After a long walk and a bit of chattery was exchanged between the group, Twilight and her friends make it back to the Tree of Harmony and safely put the Elements of Harmony back where they belong. Though, their strengths were replenished thanks to Sunset's new element, everyone still feels exhausted after that long battle and feel like they all need some relaxing, well-deserved rest. However, they know they have to report to Celestia, Luna and Blaze Burn about their successful mission in specific detail.
So, everyone exits the caverns and walk down the path in the Everfree Forest. Not one pony says a word and can everyone can feel the excitement and relief around them. Not only that, but a strong bond between two individuals makes itself known as they walk closely together, side-by-side.
That bond is none other than the one Spike and Rarity feel for each other right now. The girls all notice their two friends and can't stop thinking how the impossible became possible. And all it took for the fashionista and the honorable dragon to be close to each other was all thanks to the harsh words of Melodia. It hurt that Rarity got snapped at by her when she tried to snap Spike out of his trance earlier, but she knew it would happen eventually and she was thankful for that. Ignoring his feelings was probably the worst mistake she ever made and it's one she'll never make again for as long as she lives.
Eventually, everyone reaches the exit of the forest and make it back to Ponyville. "Alright, everypony, it's obvious that it's going to be too much of a hassle to buy more tickets, so I say we head back to my castle and rest up while I write a letter to Princess Celestia," Twilight says.
"For once, I agree with you there. My wings are killing me and I'm just about ready to hit the sack. By the way, you guys were pretty awesome out there!" Rainbow comments at the guys. "If I had known you guys had mad skills like those, we would have put you on our team years ago!" After she praised them, she turns her attention to Spark Burst and asks him a question he hasn't heard in a while. "So, Sparky, have you thought about wanting to join the Wonderbolts Academy?"
The blonde, spikey-maned pegasus strokes his chin, thinking it over. It's very rare that he's ever been invited into any sort of academy in his life. But after a lot of time and consideration he gives his answer. "I suppose I could give it a try, see what kind of program they have to offer," Spark nods.
"YES!!! Wait until Spitfire hears about this, she is gonna FLIP!" Rainbow says. As she's about to fly up high and perform a loop-de-loop, her wings cramp. "OOF!" she exclaims as she falls down. "Ow... but first, I think we should head back over to Twilight's and rest up." Rainbow gets up and reaches over to massage her cramped wing as she follows everyone else. She can barely contain her excitement and can hardly wait for Spark Burst to show how well he can fly Wonderbolt style.
Everyone finally reaches Twilight's castle and walk inside. Twilight shows everyone to the guest rooms while she goes into her room with Spike following her. She takes out a piece of paper, a quill and some ink and gives it to her #1 assistant.
"Spike, take a note," Twilight says, slightly exhausted. Spike nods and writes down every word she says, "Dear Princess Celestia, I have some very good new for you. As of now, the evil alicorn known as Zoor is no more, Equestria has been saved once again. However, after we defeated the dark alicorn, we soon came across an object that none of us have ever seen before, let alone even knew it actually existed. According to Melodia, what we now have is a new element that connects the Elements of Harmony and Freedom together, which is known as the Element of Forgiveness, and it belongs to Sunset. If you ever get the chance, feel free to stop on by my castle so we can discuss more about this rare finding. Signed, Princess Twilight Sparkle," she says.
"P.S The fight became a little more dangerous when Zoor took over Eternal's mind and used him to try and hurt his friends and potentially try to hurt himself. too. We have Sunset to thank for saving his life, along with everypony else's, so now we'll be at my castle awaiting your arrival." she adds.
After writing down the last word, Spike rolls up the paper, ties it up and then breathes his fire on it, sending it to Princess Celestia in a puff of light purple magic smoke. "Okay, it's done. Is there anything else you need me to do before I rest up?" Spike asks.
"No, but there's... a couple of things I want to talk to you about," Twilight says. Spike seems unsure of what Twilight has to say to him. He doesn't see any problems with it, so he accepts. She and him sit down on the edge of her bed and then get on with their talk. "Spike... do you think I'm a bad sister?"
Spike tilts his head, confused. "Why would you ask that?" he asked.
