Entropy's deceased body lay still at peace along the valley preceding her fallen castle, through which Harmony made a routine walk to see her departed sister. Two months had passed in strenuous silence for the alicorn, time that seemed to grow longer with every passing hour of her only family having been lost to her. Thunder boomed overhead, but even its sudden resounding roar did not so much as startle Harmony. Not here, on the one place through the entire Equestrian Nightmare that she could still call sacred.
After a moment to collect herself she sat down beside the fallen frame, running a hoof along her sister's still daringly beautiful if threatening mane, provoking from herself a sigh. Looking away, a tear gathered in her eye as she pondered how things must be going in Equestria proper.
Her thoughts silenced in a wave of dread, however. As dark as the landscape was around her, her surprise came in that it had darkened further, while her horn tingled mercilessly in resonance to a power suddenly occurring nearby. She rose to her hooves and looked around, only to take a sudden step back when she saw the entity now hovering over her sister.
What she saw somehow did not completely shatter her resolve. Above Entropy hovered an enormous sphere of the most absolute black, perhaps four feet wide, surrounded by revolving ovular shapes of black in two belt-like formations about it. Cautiously, Harmony proceeded backwards, unsure what to make of the situation. "Who... what are you?" She asked, deciding it best to get simplicities out of the way first.
"You have not heard of me?" The figure's speech was low, even in its curiosity screaming demise through its thorough resonance and accompanied screech, however hollow. "It will do you well to remember, Harmony. Have you forgotten the troubles of your own dear sister's youth?"
"What is the meaning of this?" Harmony insisted, "Why are you here?"
"So you remember nothing..." The figure let out a chuckle. "Very well, I will enlighten you. I am Ruin, the ancient spirit of destruction. Does that ring any bells?"
"But... how? Entropy and I-"
"Seven thousand years ago, once you count the twists and turns of dear Entropy's manipulation of temporal mechanics, yes I remember you deciding my fate. Or better yet, the mare who now lies dead for your inaction."
"How dare you!"
"And what have you to say in your defense?" Ruin remarked, "You have done nothing for her, done nothing to aid her designs for a better world and now nothing either to save nor redeem her loss of life."
Harmony shuddered, her steps back growing slower but still consistent.
"And now, for your punishment. You shall suffer!"
---
"Harmony!" Violet screamed as she awoke, momentarily held still by what felt like muck along her coat from her sheet. Even opening her eyes stung as she realized its exact source. She had been restless the entire night, and with what a dream.
Rubbing her forehead, she paused to wonder for a moment. Even her visions of Harmony occurring throughout the couple months since the Nightmare incident had been peaceful if a little saddening, not alarming as this dream. She looked out of the window in her home, overlooking Manehattan for what seemed the millionth time as it occurred to her.
By the sheer consistency of its length and activity, it wasn't just a dream. The night was still going strong, the moon delicately hovering high overhead and shining a beautiful light over the urban city. She at least could appreciate the beauty in all things, even those considered outright evil by many if not all. In remembering that she herself had in a way been much the same, she denied herself any excuse to forget reason behind all things.
"You saw it too, didn't you?" A vaguely familiar voice asked from the far wall.
Violet spun on her hooves only to see a ghostly apparition of none other than Entropy sitting and staring at her, surrounded by six ponies of which one she recognized immediately as Hope. "What happened?" She asked, very nearly breathless from combined fright of the dream and its potential reality - let alone seeing Entropy so suddenly after two months.
"Long before anything of my troubles began, Harmony and I were both seen as benevolent in society. It so happens that Ruin refused to be defeated, no matter how hard we tried to stand up to him. At one point when we thought we had him finished, everything changed, at least for me."
"But then, if you and Harmony both couldn't defeat him -"
Entropy held up a hoof. "Calm down, I'm not done yet. We thought we had Ruin defeated without a trace, but it turns out I discovered a year later that he had instead occupied my soul and over the course of a few more years, replaced it with his own intentions that I've had to cope with for quite a long time. That's a lot of why I could fool everypony into believeing I honestly meant them harm... I've had some inward experience for that, and at what a cost."
Violet shuddered, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to -"
"You did nothing wrong, Violet." Entropy said calmly. "But like I said, there will come a time when you and your friends are going to have to do what's necessary."
"Why not tell Chrono? He's headed the whole charade since before I've even met him though."
