Star Overhead

by KorenCZ11

Thank you, My Twilight (Part 2)

This time when the doorbell rang, I was asked to answer it. She was in the living room doing what she always does, Dad was cooking, and our plastic white pony was setting the table. Five chairs for four ponies and a husk, and the last had yet to arrive. I knew what to expect when I opened the door, but even then, I still wasn’t ready.

Black as night, a coat that almost looked like it swallowed the light around it, with the faintest hints of green and violet that reflected off her like she was covered in oil slick. The same gray hoodie, this time with wing holes, but then again, maybe it had wing holes from the start? A red ball cap, some blue jeans, and a smile made of razors.

“Hello Twilight. How are you feeling? Have you tried to fly yet?” I shook my head, but she answered for me.

“No, she can’t even move them independently without totally focusing on it. It’ll be a little while before it feels natural for her.” Luna shook her head and stepped into the house.

“Welcome home sister. Bring any comets with you?” Celestia let her head fall over the couch as she glared at the black mare.

“Maybe I did. It’s not like you’re going to do anything about it. Did you really just go out in public like that? Ponies have eyes ya know.”

“Oh, I spent a week in this town, I know what the ponies here are like. Twilight, has even one pony here asked you about your wings?” I scratched at my cheek.

“Well… Applejack’s grandpa asked, but he didn’t really press me on it or anything like that.” She nodded.

“And there you have it. One. Besides, I have informants here, I can keep things quiet if need be.” Celestia rolled her eyes and finally got up from the couch. She walked over and lazily frowned at the black mare. She was a little taller still, but it wasn’t as significant as it was before. They might as well have been eye to eye.

“How’s the car?” she asked. Luna frowned.

“In my garage and never to be loaned out again.”

Celestia smiled and then found her place at the table.

“What? Oh, come on Lulu, it saved those kid’s lives. Surely your car isn’t more important than your precious ponies lives, right?” Luna sighed and then took a seat at the table. Bramos started to bring over food and I found myself beside Luna across from Dad and Celestia.

“Of course not. It’s more expensive than they are, but at least one was a rare enough species worth preserving.” Celestia raised a brow.

“Oh? Are they not all worth preserving? I remember a certain somepony said that I was necessary to preserve their lives. They seem to have managed before us, and as far as I can tell, they’ve prospered without me. Tell me sister, am I still needed here, or do you have it covered?” Luna rolled her eyes.

“There are a countless number of situations in which we could’ve used your help over the years, but you wouldn’t know because you were off chasing a dead stallion in the reaches of space!” Celestia looked aghast.

“Are you calling me a necrophiliac?”

I blinked and Luna put her elbows on the table and her head in her hooves.

“Celly, please.” The mare in question shrugged.

“I didn’t start this conversation.” Luna groaned.

“I didn’t come here to fight.” Celestia tilted her head.

“Then why did you come? Somepony who comes unarmed would in theory look like a peace offering, but all the spells just under the surface would suggest you’re a Trojan. What is that… Shadow Armor?” Luna shrugged.

“It might be. But those are for my protection. As you might know, these are all defensive, though some may be fairly new to your eyes. You don’t have mares carry guns to kill, but defend themselves.

Speaking of spells, what about yours? Nopony has seen you in a thousand years, why come like that when we both know this isn’t the real you?” Celestia huffed.

“Pfft. Why should I go around pretending I like a curse?” Luna smiled and held her hooves out.

“The first step is acceptance, dear sister.” Celestia scowled at her, and finally, I had to ask.

“If you guys are sisters, how come you’re stark black, and you’re pink-white? This is the second way I’ve seen you look Luna, are either of those real or what? And what’s your excuse?”

“Personally, this is how I look now. Once upon a time, we both looked the way you first saw us, plus wings of course. Even being as large as we are, ponies will ignore it as long as we don’t show our wings. I used the disguise because there were still some unknowns about this place before I arrived. National security and all. I don’t know what her excuse is.”

“I honestly prefer the other form, to be frank,” Dad added as he brought the last of the food over.

“Well, you’re not Frank, you’re Nightlight. Maybe I don’t like the way I am, ever think about that? Some ponies put on makeup, I just… mask my entire appearance,” Celestia explained. I lowered my brows.

“What? Come on, I wanna see it!” She scowled at me now.

“No.”

“Please?”

“I refuse.”

“Come now Celestia, we could roast marshmallows again!” Dad added.

“Absolutely not!”

“Wait, I just realized something. If Luna is bigger without the magic over herself-”

“Shut up!”

“Oh? My, what’s this sister? Is that a blush on your cheeks?”

“I swear to the goddess!”

“How could you be any bigger? Goddess, that front seat really is meant for one pony, isn’t it!?”

“No, no, NO!”

“You know Twilight, even though we can mask most things about us, our weight-” Celestia got up and slammed the table. Her whole body erupted in flames, and in an instant, she looked almost identical to Fluttershy’s picture.

Burning red mane and tail, and her coat had that same kind of oily look to it that Luna’s did now, but it reflected orange and pink in places. Her wings were massive white sheets of feathers curled neatly against her back that ended in tips of orange and gold, and her clothes went from well-fitting to barely fitting. That jacket might as well have been cropped at this point, you could even see her belly button. Those poor pants…

And here I thought she was huge before.

“Not another word. I will take you, me, and that little piece of information to the grave if I have to.” Luna held her hooves up and leaned back with a smirk on her face.

“My lips are sealed.” Celestia sighed and sat back down, then looked at me.

That’s not a face I’ve ever seen before. She almost looks… bashful.

“Here. This is what you wanted, right? You might as well get me my raiments so I can complete the look. I am the Sun Queen. Are you happy now?” Luna giggled.

“I am, truly.” Celestia laid back in her chair and groaned.

“Why would you hide this? That looks awesome,” I said.

Dad was right, there was some kind of… alluring quality to her. I wasn’t sure why, but it just made me want to be around her more.

“See? Stop that. Ponies see me like this and it starts stirring up emotions I don’t need them having!” Celestia covered herself in a golden aura, and suddenly, she was back to normal, though she didn’t hide her wings this time.

“So, is that why Fluttershy was so-” She shook her head.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Your friend has true sight, let’s just leave it at that. Can we eat now?” Dad nodded, and finally, we dug in. Fish soup in bread bowls with salad and baked potatoes. It was much better than I expected it to be. Dad really outdid himself.

“So, if this is what you used to be, when did the whole… ‘fiery’ thing happen?” I asked. Celestia threw half-lidded apathy my way, but Luna answered happily.

