong,” Nightmare said in a voice that bordered on melancholy.  “When all you have left is your subordinates, you care for them as you would a family.  And when I shatter this world’s bones and decimate the other, when I am queen of all I survey and more, I will remember those who sided with me.  I will remember their names, and I will smile.”

You almost sound as though you care about us.

The Nightmare said nothing to that, and instead vanished, returning the host mare back to normal.  She looked at a card on the ground that the Nightmare left behind.  “Her name was Orange Box,” she said, looking at the dead mare lying on the forest ground.  “I wonder where I’ve heard that name before?”

Given that Spitfire had always loved Cloudsdale and had lived there most of her adult life, it had turned out to be a surprise to most that she actually wasn’t from the location at all.  Instead, she was from a small town in the west known as Rolling Hills.  Apparently, her parents had chosen the place for its completely (and ironically) flat terrain and wheat fields as far as the eye could see.  Her mother Junebug and her father Speak Up had settled there and raised their family in contentment.

And now Spitfire was returning home.

As a 21-gun-salute composed of survivors of the Second Battle of Canterlot, as it was known, fired the guns, and a missing pony formation stormed overhead, the National Ensign of Equestria was removed from the casket, ceremonially folded, and given to a distraught Klick Klack and his daughters, nopony said anything.  It was far too solemn a moment for the posthumous recipient of the Order of Faust, the realm’s highest honor, to disturb.  But that didn’t mean anything at all to the husband and children Spitfire left behind.

Tugging her combo cover down to hide her tears, Rainbow said softly.  “I should’ve been the one to die.  Not Spits.  I was the one in desperate straits, and she was just filling my horseshoes while I was…well, you know.”

At her side, Soarin’ nodded.  He, too, had drawn the visor down for much the same reasons.  “Let’s not talk about that today, Rainbow.  There’s too much sorrow right now without sinking into melancholia.”  He paused to watch Klick shudder from tears as he held his two daughters close.  “What’s going to happen now?”

“Well, you know the obvious: as an OOF awardee, he’s entitled to her monthly salary for the rest of his life, plus a widower’s annuity.  The girls will be fast tracked for the Military Academy if they so desire, and he is now the steward for House Sorraia until Hopes comes of age.”  She sighed, “But I know you didn’t ask me about that.  I spoke to my cousin Stormy Flare – Spits’ younger sister – and she’s taking a leave of absence from her duties at the Military Academy to move in with Klick and raise the girls for a while.  Faust knows he needs the help.”

They heard footsteps and saw Scootaloo and Featherweight joining them.  “I got the situation report.  Things are looking dire, sis,” Scootaloo said.

“Scootaloo, now is not the time for this.”  They all turned to see Celestia approach, dressed in her regal finery.  Cadance was taking time off to recuperate from the whole ordeal, and Luna was attending to statecraft while Celestia was here.  “I know we have much to discuss, but we have a grieving husband and father who needs us right now.”

“Tia, what happens next?” Rainbow asked.  “Spitfire was one of the best of us.  She’d served you longer than I had, and this is an aching loss – not just for the REAF or the military, but for my family as well.  My cousin’s foals will never really know their mother.  And the monsters that did this got away.”

“I know it’s hard, Rainbow.  I know that more than anypony.  But you have to believe me when I say that we did the right thing.  Canterlot and its citizens were saved because of everyone’s actions.  And yes, our foes got away.  But I promise you, they will not escape justice.”

The three senior officers present all looked at her at once, while Featherweight stated, “I shouldn’t be a part of this conversation, should I?”

“I trust you, Feather,” Celestia told him.  “Which is why I’m saying this: after today, our world will change.  And we ponies have to be prepared.”

“So, what went wrong, Ibrahim?” di Tacco asked Khalid, sipping ouzo on a patio overlooking the Saddle Arabian beach.  The two were in the spacious home Prince Artemis had provided for the fighter wing commander.  “Did the Privateers perform as needed?”

“There was nothing wrong with the fighters.  They are state-of-the-art, cutting edge aircraft, and I daresay it is a joy to fly them.  They make the Q-313s absolutely primitive by comparison.  No, the fighters performed brilliantly.  The problem,” he said, quaffing his drink, “was the pilots.”

“The pilots?”

“Yes.  Those pepsis.  They were supposedly bred with all the knowledge of combat flying and everything that it entails…but there is knowledge, and there is experience.  I need experienced pilots, Ghino.  I sent half of my experienced pilots and half the pepsis against that aircraft carrier.  The carrier was nearly destroyed – but only my own, trained people made it back.  All of the pepsis there did not survive.”  He looked out the window.  “Four of the pepsis have proved themselves, and I will be recommending them for full flight duty positions.  But I do not want any further pepsis ‘bred for war’ behind the cockpit.  Any of them that are to be assigned to me from this point on I want training.  I need simulators and training aircraft, not pilots that supposedly know what they’re doing.”

Di Tacco nodded.  “I will talk to his highness, and I doubt he will disagree.  He doesn’t have much faith in the pepsis either.  But let’s be honest: experienced fighter pilots who are soldiers of fortune are, shall we say, somewhat hard to come by.  Most are either employed by their home country still or paid a lucrative fortune to be a pilot in another industry.”

“Then his highness will have to put some skin in the game.  It’s my understanding that Saddle Arabia is mainly a pegasus and unicorn nation, correct?  The Stolzite Guard is wonderful at bodyguard and police duties, I’m sure, but if Prince Artemis wants a real nation – a modern nation – then he will have to take steps.”

“The Prince and I have been in talks, and they’ve been quite favorable.  I’m glad you see things my way, Ibrahim,” he said with a smile.  “If Artemis has his way, Saddle Arabia will end up as the North Korea of Alter-Earth – and that’s if he’s lucky.  No, he needs to learn modern statecraft, my friend, and we have to teach him.”  He looked on the beach and saw a girl with fair skin and long dark hair walk past.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe I have something else to do.”

Khalid laughed, then raised a glass.  “Women will only get you in trouble, my friend.  Especially ones that aren’t human.”

“Ah,” he said, looking at her figure, “but I like playing with fire.  I’ll see you later.”

He strode over to the girl, sitting on the beach.  “Hi,” she said to him.  “Miss me?”

“Blue Velvet?  I thought you were reassigned.”

“I was.  But my older brother said that I wasn’t doing much of anything, so I may as well keep a friend happy.”  She reached up a finger to caress him.  “Do I keep you happy?” she asked.

He shook his head.  “You certainly serve a better capacity than your predecessor.”

Blue looked at the ocean and a smile came over her face.  “I’m going to kill that traitor someday, you know.  She turned against the brood and everything we stand for.  If she were one of the imbecilic Old Brood drones, I’d understand that.  But she is a pepsis.  She should know better.”

“Sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world, Blue,” he told her.  “But look at it this way: her errors ended up with you being here, right?”

She giggled girlishly and leaned against him.  “You know what?  You’re right.  I hadn’t thought of it that way.  But still, it’s no excuse.  Twilight Sunburn, or as she calls herself now, Shining Dawn, will die and die horribly.  And I want to deliver the killing blow.  I want her to know what a defect she is.”

Di Tacco shrugged; he really didn’t care.  He had other things on his mind.  “So now what?”

“Are you busy?”

“Depends.”

“Are you busy enough to take me home and play?”  He looked at her and he wondered if she was using her compulsion on him.  He knew it wasn’t possible for her to succeed if she was – after all, he did have a secret no one here knew – but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try.

“Depends on whether or not you intend to compel me again.”

“You know I would never do that,” she said, bringing her lips towards his.

“You know you would never succeed.”

The two kissed, then got up and walked away from the beach.

“And the hospital said they should release me by the end of the week, though I’m going to need to deal with some therapy for acute magic overload.”  Cadance lay in the bed at Ponyville General.  With the Royal Infirmary gone and a couple other hospitals seriously damaged in the fight, the hospitals prioritized the seriously wounded; so that she wouldn’t interfere with that process, Cadance opted to take some time off in Ponyville so she could spend it with her son.  Fortunately, she had visitors who came to see her; currently, there was Twilight, Dawn and Sweetie.

“He’s doing well,” Sweetie told her.  She was taking a few days off from duty as well in order to watch over Dusk, who was turning out to be quite a hoofful.  Thankfully, she was a powerful enough mage that she was able to deal with the headaches and repeated broken items caused by his constant need to fly.  “I can see Shining’s semblance in him.”

“Thank you for taking care of him, Sweetie,” Cadance replied.  “I would have loved to myself, but the doctors insist that because I’m the youngest alicorn, I’m more at risk for AMO than my aunts.”  She rolled her eyes and grunted.  “What, I need to be at least a thousand years old before I’m not treated with foal gloves?”

“Maybe,” Twilight giggled.  “But now, I have to get to work.  Raspberry Blast says there’s paperwork piling up and that I have to hire extra mages to deal with the personnel reduction because the Investigations Division now belongs to REAL.”  She sighed good-naturedly.  “Is it too late to go back to quarantine?”

“MOM!” Shining Dawn gasped.  She herself had changed in the past few days, now sporting a white coat in honor of her father, as well as a pendant that Twilight said had belonged to her own mother, Twilight Velvet.  It looked perfect on her daughter and cemented their relationship.

“Just kidding dear,” Twilight said with a smile.

Cadance looked at her sister-in-law, then her niece.  “Never thought I’d see the day that you became a family mare, Twi.  Now all I need to do is find you a suitable stallion, because Dawn needs a father.”  A thought crossed the romance alicorn’s mind.  “What about that one pegasus stallion you had your eye on when you visited me back when I was governor of the Empire?  Flash Shield or something like that?”

“You mean Flash Sentry.  And he married my cousin Moondancer, who is also one of my senior mages, ages ago.  They’re expecting grandfoals this year.”

“Oh.  Well, in any case, I’ll find somepony for you, Twi.  Just a matter of time before I do.”  She grinned.  “After all, if Celestia and Luna can have coltfriends, so can you.”

The look on Twilight’s face was somewhere between shocked and floored, and for a second, her jaw was actually agape.

“Wow, I’ve been out of the loop a while, haven’t I?”

As they departed Cadance’s room, she found two other ponies standing there, looking at her, worry in their eyes.  “You didn’t tell her about Lyra, did you?” Octavia Melody asked.

Twilight looked away.  “Octavia, what was I supposed to say?  We don’t know if she’ll li—”

Vinyl Scratch got in Twilight’s face.  “Don’t you dare say that, Twi!  We all grew up together.  She’s going to make it through.  She has to.”

Twilight looked into Vinyl’s teary red eyes, then embraced her.  “She will, Vi.  She will.”

A soft repeated beep sounded from the monitor by the table.  A human woman, looking to be in her late twenties, lay in the bed, looking frail and weak.  She was in a coma, as she had been for the past two days.  A man sat in the chair next to her, haggard and worn.  He’d been there every moment since he’d found out. and he refused to leave, save for when she had to go into surgery.