"How would I speak with him?" Entropy pointed a hoof to herself. "Remember, without your help no pony can even see me. I'm just a ghost now, a wandering afterlife without a soul to rest with."
"What?" Violet's eyes flew wide.
"Ruin's devices are more than what I could hope for you to expect. I know I'm probably never going to outlast this, but I need your help - and yours especially, Violet. Do you remember what I showed you on your way to meeting with Hope here?"
Violet nodded, not wanting to remember the occurrence. "Why?"
"Because Hollow can do what a great many ponies have yet to accomplish. The Equestrian Nightmare was created through the use of her talent in trans-dimensional creation, made as something of a hollow image of the country we all see here and now. And I imagine you know where she can be found."
Violet hung her head and sighed. "How'd you know?"
"I've been watching you since before you knew who I was, Violet. I knew you had the potential to be whatever you so desired, which was why I sent Nightmare Moon to you in the first place, as a test of that potential."
"Cruel, much?"
Entropy nodded sadly. "I know I've surpassed that boundary quite some time ago, let there be no mistake of it. As it is however, some of that same power may be needed now, and with me gone, there stands only one source of a mirror to the Nightmare."
"My mother." Violet reasoned, "But why not just leave Ruin to rot in the Nightmare anyway? If he can't come here, then -"
"If my sister suffers into her final fate, then the Nightmare will collapse and in doing so, merge onto Equestria itself. So many of the cities in Equestria will be suddenly immersed in lava, villages torn through by trees previously not there at all. I don't want that to happen, and every last hint of life here hinges on Harmony's survival."
Violet stood there, terror-struck by the bluntness of Entropy's design. Looking out through the window again, she saw the correlation of Equestria's outcome at the abandonment of virtue, but for it to happen so suddenly seemed an immensely cruel hoof of fate. Looking back to Entropy, the hard-eyed stare she recieved only furthered the reality; so far as anyone knew, the hoof of judgement was Entropy's to own.
"How long do we have?" She finally asked, her voice slightly shaky.
"Harmony is adept in the arts of survival. She will be hard-pressed after a few months, but I suspect you will have as long as a year to find her."
No amount of running would save her, this much she knew. Harmony's every thought turned to evasion as she tore through the valley aloft on her wings. Explosions of black burst all around her, rocking her every movement but doing her no direct harm as she wove between the mountains guided by a forced wind parting for her and closing just behind.
"Doom awaits you!" Ruin shrieked from behind, launching an orbital sphere of darkness directly in front of Harmony and sent her vaulting over the cliff edge she had nearly angled over.
Still Harmony was exceptionally quick to recover, spiraling down to build her momentum before snapping her wings out yet again. Still Ruin had no such relenting windows of opportunity to grant. A massive blast pelted at Harmony's right wing, instantly crippling it with an electrifying jolt of pain resounding through her entire frame.
Suddenly helpless, she fell, eyes turned toward the ground below having nothing left to hope for but a last-second self-levitation to spare her.
"Entropy," she whispered as she plummeted down with a single tear in her wake, "I'm sorry."
---
It was an entertaining evening for Chrono that night, watching impassively as the performers took the floor of the dance studio. Among the seven now occupying the floor, one stood out with her impossibly night-party styled appearance; black coat and bright blue and pink dominating her mane and tail. Skilled to the extreme, the fabled raver pony Neon Glow.
She lived up to her reputation, beyond any doubt. Where the others performed admirably, against the flawless flow of Neon's precise movements, they paled. Music was of course provided by Vinyl Scratch herself, and the crowd was as lively as could be. There was a lot to learn by observation on Chrono's part, but that would never have given him relief from the sudden wave of unease assaulting his mind.
Curious, he glanced around and found nothing visibly out of place. Everything sounded normal, but suddenly the young stallion could no longer enjoy the show itself simply due to the creeping unease flooding his mind. It hadn't been the first time either. No doubt just subconscious flashbacks from Entropy's defeat and the struggles before that, existent and otherwise.
With a sigh, he rose to his hooves from his perch and trotted out the door. He had hardly cleared the walkway when his spot had been taken by somepony else. "Well that's what I get for being in the seat half a second after the door opens," he chuckled halfheartedly to himself.
As he stepped outside, the only thing he could consider as out of place was a familiar lavender-maned unicorn mare standing opposite the street watching him. "Violet?" He asked, slightly alarmed, "What are you doing here?"
"You remember two months ago, when Entropy said we'd be needed again?" Violet answered, eyes boring into Chrono's and leaving him slightly numb.
