Principal Noses and Ancient Roses

by Irrespective


9. - Endgame

“Something isn’t right.”

Adagio Dazzle tapped her foot as she mentally reviewed the situation. The students of Canterlot High were under her control. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna obeyed their every whim. The Rainbooms had been vilified, and Trixie only needed a slight nudge to be well on her way to doing something delightfully nasty to ensure she was the one who competed in the finals.

But as she watched the holders of Equestrian magic exit the gym with their heads held low to avoid the jeers of the students, she had the feeling that something was interfering with her designs. While she couldn’t quite place why, it seemed like the Rainbooms were not as irritated as they should be. She needed a volcanic eruption of anger to regain her full power, but at the moment, they were nothing more than a simmering stream of annoyed lava that harmlessly meandered to the ocean.

Adagio shook her head and cursed once more at the fact that she had been banished to this magic-deprived dimension by that wrinkled old billy goat of a pony. When she got back, she was going to hunt down that meddling fool and pluck his beard out one hair at a time, but not before he was forced to watch her enslave his precious ponies in her newly restored magic.

A wicked smile came with that thought. Maybe the shock of seeing her again, fully powered, would be too much for his heart and he’d croak right on the spot.

“This is a travesty! A travesty!”

Adagio’s smile grew, and she motioned for Aria and Sonata to follow her over to the melodramatic leader of the Illusions. That volcano of energy was still possible. It just needed a human sacrifice to make it blow.

Though it was a shame that was only a metaphor. Adagio would literally throw Sonata into any convenient volcano without a second thought.

“It really is!” Adagio put a comforting hand of understanding on Trixie’s shoulder. “The Rainbooms don’t deserve to be in the finals, not when your band was so much better in the semis.”

“And wanted it so much more,” Aria quickly added.

“Alas, this is the way it’s going to be.”  Adagio held up her hand and mimed the headlines. “Dazzlings versus Rainbooms.”

“Unless, of course, the Rainbooms don’t make it to their set and are held up for some reason,” Sonata added.

Adagio smiled deeply as Trixie began to cackle with wicked delight. That shove was going to be coming in short order, and soon the whole of Equestria would be her playground.

* * * *

The Great and Powerful Trixie and her Illusions slunk around the back of Canterlot High’s amphitheatre with catlike tread and in silence dread. She made no sounds as she moved towards her target, and she refused to let even one word word be spoken. A fly’s footfalls would be distinctly heard, but the only delightful sound that came to her was the general clanks and thumps of the Rainbooms as they tuned their instruments and prepared for the final showcase. For a brief moment, she wondered if she’d been watching too many musicals at home in the past few weeks, but she shook her head and refocused her thoughts.

Those Rainbooms were going down hard.

“Testing, testing,” Rainbow Dash flatly droned into the sound system. Trixie’s teeth began to grind as she once again recalled the gross injustice that she’d been subjected to, and with a snarl, she slunk into the wings and behind a large amp.

“TESTING!”

Trixie grabbed her ears and dropped to her knees as a loud whine of feedback smashed into her eardrums. What idiot was dumb enough to crank the volume up as high as it could go?

“My bad!” the school’s dietician quickly stated after the horrible noise ended. “I think I’ll go check on Luna. Be right back.”

Trixie snarled as she checked on her bandmates. Mister Bean had gone too far! First he had interfered with her fabulous and perfect plan to eliminate the Rainbooms in the gym, and now he was trying to make her go deaf! He was going to pay for this attack upon her hearing!

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Fluttershy remarked as Trixie and her Illusions moved into position. “We were awful. Doesn’t anyone else think that it’s strange that we’re the ones in the finals?”

“Very strange,” Trixie announced, and she glared furiously as the Rainbooms turned their attention to the intruder.

“What are you doing here, Trixie?” Rainbow asked. “Pretty sure the losers are supposed to be up there, in the cheap seats.”

“The Great and Powerful Tr-r-rixie is the most talented performer at Canterlot High. It is I who deserves to be in the finals, and I will not be denied!”