The woman was Lyra Heartstrings-Phillips, Viscountess Morgan and the Equestrian ambassador to the United States, and normally, she was a unicorn mare.  But for the past two days, she’d been anything but.  And it had the medical community of Canterlot completely baffled, to say the least.

The door slowly opened and an African-American woman, clearly a doctor, walked in.  “Mr. Phillips?”  As he glanced up at her, she looked at the patient and said, “Looks like I’m just in time.”  She offered a hand.  “I’m Erica McAllister, and I’m here to help your wife.”

Paul stood up and shook it.  “You’re DJ’s friend, right?”

Erica nodded.  “I came as soon as I could.”  She smiled, clearly going into bedside manner mode.  “Took me long enough to get the visas and clearance via my place of work.”

“You didn’t have to, though I appreciate it,” he told her.

The woman shook her head, though.  “I don’t think you understand, Mr. Phillips.  I did this not just because I was requested by the Equestriani government, but moreso for DJ.”  She wandered over to pick up the chart and started looking through it.  “DJ is blessed with a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins from this realm.  But as far as I know, she doesn’t have older siblings.  And I don’t know if you know this, but DJ pretty much thinks of your wife as an older sister and mentor.  She really loves her.  And because Dee and I have always been there for each other, I had to come.”

Paul looked at the woman with awe, not just for being here, but from what she said.  “I knew they were close, but….”

“I spoke to Mike this morning.  DJ’s feeling an incredible amount of guilt for not being able to stop the electrical blast from hitting Lyra.  She’s trying to cope, but…well, you know how that is.”  Erica looked through the chart.  “Let’s see…oh, this is not good.”  She looked back at Paul.  “What have they told you?”

“That she had a brief horn incident and was changed into her human form before she got hit with the energy bolt.  There’s more, isn’t there?”

Erica nodded.  “You’ll have to forgive the pony doctor that was taking care of her; I’ve noted that pony bedside manner is to not tell the family anything until it’s all over.  It’s just the pony way of handling things.”  She pulled out the X-rays.  “This is your wife’s skull as it is.  Do you notice the extensive cracks?”  When Paul nodded, Erica continued.  “The skull cracks are equivalent to where her horn would be on her unicorn skull.  Basically, that’s an acute corneal fracture.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Please, sir, let me finish.  Additionally, that electrical blast hit her heart.  From what the chart says, when they got her out of surgery right after they got her here, they had to use a lot of healing magic on her heart…but it’s a human heart, not a pony one, and it partially rejected the magic.  From what I know of pony medicine, from that kind of blow it takes years of therapy to retrain a pony to use magic again.  But it’s more than just that, sir.  Between the ACU and this?”  Erica sighed.  “There’s no easy way to say this: at best, if Lyra survives this, she’s going to remain a normal human woman, without magic and living a normal human lifespan.  She’ll have no access to her magic, and if she ever tries to change back to a unicorn, she will die instantly.”

Paul caught that instantly.  “You said if.”

Erica nodded.  “She’s not out of the woods yet.  She’s got a major skull fracture and that means brain trauma.  We’ve still got to operate to make sure she gets through this, sir.  But we can take care of that.”

“What?”  Paul knew enough to know that the kind of trauma she was talking about could leave his wife mentally incapacitated, if not worse.  “How can you take care of that?”

“Because while Ms. Martinez may have a bit of pull on this world, she has much more pull on ours.”  A new voice said this and Paul turned to see an old man standing there in the doorway, roughly about his father’s age.  He looked vaguely like an old Errol Flynn and from his clothing, he was just as dapper.

The man offered his hand.  “William Hilton, V.D., M.D., Eq.D.  Came out of retirement just for this one.  And I promise you, we will get your wife out of dire straits and back to health.”

“And here’s the report on the rebuilding,” Sunset said as she laid the paperwork on the desk.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she yawned, “I’m going to call it an early day.  I’ve been running on adrenaline for the past couple of days, and I have had zero sleep.”

Seated at her desk, Princess Champagne Dreams replied, “That’s a good idea.  Oh, and Sunset?”  The other unicorn looked up and Champagne casually replied.  “Codex VII.”

Sunset blinked and stepped unsteadily on her hooves for a second, briefly changing colors as if she were a living rapidfire rainbow.  But then the technicolor show stopped, she stood back up and moaned, “Woah!  Sorry about that, Chammie.  Must be more tired than I thought.”

Champagne looked at her doppelganger with shock.  The self-destruct code didn’t work?  It should’ve killed her instantly!  “Form Sixty-One,” she spoke, the override code.

Sunset rubbed her horn and asked, “What’s that?”

It was all Champagne could do from panicking.  “Oh, I was just remembering a joke we used to have when we were kids about your brother always wanting to play Guardsponies and Changelings.  Remember?  Form Sixty-One was this marching thing he did…”  The refined unicorn got out of her seat and started parade marching towards the other.  “…and we used to laugh.  I just happened to recall it.”

“I don’t remember, I really don’t!”  The look on Sunset’s face was worried.  “You don’t think I’m having thaumic-based exhaustion again?”

Champagne went over and hugged the other mare, practically forcing herself not to literally strangle her.  “You need to take care of yourself, Sunny!  Who’s going to keep my office in line if something happens to you?”  She pulled away, taking Sunset’s hooves in her own.  “You’re my best friend, mare!  I need you around!”

Sunset looked at Champagne and smiled.  “I owe you so much, Chammie, after my life fell apart.  You know that.”

Champagne waved it off.  “You don’t owe me anything.  We’re practically family, remember?”  And I hate you more than you will ever know, puppet!  “Now, go home and take the rest of the week off to rest.  You have to look your best on Friday when you receive the Princesses’ Eclipse medal and your new title.”

“Sunset Shimmer, Baronetess Garron.”  She blushed.  “Going to take a while to get used to that.”

Because you don’t deserve anything, toy!  “You know us royals.  We put one hoof down after the other just like everypony else.  Now get out of here; if I need help I can ask Blue Savannah for assistance.”

“Okay, give me a call if anything comes up!”  And with that, she was gone.

Champagne went over to the door, then looked it, before shivering with rage.  She managed to make it to the sofa in her office before she changed to her true colors, her face a mask of hatred.  Someone was stealing Sunset Shimmer’s life – and that mare was Sunset Shimmer!  And moreso, Sunset herself had enabled it!

That little bitch….  Sunset knew what was happening; in the darkest of grimoires she’d read all warlocks had warned about it – if you left a golem operating long enough, it started to think it was a real person…and real people didn’t have built-in triggers.  Worse, if you made a doppelganger, it would start to believe it was the real person in question.

But that made no sense!  The current Sunset doppelganger had only been made days ago.  Normally, it took years for the “person effect” to happen to golems or doppelgangers.  And yet this current puppet not only thought she was Sunset Shimmer, she had practically all but become Sunset, so much so that she was making friends on her own and accomplishing things of her own accord!

No, that will not do, Sunset thought to herself.  I will have to replace this one, and soon.  But it takes forever to create the formula, and I just used up the last spare sending it to Saddle Arabia!  She sighed and rubbed her horn.  Decades ago, she would’ve been thrilled to have been a hero of Canterlot, with all the sobriquets and such that went with it.  And she would’ve been happy with a coltfriend and an apartment just overlooking the cliffside.

But she didn’t have these.  All the previous doppelgangers had, and this new puppet had merely inherited them without really questioning why, hence the cranial and other traumas she believed she had.  But this one was moving faster and farther than the others, and it was a short step from that to realizing who your “foalhood friend” really was.

After all, the doppelganger was Sunset Shimmer.  And Sunset wasn’t stupid.

She heard the hidden door by the wall slide open, and out came Blueblood.  Looking at his wife, he smirked.  “Well, that’s a different look for you, dear.  I thought you hated being, well…you.”

“Just dealing with that doppelganger, dear,” she sighed as she moved on the couch, allowing him to sit.  “I need to start working on another so I can replace this one, but…she’s too high profile now.   I can’t just simply kill her; there will be too many questions.”

“I told you this would bite you,” he stated.  “I told you that once I found out who you really were, that you should’ve left Sunset Shimmer behind once and for all.  And I know why you can’t – and I know that you hope our children never find out.”

“I hate her, I hate Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset replied.  “I hate myself for being myself.  And I wish I could be Champagne forever and wish Sunset had never existed.”

“And it’s so easy to,” Blueblood told her.  “You just have to not care.  Trust me, I’ve done it for years.  Anyway, the reason I came here is to let you know that other doppelganger you sent to Saddle Arabia had some very big dividends.  As a result, I have a private meeting with some…interested parties…in Saddle Arabia who might be interested in helping our cause if we were to back their independence movement.”

“Artemis is a fool who fancies himself a king, you know that.  You, at least, have the brains to go with the ambition, my dear husband.  He merely thinks that sticking his dick in his harem entitles him to a kingly throne.”

“Perhaps,” Blueblood replied. “But we won’t find out until tonight at dinner.  8pm at the Sterling Platter in Ponyville.  You game?”

“On one condition,” she told him.

“Name it.”

She lifted her tail.  “I think I want Sunset to be abused a little bit…so that I never think of her again.  You game?”

“You drive a hard bargain my dear,” he said, feeling himself rise.  “But you will find I am harder.”

The following morning, there was a visitor to the city of Mercer Island, Washington.

The car, a 2048 Packard Calypso SUV, pulled in front of an expensive lakeside house located at 4103 Lakeview Parkway.  The driver, a woman in her late twenties, got out of her car and looked around.

I hope this is the right address.  She brushed off her clothing, a simple gray blouse and blue jeans, and quickly checked herself in the side-view mirror.  Raven-black hair, check. Eyes behind glasses, check.  Looking at it again, she saw the face of a very nervous woman.  Heh.  Me, nervous?  Why would I be nervous?  I’m an immortal princess of Equestria!  I literally shove the moon around the world!

Then her mind reminded her, And right now you’re a 27-year-old woman about to see the man you haven’t dated in years.  Yeah, no pressure there, right?  She knew she wasn’t getting anywhere, so she opened the gate, and walked onto the grounds of the home of Robin Kirkland, CEO of the Kirkland Corporation, one of the largest employers in the nation.

After a few minutes of walking through the manicured lawn and pond (which, to her fond amusement, contained ghost koi, something that she’d told Robin way back then that she found intriguing).  Finally reaching the door, she knocked, to find a young woman answering. “Oh, excuse me, miss!”

Though she kept the smile on her face, inwardly, her courage fell.  You stupid nag!  Of course he’s with someone again!  You didn’t think he’d stay single forever after his second divorce, did you?  “Yes, my name’s Cyndi Hanover and I’m here to see Mr. Kirkland.  Is he available?”