"Let me guess."
Violet nodded. "Time's up. And with luck we'll have about a year but I'm not putting anything up to chance. Especially where we're going."
"Which would be?"
Violet sighed, shyly glancing away down the street in the dead of night, her signature backshadow complimenting against the darkness. "I'm not really a Manehattan pony. I was born in the northeast reaches of Equestria, just west of the mountains." With a drop of her head and flattening of her ears, she continued. "Tramplevania."
Chrono's eyes widened slightly. "You can't be serious."
"Well where else do you think somepony with above-average powers in shadows and darkness would come from?" Violet countered, "And besides, I have a few connections there that need to be sorted out, they may wind up helpful."
Chrono tilted his head. "I think this calls for an explanation." He remarked.
Violet paused for a moment but nodded all the same. "I didn't remember any of it for the longest time. Until we turned up in the Nightmare, I always thought I was raised by a pegasus, but... as it turns out my mother was pretty ambitious and sent me off on the thought of being the herald of domination. And look how well that turned out."
Chrono nodded, "I can remember it pretty well. So who is your mother?"
"Hollow Shadow."
Chrono thought for a moment, pulling through his extensive memories for any affiliation with the name. "The self-proclaimed empress of Tramplevania? Same one?"
Violet nodded. "Alicorn, too. In case you didn't already know."
Chrono's eyes winced shut. Having lived so long under the rule of two alicorns only to find not only two but now three more entering his span of life - and having heard rumor of yet another princess - had begun to wear on his nerves. "Alright, so what about the others? Have you met up with them?"
"Not yet. I'm worried though..."
"Why, what's wrong?"
"I've focused the outcomes of my visions on the Nightmare, been paying close attention to Harmony's activity. She's... not doing well."
"What do you mean?"
Violet sighed, tilting her head in towards an alley off to the side, her horn glowing faintly. Chrono followed.
"I can't guarantee what you'll see, but I'll be watching the same thing." Violet said quietly, her horn amplifying its glow briefly before all went black.
---
Harmony woke and lifted her head to find she had been encased within a magical prison inscribed in a circle on an obsidian floor. The lighting throughout the room faded in and out at fixed intervals, allowing her only momentary glimpses of her captor, which hovered just beyond the circle itself and the field rising above it. "You haven't killed me..." she observed. "What are you planning, Ruin?"
"You haven't figured it out yet?" A low chuckle resounded from Ruin's figure. "Can you imagine the pains of your sister who you so mercilessly abandoned to her fate with me?"
Harmony stepped back, eyes narrowing slightly. "Answer the question, Ruin. What do you want with me?"
Another rumbling chuckle. "You will beg for death long before I am through with you. That Entropy sacrificed herself to save your precious world from collapsing only to leave you responsible for its very fall..."
"What?" Harmony gasped, "But you can't! I remember her telling me about her final dealings all those years a-"
"I bound myself to her soul, you ignorant whelp." Ruin interrupted her, causing her a frightened step back. "Without any soul left to maintain, my obligations reclined."
"So..." Harmony's voice trailed off at even the word as she realized what stood in her future.
Entropy had given her life and so much more to keep Ruin contained. Without any means to do so, naturally she could not retain Ruin after her death, since every trace of her life no longer held to her. So not only was her sister bound to the mortal worlds forever wandering as a ghost, but the very reason for her sacrifice had been contradicted, and now Ruin hovered over her, malice echoing in his every word. She was next.
Ruin's resounding chuckle unnerved the alicorn completely. "Congratulations, you understand now."
Harmony's backside collided with a transparent force at the far end of the circle she was held in. Slowly, Ruin made his approach, his entirety pulsing with intent as the revolutions of his outer thinnings slowed their movements.
The lights dimmed, and almost immediately Harmony's chest erupted in a sickening feeling, leaving her weak enough and collapsing to the floor below. Without any hesitation her mind wavered, every fiber of her being aching with objection to the coming doom.
Slowly, as the history of Ruin flooded through her mind, she began to understand her sister's enmity for the blissfully ignorant ponies of Equestria. They did not deserve ill, she held firm to this belief. However, the blunt truths that held firm in the Nightmare were not without cause, and yet not even the princesses of Equestria knew of them.
And in all likelihood, they would never know until it was too late. Try though she might, Harmony knew she was doomed. Her only hope held still however; so long as she survived in the Nightmare, her objective would remain intact. Equestria would still be safe...