Trixie snapped her fingers, but nothing happened. She snapped again, and again, but the Rainbooms remained right were they were, each looking either confused or amused, except for that insufferably smug Rainbow Dash.

“Miss Trixie?” a new, deep voice called out, and Trixie’s heart froze. “What in the name o’ me cursed kilts do you think you’re doing?!”

“Deputy Star Struck!” Trixie whirled, giggled nervously, and began twirling a lock of her hair around her fingers like it was cotton candy. “I didn’t think you were here already.”

“Obviously,” the dutiful policeman replied with a scowl on his face and the guilty-looking Illusions just to his left. “Now, answer the question, or I’ll haul you and your cronies in for attempted assault.”

“Well, Trixie was just, um, trying to clarify that she, uh, she was the best performer?”

“And Ah suppose causing physical injury and destroying personal property is the best way to prove that?”

Trixie stammered for a moment, but then hung her head in shame and defeat. There was no plausible argument she could concoct that would explain away her malicious actions.

“Ah think you three need to have a blether with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna. Let’s go.”

Trixie’s band was marched towards the school, but Trixie took the time to throw one more furious glare back at Rainbow Dash. Somehow, someway, she was going to have her revenge!

~*~

“WHAT?” Adagio grabbed Sonata’s shoulders and began to shake her. “Why was the Deputy right there?! I thought I told you to distract him!”

“I tried to!” Sonata protested. “But when I mentioned Taco Tuesdays, he started telling me about how much he loves haggis, and then he started telling me what’s in it! Do you know how gross that stuff really is?”

Adagio threw up her hands in frustration, marched a few steps away from her incompetent minion, and glared at the stage where the Rainbooms were preparing. She had been trying to keep her hands clean in this whole affair, because their mind control spell would fall apart if any of the Dazzlings were caught doing something directly to the Rainbooms.

But her hand had been forced now, and she motioned for Sonata and Aria to follow her. Without Equestrian magic, they would be underpowered and unable to exact their revenge, and Adagio refused to be denied any longer.

“Aria, you go pull the lever for the trap door,” Adagio ordered. “Sonata and I will distract the Rainbooms. Once we’ve taken care of them, nothing is going to stop us.”

With Deputy Star Struck now gone, there was no one to impede the Dazzlings and Adagio forced herself to remain calm and even. This had to work; Adagio refused to consider the possibility that her plan could be defeated. With a few swift and determined steps, she moved to hide behind some props being stored on stage right, and after taking a quick moment to plot out what she would say, she grabbed Sonata by the arm and stepped out into view.

“Oh, now what?” Rainbow Dash protested. “First Trixie, and now you? Give it up! You know we’re going to win.”

“I’m sure you believe that,” Adagio countered with a wicked grin. “And you’ve certainly proven to be tenacious, I have to admit. Really, it’d be foolish to think we have a chance against you. Alas!” She threw a dramatic hand to her forehead. “Beaten, before we even had a chance to compete! It’s a shame, really. We’ll never know who truly was the best band at Canterlot High.”

“Hey, if you’re calling it quits now, that just proves how much more awesome my band is!”

“Our band!” the rest of the Rainbooms yelled.

“At least we can say we were taken down by the best,” Adagio continued, as she threw an arm around Sonata’s shoulders and pulled the empty-headed siren in close. “I can hear it now: The Dazzlings, forever vanquished by Rainbow Dash and the Rainbooms!”

“That’s right! Nobody messes with Rainbow Dash!”

“Unless, of course, something unfortunate were to happen,” Adagio finished with a sneer.

Aria’s timing was impeccable. At that exact moment, the trap door was released, and the Rainbooms were sent crashing into a storage area underneath the stage. With a delighted grin, Adagio peered over the edge and placed both hands on her hips, relishing the sweet taste of victory as the girls below groaned in pain.

“It’s nothing personal, of course,” she quipped. “But Trixie was so looking forward to competing, and I’d hate to leave her heartbroken. Maybe next time, girls!”

“See you never!” Sonata jeered with a wave while the trap door closed.

~*~

“This is all your fault!” Applejack shouted as she jabbed a finger at Rainbow. “If you weren’t so busy tryin’ to make this whole thing all about you, we coulda whooped those sirens hours ago!”

