//------------------------------//
// Epilogue - Into the Light 
// Story: Where Gods Rest 
// by Quick Fix 
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The sun had never felt so wonderful. Now that the skies had been cleared of fog and snow, its glow was steadily warming Equestria again and a bright day was starting to take hold. As she watched afternoon light rays filter through the window opposite her bed, the symbolism was not lost on Twilight. With the weight of the past off her shoulders and fresh hope in her heart, she knew Princess Celestia was ready to move forward again, back to putting her everything toward helping other ponies be their best.


Once the trio that had entered the Tomb of the Gods had managed to extract themselves, Celestia had returned them to Canterlot. Heading straight to either the castle or hospital to deal with the injuries they had all sustained would have caused too much of a furore to keep the reason a secret. Instead she had brought them to the Equestria Defence Force HQ adjacent to the castle, knowing the infirmary there would provide the medical attention they needed with an extra level of privacy. Twilight's wing had fortunately not been broken and while she wouldn't be able to fly for a few weeks, it was unlikely to have suffered permanent damage now it had been treated. Spike's burns would normally have been more serious but with Celestia doing what she could with them the damage there was also mitigated.


"Are you sure you're alright?" Twilight asked as she stretched herself out on her infirmary bed, her wing bandaged up and bound in a sling to keep it against her body and make sure she didn't move it too much.


"Honestly, the fact I managed to keep standing after being hit by alicorn magic is a small miracle," Spike replied from the bed opposite her, laid out on his front while Celestia worked on his back with her magic, colour starting to come back to the scales. "After all that, I'm feeling pretty good."


"You do have a tendency to keep coming out of trouble in better condition than you should. Maybe you should have been the Element of Luck."


"It's a nice idea but, then everypony would expect me to keep up with you." He chuckled, shaking his head slightly.


"Well if you ever change your mind, Luna and I could probably make it happen. Assuming we have advance warning of about a century to get everything ready." Celestia chimed in, her voice back to its usual warm tone as she applied her magic toward fixing the damage she had caused. A blanket of yellow aura currently covered Spike's back, steadily working away the damage from the blast burns.


"And, what about you, princess?" Twilight asked cautiously. To her surprise, Celestia simply nodded to her.


"For the first time since I can remember, I feel free. From the influences of Viam Dei, from the lingering threat of the Tomb of the Gods, even from Ortasin. Now that I've faced her for the first time and know what I must do to counter her, her power over me is lessened. Plus, I like to imagine you found out something during your study of the magic present."


"There was so much magic I'd never experienced within those walls," Twilight reminisced, getting up from her bed and trotting over. "I didn't even come close to looking at it all, but it could take me months to go through all I did and even longer to see if there was any weakness within it. It almost feels a shame to let all that knowledge just disappear...I think I understand why you wanted to learn it yourself."


"For all the malicious intent it was used for, I couldn't bring myself to just let it be lost," Celestia admitted. "But I also hoped that it could be used for purposes that would benefit all ponies. The example Caligo mentioned, about subtle genetic modification to create ascended alicorns. They would have used it to enslave countless lives to their ideals. I only used it to help Cadance and yourself reach your full potential, and it is not a spell I would use lightly."


Twilight nodded, feeling far less rattled about that revelation now than she had before. While she still wasn't sure where she stood about the existence of such a spell, she couldn't deny that her former mentor would only use such things for beneficial purposes. All ponykind as it currently stood was due to the actions of Luna, Vaire and her, she would always look out for them first and foremost.


"I know," Twilight said, relaxing herself. "But all the same, we will still need to neutralise the tomb and end any risk from the old empire once and for all. It may take some time but, I'll find a way."


Celestia smiled gently and nodded.


"You always do."