“Ah, that would be a result of screwing around with the Elements of Harmony. They were a gift from the goddess after all, turning them against each other may as well have been a cardinal sin.” Celestia sighed and nodded.

“To be entirely fair, I was fighting to keep my husband.” Luna threw her hooves up.

“And I was fighting for my life!” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“I was not trying to kill you, we’ve been over this.”

“Then what happened to Sombra? What were you trying to do, sister? You still haven’t explained that part.” Celestia threw her hooves up.

“I don’t know, alright!? What I thought happened was clearly wrong, otherwise I wouldn’t still be doing this. I had a single year to figure it out, and even then,” she gestured at me, “something unexpected happened and I never did finalize any of my theories.”

Luna crossed her hooves and huffed.

“How unlike you. So unlike you, that I’m unsure I believe that.”

Celestia let out a deep breath, and with it went the old disguise. The fiery mare put an elbow on the table and rested her cheek on her hoof.

“Fine, you’re right. I meant it when I said I didn’t want to kill you, but I did want to hurt you. I wanted to make you suffer. My plan was to rip your soul from your body and stuff it in a vessel of some kind. However, that is not all that happened to Sombra. My emotions flickered when he was hit and the spell at that point wasn’t what I was using before. Then you hit him and who knows what that did. This,” she pointed at Bramos, “is what would’ve become of you had I gotten what I wanted. Or at least something similar anyways.” Then she turned to me. “This is also what’s left of your father if you never figured that out by the way.” I nodded.

“I saw a bunch of his memories, so I kinda figured everything out on my own. I saw myself as a newborn. That was a weird experience.” Celestia lowered her brows.

“Really? Huh. Maybe he didn’t get completely separated after all. In theory, I captured his mind and that’s being held in the bike at the moment, and the remains of his body were trapped on the comet while his soul was trapped in it thanks to noodle dick.” Luna giggled.

“I was against it then, I just wished you would’ve listened.” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“Oh, shut up peanut gallery. You, my dear daughter, were born with a fraction of the chaotic magic that plagued your father, and because of that, you were made into a ‘gate’ of sorts to the comet. Hey, look at that, just like mommy and auntie, you get your own little curse too.” She rustled my mane across the table, and I wasn’t sure if that was condescending or not. I did however, notice that she was almost hot to the touch now.

“Anyways, after I learned that and caught up to the comet, I figured out its trajectory and realized it was headed back here in a hurry. Wherever you are, the comet will land. As it gets closer, you’ll probably feel a surge of magic not unlike when the shadows started to pour out of your head, but thanks to your growth spurt, you should be able to contain it now.” Luna frowned.

“Woah, woah, woah, the comet is coming after her?” Celestia nodded.

“Yes, that was what I went to check on Friday after I’d confirmed the sixth element had been obtained. Good job on the resonance by the way. It took me much longer to figure that one out.”

“You were watching!?” She leaned in close.

“I’m always watching. Maybe in a hundred years or so, you might even learn to detect my presence. Anyways, the comet is still out in the outer rings of the solar system right now, but it’ll be here sometime tomorrow. It’s chasing Sombra’s blood, meaning you, and it won’t stop until it has it. This time, there will be no pulled punches.” Luna started to chew on her hoof and looked away.

“Well, that changes things… What are you planning to do?” Celestia leaned back and put her hooves behind her head.

“My plan hasn’t changed for over a thousand years at this point. There just happened to be an extra step or two along the way this time.” Luna sighed.

“Right. Well, I suppose that doesn’t change my plans much either. I’m just dealing with a certain world destruction event instead of a might be one.” Celestia shrugged.

“It’s not like your arks could’ve been completed in time anyways. You didn’t even realize this was the year it would hit. By the way, give your ponies some damn time off. Poor Mr. Dash. I hold you partially responsible for his wife’s death.”

Luna reared back.

“Wha-? Me!? I haven’t killed anypony in… at least a few decades now. I’m not liable for accidents in the workplace, we have laws for that very reason! The crown cannot be charged for that, it doesn’t hold up in court.”

Celestia raised a brow.

“Ooh, still getting our hooves dirty, are we? Whatever. That was a death caused by overwork, and I’m certain it wasn’t the only one. Ms. Treasure and her family were another victim of your slave driver-y-ness.”

Luna narrowed her eyes and pointed at the fiery mare.

“You stole those letters from me!” She smirked.

“I did. I hacked your system too.” Now Luna raised a brow.

“Your crusty ancient ass barely knows how to operate a computer.” Celestia turned her head.

“Hmph. That is demonstrably false. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. Besides. You leave your passwords out on your personal desk.”

“You were in my room!?”

“You don’t have any of your old wards up. It was easy.”

“Son of a bitch.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. These ancient alicorns, creatures beyond time, arguing over what should be top level security clearances and treating it like a pair of teenage girls fighting over a diary.

Two of the most powerful ponies in the world, one that looks like she’s made of fire and another that looks like a carnivore made of darkness, arguing over stupid shit like sisters.

“Find something funny?” Celestia asked. I nodded.

“Absolutely. I’m so glad you’re home.”

I had a dream that night. It was me, my real father, and my mother. We lived in a house in some scenic part of the country somewhere and life was simple and happy.

I had a younger brother and he was playing in the living room while dad was reading something in the morning paper with a cup of hot coffee by his side and mom was in the kitchen making me pancakes. The massive alicorn brought giant cakes that could’ve passed for pound cakes and slapped them down on plates for the four of us. Slabs of butter melting over the hot fluffy confection and draped with sheets of syrup. A happy little house of happy little ponies and one big pony in a happy little place, secluded from the rest of the world.

When the morning sunlight started to filter through my bedroom window, I didn’t want to get up. I squeezed the even bigger pillow tighter and was pleased when the pillow squeezed back. Burying my face in her chest again, the soft breathing echoed through my head like a lullaby and the darkness welcomed me back to my happy little home.

The next time consciousness returned to me, my pillow had left. In a frantic haste, I scoured my bed for it, but it was nowhere to be found. I rubbed the sand out of my eyes and ran downstairs just to make sure, but sighed in relief when she was just drinking by the TV again. She lowered her eyes and gave me a smirk.

“Missing something?” My immediate reaction was to feel irritated, but if I’ve learned anything over this past week, it’s that I really was.

“Just you…”

She laughed, and in an instant, I was in her forelegs again. She held my head with her hooves and rubbed the base of her horn against mine with some stupid smile on her face. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t doing the same.

“You’re just too cute, ya know that? Mommy’s home, and this time, she’s not going anywhere.”