“Hey, I’m just trying to make sure my band rocks as hard as it needs to!”

“OUR BAND!”

Sunset Shimmer took a few steps back and bit her lower lip. This was bad. This was very, very bad.

“It might have been your idea to start a band, but it’s not just your band, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack hollered.

“I’m the one who writes all the songs!” Rainbow countered.

“I write songs!” Fluttershy stepped out from behind Rarity and glared at Rainbow. “You just never let us play any of them!”

“I had the most perfect outfits for us to wear,” Rarity added in a wistfully resentful tone.

“Again with the costumes!” Applejack threw up her hands in frustration. “No one cares what we’re wearing!”

“I care, Applejack! So sorry if I enjoy trying to make a creative contribution to the band.”

Sunset slunk back until she was up against the wall, and her heart thundered rapidly in her chest. The sirens were succeeding! With the Rainbooms at each other’s throats, they weren’t going to be able to find a way out this mess, let alone be able to use a counterspell.

“Hey!” Pinkie Pie rammed herself into the middle of the argument. “Anybody here remember fun?! I’ll give you a hint: it’s the exact opposite of being in the Rainbooms!”

“I wish I’d never asked any of you to be in my band!” Rainbow declared.

“I wish I’d never agreed to be in it!” Rarity shouted.

“Me neither!” Fluttershy and Applejack added.

The argument surged wildly out of control, and Sunset fell to her knees as she saw the magic of friendship disintegrate before her very eyes. The full fury of the Rainbooms began to pool into a bluish-green cloud of energy, and slowly, that cloud began to rise and escape through the stage above them.

The Dazzlings had won. Even now, Sunset could hear them singing above them, sucking in all the Equestrian magic they could ever need. Soon, they would enslave Canterlot High, and once they figured out where the portal was, they would return to Equestria and exact their revenge.

“The trick is to make sure you’re makin’ the right choices, and to remember that you canna turn a cargo ship on a dime. It’s the little course corrections that’ll get you on the right heading.”

Deputy Star Struck’s words had come unbidden, but Sunset pondered them for a moment. Her own downfall had come when she had allowed anger and resentment to rule her decisions, and now the Rainbooms were beginning to tread the path she’d taken. Even if Prince Bean and Princess Luna managed to stop the sirens, the damage being wrought to her friends would soon be irreversible.

But there was still time, and they were her friends. The course could be corrected now, but she needed to act quickly.

“Stop!” Sunset shouted as she stood. “You have to stop!”

The interruption quelled the argument just enough to allow Sunset to continue. “Don’t you see? This is what they’ve been after all along! They’re feeding off the magic inside of you!”

“How can they be usin’ our magic?” Applejack asked. “It’s the magic of friendship!”

“This isn’t friendship! Ever since all of you started this band together, you’ve been letting little things get to you. I never said anything because I didn’t feel like it was my place; not when I was so new to this whole ‘friendship’ thing. I still have a lot to learn, but I do know that if you don’t work out even the smallest problems right at the start, the magic of friendship can be turned into something else.” Sunset paused, but then a small smile came. “I may not have all the answers, but I know I can count on my friends to help me find them.”

There was an awkward silence for few moments, but then Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “I, um, I may have been a bit bossy, what with the whole ‘my band’ thing.”

“And Ah reckon Ah’ve been a bit too uptight about the costumes,” Applejack added. “But you know what? We can still pull this off! C’mon, y’all! Let’s get out of here and prove that we still got the magic of friendship!”

A cheer came with Applejack’s pronouncement, but before they could attempt an escape, a loud bang came at the door, and the whole thing bowed in so far that it nearly broke.

“What the hay?” Rainbow asked, but before anyone could answer, the door exploded inward in a spray of splinters and hinges. A yellow pony then stuck his head in the doorframe, took a quick look at the damage, and a sheepish grin overtook his face.

“I didn’t mean to kick it that hard. Everypony okay?” He gave a wince. “Excepting my bum leg, that is.”

“Prince Bean!” the Rainbooms cheered.