“Oh, you must be the next appointment!” the woman smiled.  “Well, let me let you in.  I need to get going.”

“Well, thank you very much, Mrs. Kirkland,” Luna said cordially, though she felt more than a whiff of jealousy.

The woman reacted.  “Oh!  Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not – we’re not….”  She laughed.  “Sorry, I’m just a runner from his office.  The boss needed some paperwork and his secretary asked me to come out here and drop it off.”  The other woman leaned in close and whispered, “Between you and me, I probably would do him if I could get to know him.  But from what I understand, his first wife died or something and two divorces later, he still can’t get over her.  No chance of winning against a ghost or something.  Anyway, catch you later!”  Off the woman went, and Luna watched as she climbed into a Toyota Corolla across the street, taking off.

She gently walked into the house and found it somewhat jumbled, like someone who had to redecorate twice after a pair of marriages that went sour.  She couldn’t really sense the touches of…what were his wives’ names?  I remember the first one being Saffron, but what was the other?  Liz?  Lily?  Something with an L, I’m sure of that….  It was as if they were never here.

Luna frowned.  Maybe that other girl was right: you can’t compare yourself to a ghost.  She remembered the words he told her five years back, the last time he ran into her: “I fell in love once with a woman that I could never get out of my mind; two divorces later, I’ve given up looking elsewhere and realize I belong only to her.”

Is it true? she asked herself as she heard footsteps sound on the wood of the nearby staircase.   Sure enough, she turned to look at him as he came down the stairs, looking at paperwork.

“Hey, Jade, you still here?  I’m missing some documents from the Beaumont files, and….”  He turned to see the newcomer in the room.  He dropped the documents, his jaw going slack as he finally saw her.

She waved impishly.  “Hi.”  She then looked at him closely.  The years had not dulled his handsomeness, as it tended to do with so many human men.  She’d once heard the term “lucky enough to actually look better as you get older”, and that was him.  He was no longer just the lanky youth she’d fallen in love with.  Years of muscle replaced that, and his soul patch had been changed into a neatly trimmed beard.  White streaked his hair at this age as it tended to do with humans, and his eyes were clear and bright.

“Luna?” he spoke, as if not believing it.

“Hello, my love,” she said, hoping she was still his.  She wanted to be.  She felt herself drawing closer to him.

“Why are you here?” he asked, also feeling the inexorable pull, both drifting together until they were fractions of an inch apart.

“Because I’m tired of the cage,” she told him, “and I want us to be free together.”

They kissed like a pair of hormonal teenagers, letting their love for each other overwhelm them.  He picked her up in his arms and she sighed, not complaining in the slightest.  He carried her up towards the bedroom, and she didn’t complain at all, until he reached for the door handle.

“I’m a little rusty at this,” she blushed.

“Really?  I would’ve thought the Lunar Alicorn would’ve been pressed by suitors as far as the eye can see.”

She smiled lovingly.  “This alicorn has been waiting forever for just one person.”

He carried her into the bedroom and closed the door.

The two collapsed, spent.  Celestia snuggled closer to Sam.  “Yup, you’re a keeper,” she breathed.

“I’m glad you think so,” he replied, sitting up.  “I suppose my studding myself out to alicorns has worked.”

“Oh really?  Do you want to try with me in my normal form?” she asked.

“Uh….”

She laughed, the room filled with raucous humor.  “You’re safe for now, though you do keep me happy.”  She then looked at the clock on the wall.  “And there went my time off.  My seneschal scheduled a meeting for me in an hour with the US Secretary of Defense, the British Minister of Defense and the NATO secretary general.  They’ll be here to discuss Article 5.”

He looked at her with mild surprise.  “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

She sighed.  “I have to do this.  Millions of my ponies are dead or hurt.  Property loss is incalculable, and our weather factory has been destroyed, which means we could have weather disasters for a long time to come.  Intelligence has even reported that my recalcitrant nephew Artemis down in Saddle Arabia is contemplating trying his hoof at independence.”

“But you’re talking war, Cel!”

“And you nearly died at the hooves of Nightmare!”  She sat up as well and looked him right in the eyes.  “I almost lost you, Sam.  And I’m not just talking in ways that directly affect me.  I need someone qualified to start REAL.  Your sister and her family need you.”  She leaned against his chest, her strawberry blonde hair rubbing up against his chest.  “I need you.”

He put his arms around her.  “I know.  And aside from being dead, my life would be a lot emptier without you as well.”

“Sam, I’ve been thinking….”

“I hope so.  Brain death can be a bad thing.”

She pulled away and gave him a mock-scolding look.  “Seriously, Sam.  I know our relationship is going pretty fast, but it feels as though we’ve been together forever.  I never admitted this to her, but I always felt a bit jealous of Cadance when she was with Shining, because she was able to marry the one she loved, and I had to give mine up, but that’s not the case any longer.”

“Are you proposing?  I mean, I think it’s a little too early.”

She tapped him on the shoulder.  “Being silly again, I see.  No, I don’t think we’re at that stage yet.  But what I meant is that when we are – and when I make our relationship public – I won’t let the nobility stand in the way of my happiness again.  Even if I have to abdicate, I will not let them separate me from you.”

“They won’t, Cel, they won’t,” he insisted.

She wanted to stop time and lay there with him forever.  She wanted to ignore the delegation coming to see her in less than an hour.  She wanted to abandon her throne, move somewhere secluded with just him and make babies and live a life where no one would ever care about a solar alicorn.

But so long as her ponies suffered…she could not have a life of her own.  Her mother would not have done that, and nor would she.  She knew Cadance would not, and she suspected that Luna would not have either.  That made the alicorns trapped.  Shackled by duty and bound by conscience.

She never hated herself more than this moment.

“Do you have to leave?” Star Swirl asked Rumble as they entered the REA base near Ponyville.

He nodded.  “Equestria was attacked and protocol requires me to report back to my unit, especially given that I’m the commanding officer,” he told her.  “And trust me, I really don’t want to.  Soarin’ was right; I needed this time off.”  He flashed her a grin, adding, “And I’m glad I found somepony to spend it with.”

She blushed.  “I….”

“This isn’t the end, you know,” he told her.  “We’ve only been together a few days and yet…well, plenty of humans I know would call it destiny, but I would just say that you were a gift from Cadance.”

She blushed harder.  “Call me when you get back, okay?  And let me know when you have some free time there in the human world.  I want to go visit you there.”

Now it was his turn to blush.  “Well, it should be interesting, having my fillyfriend in town,” he said.

“Aren’t you supposed to be one of those non-stop hardcore Seapony special warriors?”

“Hey, I have a gentle side, you know.”

“I know.  That’s why I want to see you again, Rumble.  That’s why I don’t want this to be the end.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt about anypony the way I have about you.”  Mentally, she tamped her feelings about Sweetie Belle down; she didn’t need the reminder right now.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the same way,” he said, kissing her.  She returned the kiss, eagerly.

An REA lieutenant approached them.  “Uh, sir, excuse me for interrupting.”

“Um, yeah, sorry about that, Lieutenant.”  Rumble scratched the back of his head; while public displays of affection weren’t as frowned upon in the Equestria Armed Forces as they were in other nations, it still set a bad example for subordinates.  “What can I do for you?”

“Sir, Maj. Rotator told me to let you know that your helicopter for Canterlot Mountain Airbase is ready and over by helipad two, sir.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant, that will be all.”  The lieutenant saluted and he saluted back.  “It’s time for me to g—”  His words were cut off by her kiss.

“I’m going to hold you to that,” he told her, and she smiled.  With a reluctant look, he walked away, following the lieutenant.

“Sir, is that Mage Star Swirl?” the lieutenant asked.  “Wow, from what I get, she’s a hoofful and a half!  Looks like you got somepony who can keep up with a Seapony like you.”

Rumble laughed.  “Maybe.  Just maybe.”

Star sat where she was, watching him drive off to a helipad in the distance and get aboard an REA support helicopter.  She then watched as the aircraft rose up to the sky and drifted off towards Canterlot.  Part of her wished that she was a pegasus or at least comfortable enough with the Glimmer Wing spell so that she could follow him.  But right now, she had other concerns, and likely so did he.

“It’s not easy, watching them go away, is it?”  Star turned to see Sweetie standing there, looking at her with a knowing grin.  “Wow, you and Rumble, huh?  Never would’ve suspected, given that he’s much older than you.”

“Sweetie!  I…um…that is….” the younger unicorn stammered before she finally managed to spit out, “What’re you doing here?”

Sweetie laughed.  “Well, I needed to shop at the Base Exchange for a few things, and as I was walking back towards the gate, surprisingly who do I see standing here giving her coltfriend a kiss?  So how long have you two been an item?  I thought he lived overseas in San Diego?”

Star blushed furiously.  She just saw off one person who made her heart go wild, and now the other one just appeared.  She was going to need a lot of personal time in the bed later tonight.

“Star?  Is everything okay?” Sweetie asked.

“No, it’s not.”  She looked at Sweetie, guilt in her eyes.  “This doesn’t get any easier, does it?”

The older unicorn shook her head and remembered the crash and burn of a thirty year relationship.  “No, Star, it never does.”

Pip looked around at Dream Valley and how much things would change.  The small garrison was being expanded into a larger facility; not an outright base, but one that would serve as an outlying field for the Ponyville Army Garrison.  That in turn would allow Dream Valley to move beyond just a commune and into an actual town; in fact, he could already see Coriander and Paprika building a small general store and deli, so ponies from the garrison could come down and enjoy good old-fashioned flutter cooking.  It was just what was needed to bring the flutters to prominence, so that they could be disambiguated from their changeling forebears.

“The foals are adjusting,” Imago said as she moved by his side, their daughter on her back.  “They won’t have to live in a world where they’re blamed for what the changelings do.”  She kissed her husband on the cheek.  “Our foals will lead as normal a life as the ponies outside the Valley.  I cannot wait for that moment.”

“Nor can I,” he told her, putting a foreleg around her.  He had adjusted to what would be his future now.  He hated the fact that he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Sweetie one last time, but he promised everypony he would, if she would listen.

And just as if she read his mind, she asked, “Have you had a chance to talk to Sweetie Belle yet, my love?”

“No.  Things have been too busy since the attack on Canterlot.  As it is, my unit needs to deploy tomorrow.  We’re going to be checking out a suspected changeling backup hive south of Lonesome Dove.  We believe that Chrysalis may be recuperating there.   Of bigger concern is the hive strongholds down in the Southern Continent.  That’s where the bulk of the enemy is, and where we’re going to have to go to war.”

“Go to war?” Imago asked nervously.