I’ve always wanted this. I wanted nothing more than this all those years growing up not knowing what it was like. Year after year I made the same wish on birthday candles over and over again until the cynic in me told me that it was never going to happen.

I was just somepony’s bastard from a one night stand my father got stuck with, that was what I always believed. Who knew that I just never did it right? All I had to do was make a wish upon a star.

“Good goddess, how saccharine. I think I’m going to gag if you keep that up.” Luna said from the kitchen table.

She was reading the morning news, on her phone instead of in a paper, with a cup of coffee, and Bramos was making pancakes.

“Come now, she’s finally being honest with herself. I’ve been waiting for this for like, a month now. Don’t discourage that, you sour old sow.” Luna chuckled in her mug.

“Pfft. Calling me old when you were born twenty years before I was.” Celestia shrugged.

“I mean, 2280 is still old. You called me ancient and crusty. That’s just fair play at this point.”

Luna eyed her and sipped more of her coffee.

“Not shy about your age, but weight is where you draw the line, huh?” Celestia glared at her.

“Your goddess damn right it is.”

Luna shrugged and went back to her ‘phone,’ then Celestia popped open another can and went back to the TV. Finally, it dawned on me what day today was, and I was confused.

“So, wait. Why are we just lazing around like this? Isn’t today the apocalypse or something?” Celestia shrugged.

“What else do we do? We have to wait for it to get close before either of us can do anything. I’ve been ready to go for a week now.” Luna nodded.

“As accurately as we can predict it, the comet’s erratic pattern of travel also drastically changes the ‘when’ issue as well. It’ll be coming straight at us one minute, then make a hard left the next, defying all laws of physics as if they’re optional. But that’s Discord for you. He was just that kind of… what did we decide on for describing him?”

“‘Thing’ is what I use. I suppose ‘person’ or ‘creature’ would also be acceptable, if you’re willing to give him that much credit.”

“That kind of thing, then. He and I had a very business casual relationship, where as he and Celestia were fucking.” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“And it was a sad, sad affair. He had no clue. Don’t get adventurous, stick to your own species kid. Of all the ones I regret, I regret that one the most.” Then she tilted her head and smiled sweetly at her sister.

“Speaking of bad ideas and improper relationships, how was your night yesterday?”

Luna snorted coffee, then hacked and coughed until she managed to breathe again.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Celestia put me on top of her back and then laid across the couch. She put her hooves under her chin and tilted her fiery head at the black mare.

“Oh, but that doesn’t sound like you didn’t do anything. This county is known for its active elderly, but I didn’t expect you to join the ranks♥”

Luna crossed her hooves and turned her head, her big blue cloud of a mane shifting with her like a curtain of fog.

“I did no such thing.”

“You most certainly did.”

“I did not!”

“He’s only sixteen.”

“He doesn’t look sixteen! I-”

Celestia had a massive bladed smile on her face and Luna’s cheeks had gone from black to red in a hurry.

“Fuck you.”

Celestia burst out laughing, and Luna had a scowl on her face for the rest of the morning.

The pancakes finished and Dad at the table, we ate in relative silence, even though there was clearly some teasing still going on. Hoof signals, writing in syrup, cutting shapes in her pancakes that looked like an old script that Luna was very clearly unhappy about.

“So what are you planning to do?” I asked. The other two alicorns thought on that for a moment, then Luna answered.

“Personally? I’ll be sending orders out to try and destroy the comet. This was a last resort on my part, but there’s not much else I can do with no arks ready. We could evacuate a few small towns worth of ponies to the colonies if I had an order put out, but millions would still die in the process. The colonies don’t produce enough to feed that many ponies right now though, so it would merely be prolonging the inevitable.”

I frowned.

“Oh. What about the whole ‘drain the magic from the planet’ thing?” Celestia shrugged.

“We’ll see about that. Draining the magic from the comet should, in theory, make it easier to destroy. After a century or two, the planet will start to regenerate as long as it’s still intact. With ponies working it and putting magic back in, it might even make a complete recovery in a single century. However, this all depends on whether or not using all of the elements at once will do that. It’s never been done the way I’m planning to do it, so there’s no real certainty of any outcome.” Luna blinked.

“I’m sorry? You mean to tell me that using all six elements won’t destroy any and every thaumaturgic system on the planet like it did back home?” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“I wouldn’t go that far, but maybe? There are some variables at play. I have a few scenarios in mind, but I’m thinking it won’t actually go the way you expect it to. Either way, nopony in this town is dying today.” Luna scowled at her.

“Again, this sounds unlike you. You’re more calculating than this.” Celestia held her hooves up.

“I mean it this time. I’m not even wearing the façade anymore.” Luna shook her head.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“What do you mean by, ‘like it did back home?’” I asked. Luna shrugged this time.

“Well, as the story goes, our father, around the time he was a little younger than we are now, went insane.” Celestia nodded.

“For about the next thousand years, he refused to step down as king and his madness only grew worse. Problem is, Alicorns only get more powerful with time, and as such, he was the oldest living thing on the planet. Like I said the other day when Luna poisoned my beer,” The black alicorn frowned.

“Well, I won’t stop hearing about that for the next century.” Celestia smiled.

“No, no you will not. Anyways, the story remains the same even though I was drunk at the time. Dad went crazy, decided one day that he wanted to be the last king of Equuis, and then started to throw the planet into the sun. Several ponies, many of our half siblings and our mother included, were slaughtered in an attempt to kill him and save the world. Problem was, he had all six Elements, and he’d found a way to tap directly into the planet’s core. Everypony died.”

“Well, except for us, obviously. Though, that in and of itself was something of a miracle,” Luna added. Celestia scratched at her cheek.

“Yes. I was hardly a century old back then, Luna wasn’t even that. We might as well have been foals by Alicorn standards at the time. We managed to sneak into the castle and steal the elements while dear old dad and his loonies-” Luna reared back.

“Excuse me. Derogatory.” Celestia sneered at her.

“You’re a loony.” Luna pointed.

“Wha- No, you!” I clapped.

“Guys. Focus. Finish the story.” Celestia put her elbow on the table and leaned her face on her hoof.

“Stole the elements, something weird happened, now we’re here on this barely developed planet with a similar sapient species and breathable air on the other side of the universe. Surprisingly, with a similar religion to our own. That was a fun one to square away. We relocated home after a few years, but Dad accomplished his goal. Even though that was the case, there should’ve been a residual thaumaturgic signature where the planet had been, yet there was none to be found.” Luna nodded.