“I can’t leave you girls alone for five minutes, can I?” Prince Bean answered with a bob of his eyebrows. “What happened?”

“The Dazzlings happened,” Pinkie Pie growled. “They were all like, ‘Oo, we’re being taken down by the best,’ and then Rainbow Dash was all like ‘No way! I’m the best!’ and then they opened that trap door—and why is there a trap door that big right in the middle of the stage, anyway?—and then we got into this ginormous fight, but then Sunset reminded us all that we’re friends, so we’re going to get the band back together!”

“You stopped being a band?”

“For a minute,” Applejack said with a knowing glance to Rarity. “But Sunset fixed that. We’re ready to take on the Dazzlings for sure now!”

“I am most pleased to hear that,” Princess Luna said with a broad smile as she entered the room, “for I have just completed the counterspell.”

Another cheer came with this, and the Rainbooms eagerly snatched the papers that the Princess offered to them. A moment of confusion came after a quick glance at what Luna had produced, but then Rainbow held up her paper and pointed to it.

“Um, Princess? This page is blank.”

“Exactly. I realized that I would be unable to create a spell that you could use, due to my ‘antiquated’ tastes in music,” she said with a slight grimace. “But as I pondered upon the matter, I came to understand that it did not matter what song you played. The trick was that you play it together, as friends.”

“That’s it?” Rarity asked. “That’s all there is to it?”

Luna nodded. “That’s all there is to it. So, which song will you be playing tonight for the finals?”

“I know just the song,” Rainbow announced, and for a brief moment, the rest of the band members looked worried. The concern gave way to a pleased happiness when Rainbow continued with “Fluttershy’s written a really great one. I think we should use it.”

Fluttershy replied to that with a small squeal of delight.

“You know, we are about to save the world here,” Applejack added with a thoughtful look. “Personally, I think we should do it in style. Rarity?”

“I thought you’d never ask!” Rarity replied as she pulled in a rack loaded with costumes with a giggle of delight.

“Wait. Were you storing those down here?” Prince Bean asked.

“Don’t think about it too hard,” Luna admonished him with a grin. “Now that we have that settled, let me share with you how we can defeat these sirens once and for all.”

* * * *

“I am just not cut out for this hero business, am I?” Bean asked with a wince. He had managed to get back into his human form, although his leg was sending him no end of messages about how dumb it was to kick open the door instead of just trying the latch from that side. “I can’t even kick in a door without injuring myself.”

“Oh, quit grousing.” Luna gave him a stern glare while she adjusted the cushion under his leg. “Just sit there and relax. We needed to get them out as quickly as possible, and you were the only one who could do something about it. Besides, it’ll give Celly a reason to fuss over you when we return home.”

Bean squirmed in the lawn chair that had been provided to him, and he drew in a long breath. “Fuss is right, but I’m not so sure that it’ll be the right kind of fuss. Are you sure I can’t help with something? I feel like such a lump just sitting here, watching the Rainbooms and you set up the equipment for the Battle.”

“The preparations are nearly complete, Bean. These modern instruments and their equipment are not difficult to prepare.”

“Luna, for the record, I do trust you,” Prince Bean said as he held out Discord’s ear in his claw and gave it a squeeze. “But I gotta admit, I’m a bit worried about all of this. I’m really tempted to summon Discord with this thing and to let him take care of everything.”

“To be honest, I am worried too.” Luna drew in a deep breath as they looked over the stage lights that had been placed in strategic positions along the hillside that was to be their impromptu stage. “But my sister is correct. It will be extremely difficult for us to answer every call for assistance. We need to let the Rainbooms learn how to harness and control their magic.”

There was a thoughtful pause, but then Bean asked the other question that was on his mind. “So, could you really not create a translation for your counterspell?”

The sister-in-law chuckled slightly and shook her head. “Technically I could, but it would sound like the Rainbooms were singing from the dictionary to the accompaniment of a bugle that has been run over by a herd of buffalo. It would not have the full efficacy that would be required.”

“And then you thought of this?”