“Maggie, I would never leave you and the foals.  But after this, we will have to go to war.  Nopony wants it, but with two cities in ruins and the capital itself attacked?  We don’t have much choice.”  He said nothing more and in response she simply leaned against him, a gesture of love.  They stood there, watching the hustle and bustle of the flutters as they prepared for a new life due to events in the outside world, hoping it wouldn’t get worse than this, but knowing it would.

“Hell of a day, Master Chief, hell of a day.”  Mike was finishing up the last touches of paperwork that had to be done for the day.  It was a sad irony that since he’d assumed command, this had only been the third time he’d been in his office.  And now he was filling out letters of condolence for people that would never return: about a third of the troops he commanded were dead, and he hadn’t even had a chance to sit down and meet with each, which had been his plan.  Now he never could.

“No kidding, sir.”  Khan quaffed down a huge gulp from his coffee cup; as befitting a Navy chief petty officer, the coffee mug was practically grafted to his hand.  “Look, I know it was rough out there; take it from me, I’ve been in quite a few tussles in my time and I’ve never seen anything like this.  But you made it out with flying colors, Skipper, and I can guarantee the troops are going to respect the Old Man after this one.”

“Then what about Maj. Loam?  His funeral is tomorrow, and I have to face his wife and let her know why we weren’t able to save him.”  The guilt felt overwhelming.  His brother-in-law had survived, but not Sable?  It felt like he’d failed, especially when Celestia arrived from out of nowhere to save Sam just in time.  Would that she was only a few seconds sooner, not that he was blaming her.

“We did all we could out there, sir.  Sometimes, it’s not enough, and you know that.  When you were in Singapore, protecting the princesses, you couldn’t protect your wife and as a result, she was severely injured if I recall correctly.  Same thing here.  The XO knew the risks, sir; we all do.  It’s what happens when you put on the uniform.”

Mike nodded.  “You’re right.  How’d you get so wise?”

Khan laughed.  “Enlisted, sir.  You officers have to make flag officer before your brain starts kicking in.”

Mike was about to say something, when his phone rang.  Picking it up, he said, “CSAU Commanding Officer’s office, nonsecure line.  Cmdr. Hengst here.”

“Mike?  It’s Elusive.”

“Hey, Luse.  My sons aren’t giving you any problems, are they?”  He covered the mouthpiece of the phone and silently gave Khan an apologetic glance.  The master chief merely nodded and departed.

“No, actually, right now Butter is tutoring them in classes.  She wanted to get out of the house, and I think working with older children would be good for us – gives us experience for when our foals are that age.”

“Good to hear.  But I suspect you’re not calling about Stuart and Tyler.”

“No. She just left.  They’re meeting at La Piazza Bitaliano – it’s the newest restaurant in Canterlot and anypony who’s anypony goes there.  So, naturally….”

Mike sighed; this was not going to go over well.

Oh well, may as well call Silver in his office and see if he’s interested in having lunch together at a certain restaurant before it gets destroyed utterly.

Lovemaking had been just as they remembered, and just as sweet.  Afterwards, they cried tears of joy for being reunited.

And now, Robin was whipping up a Caesar salad for the two of them to have during lunch.  While he did, Luna sipped on a glass of wine.  “I see your taste in wines still hasn’t changed,” she told him.

He nodded.  “Chateaux Mortmoncy ’17 – I was told it was a nice year for wines in this state.  As it is, it’s nowhere as wonderful as the company I’m with.”

She smiled over her glass.  “Flattery will get you everywhere, my love.”

“Luna,” he began as he served them both, “I…love you.  I always have, I always will.  You know that.  But I have responsibilities now, and a life far different from the time we were last together.”

“I know.  And I want things to be different now, too.  We can live at the palace.  Or if not…I told Tia I would abdicate if it meant being with you.”  She looked at him sincerely.  “We have been apart for nearly twenty years, my love.  We were only together a handful of months, and yet you loved me like no man ever has a woman—”

“—and you like no mare ever has a stallion,” he said, finishing the old statement that they both knew so well.  “And I want you in my life – in our life.  But I can’t if something causes you to go back and leave us.  I’ve heard about the incidents in Equestria, and I saw you on the news in a pitched battle with that…whatever the hell it was alicorn.”

“Nightmare Moon is a demon, and Chrysalis is queen of the changelings,” Luna explained.  “The fact that they look like alicorns is coincidental.”

“Regardless.  Sterling…she’s a special girl—”

Luna was puzzled.  “I thought you named her after me?”

He smiled.  “I did, and oh, you cannot believe the headache I got from Saffron over that.  But Sterling’s a teenager now, and teenagers do teenager things.  She up and one day decided she wanted to go by her middle name, and I wasn’t going to argue.”

“She’s your daughter, Robin.  Of course she’s special to you,” Luna replied.

“Look, Luna, how do I explain this….” Robin began, and from the look on his face, Luna began to worry.  Of course he would consider his child’s needs over her, but she didn’t want to lose him.  She didn’t want this to be the end of them.

“Robin,” Luna asked, nervously holding her fork; the utensil clattered in her hands.  “I don’t want to lose you.”

“Luna!  I…you won’t lose me.  It’s just that there’s something I have to tell you about Sterling.”

Just then a door opened, and a voice sang out, “Yo, Dad!  I’m home!”  The voice sounded boisterous and lively, a young woman reaching towards adulthood.  “Mrs. Cooper gave me a lift.  We still going to the movies tonight?”

“Sterling, I’m in the kitchen,” her father called out.  “We have company.  Did you eat lunch yet?”

“No, half day at school, remember?” Sterling said as she popped into the kitchen.  She had blonde hair, blue eyes with glasses, and currently wore the uniform of the private school she attended.  “Anyways,” she said, heading for the newcomer with hands out, “I’m Luna Kirkland, but I go by Sterling and….”  She paused.

So did Luna as she looked at the girl.

“Sterling, meet Her Royal Highness Princess Claire de Lune of Equestria, more commonly known as Luna.”  He then turned to Luna.  “Luna, this is Sterling…

“…your daughter.”

“Well, hopefully this will be a pleasant lunch,” Rarity said in what was clearly a strained tone.

“Yes,” DJ said, poring over the menu and wincing at all the Italian-based horse puns and all the pony food options, none of which she was interested in – or would likely find palatable.  She flagged down a waitress.  “Waitress?  A human menu, please.”

The waitress looked at her oddly.  “A human menu?”

“Do you have one?”

“Well, of course!  This is a favorite restaurant of the Italian ambassador, in fact!  But, um….”

“Humor me.”  The waitress went off to go get one, and DJ took a drink of her wine.  She wasn’t a huge wine drinker, but one did not usually break bread with the enemy, so….

Rarity looked at DJ with a disapproving glance.  “Really, Sandalwood?  You shouldn’t make a scene.  Ponies come here to be seen, and the eyes of the world are on its newest heroine.”

DJ rolled her eyes.  “First, Rarity—”

“‘Mother’.  I am your mother and I would appreciate being addressed as such.”

“You get that when you earn it.  As it is, the only reason I’m here is because I promised Elusive, Luna, Twilight and several others in my family that I would.”  The waitress came over and brought the human menu and the humanized pony took it, thanking her.  “Right now, I need to be with my family and I need to be with Paul.”  A sad look came over DJ’s face.  “I need to be there for Lyra.”

“Yes, I heard what happened.  Elusive said you were not at fault, Sandalwood, and you shouldn’t blame yourself.  I, for one, agree.”

“No.  I should’ve stepped in.  I could’ve tanked it with my new Hulkamania mode.”  She looked at her hoof.

“I’ve also heard about that, as well.”  Rarity swirled her wine glass in her magic before taking another sip.  “I understand you had a medical check-up yesterday?”

DJ nodded.  “Whatever magic I got from Lyra and Luse, it’s permanent.  I’ve got the power levels that I should’ve been born with, and then some.  Apparently, I’ve inherited Father’s Monolith status.”

Rarity lit up at that.  “That’s amazing!  Silver will be glad to hear that, because Sparkler and Dinky took after their mother, Minty was her own mare and your brother takes after me.”

“Are you kidding?  I’m a freak!” DJ told her.  “It was already freaky as hell that I can lift over 700 pounds.  And now I can pull close to twenty tons?  Hell, the average earth pony can only pull six!”

“Dear, you should be proud!  The only one who is known to have towed that weight is your uncle Macintosh.  I won’t go into details, but your father and your uncle Diamondplate are theorized to be able to do so as well though it hasn’t been tested.  Think of the earth pony abilities you’ve inherited!”

“Yeah, that’s nice and all, but I’m human, if you recall.  Just pony shaped.”

Rarity was about to say something, but then the waitress showed up and took their orders.  The ever-fashionable unicorn ordered spinach and ricotta cannelloni, while DJ, to the slight horror of the waitress, ordered chicken carbonara.

“Dear!” Rarity hissed, trying to be silent.  “Must you make a scene?”

“What do you mean ‘make a scene’?”

“You’re eating meat!”  The look on Rarity’s face was one of scandalous shock.  “You’re not a gryphon, for Celestia’s sake!”

“Says the mare who’s had cake – which Pinkie has told me has eggs.  You know, naturally-canned meat?”  The look on Rarity’s face as one of somewhere between horrible realization and the verge of nausea, and DJ knew she hit paydirt.  “So don’t you dare lecture me about meat-eating.  Maybe you should try some?  Bacon, for example, is awesome.”

“Well, that I won’t argue; I have a guilty pleasure for hay bacon.  Your father absolutely loves it, but I keep telling him it’s bad for his barrel-line, but I must admit to stealing a few from his plate now and then,” she snickered.

“Um…I wasn’t talking about hay, or soy, or tofurkey, or whatever.  I’m talking about pigs.”

Rarity looked at DJ with a nauseous glance.  “Pigs?”

“Yup.  Ham’s pretty good as well.”

“Pigs?”

DJ grinned maliciously.  “Oink, oink.”

Rarity’s eyes grew wide…and then her stomach gurgled.  “Excuse me a moment.”  She then immediately teleported away, but DJ didn’t have to guess where she went.

DJ picked up her wine glass and took a drink.  Giving herself a small smile, she said to herself, “She shoots, she scores.”

Sweetie arrived at her apartment in Canterlot, tired as could be.  While Twilight had to catch up on paperwork, now that she was cleared for duty once more, the younger unicorn had to be on a plane to London tomorrow for a symposium on magic and its potential on Human-Earth.  The symposium was sponsored by the Society for Human Magicks and Mystycysm, which to her was a sign that she was dealing with a crackpot organization – while there were serious scholars of magic on the human world, more often than not she ran into those who either thought it was something out of The Lord of the Rings, or worse, Harry Potter.  In fact, a few years back she’d had the chance to meet JK Rowling, who turned out to be a nice old lady who had loved Sweetie’s explanation of how magic worked and the like.  Sweetie had gotten an autographed first edition of the Harry Potter series as a result.