“After our fight, Canterlot was also robbed of magic for the next few centuries and only extraordinary unicorns could even manage simple spells using their own internal magic. That’s why there’s such a reputation for unicorns in my city in the first place. Unicorns still managed to thrive where there was effectively no natural magical energy to assist in spellcraft. Not to mention that Canter’s Lot wasn’t just a state at the time, it was the eastern side of Equestria.” Celestia puffed out her nose.

“Well, this isn’t the same, so the results will be different. How is your guitar? Have you kept up with your practice?” I nodded.

“I have! I even learned that song you always play. It’s… what saved Pinkie on Friday.” Celestia finished her last pancake and nodded in approval.

“Wonderful. Show me what you’ve learned.”

“Huh. Looks like Sombra’s inbound.”

She’d stopped in the middle of teaching me another song, when I felt something… strange.

Have you ever had a drink of some kind that, as soon as you consume, it’s like it was shot directly into your bloodstream? Like, there’s this immediate need for you to be doing something because you just have so much to do something with. It was kinda like that, but in a localized point in my head.

“He is?” Celestia nodded and then stood up. She loaded her guitar back in its case, and then threw it over her neck.

“He is. We have work to do. Put this on.”

Out of nothing, Celestia took a set of clothes and tossed them at me. Immediately, I could tell there was something strange about them. There was an inherent ‘magic’ to them that I wasn’t quite sure about, but knew it was some higher level spell work weaved into the material.

I unfolded it and found that it was an outfit not too dissimilar to her own. A red t-shirt with wing holes, a black vinyl jacket, white pants, black hoof covers and boots. If I didn’t know any better, I would think this was a riding suit.

“Okay. Where did you get it?” Celestia made a face like I’d asked her something strange.

“What do you mean, ‘where did I get it?’ I made it. You don’t just enchant something with memories in it, you have to start from scratch to get the spell to hold for more than a century. You’ve got a long, long, very long life ahead of you if I have anything to say about it, and this should fit for at least a few centuries. I’ll be downstairs, don’t forget your guitar. Tell your friends to be ready for us to pick them up or meet us at the bridge. We need all the notes on the staff.”

And with that, the burning mare took her exit.

In a weird way, I found it very easy to comply with whatever she asked of me. I felt almost compelled to do so. I don’t know if that was the curse or whatever she was talking about yesterday, but… I’m still not sure. It’s almost as if thinking about her or seeing her just makes me want to please her however I can. Something in the back of my head was telling me that was a bad thing, but I just couldn’t think of why. I sent out a group text before I started putting clothes on, and by the time I had my guitar, everypony had responded.

Pinkie and Rainbow were together and on their way to the bridge now. Applejack needed to get permission, then she’d drive over herself, Rarity needed a ride, and Fluttershy said she could fly. I made my way downstairs and found Luna with a laptop sitting on the couch and Celestia waiting impatiently by the door. She turned her eyes on me though, and her face lit up.

“Ooh, look at my little biker! Damn, I’m good at this. Those are prefect on you♥”

I was caught in a whirlwind of feathers and hooves, and before I knew it, I was in her forelegs again.

“Ow! Breathing! Please!” She finally let go and I gasped for air. Luna looked over and eyed the outfit, then nodded in approval.

“Not bad. Did you make that before or after you left?” Celestia smiled.

“After. I had a couple days worth of space travel so I simply brought the material with me. There are no forces holding anything in place out there, so it was easy.”

“How do you deal with the whole ‘vacuum’ thing? Every time I attempt a spacewalk, I always get sleepy. They had to recover me while I was surveying a new weather dome on the moon last week because I was inspecting something on the exterior and simply passed out.”

Celestia tilted her head.

“Pressurization, Refresh, Syphon, Barrier. I didn’t quite understand what I was getting into in my initial chase and did the exact same thing. I woke up on a planet with some nasty radiation one day and had to come up with some spells on the fly before my second attempt. I didn’t figure out the syphon trick until much later when I came across a planet with breathable air. Any star will work as long as you’re within a hundred AU.

The hotter ones will stave everything off the best. Refresh and Barrier are for when you don’t have access to syphon. Refresh keeps your internals from dying and replacing themselves over and over as badly, and Barrier makes it so you can wake up as soon as you get close enough to a star to Syphon from. I tried a number of things, but that’s the easiest way to get it done.”

Luna straightened her lips and stared at her for a bit.

“Oh-kay.”

“Well, see you later. Make sure you’re within town, mmkay? Bye♥” Celestia waved and walked out the door, and I just blinked.

Internals from dying as much? Is she serious?

“Remember what we talked about a few weeks ago. I still have my doubts. Be cautious.” I nodded.

“Yes ma’am.”

“So, today’s the day, huh?” Applejack asked.

We’d picked up Rarity, then met everypony at the bridge. It was somewhere around five PM on a relatively normal day for Underhoof. Thin fog, sunny, a little humid, slightly cloudy, maybe a little colder than average. Everypony was in some casual clothes, most of us had coats of some kind on, and Rainbow was even wearing a red beanie with ‘Underhoof Boxing’ embroidered on it. Celestia approached after parking the bike nearby.

“It certainly is. Fifteen years, I’ve been waiting for this. You would think that isn’t a lot of time for somepony like me. But after losing him… it’s almost like every second away is agonizingly slow.”

The pink filly in the long pale blue skirt, white blouse and pale blue shawl stepped forward.

“So um… is this… new?” She motioned a hoof around Celestia. I’d almost forgotten that they hadn’t seen her like this before. She rolled her eyes.

“Not really. It is however, as I truly am. What most of you knew before was… something of a disguise made from the truth. Ponies tend to ask questions when you look like a figure from legend.” They seemed to take that pretty well.

“I guess I can see that. What about your eyes? They’re still the same,” said the blue pegasus in the tracksuit and the beanie.

“Eyes are very difficult to obscure. Windows to the soul as they say, and a trained pony can see through something like that in an instant, though I’m not sure it ever mattered with all of you. The effort required versus the mediocre result usually isn’t worth it. Now then, who still has their guitars?”

The orange pony in the down coat and jeans with the stetson stepped forward, as did Pinkie.

“We do, but, we had some questions before we do this…” Applejack said. Celestia held a hoof by her shoulder.

“Go on then. This is much harder to accomplish by force, so I’d rather do things the easy way.” Applejack looked to everypony and then went on.

“So… what’s gonna happen to us? Ah mean, Luna said that y’all were gonna drain magic from the world or whatever… is that what yer plan is, or…?”

Celestia shook her head and waved the question away.

“No, no, no, nothing like that will happen here to you or any of your families. This place won’t change.The blue skies in Underhoof will always be the same.”

Something… Feels wrong about all of this. Why is that? I trust her… but… what is this foreboding feeling?