“I had some help with that.” The corners of Luna’s mouth twitched upwards, and her gaze went up to the cloudy evening sky. “I struggled for some time with the spell, until the thought to utilize the Rainboom’s song was whispered to me by a Star. The order of battle came with it, and the rest just fell into place.”

Bean followed Luna’s gaze, and a soft smile came when a familiar spirit sent a chill down his bare skin as it moved to embrace the Princess. “Among other things, I’m sure.”

“Among other things.” Luna nodded, and with a hum, she wrapped herself in a hug that also held an unseen but well-known love within it. “I admit, meeting the human Star has been a revelatory experience for me, and without him, none of this would have been possible. The memories that he has triggered were of those times when my Star was my best friend. In everything I did, he was my greatest advocate, and he refused to allow any to speak disparagingly of me, even Celestia. His friendship kept me from the Nightmare throughout his life and for many years past, and I fell because I allowed my jealousy of Celly to override those lessons he had passed to me. I have to admit, I have often reflected on how ponies need to learn the same lesson repeatedly in their lives. Even now, my choices force me to relearn those things that I should already know.”

“At least you are humble enough to learn,” Bean remarked.

“I hope I never lose that ability.” Her gaze drifted to him, and she dipped her head slightly, as if she was thanking him. “And I hope you will continue to teach me.”

“I think that’s supposed to be the other way around.”

“It is both, and that is right. We should always seek to learn from each other. Above all, Bean, thank you for being my friend. I have always suffered from a shortage of those, but is it most pleasing to have them in life.”

“A little something like another alicorn we know?” Bean asked with a sly grin.

“It is a trait that I have passed to her, I fear, but I am most grateful my sister was able to prepare her for my redemption.”

“Passed to her?” Bean asked, but before Luna could answer, the Rainbooms approached, dressed in their stage costumes and looking ready for whatever awaited them in the upcoming battle.

“Everything is in place, Princess,” Rainbow announced, “but are you sure we’re going to be able to play over them from over here?”

“Indeed. The amplification factor of your electroacoustic transducers exceeds the minimum thresholds needed to negate the decibel level, and thus, the performance of the Dazzlings.”

“Huh?”

“She means you’ll be loud enough,” Sunset said.

“Oh.”

“You will emerge from the conflict victorious, Rainbow Dash. Have faith in your friends, and in yourself.”

Rainbow scoffed and offered a confident grin. “Hah! Those sirens aren’t going to know what hit them!”

“Just in time, too.” Applejack pointed down to the main stage. “The Dazzlings are startin’ right now.”

A three-part harmony drifted up to the hillside, and Bean swallowed hard as he stood. Despite the pain in his leg, the desire to see the battle forced him onto his feet as the Dazzlings strode confidently to the center of the stage. One way or another, everything would end here and now.

“Welcome to the show!” The big haired leader crooned. “We’re here to let you know, our time is now, your time is running out.”

“Everybody ready?” Rainbow called out. “Let’s do this!”

There was no hesitation from the Rainbooms, or from the Royals. Guitars were plugged into amps, lights were aimed at the band, and just as the Dazzlings sang of their ultimate triumph, the Battle began.

The initial attack was a complete success. The Rainbooms quickly tapped into their inner magic, and Bean took careful mental notes on how the transformation affected the individual players. The ears were a nice touch, he had to admit, but the lengthened hair seemed like it would be more cumbersome than useful, and he wondered for a brief moment if Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash knew how to control their wings.

From his vantage point, Bean could see that the sirens had been caught completely off guard, and he laughed a little when the leader of the sirens stomped her foot and nearly screamed. The assembled crowd gasped as they turned their attention to the new sound, and a few small cheers came as the Rainbooms extolled the power of friendship.

The victory was short lived, and a wicked grin came as the lead siren regained her composure. “So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real battle of the bands? Then lets battle!”

The counterattack was almost as effective as the Rainboom’s assault had been. With a surge of power, the Dazzlings each grew a pair of pony ears and thin, translucent wings that reminded Bean of a corrupted bat. Another surge brought three effigies to life just above the girls, and the pony prince nearly shouted into Discord’s ear for backup.