But for now, all she wanted was sleep.  Sleep, and maybe a stiff cider or two.  Normally about now she would spend the day with Twilight and commiserate about their single lives; or she’d be in bed with Pip.  But Pip was no longer single and Twilight was now a mother on top of her other voluminous responsibilities.  And that just left Sweetie alone.

Maybe I’ll just watch a couple of movies and order some Zhuanguonese take-out tonight and that’s it, she groaned, as she stumbled through the emptiness of her apartment, towards her living room.

“SURPRISE!”

A camera shutter clicked off, and Scootaloo slid her phone back into her pocket.  “This is going to make for some great blackmail later.”

Her face still contorted in a look of shock, Sweetie looked at the assembly in her living room, her oldest friends: Scootaloo, Applebloom, Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara and Twist.  The five of them had been through thick and thin (mostly thin in their earlier years and thicker as they grew older) and they were here.  In particular, Twist held a cake that read OUR BRAVE DEFENDER OF CANTERLOT.

“Girls,” the unicorn spoke, both shocked and touched.

Bloom was the first to speak: “We know yer goin’ through a rough patch, Sweetie, so we planned this.  An’ then when all th’ stuff happened in Canterlot, we knew what we had to do.”

Diamond nodded.  “Caught a red-eye from Paris.  Mare, was that a mess.”

“So was timing all this,” Spoon added.  “Do you ever check your email, Sweetie?”

“Babs sends her apologies,” Twist threw in.  “Her ship is still on Human-Earth.”

Looking at her dearest friends, Sweetie finally bawled, letting it all out.  Five pairs of forelegs surrounded her in a loving hug, knowing what she was going through.  Given that all of them were already happily married, for the last member of them to have given up so much only to have it blow up in her face, well, that was the sort of stuff that made up mares’ nightmares.

For right now, they would keep her safe and happy, because that’s what they did: their own circle of friends, six mares who had been through so much and made it out the other side, and they would always be there for one another.

Luna rose from Robin’s bed, rubbing her eyes.  “I just had the weirdest dream….” she said to herself.

Robin walked up with a glass of water.  “Thought you could use this.”

She gave him a loving smile and took it.  “You know, you always seem to know what I want when I want it.”

“That’s what true love does, Luna,” he told her.

She sighed.  “Well, it was about your daughter.  For a moment, I…well, this is going to sound crazy, but I thought you said she was mine.”

In response, Robin merely pointed to Luna’s side.

There, dozing away, peacefully, was a pony.  She had a gray coat and wavy hair similar in color to Luna’s – a rarity, to say the least.  Her cutie mark was the same as Luna’s.  She looked smaller than the normal mare, the sign of a teenager who still had yet to grow to her adult height.

And she had both a horn and wings.

Luna looked at the alicorn, then at Robin.  “What?”

“She’s yours, Luna.  I can’t explain it.  I don’t have an explanation, but….”  He went over to the small desk in the bedroom and handed her a folder.  “I think you should see this.”  Taking the folder, Luna began reading the documents and soon found out that it was: a DNA test report.  “Somehow, after Saffron gave birth, she knew.  She didn’t tell me until the divorce trial, but she had a DNA test done.”

Luna looked up.  “The documents say that you’re confirmed as the father…but the mother is unknown, and certainly not your wife.”

He nodded.  “Saffron thought it might be a case of genetic chimerism at first; it’s rare in humans, but it does happen.  But that wasn’t the case and our marriage fell apart after that, because she accused me of implanting a fertizilied embryo in her.  The divorce trial…well, it was interesting,” he said with the telltale chuckle of someone who had lived through it.  “As for Lori, she tried to be a mother, and I think Sterling was fond of her, but…we were just too different.  Or maybe I was still too much in love with you.”

She handed him back the report.  “Well, unless you’ve somehow shacked up with another alicorn for some reason, I have a daughter.”  The realization then hit her: “I have a daughter?”  When Robin nodded, Luna lifted a hand, filling it with pink spellfire.  Without further ado, she placed the sphere against her heart, and her body absorbed it, enveloping her in an aura of the same.  She then recreated the spell, and placed it on the alicorn.  She soon shone with a rosy radiance, and a tendril of magic reached out from the alicorn to her.

“I don’t know what to say.”  Luna became overcome with emotion.  She looked at Robin, tears of joy sliding down her cheeks.  “I…I’m…I’m a mother.”

As if that was a signal, the alicorn yawned, stretched, then looked at Luna.  “So you really are my mother,” she said simply.

Luna looked into Sterling’s eyes.  “You have my eyes.”  Sure enough, the eyes weren’t blue, but aqua.  “How long have you known?”

“Aside from the obvious?” Sterling replied with a grin; sure enough, the snarky attitude also confirmed her parentage.  “On some level, I’ve always known.  And I never really knew Saffron, though she gave birth to me.  And I love Lori, don’t get me wrong: she was a mother to me, just not my mother.  But I’ve always known, and then when puberty kicked in….”  She giggled.  “Let’s just say it was a good thing that I had nothing going on that weekend.”

“Luna, did you do this on purpose?” Robin asked.

The lunar alicorn shook her head.   “I didn’t know, Robin, truly I didn’t.  I would not have let this stand, and in fact I wish you’d told me sooner,” she sighed.  “That day we all ran into each other in Santa Monica.  Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Back then, I wasn’t sure.  If I had been, I would have, you know that. After we realized...I didn't know if you wanted us in your life. We would've had to tell you sooner or later, admittedly, but tomorrow is just another day,” he told her.

“I see."

“Then how...?”

“I have a theory, but we’ll have to talk about that later,” Luna told him.

“Well, this is all well and good, but I think I need to change back to normal, so could you step out, Dad?”  Luna looked at Sterling curiously, and the younger alicorn blushed.  “I…I haven’t learned magic yet.  All I can do is just shapeshift between human and pony.”

Luna laughed, got off the bed and assumed her natural form.  “Well, I think it’s high time I took care of my foal’s education, don’t you think?”

The younger alicorn sighed.  “In case you didn’t notice, I’m neither a foal nor a kid!”

Robin laughed as he left the room.  “Yup, it’s clear you two are mother and daughter.”

Dawn set several bouquets of crystal roses down on a series of graves.  “Hello, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa,” she said to the graves.  She then looked to her mother, though not saying a thing.

“It’s okay, dearest,” Twilight told her.

“But they’re gone,” Dawn told her.

Twilight gave her daughter a smile.  “No, they’re not. They’ll always be here,” she said, placing a hoof over her heart, “and here.”  She did the same for her daughter.  “If Shiny was alive, he would be proud of you.  Same for Mom and Dad.  They would have loved you, and in the Great Pasture, they love you still.”

Dawn looked and saw wisdom in her mother’s eyes, then turned back to her forebears.  “I’m not really good at this,” she told them.  “Just a few days ago, I was worthless.  A tool.  Then Queen Faust showed me that I was worth something, that I had somepony that would love me despite what I am.  And now I know what I am.”  She smiled proudly.  “I am the daughter of Prince Shining Armor, brave defender of Equestria.”  She looked at her adoptive mother.  “I am the daughter of Duchess Twilight Sparkle, courageous Knight Commander of Magic.”  She looked back at the graves.  “And someday, I hope that I will be worthy of being your daughter and grandfoal.”

Twilight walked over and hugged Dawn from behind.  “You already are, Dawn.”

Both Mike and Silver walked away from the restaurant, looking relieved that it was still relatively intact – they couldn’t confirm, as they were in battledress, and the restaurant would only allow duty uniforms or better.  “Well, the distinct lack of a fire is a good thing,” Silver commented lightly.

“No kidding.  I was honestly expecting to see a full-pitched battle in the center of a burnt-out husk of a restaurant,” Mike told him.  “I’m glad they showed restraint.”

“Oh, knowing my Rarity, it’s probably not easy for her, not with DJ.”

“Knowing DJ, definitely not.”

“Well, any suggestions for lunch?” Silver asked him.  “Not too many places around where we live that I can think of; they got hit during the assault.”

“I’m not as familiar with Canterlot as you are,” Mike told him, “so lead the way, if you please.”

“Wow, a polite son-in-law.  I think we’re going to get along just swell.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

The pair walked a few feet before Silver and Mike looked at each other.  “Wonder what they’re doing now?” the stallion asked.

“I’m curious myself,” the man replied.

The two shared another concerned look as they took off down the street, hoping they’d arrive before disaster actually struck.

Lunch between the two was awkward.  And now they were spending time together, if only because some ponies had insisted so.  It wasn’t anything that DJ wanted to do.  Rarity herself wasn’t sure of it either.  And yet the two ponies walked, both out of inertia, just around with no real destination, DJ on her legs, while Rarity moved on all fours “as befitting a pony”.

“So, what are your plans now?” Rarity asked lightly.

“Not that they’re any concern of yours, but I go back to Yokosuka until the boys finish school for the year.  Once that’s done, then we’ll move here.  Gen. Bryson told Mike there’s an American International School here in town, and I’ll have to look into it.”

“Why don’t you let me handle that.  Why, Gold Standard’s School for Gifted Unicorn Excellence would be absolutely superb for them!”  She stopped giddily clapping her forehooves together while squeezing, “It’s one of the top-rated unicorn schools in the country, and I hear their magic kindergarten is absolutely top-notch!”

“Pass,” DJ replied.

“Pass?  Whatever for?”

“Well, for one, they’re not unicorns.  And secondly, as children tied to the US Embassy, I think they can attend AIS for free.  Private schools can be expensive.  I should know; my parents sent me to one.”

“Oh, posh,” Rarity said.  “Bits shouldn’t be a concern.  Nothing is too good for my grandfoals.  Although, if they are to attend the School, they will need to have pony names, so they won’t be teased by other students.  I would hate to see that happen to those little dears.”

“I’m not changing the boys’ names.  And I’m not sending them to that school.”

“Sandalwood, you’re being unreasonable.  Think of your foals’ futures!  Think about somepony besides yourself for a change!”

“Which part of ‘no’ did you not understand?  The quotation marks?”

“I care little for your thoughts on the matter, Sandalwood,” Rarity argued.  “They are my grandfoals and I care about what is best for them!  They should learn a curriculum of grace and elegance!  About such luminaries as Queen Platinum and Stronghoof the Mighty!  Not whatever ‘how to throw bombs for fun and profit’ drivel that they teach at human schools!”

“Wow, specist much?”

“No!  I simply cannot confirm the quality of human schools!  I’ll have you know your brother Elusive attended the School, and obviously he’s a fine stallion of taste and sophistication!  Not unli—”

DJ stopped and glared at Rarity.  “Finish that sentence and I’ll see how far I can throw you.  If I’m lucky, maybe all the way off the Goddamn mountain.”