The yellow pegasus in the thick, violet dress and jacket stepped forward.

“I um… Are you sure? Because-”

Celestia threw a hoof out to her side and cut her off.

“Stop worrying about it. I’ve been planning this for thirteen years, I did all my experimentation in the first round. You will be safe, and your families will be safe. Things will be fine and then go back to the way they were once we’re done. Everything will be fine.”

Am I going crazy? What’s going on? My head feels so cloudy. Something feels wrong. Her words sound right, but they feel wrong. Why is that?

The other girls nodded and agreed to do as she said, so maybe I am just going crazy.

Everything will be fine. I trust her.

“Now then, here’s what’s going to happen. When the comet starts to get close, the shadows will appear. The manifestations of chaos and negativity born from the merging of Discord’s magic and Sombra’s emotions. To defeat them, simply play a chord you like and put your feelings into it. If you know the instrument, songs will do even better, and if you resonate with a partner, the effect is that much stronger.”

Celestia turned and pointed to Applejack and I.

“You two will be my primary fighters. Your job is to protect the others while I prepare to reconstruct your father. When I call for you, I’ll need you to return to me and then begin playing the melody I taught you both. You six will all begin to feel strange. From what I remember, it is… an empowering melody. Energetic, upbeat, even a little chaotic at first. But once we resonate, things will settle and you’ll feel a profound calm.

Then comes the pain. It will hurt. The magic involved taps into your immortal soul. Like nodes on a computer, you’ll have all your functions and energy linked together to resonate even stronger. It goes against the nature of free will, so your natural instinct will be to fight it. Don’t. That will only make the pain worse. When I play the final chord, Sombra will be reformed. And then… things will go back to the way they were, before all this began…”

Something about her sounded distant. Like she was only half here.

Fight off the shadows until Mother is ready. Once Mother gives the order, return and play the melody. Play the song and father will be reformed. But… but… there was more wasn’t there? What else did she say? Fight the shadows… return on the order… play the melody… and… and… what else?

In her golden aura, Celestia levitated her case to her hooves and started to take guitars out of it. She passed each element to its corresponding note. A green bass for loyalty. A clear lead for generosity. A wooden acoustic for kindness.

Why do I know that?

Applejack took her orange rhythm for honesty in her hooves, and Pinkie did the same with her pink counter-melody for hope. I found myself up on two hooves and I had my melody in my forelegs, ready to play.

When did that happen? Something…

“Next, we need to concentrate the power. I only had the time to teach two of you how to play, so you four are simply going to have to be protected while we tap into your power.”

She moved over to Shy and Dash and said, “You place your hoof like this on these strings, and you do the same for these strings. Strum them down here once you’ve got it. You’ll feel a certain way, and when the two notes start to resonate, your body will know what to do next.”

She had Rainbow set her hooves up to play a D major chord, and she had Fluttershy ready for an A. Fluttershy was the first to move, and as soon as she did, there was an electric feeling in the air. She strummed her A, and it was like the fog itself started to vibrate around her.

Something about the sound made me want to join in. I found myself form an F# on my own guitar, and I was about to add the sound to the chord myself, when Celestia stopped me.

“It’s not your turn. Wait.”

I let my hooves drop from the instrument and did as I was told. In the next instant, Dash added her chord to the mix, the D major. There was an intense reaction. With the sound came light, and the whole bass turned white, glowing in her hooves. Simultaneously, both fillies moved their hooves to the same position, and the notes met at F#.

Dash’s guitar shot beams of six colors out around it, and the bass had reformed into something new. It was still a bass, but it’d gained two more strings. Each was a color that matched with her mane and tail, and the body had gone from green to blue, yellow, and red in the shape of a lightning bolt. The neck and the frets turned stark black with a piano like sheen to them, and the head had turned into a cloud.

Without warning, the chord grew louder, and both fillies took the guitars by the neck and slammed them into each other. Blinding gold and blue lights enveloped the fillies and the sound… changed.

Like the texture of cotton candy, like the feeling of electricity, like the flavor of raspberry ice cream, the chord was soft, smooth, and alive with a wild edge to it. The sound reverberated through the fog, interacting with the physical world and pushing it away.

Once the light had settled and the fog came back, the pegasai were left breathing hard and holding one neck each of a new instrument.

A wood grain double necked electric with three patterns of colored lighting that traced across the body. The knobs were pink and the heads were pale yellow clouds, all with rainbow colored strings.

Celestia moved and took the guitar from them, and it was almost like they were taken out of a spell. They both fell to their knees and desperately gasping for air.

“Well done girls. A wonderful sound, especially from two ponies who don’t know how to play. Though, the… aesthetics of this guitar makes me feel like a rainbow threw up on it. It’s very loud.”

She threw the strap over her neck and then played the beginning of her lullaby on it. In a strange way, it sounded even sweeter than usual.

“Ah, that will do nicely. Now then, you two. Applejack, play me an E when I say the word.”

She moved over to the white unicorn in the black turtleneck and violet pants, and had her form a B chord on the clear guitar. Celestia took a step back, and then said, “Now.”

Applejack played her chord, and the soothing tone resonated all on its own. With bell clarity, Rarity’s pitch sounded off next. The two opposing chords almost seemed to be fighting each other at first, but in an instant, they reconciled and resonated together at G#. Again, the fillies were coated in colored light, orange for Applejack and white for Rarity, and their guitars slammed together.

Like a summer day with a sweet smell in the air, like the feeling of fine silk running across your skin, like syrupy sugar draining down your throat, the chord was sweet and clear. The end result was a polished orange wood grain double neck guitar with diamonds studded all along the body and head, and apples made of jewels running down the fret boards at the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and twelfth marks. The strings were violet, and the knobs were pale blue gems.

“Wow. That sounded nice, and the guitar actually looks decent. If you could play this one, I would trade.”

Rarity fell over, but Applejack remained standing. She staggered a bit, but she didn’t look nearly as tired as the others did. The orange filly wiped her brow under her hat.

“Damn… that takes a lot outta ya. No wonder… ya said ya regretted it.” Celestia patted her on the back.

“Keep in mind that not only is that partially your part of the chord, but you had a partner, and you both resonated with each other’s notes. When there’s no force to it, it hardly drains at all. Had you tried to do it my way, you might be dead.” Applejack frowned and stared at the big guitar in her hooves.

“Huh…”

Finally, Celestia moved over to Pinkie and told her where to put her hooves. She had her form a C, and I instantly knew to make a G.

“Let’s see… Ah, you’re already in position. Good. Play.”