Sirens. They were true Sirens, fitting the descriptions that Celestia and Luna had shared with him to a T. They were huge, they were filled with fangs, and they were coming right at them!

A furious drum solo from Pinkie Pie managed to drive off and divide the assailants, and Bean staggered back as Luna wrapped her arms around him. Another surge of hope came as the sound waves carried bits of rainbows with them; the Elements were beginning to work! They had tapped into the magic!

Bean whooped when Rarity summoned a wave of diamonds from her keytar and sent them smashing into the purple siren. He and Luna both screamed in delight when Fluttershy drove off the blue siren’s attack with a massive butterfly assault.

Then the leader slammed a wave of her magic into Rainbow’s attack, broke through it, and shoved the lead guitarist back with the remaining force. Bean gasped when the other two sirens moved back into position and joined in the sonic wave, and he would have used Discord’s ear at that point, if he had not been knocked off his feet with the rest of the Rainbooms.

“Sunset Shimmer!” Rainbow called out with an outstretched claw. “We need you!”

There was a brief moment of hesitation, but Bean smiled slightly when he saw the fire of resolve flare to life in Sunset’s eyes. With a swift flick of her arm, she discarded her jacket, picked up the microphone that had been knocked out the mic stand nearest to her, and began to sing.

“You’re never gonna bring me down! You’re never gonna break this part of me! My friends are here to bring me ‘round, not singing just for popularity!”

“The Element of Magic,” Luna murmured gleefully. “She has found her spark.”

Bean helped Luna back up to her feet as the Sirens pressed another attack, but their desperate dive bomb was too little, too late. With Sunset Shimmer’s added power, the Rainbooms effortlessly scattered the sirens and drove them back towards the stage. Another cheer arose from the crowd as Sunset gained her own pony ears and tail, and Bean laughed deliriously when the Rainbooms began to harmonize while levitating in the air.

A rainbow then pierced the storm clouds above them, and a swirling orb of power began to form within them. Bean’s breath drew to a revered silence as a pair of wings slowly unfurled from within it, and his eyes went wide in wonderment and awe.

“Celestia?”

It was almost her. The multihued mane, the wings, and the horn were all the same on the ethereal pony that had stepped out of the magic, but the face was not quite right. If it was Celestia, then her muzzle had grown out and they eyes were white with power unbounded, but Bean quickly realized that it didn’t matter. This new pony--whether it was his beloved or whether it was the embodiment of Harmony itself--reared up, sent a surge of the purest power imaginable down the length of its horn, and promptly blasted the three sirens with a beam of rainbow magic.

For a few long moments, there was absolute silence. The siren’s effigies had been immediately reduced to nothingness, and the Dazzlings had been leveled. As they slowly pushed themselves up, they rubbed their heads in an apparent effort to stem a splitting headache.

Then they noticed something that was far worse. The ruby necklaces they’d been wearing had shattered, and were now lifeless chunks strewn about the stage. Desperate fingers grasped at the broken remains, and the Dazzlings shared a worried look with each other before trying to sing again.

It was a miserable failure for them. Lacking the energy from the accumulated negative emotions, the sirens were horribly off-key and unable to hold a rhythm. It only took one line before the crowd began to boo and hurl various examples of produce and fast food at the vanquished, and with tears, the three sirens ran offstage and into the night.

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow Dash pumped a fist as the Rainbooms hugged each other and cheered their victory. “That’ll teach them to mess with the best!”

“And we owe it all to our dear friend, Sunset Shimmer,” Rarity added with an extra hug for the bashfully modest Equestrian.

“Say, we could use another member in the band,” Rainbow said thoughtfully. “And Fluttershy could use some help on backup vocals. What do you think?”

Sunset smiled, and she grabbed a nearby extra guitar. The Rainbooms were beyond astonished as their friend shredded out a sweet riff, and a look of concern came over them as they realized what this could mean.

“I also play the guitar,” Sunset offered with subdued glee, and she bounced slightly in place with her hands behind her back.

“We’ll see,” Rainbow announced after a few seconds of thought, and the tension was happily replaced with laughter and a large group hug.