"Because I feel like I've really let you down. For instance... do you remember the time when it was my birthday and we all went to Canterlot to celebrate it, but you didn't show up?" Twilight asks.
"Yeah, I remember. I was pretty bummed out that I didn't get to go. But it was mostly my fault for oversleeping, so I had nothing better to do other than sweep up the library," Spike confirms.
Twilight's heart felt like just got jabbed when she heard him say that. "I'm sorry, Spike. I... it was all my fault, I was in so much of a hurry that I failed to realize that I left you out of all the fun. You have every right to be mad at me for that," she says, looking down, sad. A couple of tears fall from her eyes and hit the floor, but Spike stops her from shedding even more tears and turns her to face him.
"Listen, Twi. We all mess up, I get it. But you shouldn't beat yourself up over one birthday party I missed since I got to go to your other parties," Spike says, patting her on the back. But it doesn't help. Twilight tries to hold it back, but failed and starts sobbing in her hooves.
"You don't understand, Spike! It's not just my birthday that I messed up in! There was also the time back when I brought Owlolicious in, you got so jealous and thought he was taking your place and I didn't sit you down and talk to you about it! I was so oblivious of your pain that I scolded you and almost got you killed! Or that time when you were asleep on that little iceberg and I just laughed and waited for the ice to melt so I could fish you out, or even the times when we left you out of that bakery competition or meeting Maud Pie! And then there was the Grand Galloping Gala, which I still hated myself for ditching you like that! All those adventures and all those mistakes I made that I can NEVER undo!" she sobs.
Spike became surprised to hear what Twilight said. Even though he still feels bummed out about not being able to travel with her friends all the time, he doesn't get angry. Instead, what does is pull Twilight in for a warm hug and patting her gently on her back.
"Twilight, I will admit, I was disappointed back then, but I've gotten over them. I mean, hey, if I were in your hooves I would probably be doing the same things you were doing... probably. But you can't let those bad memories get you down, we can always make some more new memories, good ones. Now, I hope that you don't mind me changing the subject a bit, but why did you want to talk to me about these bad memories all of a sudden, did something happen to you?" Spike asks his sobbing sister.
"Eternal... he told me how I messed up as an older sibling. I wanted to talk some sense into him about being a good sibling, but how could I? He loves his brother so much and looks after him," she said with a hint of despair and defeat, looking down, feeling sad.
"He did WHAT?!" Spike asks, now showing a hint of anger.
"D-Don't, he's already apologized for what he said earlier," Twilight assures him.
Spike calms down a bit and sighs. "Even so, it was way out of line for him to do that. But I do know that you've looked out for me ever since you hatched me when you were a filly. You and I made some great friends, gave me lots of tasty food to eat, but most importantly... you gave me a home... and a life. A life that I'm happily living with you and our best friends," he says with a smile. Twilight looks up at the teenage dragon with disbelief, having being shown kindness and forgiveness from him so easily. She can't stop herself from putting on a sad smile and hugs him, sobbing on his left shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Spike. I'm so sorry!" she sobs still. Spike hugs Twilight back and rocks her left and right, helping her feel a little more at ease. He allows her to continue crying on his shoulder for as long as she needed to until she was finally more calm and all out of tears.
And with the two siblings now finished with their chat, Spike takes his leave and heads back to his room for a nice long rest to replenish his tired body. Twilight sighs, still unable to believe that the baby dragon she once knew was all grown up and he's learned to be a more respecting and kind young dragon. Twilight's only regret was that she wish she had gotten to hold that very same baby dragon in her hooves one last time.
Meanwhile, in one of the guest rooms, Eternal is resting his head on a pillow on a nice, comfy bed, but his eyes are open, not wanting to sleep one bit, even if he did earn some rest.
"Eternal, you really need to sleep. You gotta allow your body to rest," Heat Blitz says. Eternal hears what he's saying, but he can't seem to close his eyes. It's like something is preventing him from sleeping. Sighing out of impatience, Eternal forces his eyes shut. He powers through the will to wake up and soon, his body listens to him and he eventually grows tired. With Eternal sleeping, Heat Blitz turns his attention to Sunset. The tired unicorn is resting up, curled up like a ball like how dogs do when they sleep.