As if I’d been waiting for that word all my life, I put my everything into strumming my guitar. The sound shook through me and it was like the entire world had gone to a monotone. Everything was in shade of violet, from the deepest pure purple to the cleanest white lavender, with the sound moved the light.

Another tone struck me, and my violet world started to change. A second tone was added and now there were pinks and reds in the foggy veil.

My hooves moved on their own to find the E, and so did Pinkie’s. From resonance to dissonance to unity, the tone shifted and the world shook. Just like a week ago in this very spot, the two shining guitars moved to meet each other.

Like the relief of being forgiven, like the taste of hope restored, like the memory of something fun, the tone was bright and full of promise. When color returned to the world, I felt tired. It was almost like I’d just run a marathon or something, everything in me wanted to keel over and rest.

The guitar was the same was it was before, a double necked electric covered in interlocking stars and balloons of gold and crystal blue, all outlined in pink.

“Oh goddess, I feel like I just ran fifty miles. What the hell is this?”

The thought came through, but… that wasn’t my voice. Or my thought, for that matter. I frowned and searched for the source.

I’m sorry?

“Huh? Who said that?”

Pinkie? Is that you?

“Twilight?”

“Ah, yes, I forgot to mention. You are currently linked to your partner on a metaphysical level. In a way, your souls are touching, so you might be hearing cross talk from your partner’s thoughts. The sound becomes stronger when you both resonate to the same emotion. Much like the waveform of light, it grows the more waves there are to merge together. Worry not, you’ll go back to normal once this is all over.”

“Yes ma’am,” we all said in unison.

“Something… What’s the deal? Why can’t I think straight anymore? It’s like all my thoughts are covered in fog…”

I know the feeling. But I’m not worried. I trust her. Things will go back to normal once this is all over. The blue skies in Underhoof will always be the same.

“Are you sure? I’m confused. Am I confident or worried? I can’t tell the difference… Things will be fine, right?”

They will. Trust Mother.

Pinkie looked at me, and there was something about her eyes. They… were foggy. Almost like she had cataracts or something, but she was clearly seeing just fine.

Why is that?

“I don’t know. You’re like that too.”

Am I?

“You are.”

Then, she started to darken. No, no it was more like the light was fading away. I looked around, and it wasn’t just her, it was everypony, the fog and everything. The only thing that hadn’t darkened was Celestia’s mane and tail. The low embers were so bright in the sudden darkness that she was casting light around herself. I looked up and the sun had disappeared. The sky had been blacked out, all save for one little blinking light just overhead.

“Is that a star?” Applejack asked. Celestia shook her head.

“That, is the comet.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, and then the embers of her mane and tail became bright flames that illuminated everything around us.

“Just like the sun, huh? I guess she wasn’t called that for no reason.”

I’ll say.

“The time is near! You four, gather here! You two, stand on either side of them! You’ll feel it first, and as soon as you do, prepare to deal with the shadows! I’ll be above preparing the melody, hold them off until I call!”

“Yes ma’am!”

The two pegasai, the pink earth pony and the unicorn all gathered around Celestia, and Applejack and I took a position on either side of the bridge. Celestia started to rise into the air, and then, I felt it. My head started throbbing. The pain was so intense that I staggered left and right.

“Oh goddess, what the hell is this!? Make it stop!”

“T-they’re coming!”

Celestia strummed something on her guitar, and suddenly, there was a golden dome around us. The pain in my head went away, and I finally had a chance to look at the comet. It started to rain. Black blobs of gaseous forms grew bigger and bigger as they blotted out the sky. One landed just outside the bubble in front of me, and I watched in horror as the monster started to form.

“Don’t just stand there, play something! Don’t give it the chance!”

Play something? What should I play?

“Do what you did for me! Oh wait, just play this!”

In my head, Pinkie started humming a melody, and in an instant, it was like I knew exactly how it went.

One, two, three!

Three chords came out of my hooves that I’d never learned, but the sound was just like Pinkie imagined it. In the waves of music the falling shadows started to glitch out and screech, the half-formed monsters all in front of me disintegrating into ash and floating away.

“Hey, it’s working!” I shouted. Several shadows around me faded away, but the moment they were gone, new ones took their place. “Gah!”

“Don’t let up! Keep playing! Make sure they don’t get inside the dome!” Celestia shouted.

I caught the tail end of Applejack singing, and then she strummed across both bridges. An electric wave of a fresh sound exploded out of her guitar like a bomb. Shadows all around the bridge and the roads surrounding us went up in smoke, burned away by Applejack’s clear tones. Just when it looked like she’d taken care of everything, more shadows started to rain down, and Applejack fell to a knee.

“Applejack, what’s wrong!?” Rarity cried. Celestia made a noise of irritation from up above us.

“She used too much power. Stop playing, you’re gonna kill yourself like that. Use the guitar like a weapon if you must, just keep them off the dome. It’s gonna take a few minutes for me to get done, the comet isn’t close enough yet.” Celestia turned toward the house and then whistled.

From further in the darkness, I saw shadows start to fly in all manner of directions, like they were being hit out of the way by something. One got knocked forward into the dome, and in a panic, I swung my guitar at it. The shadow evaporated, and right behind it was Bramos and the bike, beating the loving crap out of the horse-like monsters that had gathered all around.

Another monster started to beat on the barrier with its misshapen hooves and I ran to attack it. I hit a hoof and it batted the guitar away, but then I noticed somepony else take hold of a neck and helped me spin the body back into the monster.

TWANG

“Are you okay?” Pinkie asked. I nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s beat the hell out of these things!”

With Pinkie at my side, and Rarity at Applejack’s, we moved beyond the dome and started to fight off the shadows with the plastic pony on the motorcycle.

A grunge chord here, a monster’s mangled moans there, yelling like some kind of protagonist, as we screamed in unison. A beam of golden light caught my eye, and I noticed Celestia making markings in the bridge at the edges of the dome.

What is she doing?

“Focus, damn it!”

Pinkie pulled the guitar one way, and a shadow’s teeth missed my shoulder when I was pulled around with it. We flipped our hooves around and brought the body back down on the beast’s head.

TWANG

“Good goddess. We’re fighting for our lives here!” I held my free hoof up.

“Geez, I’m sorry, I stopped paying attention for a second.”

Another monster approached out of the corner of my eye, and in an instant, we both jumped. My wings flapped hard, and we took to the air even further. Pinkie kicked her legs around and swung us in an overhead circle above the shadow. Before the poor thing even knew it, we were already bringing the hammer down.

TWANG!

“Hell yeah!” Pinkie and I said as we high hoofed each other.