“And did that fine human schooling of yours teach you a lack of manners?  From what little I know of the…well, I will give those two humans that raised you credit: at least they don’t seem to be even half as uncouth as you, young filly!”

“Leave my parents out of this,” DJ warned.  “You can say anything you want about me, Rarity, but I warned you once before, there are lines you don’t want to cross.”

Rarity sighed; from the sound of it, it was genuine.  “And here I hoped that spending some time with your pony family would at least disabuse you of your sad ways.  In that, I have failed you as a mother, and I am very sorry.”  But the unicorn’s eyes narrowed as she said, “But I refuse to watch your colts head down the same tragic path you did.  I won’t stand for it.  And thus, once you move here, I expect to see them enrolled at the School first thing upon their arrival, d’ accord?”

“You’ll be waiting a long time, then.”

She hmphed.  “I am not a mare accustomed to being denied.”

“There’s a first time for everythin—”  DJ’s phone suddenly rang and instead of continuing her argument, she answered.  “This is DJ.  Go ahead.”  As DJ listened to the call, Rarity was about to interrupt when she saw a shocked look come over the humanized pony’s face.  “No!  No, it can’t…I…Make sure someone stays with Paul, Erica.  I’m on my way.”  She hung up the phone and glanced at Rarity.  “Well, lucky you, I don’t have time to bicker with you anymore.  I gotta go.”

Despite her nigh-perpetual anger and disappointment with her estranged daughter, Rarity still saw the uneasy look on DJ’s face.  “Whatever is the matter?”

DJ turned away and sniffed; Rarity knew instantly that the other pony was about to cry, and that made it horribly disturbing.  “I have…to get to the hospital.  Immediately.”

“Sandalwood, what’s wrong?”

DJ looked at Rarity and sure enough, there were tears in her eyes.  “Lyra just came out of surgery.  They’re….”  DJ wiped her eyes.  “They’re saying she’s not going to make it.”

Rarity said nothing else.  Instead, she charged her horn, and a second later a teleport spell went off, carrying both to the hospital.

“Thank you for your time, gentlemen,” Celestia said, as they all stood up.  “I realize these are trying times for us all, but as you can see, it has been rough on my subjects in particular.”

Sally Pierson, the US National Security Advisor, nodded.  “I sympathize with your situation, your majesty.  I will recommend to the President that he agree with the vote.”

“As do Ah, ma’am.”  Cotton Nicholson, the US Secretary of Defense replied, giving her a tip of his Stetson before putting it back on.  “In fact, jus’ say th’ word, an’ Ah’m sure President Cantwell can have th’ USS Obama battle group off yer coast, ready t’ assist.”

“While I’m not quite sure we can spare any of our carriers,” Alexander Bishop, the British Minister of Defense, added, “however, we can have a squadron of destroyers to join up with the Americans.”

“And I believe the other nations would be willing to support our fellow NATO member here on Alter-Earth,” Georg Döbeln, the NATO Secretary-General added, flashing his pearly-whites.

Megan Williams, the US ambassador, said, “I’ll be right back, all.  Allow me to escort you to your guards.”

“That would be very kind of you, Ambassador.”  Celestia looked at the others again and wished them a pleasant stay for the rest of their duration in Equestria.  Once they departed and started walking down the hall, the sun alicorn spoke.  “You had something to say, Megan?”

Megan nodded.  “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but I would be very wary of Döbeln.  He might be all smiles, but the truth is, he’s bad news.”

Celestia chuckled.  “You noticed that as well?”

“Celestia, have you ever heard of the Human Defense Alliance?”

The alicorn shook her head.  “It doesn’t ring any particular bells, but from your tone it doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not.  About five years ago, several supremacist groups signed a mutual pact: the KKK, the Black Panthers, the Association for a Pure Britain, the Hungarian Restoration Party, the Nuovo Liga Italia, the Yūkoku Dōshikai and so forth and so on.  Anyway, they called a truce amongst themselves to band together to fight the quote, unquote ‘real’ enemy: Alter-Earth species.”

“Specism.”  The solar alicorn sighed.  “I wish I could say our world was free of that nonsense, but it’s a curse amongst all civilized beings, I suppose.”

She nodded.  “Anyway, I got a call this morning from Janice Pulaski, our Director of National Intelligence.  Probably spent about half an hour on the phone with her, Ross Arbuckle and Masquerade Protocol.” 

Celestia stopped.  She knew Arbuckle was the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, but Protocol was the head of CODE, the Clandestine Operations Duty Executive, the more extensive intelligence agency created when Celestia merged SMILE and FROWN as a condition of joining NATO.

“And?” the alicorn asked.

“They have reason to believe that Döbeln might be an HDA affiliate, if not a member.  He’ll say that he’ll get the other nations to approve Article 5…but then he’ll insist on sending as little as possible ‘in case Human-Earth needs to be defended’.  You’ll end up with US and British support…and toothpicks from the rest of them.”

Celestia nodded.  “I see.  Thank you for this information, Megan, although I’m not sure why Director Protocol didn’t include it in his report this morning.”

“Can’t answer that one, I’m afraid.  Then again, the intelligence community doesn’t always feel the need to fill me in on biplanetary issues quite often, as well.”

“I’m constantly amazed at what I find out about humanity, both the bad and the good,” Celestia admitted.

“That’s okay,” Megan said with a grin.  “I’ve been human all my life and I’m always still amazed by what my own species does.”

“Ah, but don’t worry – I’m a fast learner when it comes to humanity.  You could say that I have significant reasons to learn.”  She wrapped a friendly wing around Megan.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a sad duty to perform, one I have not done in ages.”

“I sympathize, Celestia.  I really do.”

In more pain than she’d ever been in her life, Chrysalis stumbled through the badlands.  To say she was a mess was an understatement: her horn was broken, she was missing her right foreleg and wing.  Numerous cracks appeared over her exoskeleton and at least a few bled green ichor.  She looked both dazed and filled with an intense hate.  Chrysalis, Queen – no, Empress of the Changelings – had lost to the ponies and their freakish allies.

Superior numbers and planning did not win the day.  No, instead she’d been saddled with incredibly stupid drones, useless princesses and glory-seeking neophyte queens that were lucky they’d been killed in the attack instead of by her.  And that was just my original children and those of the deposed queens, she seethed.  Her own new children, those born from her liaison with Shining Armor?

She mentally groaned.  You’d think with a father such as he they would have picked up some pony traits like intelligence and sensibility.  No, she had to admit to herself, they’d inherited those other, weaker traits of ponies.  “Friendship”.  “Love”.  My new clutch of children are nearly as useless as the older ones!

She sat down to rest in the shade of a hoodoo, the afternoon sun beating down on her.  She was almost at her domain, the center of the vast changeling empire.  Once there she could recuperate, ingest extra love and perhaps a pupa or two in order to regrow her chitin and regenerate her lost limbs.  Then she would have to start over, taking care of things the way she knew best – by herself.  Not only had this alliance with Nightmare Moon proven less than useless, it had cost Chrysalis dearly while the demonic alicorn got away scot-free.  There was much work to be done.

But first she had to rest….

She awoke with a start.  Her mouth felt parched and she could hear her stomachs growling.  She needed sustenance, whether physical or thymic.  Looking into the sky, she saw that she’d been out for quite a few hours, as the sun was close to sinking behind the distance of the world.  Still, even as close as she was to her palace, it was still a considerable distance in her condition.  It was still too hot, so she considered waiting until nightfall.  After all, even in the badlands, the most dangerous thing was a changeling, and the most dangerous of the changelings was Chrysalis.

That was when the shadow fell on her.  She looked up to see her son, Blood Armor, standing there.

“You know, I analyzed all the battles we’ve been through,” he told her.  “And do you know what I found was the weak link?”  He grinned, but there was no humor in it.  “You.”

She glared up at him imperiously.  “Watch your tongue, or I will remove it.  Remember who your mother is.  More importantly, remember who your Empress is.”

“Oh, I remember,” he said with a cold voice.  “My mother.  The useless one.  The outdated one.  The one who was surrounded with all that pony and human tech and what did she decide to do?”  He laughed.  “She decided to use old tricks and swarm tactics to try to win the day.”

Chrysalis forced herself to her hooves.  “Continue your attitude, and you will not be long for this world.  Do you know how easily you can be replaced?”

“Yes.  As easy as you.”  He quickly flickered a flash of magic from his horn.

Two lasers painted red dots on Chrysalis’ eyes.

The sound of zipping through the air, followed by the crack of shots and finally the unearthly scream as the changeling ruler’s eyes were destroyed.

As she collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain, Blood Armor walked around her.  “You see, Mother, that is the winghum of modern war.  The days of thousands upon thousands of troops is gone.  All it takes is the latest human or pony weapons and it will turn those legions of drones into nothing but blood and dust.”  He leaned close to her.  “What you felt was a low-yield weapon, an old weapon that was made on Human-Earth the same year you hit Canterlot the first time.  If these weapons had been here on Alter-Earth at the time, you would have lost before you even made it into the city.  And had I had modern weapons shot at you?  Well, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”

“K-kill you,” she groaned, trying to look up at him with her destroyed face.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said as he raised a hoof.  “You see, I remember you once telling me a story, Mother.  About how the law of the changelings is that when a new queen is ready, she either departs to build her own hive or she fights the old queen to the death and the loser is torn apart.  But when I recalled those old stories, I realized something.”  He grinned.  “I think it’s time for a change in leadership.  You see, I’ve been reading quite a bit of history about Human-Earth.  And while this world is matriarchal, on the other world, it’s patriarchal – males are the ones in charge.  I like that idea.  So, you know what?  Your time is through, Empress of Changelings.  I, Blood Armor, am now Emperor of the Pepsis and Changeling Empire, and I declare this battle over.  And do you know why, Mother?  Because you are a relic of the past.  And the past should remain where it is – on the dustheap of history.”

Chrysalis heard the buzzing of hundreds of changelings behind him, and unseen to her a black field with glowing blue eyes appeared behind him.  And then dozens of the pepsis stepped by his side, all standing in unison, having made their choice.

Blood Armor smiled.  “Well, one thing I did like about your story the most?  The part where the loser is torn apart.”

The black cloud descended on Chrysalis, and she gave a final scream of rage and horror before she was swallowed by the cloud and screamed no more.

As the cloud grew bigger and bigger and the blood and chitin flew everywhere, Blood Armor walked away from the past.   A changeling princess approached him.  “M-my king?” she stammered.

He looked down at her with contempt.  “What is your name?”

“Gaster, milord.  What do we do now?”

“Easy.  First, I want you to destroy Chrysalis’ castle.  We have no use for an artifact such as that.  We have been invited by his highness Prince Artemis to rebuild in the mountains of Saddle Arabia.  And that is what we will do.  So you will take half your drones and use them to destroy the past, am I clear?”