“You know, we really should thank our other Equestrian friends, too,” Fluttershy added.

“That’s right! Without them, we’d be…” Pinkie Pie stopped, and her head whipped around the hillside. “Where’d they go? They’re gone!”

* * * *

“Are you sure you don’t want to say goodbye?” Bean asked.

Luna inhaled deeply, and reached one hand out to swirl along the surface of the portal, leaving little swirls of color and glittering sparkles behind. “I am positive, Bean. I would like to offer a farewell, but I would risk asking Star Struck to come with us.”

“But then you’d have him back, wouldn’t you?”

Luna shook her head. “If there is a way to have my Star back, then I want it to be my Star. The human Star may sound like him and may act like him, but he has lived a life that is far removed from the one we shared together. I would speak to him of past events that he knows nothing about and of a child that he did not father, and there would always be that gap between us. Besides, he loves the Luna who resides here; who am I to deny myself the joys that I have already experienced? They deserve to have a glorious life together, just as I had one with my own beloved.”

Bean nodded. “I can understand that. The Celestia here is nice, but she isn’t my Celly.”

“Precisely. Besides, this will make our actions all the more legendary. Some of the greatest stories end with the protagonist disappearing without taking what is due for their heroics, and you and I will forever be spoken of in awe and reverence. Besides, we did say we would leave as soon as the sirens were dealt with, did we not?”

“I guess we did,” Bean said with a chuckle. “After you, Princess.”

Luna began to step through the portal, but she hesitated and gave Bean a curious look. “When we do get back, may I ask for your assistance?”

“Of course! What do you need me to help with?”

“I have some notes here,” Luna said as she waved the papers in her other hand, “that I have made from the memories I have of my Star. When we return, I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me organize these into a book.”

“Like that history Celly wrote about him?”

“Yes. I wish to give an account of the events from my own perspective.” Luna turned her gaze upwards to the stars and smiled, “In some way, I believe it will bring him back to me. And to the rest of our little ponies, who deserve to know about his irascible ways.”

“I’ll help you with whatever you need, Luna.”

“Thank you. Now, let us return home. Your wife awaits you.”

“I’m going to be in so much trouble,” Bean muttered while he followed Luna through the portal.

~*~

Princess Luna’s lips twitched upwards once she felt her own four hooves against the crystal of Twilight’s castle once more, and she drew in a deep draught of Equestrian air. No matter how far she wandered, it was always good to be home, in her land and with her ponies.

She stepped back from the portal and braced herself for what was to come next. The instant Bean’s hooves touched the crystal, a white blur tore through the air and he disappeared. Half a second later, an ear-splitting screech of “BEAN!” echoed off the walls and rattled the crystals of Twilight’s new home, and it took Luna a moment to follow the trajectory of the sisterly missile.

She couldn’t suppress her smile when she saw the end result. There was a bundle of white alicorn a few paces from the mirror, with four yellow legs sticking out at odd angles. Those same legs went slack with the overabundance of happy pony noises and kisses, and for a moment Luna was tempted to order them to go get a room.

“I’m here!” Twilight Sparkle suddenly burst through the doors, her breaths coming in ragged bursts and her coat slick with sweat. “It’s not too late! I can still go through the mirror, Princess Celestia, and help Princess Luna and Bean with the…”

Twilight’s eyes locked onto the Royal Snogging that was taking place, and a small gasp came at the sight of it. Another gasp came when the mentor’s eyes met the student’s, and with a flash of golden magic, the reunited lovers disappeared.

“The sirens have been defeated, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna said with a smile of satisfaction. “Though I do believe your friends on the other side would still be pleased to see you. I believe they are having some sort of victory celebration at this time.

“What about Bean and Celestia?”

Luna did not say a word, but merely observed a small fleck of something interesting on the ceiling for a while. It took very little of that time for Twilight to realize just what she had said, and the longer she stood there in the silence, the pinker the tips of her ears became.

“I’ll... just... seewhatmyfriendsaredoinggoodbyePrincessLuna!”

It was not until the embarrassed princess was through the portal and Luna was alone until she began to laugh.