"Thank you... for saving my brother's life," he says quietly before laying down on the couch. Heat Blitz was really scared throughout today. Saving Spike from going off on a rampage as a giant dragon was pretty scary, but when his big brother, Eternal got possessed by Zoor earlier, he really lost it. To him, Eternal is his pillar of strength, possibly the definition of what courage is all about.
To lose that pillar of strength would break his heart into a million pieces. He's been there for him ever since he was just a young colt. Heat Blitz had always been the timid, shy type back then. He didn't like the idea of violence and still doesn't. Bullies picked on him because of that. It was a huge slap in the face for him and he didn't want to fight back because deep down, even to this day, he's a pacifist. And Heat Blitz was going to do everything that he could in order to stay that way.
As much as he admired the idea of his brother defending him from those bullies, he never wanted him to hurt them with his hooves or his magic. Just a simple talk and two would've been enough. He still remains gratefull for his brother, but deep down, he wanted to make things right.
With the bullies too scared to pick on him, Heat Blitz did the one thing he never regrets. He made them all hoof-crafted "I'm sorry" and "get better soon" cards.
Because of those thought pondering within his mind, Heat Blitz hopes that one day he can become a true hero just like his brother and his friends. Then maybe one day, everyone will acknowledge his heroics, but for now, the only thing he wants is to bask in the victory and take a nice long nap.
A couple of hours later, Twilight wakes up to the sound of the front door being knocked on. She teleports out of her room and straight in front of the front door. She opens it up and sees Princess Celestia, acompanied by Blaze Burn, both looked pretty worried.
"Twilight, would you please lead me to where everypony is at? I wish to see our sons," Celestia asks. She can understand why she would want to ask to see her sons. Twilight did mention in the letter that Eternal got possessed by Zoor and nearly got himself and the others hurt. It's a normal reaction for any parent to want to check on the well-being of their children. Even Twilight's own parents had gotten worried a few times about her brother and herself when it was time to leave home.
Not wanting to keep Celestia waiting, Twilight leads her and Blaze Burn throughout her castle and shows them to one of the guest rooms that Eternal and Sunset were resting up in. She opens the door and shows the two alicorns their children, who are both waking up to the sound of the door opening.
Eternal feels a little drowsey from his nap, but his body tells him to wake up. Heat Blitz wakes up and sees his mom and dad standing at the doorway. Both Celestia and Blaze Burn have their hooves to their mouths as if they were in shock to see their boys still alive and in one piece. Eternal notices his parents and opens his eyes up fully, then sits himself up on the bed and stretches. The moment he does, Celestia gasps. She runs over to Eternal and Blitz, scoops them both up in her hooves, then hugs them both.
Blaze Burn walks up inside and gives his two sons a hug and a pat on the back. He can hear his wife crying and quivering in utter disbelief. He can't help himself but want to shed a few small tears himself.
"I'm so relieved to see that you boys are okay! I'm so sorry I left you out on that field all alone! If I had known the fight was going to end up that dangerous, I would have stepped in!" Celestia rants. "How could I have allowed this to go so wrong?" she continues on. Heat Blitz gives his mom a big hug and even tries convincing her that it's all over and he and his brother are finally home. Eternal sheds only a single tear and hugs his mother, apologizing to her for letting himself get careless. Celestia sheds even more tears and soon, Blaze Burn joins in on the group hug with Celestia and his sons.
Sunset watches the warm embrace Celestia gives to her family and feels a sense of peace knowing that the princess is happy that she got her boys back.
After calming down, Celestia lets her boys go. Celestia turns to Sunset and walks up to her. "Sunset Shimmer, thank you for saving both of my sons. I would've been so lost if they hadn't made it. I am truly grateful for your kind act of bravery, my former student," she replies. "And I'm also very proud to see that you've become the bearer of an element. So this is the Element of Forgiveness."
Sunset nods. "Yes, princess. It chose me to bear it after Eternal and I freed Clover the Clever from the darkness that once lurked within her heart," she explains.
"Technically, it was you who freed her. Also, Clover's soul was freed, not just her heart. But yes, what Sunset just told you is the truth. Zoor is no longer a threat to us anymore and peace has finally been restored, so now everypony can rest easy," Eternal says. "So now that we've finally completed our mission, what do you suppose we should do now?"