In this last thought, she passed out, feeling only the thump of the floor before her every sense failed her.
"How does it feel?" Ruin's voice echoed now within Harmony's mind, furthering her torment even as she woke up. "How do you like becoming the very reason for Equestria's inevitable fall?"
Harmony struggled to stand, her entire body aching as she opened her eyes to the slowly flickering light of the room she had been in. "I've seen worse..." she breathed, "and I know better."
"Than what?" Ruin's chuckle echoed throughout the room. "You think you are still able to oppose me, after you already gave in?"
Harmony's horn gave off a soft glow, and a small smile lit her face. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"
Within the next instant, the room had flashed a brilliant green and Ruin had been forced to reform across the way from Harmony, and she stood defiantly with her horn aglow, a bright green encompassing her entire frame. "The Nightmare is my responsibility, Ruin. You do not belong here, now be gone!"
The entire room erupted in blackened explosions, throughout which Harmony stubbornly held her ground. Ruin's form flickered for a brief moment, whereupon Harmony saw her window of opportunity and cast a translocation spell through the wall. Immediately once outside, ignoring that her vision had clouded significantly through the spell's inhibitions of several blocking fields, she took flight aimlessly up and forward. Her vision would clear, but if she didn't move now, Ruin would catch her far too quickly again.
With her face set stern as stone and a tear burning back through her mane, she tore through the skies yet again, alighting several blades of greenish force behind her to deter direct following. She would not make this easy for her pursuer.
With a last hope, she lit her horn in a distress call. With luck, somepony in particular would hear her cry for help...
---
Celestia's head turned at the sound of a massive shimmering behind the seals of Harmony. Curious, she approached the door which she had so delicatedly protected so thoroughly and ignited the seals with her horn, stepping back as the doorway opened and she found a glow emitting from the lid of the chest in which she had kept the elements of Harmony.
Carefully, she opened the lid only to find the source was of the elements themselves, and upon further investigation she could hear a faint cry...
"I hoped I would never need to send a call through the elements. Celestia, hear me. My name is Harmony, the spirit of peace. A parallel existence is threatened by an entity named Ruin, and I alone cannot hope to contain him forever. By what means there may be, your discovery of my parting gifts to Equestria were not without merit, but I must ask they be used once again. If I am to fail in this last line of defense, Equestria will be submerged in undue destruction and all of our beloved creation will be lost. I beg you, when you can, come."
With a look of wide-eyed alarm, the princess of the day immediately departed for her chambers, pen going to paper even before she came through the door.
---
"Another one." Violet said distantly, "Harmony's sent a call for Celestia. Still, even with the elements of Harmony with us there's nothing we can do without a way through, and I'm not about to take any risks."
Chrono nodded, turning to look along the surroundings. "I'll get everypony sorted out then meet you at the railway in Tramplevania. Be careful, Violet. I've got more than a little of a bad feeling about this."
Violet nodded, immediately taking off.
Chrono took a brief moment to collect himself. A soft landing from the side caught his attention as he glanced over to see Neon dropping out from a window. "Got a lot going on, it sounds like." She said with a casual flair. "So, what's your story?"
Chrono glanced down the alley, surprised to see in fact that Violet had halted in her tracks to glance back his way. "At this particular moment? A global threat consisting of pretty absolute destruction."
"Seems pretty severe," Neon remarked, "how come no pony else knows about it?"
"Because from all perspectives about, the origins of concern don't even exist."
"Huh?"
Violet had turned around and trotted back by this point with a curious stare to Chrono. "There's a parallel existence to Equestria known as the Equestrian Nightmare, which is a perfectly volatile landscape that is poised to impose itself on Equestria proper. If it's not held intact, then everything will merge onto Equestria and we're going to be in for a cruel ride."
Neon glanced from Chrono to Violet, tilting her head slightly. "Think I could help at all?"
"No more than anypony el-" Chrono started.
Violet cut him off, immediately drawing Neon's attention to the lavender afterimage of herself moving to do so. "We need all the help we can get. Think you could come with me then? Who are you anyway?"
"Neon Glow." Neon said with a small smile. "I'll help if I can."
Violet nodded. "Come on then. Chrono, if you can find any other ponies that might be willing to help, it would do a lot of good."
Chrono thought for a few moments before nodding. "I know of a couple. I'll see what I can do."