She nodded.  “Then what after?”

He didn’t answer; instead, Black Velvet looked at her.  “You are to take the weakest third of the Old Brood and you will leave them at Chrysalis’ Folly to die.  Once that is done, you will report to me, Gaster.  As of now, you are relieved of command and you will do as I say, am I clear?”

“Yes, milady,” she squeaked before turning back to vast changelings under her command.

Black Velvet then walked back to join her brother.  “What now, brother?”

“We will leave this blighted Tartarus-ridden wasteland and we will build a new home and a new future.  And if you play your cards right, Black Velvet, well I will have need for a queen and a mate.”

She wrapped her tail around his foreleg.  “Is that so?”

“Perhaps, perhaps.”  He looked at the ruined remains of what had been his mother and ruler, now nothing more than a pile of chitin and ichor.  “Chrysalis never understood the future.  We do.  Because we are the future.”

DJ was practically in hysterics.  “Let me though, Erica!”

“DJ, calm down and listen to me, okay?”  That made the humanized pony stop in her tracks.  “She’s going to be okay!  She’s a fighter.  When I called, we honestly thought we were going to lose her, Dee.  But Will said there’s something about her that isn’t giving up.”

DJ wiped tears from her eyes.  “You mean that?”

Erica went over and hugged her friend.  “Have I ever lied to you?”

DJ laughed despite the tears.  “Not in the last five minutes, at least.”

The two sat there, embracing each other while Rarity watched.  She recognized the woman now as the girl from years ago.  It made the unicorn pause: first, there was that human boy that had grown into a young man, and Sandalwood had stayed with him, married him and had foals with him.  This girl she remembered as well, and yet here she was, when DJ needed her: a best friend, family in all but blood.

Just like the girls and I, Rarity thought to herself.

Rarity had somepony to talk to, and she wasn’t going to get that done by standing there.  She walked into Lyra’s room – she had words to say, and it would be better if Sandalwood wasn’t there to hear it.

As Erica let go of DJ, she said, “Was that…?”

DJ nodded.  “We’re trying to work things out.  Emphasis on trying.  But, she’s still a stuck-up bitch, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.”

“You never know, Dee.  If Valerie can change, anyone can.”

DJ sighed.  “You might be right, but with Rarity?  I’m not betting the farm on it.”

Erica sighed.  “Figured you’d think that way.  C’mon, I need some food and coffee, and we can catch up.”

In the room, Rarity stepped up to the bed and saw Lyra there.  Only it wasn’t the Lyra she knew – a human, obviously with Lyra’s mane coloring, lay on the bed.  Rarity walked over to the foot of the bed and quickly read the chart and the woman’s condition.  A split-second later, the chart fell to the ground as Rarity looked at the patient with shock.

She moved over towards Lyra’s face, where she breathed into a mask.  “So, this is what happened to you,” Rarity said in a soft voice.  “Of all the mares I know, you didn’t deserve this fate.”  Rarity felt her eyes sting.  “Do you remember what I told you when you first volunteered?”  Rarity turned away.  “I said I didn’t think you could do it, because you were so into those ‘human’ stories and that wasn’t what was needed.  Instead, you proved me wrong.  And now here you are, what you always wanted to be.”

Rarity wiped away tears.  “It’s funny, isn’t it?  To Sandalwood now, my husband is her father.  My son is her brother.  But all I am, is Rarity – one step removed from a stranger.  And yet you…she loves you more than she does me.  She needs you more than she does me.  All because you saw a path that I never could.”

Rarity closed her eyes and summoned her Element.  “You have been more Generous to her than I could have ever been.  And while I can only make up for it with my grandfoals, I know my daughter is forever lost to me now.  Because she has a BSBFF that has always been there for her.  You.”

A faint indigo aura washed over the lost human.  “She needs you, Lyra.  And I know others, do too.  Be there for them, as you always have.”  Sobbing, Rarity teleported away.

The aura melted away.

Golden eyes opened.

Dinner at the Kirkland household that night was quite unusual: Luna was doing the cooking…without actually being in the kitchen.  At the moment, she was making a wine-marinated roast beef dinner with potatoes, glazed carrots, corn on the cob and a home-baked apple pie, without lifting a finger.  Various items moved on their own through the kitchen, orderly and efficiently, as if possessed with a life of their own and a need to be processed for human consumption.

Both Robin and Sterling looked at the kitchen with shock, then at Luna.  The lunar alicorn shrugged her shoulders and said, “Blame Rarity.  She insisted that all of us learn some domestic skills ‘just in case’.”  The alicorn-as-woman laughed.  “It just came naturally.”

“I can bet,” Robin said, taking a drink from his wine.

“Yeah,” Sterling said, reaching over and grabbing Luna’s own glass and draining it.

“Young lady, you’re thirteen,” Luna said sternly.  “That’s not old enough to drink.”

Sterling adjusted her glasses.  “I have a captain of industry for a father and a literal moon goddess for a mother – oh, and I can turn into an alicorn.  I think I’m justified.”

Luna smiled.  “You might have a point, dear.”  She then turned to Robin. “Anyway, I’ve done some thinking and I think I know how Sterling was conceived.”  She then looked at her daughter.  “The Tantabus.”

“Tantibus?” Sterling asked.  When they both looked at her, she smiled.  “Hey, I get A’s in my Latin class, okay?”

“I wasn’t aware of the tie between Latin and Old High Equusan,” Luna mused.  “Interesting.”

“Luna, I’m lost,” he told her.

It was the younger Luna that answered.  “It means nightmare in Latin,” Sterling explained, “and I’m sure she’s going to clear this up, right?”

Luna saw that dinner was complete and walked over to it, still explaining.  “Robin, do you know anything of contemporary modern history in Equestria?  Past fifty years or so?”

“Not really,” he admitted, but cracked a smile as he said, “if you’re thinking of applying for Social Security if you’re staying here, nobody’s going to believe it, thousands of years old or not.”

The princess then looked at her love and daughter and then explained everything regarding Nightmare Moon, how the ancient spirit seduced an angry and jealous alicorn, then turned her into her slave and personal punching bag during a costly war against Celestia and a subsequent millennium-long stay imprisoned in Alter-Earth’s moon.

Sterling was the first to speak.  “Wow, and I thought my friend Athena had problems when her mother was accused of securities fraud.”

Robin gave his daughter the parental look, then turned back to Luna as she was serving dinner for the trio.  “When I was free of the Nightmare’s influence, I spent a year in solitude away from public life, because I couldn’t face a single soul for what I did.  Yes, the Nightmare had control of me, but she wouldn’t have if I hadn’t let her into my life.  But Celestia and Cadance insisted I start again with public life, and so I did.  And it wasn’t easy – I felt a lot of guilt over all that I’d killed, tortured, maimed, etc, and I didn’t think I deserved forgiveness.  So I punished myself whenever I slept, by creating a creature known as the Tantabus, and its job was to return to me the pain that I inflicted a thousandfold.

“It took the Tantabus getting out of control to make me realize I needed to forgive myself.  And when I did, I thought that was the end of it.  But I guess it wasn’t, because eventually the Tantabus became, well, real.”

“How real?” Robin asked.

Luna sighed.  “About three years after the first incident with the Tantabus, we found a sickly unicorn filly that came out of nowhere.  We didn’t know whose it was or where she lived, but for some reason, little Nyx – Twilight named her Nyx, because she looked a lot like me – wouldn’t let go and would follow me wherever I went.  I think, in hindsight, that I loved that little scamp,” Luna said with fondness.  It was a couple of minutes before Luna spoke again and the only sounds that could be heard was dinner being consumed.  “Finally,” Luna said, “one day, she passed away, no reason.  We were stunned, and I was heartbroken.  But it was what the doctor had told us that amazed us.  He said that Nyx…was incomplete.  As if she was trying to form from…something, but didn’t have the blueprints, if that make sense.”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Sterling commented.

“I’m not sure I do either,” Robin agreed.  “Luna, where are you going with this?”

Luna blushed, but there was no other way to put it.  “Robin…fourteen years ago, did you…have a loving dream?”

“A what?”  He parsed the thought for a moment.

“I think humans call it…a wet dream?” the princess stated.  “Sounds odd, but there are differences between HE-English and AE-English.”

“This is going to get creepy, isn’t it?”  Sterling got up from the chair.  “Okay, I’m going to the bar and graduating to a rum and Coke.  Anyone else want one?”

“And you know how to make one how, Luna?” he asked his daughter, using her first name as he usually did when he was making a point.

“I’ll figure it out!  I am in desperate need of brain bleach right now!”  Sterling looked at Luna.  “Look, I don’t know how it is for ponies, but for us humans?  Last thing we want to picture is our parents’ sexual lives.”

“Well, that’s not a problem, dear,” Luna said, “because your father and I both made love and yet didn’t.”  That got both their attention and Luna looked at her love.  “Robin, I want you to be honest: the night you slept with Saffron, were you thinking about me?”  Robin looked away, and Luna used her magic to gently nudge him to look at her again.  “Please, Robin, this is important.”

Robin sighed, slightly embarrassed but answered: “Yes.  I was fantasizing she was you.  I have never loved anyone the way I love you and I think both my wives knew that.”

“I thought so.  Well, I was thinking about it, and I was going through a rough patch in my life and I missed you so much.  And I had a loving dream.  And even though I am the mistress of dreams, dream magic is something I still don’t entirely understand.”

Robin blinked.  Twice.  Then it sank in.  “So you’re saying that because I was fantasizing about making love to you and you were having a wet dream in the dreamlands—”

Sterling blushed, mortified.  “DAD!”

“—and in that moment, you possessed Saffron and I impregnated you, and when it was all over, you left the egg behind?”

At this point Sterling was blushing furiously, hiding her face behind her hands.  “I bet Becky Carlisle doesn’t have to deal with this,” she moaned.

Luna looked at her dearest love, then laughed.  “Is that really how you think it worked?  No.  For one, the physical cannot possess the physical.  It breaks so many laws of physics and magic, it’s not funny.  And secondly, after what the Nightmare did to me, do you really think I would consider doing that to someone else?”  She shook her head.  “No, I think the Tantabus used our…shared dream to cross the realms and…well, part of me, part of you, so, like you said, when the dream was over, something remained.”  Luna looked at Sterling.  “And that something became you.”

The house silenced to a pin drop as Robin and Sterling looked at Luna as if reality decided to take an extended coffee break.

“Wait – my own mother is calling me a nightmare creature?” she said to her father.  “What the fuck?”

“Luna, what did I say about that sort of language at home?” he said to her.

“Dad, my own mother just called me a monster!”

“Sterling, dear,” interrupted the elder alicorn, “I did not—”

“Yes you did, Princess!  I have waited my whole life to meet my real mother and now that I have and you’re calling me some figment of your imagination that merged with Daddy’s sperm and nine months later, hello world?  What the actual fuck?”