"I KNOW!!!" Pinkie shouts, popping her head up out of nowhere. Eternal jumps backward, nearly feeling his heart jump out of his chest.
"Pinkie Pie, you scared the blazes out of me!" the fiery unicorn prince says. "And when exactly did you even get here in the first place?" he asks.
"Since 5 seconds ago," Pinkie shrugs casually.
"B-B-But how?!"
"Eternal, it's best you don't question Pinkie Pie," Sunset implies.
"I'm just curious of how she gets around, that's all. What's so bad about that?"
"That's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie," Celestia and Sunset say in unison. Both mares blink in surprise and look at each other in surprise, then laugh about it.
"Okie dokies. Now fillies and gentlecolts, as I was saying, there's only one thing left to do now that we've saved all of Equestria from certain doom," Pinkie says. Everyone's attention in the room focuses on her and then she shous out loud "A BIG PARTY!!!"
In no time flat, Pinkie set up a huge party in town square and invited everyone. The ponies were unsure of what the party was for. But when some of them realized the incident with a giant dragon that flew over to Canterlot, followed by a lot of battle noises coming from the distance, they finally understood.
Now, Twilight and her friends, including the guys start partying and having the time of their lives. All except for Eternal, as he is sitting on a bench, drinking his punch. He watches his little brother and his pals having fun while trying to conquer another problem he has to face. Eternal's eyes scan the town for something, which piques his mother's curiosity. Celestia walks towards Eternal and sits down next to him.
"Is something wrong?" Celestia asks.
"Kind of. I feel like I'm in a tight spot and I blame myself for not realizing it sooner," Eternal replies.
"What's the problem?"
"I'm just gonna cut straight to the chase: I've got to find someplace for me and my brother to live so I can settle down for a while because I don't plan on heading back to the village and neither do the guys. I'm also a bit worried over where they're gonna sleep," Eternal explains.
"There's no need to worry, Your friends took care of that problem. I'm going to help Spark Burst and Hurrican Breeze find a nice house up in Cloudsdale, Tidal Wave is going to look for a place to stay in Ponyville and Ground Breaker was invited to stay over at Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack," Celestia says.
"But that still leaves me, my brother and Shadow Force to find homes for ourselves. On top of that, we still have to find us some decent-paying jobs. Now let's see, what kind of job should I get that pays well and also matches what I'm best at?" Eternal asks himself. Though, what Celestia has in store for him. his brother and his life long friend is going to leave him completely speechless.
"I've got that covered as well. If you'd like, you, Shadow Force and Heat Blitz can always come live with me and your father at the castle," Celestia offers.
"What? The castle?" Eternal asks, making sure he's not hearing things. Celestia nods. "I... I don't know, mother, I'm not sure if living in a giant castle is the right lifestyle for me. I'll consider it, but do I still get to find some decent work so I can make my own living?"
"If that is what you desire, then who am I to deny you of that privilage," she says with a nod. At first, Eternal thinks this is too good to be true. Living in a huge castle was something he's only heard about.
While he did stay in the guest room of his mother's castle, he never made his final decision to stay since he was so focused on saving Spike and stopping Zoor. Now, he's given a chance to not only live inside the Canterlot Castle, but to also be able to earn his own living. Eternal was never the type of stallion who wanted to be spoiled, but as the old saying goes: to the victor go the spoils. He takes a deep breath and exhales, then looks up at Princess Celestia with a small smile.
"Alright, I accept," he agrees. Celestia smiles back at him. "But... do I really deserve it?"
"Eternal, I can understand why you would ask me that, but rest assured, you earned this. There will always come a time when even a prince has to settle down and rest his tired body after a long exhausting day, whether it's from work or from a rough battle. You displayed a lot of heart and courage today and helped your friends save all of Equestria and I couldn't be even more proud of you than I am now. All of the ponies of Equestria owe you and your friends their gratitude," Celestia explains, hugging her son.
With his mother's kind words, a huge burden is lifted from Eternal Flames for the time being. The young prince hugs his mother right back, thinking about what he can't believe.
For the first time in his life... Eternal Flames now has a place he can call "Home Sweet Home."