---
Even before Violet could nod, Chrono was gone. She gave a light giggle as she looked over to the black earth pony. "So, how do you know Chrono?" She asked, growing curious.
"He's a regular at the Nightlight." Neon pointed to the building she had been in a few minutes ago. "Can't say I actually know him, but he seems pretty cool from what I've seen of him."
Violet laughed. "In plenty of ways, yes. Come on, it'll be nice to have some company on the ride."
"Violet?" A voice sounded from outside the train as Violet hopped off.
She did not immediately recognize the soft voice which had addressed her, but even a passing glance at the unicorn mare who had been her friend for years before her departure for Manehattan could not be mistaken. "Rose!" She cried in delight. "It's been so long! How have you been?"
The mare's luminescent grey face twisted downwards in a sad frown, her eyes quickly following suit. "Tramplevania has seen many dark times these past years. Your mother has become... frightening, to speak of among the populace."
"I can imagine." Violet remarked, "I wish I could say otherwise but I have a little business with her. I'm guessing it's not going to be as easy done as said?"
Rose's white mane rustled in the breeze as she shook her head. "I fear I may yet be the only pony here to trust you, Violet. The name of Shadow has become one of dread, and many prophecies speak of an ill omen of your return here."
Violet took a step back. "What do you mean?"
"Have you not heard the legends, Violet?"
"N-no... should I have?"
Rose's attention shifted briefly to a car of the train further along the tracks, where several ponies poured out seemingly aimlessly. "Your mother wishes to control Equestria from her throne here in Tramplevania. As I recall you left to ready yourself to be her herald, but how could you not know?"
Violet froze. Beyond all manner of logic, she found the possibilities to be inconceivable at best. "And for a time I had, but a friend... well now a friend, of mine had stopped me and since taken back the events in time to that extent. How can it still remain? I want nothing to do with my mother!"
"Then... what business do you have with her?"
"I can explain everything, but... I think for the safety of everypony here, I probably shouldn't. Just, what's going on with my mother?"
Rose shook her head again sadly. "I am not at liberty to say, Violet. Rule has become very strict of late, and I have begun planning for an escape of my own when I may find an opportunity."
Neon hopped out from the train behind Violet, smiling. "I have just the window for you then." She turned to Violet. "Go on ahead, I'll regroup here with Chrono and everyone else."
Violet nodded, her attention turning back to Rose. "Rose, this is my friend Neon Glow. I'm afraid this is a little urgent, so I really should be on my way. I'll see you soon, assuming my guesses are correct."
"Very well, then." Rose said even as Violet sprinted off. "My, she is in a hurry..."
---
A full escort of four armed and armored unicorns brought Violet to the throne room of Hollow Shadow. The room itself had its own splendors, but nothing to Violet's taste in fashion. A crimson-carpeted walkway with black walls and gold-and-crimson decor hung all over the walls. Elegantly put together, but with a theme so foreboding that it reminded her of her initial beliefs of Entropy.
And her standing beliefs of her own mother.
"You have been gone for twenty years..." Hollow said, standing from her seat. "You have not only failed in your clandestine mission, but gone and defiled my every work, and now you dare return? What is your business here, Violet!"
Had it even been possible for her to, Violet would have literally shrunk in fear. However as it were, she stood shaking uncontrollably, forcing herself to maintain an even breathing. "I have an offer for you." She said simply at last. "And no, I am not coming empty-hooved."
"Speak, then."
"Guards." Violet said slightly more sternly. "In accordance with the laws of confidence in her majesty's audience, I must ask you leave us alone for the time being."
"The law does not apply to outsiders." Hollow said in return, "The guards will stay."
Violet grumbled slightly. "Outsiders..." She muttered, "As maternally cruel as ever then. Fine, if you insist."
With that her horn glowed for a moment, but as the anklet belonging to her materialized upon her hoof the glow turned red, much like the ruby hue of the element of Hope, and gradually her figure grew dark and soon, entirely black, leaving only her bright lavender eyes bearing any color and staring straight ahead at her mother. "I didn't fail." She said boldly. "But that doesn't mean I'm proud to have done so."
Hollow's eyes stirred with amusement. "Your taste for flair is apalling, Violet. What is this, a j-"
Violet stamped a hoof to the ground, her horn glowing as a wave of red rushed from the point of collision and knocking all four guards away from her. "Order them off, mother." She called out, "this is between you and me. No pony else needs to be involved in this."