The shadows fell victim to our unified attacks one by one, and before long, it looked like we’d actually made a dent in their numbers. But not by much though. They seemed to come down endlessly, raining from that blinking pink star overhead.

“Damn it… Just how long… do we have to keep this up?”

“You four, return to me at once! The circle is ready!”

Mother finally gave the order. The runes she’d been burning in the ground had reconnected where she started. It was time. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and I all entered the circle, and Bramos followed shortly after plowing the bike through another shadow. There were tons of them, and they were everywhere.

“Music… is Harmony.”

The world went dead silent. All the shadows froze in place. The runes all along the ground lit up in gold light, then started to burn in flames. The shadows that were near evaporated in a wave, and Celestia began.

The lullaby starts short and staccato. C, A, G-F-A, E-F-E, Db, D-E-F, D-F, G-Bb, A-G-F-G.

The first chord came into my head as if I already knew where it belonged. Applejack and I played together, and then it began.

We shifted pitch and the tone moved down.

The melody repeats.

We shift down again, it’s almost time for the climax.

The final chorus.

“Celestia!” The word broke through everything. The song kept on playing, but my head was suddenly clear.

Why can’t I stop!? What’s happening!?

“Ah, dear sister, you’re just in time to see it happen!” The burning mare hadn’t stopped playing either. Everypony was stuck in place. I couldn’t move any of my hooves, even my feeble attempts to move my wings didn’t work.

“I knew it! You’re a good fucking liar Celestia, but you’ve taken this too far! Stop this at once!”

The flaming alicorn simply tilted her head and smiled a mouth full of razors at the black one.

“It’s far too late for that Luna. The ritual is almost over. When I play the final chord, the game is done. I’d won the moment we started.”

“Hey, what the!? Ah can’t stop!” Applejack called out. Her head jerked as much as it could, but the rest of her body was stuck in place. Now that I looked at her, I noticed little trails of golden lightning digging into her back hooves. I looked down and found the same thing on mine. It finally dawned on me.

“Windows to the soul as they say, and a trained pony can see through something like that in an instant, though I’m not sure it ever mattered with all of you.”

Obscuring the eyes. We… we were used!

“You…. You tricked us!” I yelled.

None of us are trained. How could we have known? Only somepony like Luna or Rarity’s mom would know if she was using magic like that. We fell straight into her hooves…

“I did nothing of the sort. I simply asked a question, and you answered it. That’s all it takes, to get hypnosis to work. I’m surprised you never noticed it. Then again, you are still young. Normal ponies wouldn’t be able to tell, but alicorns are particularly resistant to suggestion magic. Oh well. I’ll have to make sure nopony else can do this to you in the future.”

“Celestia!” Luna roared and attacked the barrier with her own magic. With all the shadows frozen in place there was nothing stopping her. However, the white alicorn was prepared for that. The giant blue beam of light hit the barrier, but merely fizzled out once it got there.

“W-what the-?”

In a moment, I realized what she was doing. This barrier was never here to protect us, it was made specifically with Luna in mind. The real barrier… is the one she just activated…

“Come now sister, you know how strong the elements are. That barrier isn’t for the shadows, it was for you.”

Luna tried to fly, but her body wouldn’t move. Just like the rest of us, Celestia had used some kind of spell to lock her in place. Luna threw her head down and cursed.

“Damn it! Don’t do this Celestia! He’s not worth the planet!” There was a twitch in the white alicorn’s eye.

“He’s worth everything to me! He loved me! He gave me a daughter, he was the only one who could! I will never let go! Nothing is worth as much as he is! He is my world! Underhoof will be spared, we can start over! This town has just enough males and females of different bloodlines to repopulate the planet!”

M-males and females? Oh goddess, she… that’s why… she chose this place. It was never about keeping a home for us, it was about ensuring that the race survives after… after she got her wish… I brought my wing to my face and took a deep breath.

Is this my fault? Am I the reason for all this?

“No, you idiot, she’s doing this for herself and using you as a scapegoat! I would know… I did the same thing…”

Pinkie?

“Yeah, still here. How did you get your wing to your face? I still can’t move.”

I looked down and finally realized what I’d done. I moved on my own. I was free!

“One life is not worth the many, you know that! What happened to thou shalt not kill!?” Luna shouted. Celestia laughed.

“Their lives are nothing! Gone in an instant, these frail things we call ponies, leaving nothing but heartache in their wake! How will you feel when your new lover dies this time!? Are you ready for the pain of that death? Or is he just a new toy for you to play with!? What is it worth to you, to take another stallion away from somepony that could do better for him? You’re a hypocrite! Their lives are just as meaningless to you as they are to me!”

M-meaningless? But… that doesn’t make any sense, how could…

“Focus Twily. It’s up to you, remember? Maybe this is what she meant. If you can fly up there and knock the guitar out of her hooves, then maybe we can turn this around.”

Right.

Slowly, while Luna had Celestia’s attention, I started to move behind her. I was going to have to fly to get up there, but I’ve done it before, so I can do it again.

“The truth comes out, does it now? You’re right. He’s big and strong, and knows how to use that thing between his legs. But there is something I learned in all the years in your shadow, in all the years you spent chasing shadows, and that is the potential of a life! So many advancements, so many ideas, so many lives have produced the world we stand in!” I noticed Luna look me in the eye for a split second.

That’s the cue. I’m in position. Now to wait for just the right moment…

“The luxuries of today could have never come from alicorns because we don’t value the time we’re given! They have only so many seconds, and they realize that! They know that the end is inevitable, so they try to live as best they can with the time they have!

One generation builds what the next completes, and with each new wave comes new ideas to add upon the history of the last! Life is beautiful, and to cast it off as a flickering flame is to ignore the very thing you’re trying so desperately to preserve! Twilight, Now!”

“Twilight?”

I jumped and flapped my wing with all my might with the guitar raised over my head. She turned to see me just as I was in range to bring it down.

TWANG!!

The white alicorn took the blow hard and slammed into her own barrier. It flickered for an instant and white-orange feathers fell to the ground. Celestia slid to the ground and staggered back to two hooves, holding her head in her right forehoof all the while.

“How…? Why…? Twilight, my darling Twilight, why…?”

I had to chomp down on my lip. The face she was making, the emotions I could tell were right on her eyes, I… just attacked my own… I shook my head.

No. She’s doing something wrong and has to be stopped. It doesn’t matter who she is, she has no right to kill! Even with this sickly feeling in my stomach, I stood my ground.

“I… I already have a father! You ruined his life and gave me away just to keep chasing something you knew you couldn’t have! You…. You’re so selfish!”