“LUNA!” both adults said, and not a bit of irony with the woman.

“Sterling, just…just go to your room right now, okay?” Robin asked.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Sterling said, angrily running up the stairs.

“Well, she’s got my temper, that’s for sure,” Luna sighed, looking at Robin.  “I really didn’t explain it well, did I?”

“No, in fact, I’m a little annoyed, because you just made our daughter sound like a magical Frankenstein.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Luna said sadly.  “I guess I have a lot to learn about being a mother, don’t I?”

“Nobody gets it perfect, Luna,” he told her.  “Not even immortal lunar goddesses.”

It was at that moment her phone rang, providing relief for a tense situation.  “Sorry.”  With a snap of her fingers, she summoned it.  “Oh, it’s my sister.”  Answering the phone, Luna began.  “Hi, sis, what’s up?…Wait, you’re serious about this?…And what does Cadance think?…Oh, that is bad.  Listen, can you hold off the announcement for a few days, until I get back?…No, I’m not coming back tonight.  I need a few days with Robin; by the way, he sends his regards.”  She pulled away from the phone and said, “Tia says hi.”

“I figured,” he replied with a grin.

Luna continued.  “No.  We need to discuss this.  Not that I don’t agree, it’s just a case that I think we have to explore all options first.…No, sis, I am not coming back tonight.  You’ll have to wait until the weekend, okay?”  Luna started to look irritated.  “Do you really want to know why?  Fine!  I’m not coming back until Friday night because fourteen years ago I made love to Robin in a dream, the Tantabus got loose, merged with his sperm and as a result, I have a teenage daughter, and yes, she’s an alicorn, and I have just screwed the hell up as a mother!  Now deal with it, I’ll be back Friday and then we can declare war to your heart’s content, okay?  Bye!”  She banished her phone to who knew where.

“I think I need to go talk to her,” Luna replied.

“Then I think I’d better help you learn Parenting 101,” he said to her with a hopeful smile.

Standing on Luna’s balcony, where she’d just raised the moon prior to calling her sister, Celestia dropped her cellphone.  Her eyes were pinpricks of shock.  “Luna, what have you done?” she said to no one in particular.

“Something wrong, Celestia?” Cadance asked, and Celestia told her.  The youngest alicorn sat there, briefly surprised, but then a thoughtful look crossed her face.

“And I have no idea what in Tartarus she means, and I’m tempted to fly to Seattle to find out!” Celestia snapped.

“No.”  Cadance’s tone was firm.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“Celestia…I love you dearly, you know that.  You are my mother in all but name, and I know I couldn’t have asked for a better aunt.”  Cadance sighed.  “But you are a worlds-class hypocrite, you know that?”

“What?”  That was not the answer the solar alicorn expected.

“When you figure out what to do about your illicit relationship with your niece’s brother – and yes, while it’s not incest, per se, it still doesn’t look good – then you can talk about Luna’s pining over the same person for the past two decades.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on my son.”  Nothing more to add, the junior alicorn teleported away.

Celestia continued to look at the balcony, then looked down at the city and the construction going on.  And then she looked at a house that had miraculously survived the destruction and its resident – and how much she wanted said resident right now.  Wanted him on a primal level that was both more and nothing more than lust at the same time.

Celestia sighed.  She was a world-class hypocrite.

She immediately departed her official residence for the one she was starting to actually consider home.

In a far-off corner of the dreamlands, Discord sat in his ethereal chains, plastic figures of alicorns in his paws.

“It’s all coming together, ladies,” he said to everyone and no one at once.  “And either she sinks or swims.”  He laughed at the cosmic joke, then looked towards the far-off distance.

“I wonder if you know just how bad the situation is…or if you even care.”  Discord shrugged.  “After all, we are but myth, are we not?  Mere figures banished to the land of Nod and its environs.”

A thundering silence spoke back to him.

“Damn,” the draconequus grunted.  You’d better get back to work before it’s too late, Luna.

There was a knock on the door.  “Go away!” Sterling sobbed.

Luna literally phased through the door.  “I’m…sorry,” Luna said to her daughter.  “I may be a princess and an avatar, but my sister will be the first to tell you I’m also hot-headed and I tend to put my hoof in my mouth more often than I’d like.”

Sterling sat up, looking at Luna with teary eyes and smelling something.  “Is that…?”

Luna nodded.  “Yes, your father told me about how much you liked dim sum and that there’s a place in Seattle that you really liked.”  Luna held the peace offering out.  “I…I like it as well, so I went down to this restaurant in Hong Kong that I think you might enjoy.”

“Hong Kong?  Really?” Sterling asked as she took the box of bao.  She opened the box, took one out and took a bite.  “Dsh gd!” she said between bites.

“Don’t chew with your mouth full, dear,” Luna said as she sat down next to Sterling.  “I have a lot to learn about being the mother of a girl as special as you.  Not because of what you are – human or alicorn – but because of who you are.”

“I know you probably didn’t mean to call me a monster,” Sterling told her.

“I don’t think you understand, Sterling.  Yes, I looked it up and I suppose tantabus and tantibus are cognate, but I created the Tantabus because I didn’t think I deserved to be forgiven.  After the Tantabus served its purpose, it tried to turn into Nyx because it realized it was a part of me and wanted to be with me.  And if I’m right, it means the same thing: ultimately, the Tantabus was about love, Sterling.  It was never about being a monster – it was about preventing one.”

“So I’m not…?”

“No.  And I’m sorry I hurt you, even if unintentionally, dear.  You’re my daughter and I have much to learn about being a parent.”  Sterling laughed, and Luna looked at her strangely.  “Is it something I said?”

“I just find it funny that my own mother needs a learning curve.”  She pulled another bao from the box.  “You do realize you’ll have to take me to this place now, right?”

“Well, how does spending the weekend with me in Hong Kong sound?  Just the two of us, getting to know one another?”

Sterling went over and leaned against Luna.  “I’d like that.”

Faust felt herself being rustled awake.   “What th…?”  She focused her eyes.  “Screwy?”

“Daddy called.”  Her eyes were in pain as they usually were when she was focusing – a horrible thing for a chaos spirit to do.  “Need to tell you something.”

“Sure, sweetie,” Faust said, as she got out of bed.  Screwball took her by the hand and led her downstairs to the living room, where a pissed off blonde stood.

“Faust, what the hell is going on?” Emeraude asked her.

“Emmé, what are you doing here?” Faust asked her.

“I was with my boyfriend, doing…well, you can figure it out, when she—” she pointed a finger at Screwball.  “—teleported my boyfriend back to his place, threw clothing on me and dragged me out here!”  She glared at the pseudo-teenager.  “Don’t ever screw with someone when they’re…well, you get the idea!”

“She didn’t mean it.”  Screw Loose had joined them, dressed in her English nanny/grandmotheresque finery.  “She doesn’t quite get the nuances of relationships, your majesty.  One may as well tell the wind to stop blowing.”

“Fine, fine.  Fortunately, Martin already knows who I am,” Emeraude grumbled, plopping down on the couch and summoning a massive mug of coffee.

A knock was at the door.  “Great.  Three in the morning and stuff’s already going to hell.  I’m blaming you, Emmé.”

“Blame me all you want.  I claim your other guest room,” she yawned.

Faust turned to Screw Loose.  “Would you make some coffee?  I have a feeling no one’s getting any sleep tonight.”

“At once, your majesty.  Shall I answer the door as well?”

“No, let me get that.  I already know who it is,” she said, walking over to the door and opening it.  “Somehow, I expected you or Don.  Not surprised.”

“Yes, hello to you too.”  A man in his early thirties stood there, polishing his glasses against his vest.  He wore a tan vest, khaki pants, a white shirt and an ecru tie.  “For what it’s worth, when I heard about Kuzunoha, I was shocked.  I know she was practically like a sister to you.”

Faust nodded sadly, then invited him in.  “So, how’s things, Tom?”

“Same as always.  Being a Silicon Valley wizard is less interesting than being a real wizard, but it pays better.  Plus, the wife tends not to complain when I’m programming.  Now, when I’m conjuring, that’s a different story.”

Screw Loose came in bearing a tray with a coffee carafe and danishes.  “Ah, you have company, I see!”

Tom looked at her and saw her for what she was, instantly.  “And you have a chaos bringer in your house.  What’s with that, Faust?”

“She’s an acolyte of an old friend of mine, here to help while I’m taking care of horn and wing business.  Tom, this is Screw Loose, the First Disciple of Discord, the Avatar of Chaos.  Screw Loose, this is Thomas Morgan, CEO of Wizardry Software.”

“I used to go by Merlin a long time ago,” he said, offering his hand.  “The name hasn’t worked well since that football player from the 70s.”

“A pleasure to meet you, sir,” Screw Loose said, magically passing everyone a cup of coffee.  “I used a special blend.  I hope you don’t mind.”

 Faust took a sip.  “Peanut butter and jelly-flavored coffee.  No, I can deal with this.”

Tom took a drink of his.  “Pizza-flavored.  Unusual, but I think I can live with it.  Anyway, you summoned me here for what purpose?”

“I didn’t,” Faust explained, “but I know who did.”  She pointed to Screwball, who was in the room, partially melting and looking as if terrified out of her wits.

Faust approached her.  “It’s okay, Screwy.  We’re here now.”

“It hurts!” she whined, rainbow-colored tears streaking down her cheeks.  “Daddy, Daddy, it hurts!”

Tom nearly dropped his coffee.  “You have a pure chaos spirit in the middle of your living room and she’s trying to be orderly?  No wonder she’s in pain!”

Screw Loose dropped the tray and went over and hugged Screwball.  “It’s okay, dear,” she said in soothing tones.  “We’re here for you.  Queen Faust, Queen Emeraude and I.  Even your father, blessed be his random ways.”

Screwball leaned into Screw Loose instinctively.  “Safe,” she said.  “Loved.”  She then backed away and looked at Faust with worry.  “Premonition.”

Screwball’s clothing exploded off her and turned into Lego bricks, which fell down to the ground by the hundreds, and in a second, a scale model of downtown Canterlot existed on the ground.

“Does she usually do this?” Tom asked, sipping his coffee.  “Hrm…teriyaki chicken.  You’ll have to give me this coffee blend sometime.”

With a scream, Screwball exploded into gory chunks.  However, given her nature, no one worried about that.  Instead, they were worried about the symbolic rain of blood that fell on Canterlot.

Emeraude got up from the couch.  “This isn’t over, is it?” she asked Faust worriedly.

Faust didn’t answer her instantly, instead looking at the blood-soaked streets of the miniaturized Canterlot…and the four dead alicorns laying on the street.

“No,” Faust said, a parental worry coming over her.  “It’s about to get worse.  I may have to kill my sister for once and for all.”