Slowly, yet surely Hollow smiled. With a nod, each of the guards filed out of the throne room. Violet's figure gradually reclined to its normal coloring. "Have it your way, Violet. What is it you want? And what is it you are offering?"
Violet paused for a moment, mulling over her careful choice of words. "Parallel to the world here is another called the Equestrian Nightmare. I have business with its holder that could potentially spill it over onto this same world, which might I say would make it nearly impossible for you not to achieve what I hear you're after."
"Go on..."
"As it is, there are several ponies that I know of that are willing to help me in this endeavor of mine, but we're all at a loss for a means to come through to the Nightmare itself."
"And you need me to open a portal to this Equestrian Nightmare. What is there to say that your business there will be successful?"
"If -" Violet paused. "If I fail, then naturally I am subject to your punishment. I am willing to pay for my mistakes."
"And what are you expecting to gain out of this?"
"In all honesty?" Violet chuckled. "To be able to get away and go back home with some semblance of peace."
Hollow's glare could have stilled lava for ages. "Where are these cohorts of yours?"
Violet smiled. She had always prided herself on being a gifted negotiator.
---
"A-are you sure about this?" Autumnshy asked, glancing around the castle with looks of sheer dread.
"Positive." Chrono said simply. "There's no way this is going to work well at all without everypony helping."
"Yeah, but you don't think you could have arranged a meeting somewhere a little less dull?" Aero protested.
"Hey, we're under the princesses' orders," Deuce interjected, "I wouldn't be questioning that, Aero."
"It's not that bad if you think about good design," Neon remarked, "Put in a few blacklights and this place is perfect!"
Rose merely blinked at the earth pony's comment.
"Guys!" Everypony stopped to see none other than Twilight Sparkle rushing along the hall in their direction, accompanied by all of her closest friends. "Were you coming on princess Celestia's calling too?"
"Something like that," Aero nodded, "I'm surprised it's taking as much as it has."
Gale chuckled, perching briefly on the hammer slung along Sledge's back. "We've got ourselves a little army, huh?"
Sledge simply shrugged the pegasus off with a chuckle. "If Chrono's half as serious as he sounds, we're going to need it."
Rayne remained silent. Maple giggled slightly. "We're not going to get anywhere losing our nerve at something that isn't even moving, come on!"
The door at the end of the hallway opened, revealing the silhouette of Violet Shadow within. "Come on everypony..." she said distractedly, "Chrono, I need to talk to you for a bit."
---
"What's the matter, Violet?"
"Once we're through with Ruin, the odds are that you're not going to see me again, so I had to say a few things before final farewells."
"What do you mean?"
Violet sighed. "Arrangements with my mother are far less than kind. The way she sees it, I'm trying to make Ruin succeed. Failure will have to result in whatever she so chooses to happen to me, which after she finds out my assault on Manehattan never actually happened... well I doubt I'll survive."
"No." Chrono said bluntly. "I'm not letting you go through any more than you already have."
Violet prodded the stallion's chest with a forcefully rough hoof. "I'm not letting you stop me, Chrono. You were the one to stop me from bringing Equestria into a shadow of its beauty, you were the one to discover everything there was ever needed to be known about Entropy. Equestria doesn't need me, Chrono, it needs you."
"It needs virtue," Chrono countered. "Yours is one of those virtues, and I don't care if you can give up in the hopes that it will redeem you. What never happened, never happened. Equestria doesn't know about that, and to be honest neither should you. I'm not letting you meet your fate here, be it now or later."
"Which brings me to my next point."
"Huh?" Chrono took a step back.
Violet hung her head, her sad expression forming into a tearful smile. "Ever since I found out about what you've been doing through a vision or two, I always wanted to know more about you. To be honest, after I'd gotten to know you for a bit I never wanted to let go. I didn't want to go back to Manehattan because well... I wanted to stay with you, Chrono. You mean the world to me, for everything you've done."
Chrono took another step back, freezing from there in place. "But why me? I'm just one of-"
"But you were the only one that could forgive me for what I've done wrong. That's why." Violet stepped forward and embraced the young stallion in a hug sending a few tears sailing down his neck. "Don't ever doubt yourself, alright? I guess we can deal with the aftermath once it comes, but you know it all now."
Chrono bit back a tear. For being about to deal with a fate-altering course of life-threatening actions, he felt strangely happy.
And suddenly quite alarmed when he heard Pinkie Pie lose her balance quite audibly in the doorway ahead of him.