The anguish in her eyes flickered to anger, and the whole world went up in flames. Fire rose from the runes, her mane and tail went up in a blaze.

“You have nothing! Your father is trapped in that burning rock, and we are going to save him! I… am your mother, and you will do as I say!”

I barely had time to bring up my guitar to block her. The overwhelming strength of her attack was enough to make me want to crumble, but it wasn’t enough to break me. The two guitars rang out in a discordant tone and I had to take a step back.

She swung again, but this time it was lighter. So much so that I parried and attacked her back. She blocked with ease and another chord rang out.

Damn it! I backed away and attacked her again. Why is she smiling? She parried my guitar and then raised hers above her head. I shielded myself again, and another chord rang out.

Finally, I noticed it. Applejack had kept playing all this time. She’d never stopped. And even now… I was playing my part.

“Ah, my baby is so clever, isn’t she? I told you. It was over the moment it began. Thank you, My Twilight.” Celestia leaned in and kissed my forehead. She strummed both of our guitars, and Applejack played the final chord at the same time.

The earth began to rumble, and the single tone of the complex chord shook the world. Lightning shot from me to Pinkie, then Rainbow, then Fluttershy, then Rarity, and Finally Applejack. The blinding pain rang through my ears. It was like every nerve was trying to go numb and was on fire at the same time.

“Gah! No! C-Celly, d-don’t…”

The bolt hit Luna too, and then she fell to the ground. Celestia moved to the center of her circle, and Bramos had come to stand with her. They held each other’s hooves, and from high on above, a bright pink light shot down to envelop them.

Before my vision faded completely, I watched the plastic pony gain flesh and fur. His mane became black with streaks of deep blue, a horn protruded from his skull, a mouth was carved out of his snout, and no longer was this pony made of plastic. He was… alive.

In the darkness, I started to feel light. It was as if my body didn’t weigh anything at all, or I was underwater. Nothing here to keep me down, just… floating. Then I heard a voice.

“Yes, of course… where is she?” it said. Deep and masculine. Not like dad, but familiar all the same. I could count the ponies on my hooves I knew with a voice like that, but this wasn’t any of them.

“She who?”

Well, that was Celestia.

“Twilight, where is my daughter?”

My daughter?

“Oh, of course.” Suddenly, there was weight and light all around me. Huh. My eyes aren’t closed. My position changed, and now I was in a brighter black dome that had enough light for me to see two ponies. There was Celestia on one side… and another.

A stallion, easily. Comparing him to dad was… never gonna go in dad’s favor. He wasn’t the biggest unicorn around, but you could tell he was used to physical exercise. A dark grey coat, a mane and tail as black as night with deep navy streaks on either side. He had bright green eyes, and something about his horn seemed all too familiar as well.

Am I forgetting something? I… know this guy.

“Where am I?” I asked. Instead of an answer, the stallion came up and embraced me with a death grip.

“Ah how she’s grown. She certainly takes after you. You’ll make a stallion happy one day.”

It wasn’t so tight that I couldn’t breathe. As a matter of fact, it was more like I could tell he could probably crush me if he wanted to, but his touch was gentle. His coat was grainy, even a little scratchy to the touch, but the muscle beneath was hard and thick. Next, I felt a set of massive feathers cover me, and the white mare had joined.

“After so long… we can finally… be the family I’ve always wanted!”

Holy shit is she crying? Is this real? Then, it all came back to me. I struggled out of the hug and backed away from them.

“Hold up, what happened!? Where are we!? Where’s the comet!? Who… Are you…?”

A memory started to play in my head. It was the same dream from all those weeks ago, but now… it wasn’t dad. It was him. This… is my father. The stallion bowed.

“I am Sombra of Canter’s Lot. I am also your father, The Sun Queen’s Concu-”

“Husband,” Celestia interrupted.

Her what!?

“Husband.” He concurred.

“Oh. I um… I see. It’s… nice to meet you?” This is my real father, my biological one. Is that how I should greet him? What else do I say?

I put a hoof out expecting it to be shaken, but instead of that, he took it and pulled me in for a hug.

“Ha ha… ha ha! Ha ha ha! I never thought I’d get the chance to see you again…” he held me tight and stroked my mane in such a way that… I almost thought I remembered this touch from somewhere. Maybe I really did, who could say? Either way, he was warm and familiar in this floaty, underwater like space.

“I would call it a miracle, but… I know all too well.” He pulled me back and stared me deep in the eyes. Sparkling lime green, such a pure, pretty color.

“She has your eyes,” he whispered. The large mare moved a little closer.

“And your mane and your temperament. Truly, she is a gift.” Finally, he broke the stare and turned to her.

“What have you done, Celestia?” That must’ve caught her by surprise. Even her feathers ruffled.

“Wha- me? Done anything? Whatever do you mean my dear?” He raised a brow.

“Come now, you can’t lie to me. You can barely keep your composure. Something is eating away at you inside as we speak.” He raised a hoof and waved it around above us.

“Remove this veil so that I may see what you’ve wrought.” Finally, I noticed that her horn had been active this whole time.

Why is she using magic right now? Why can’t I see it?

She straightened her lips.

“I can’t.”

“And why is that?”

“You’ll die, and she’ll experience the death of her internals for the first time.”

My father straightened his lips and then examined the sandy ground we were on. He picked up a hoofful of the bleached sand in his dark red aura and then let it fall ever so slowly back in place.

“We’re on the moon.”

“We’re on the moon.” The black faded away, and now there was just a clear golden aura around us.

Craters as far as the eye could see in one direction, metal and glass domes on the other, covered in solar panels with ATV type vehicles parked outside bay doors with green LED’s above them.

Looking around, I spotted the planet, and the comet that was covered in pink fire going toward it one way, and a writhing white tail following it into the atmosphere. There were no masses of blue water, the planet’s sky was forming rings of cloud around where the comet was entering, and the sky was a bright, burning, red.

Holy shit.

“Gah! What happened!? What did you do!? Where is everypony else!?” Celestia stared at me like my outburst was an everyday occurrence. To be entirely fair on her part, this has happened a lot in recent days, and not all of them were warranted.

“Hmm? Oh, they’re just in the facility Luna had been secretly building just behind us. I found them on my way back the first time. Apparently, there’s already a few families living here. Didn’t you see it? Technology really has come a long way, hasn’t it?” She said it so dreamily, it was almost like she wasn’t here either.

“There’s no way you moved the whole planet here alone,” I said. She huffed and rolled her eyes.

“The ponies of Underhoof. I am the Sun Queen, not Goddess. I can’t move seven billion ponies across two hundred thousand miles, give or take.”

Sombra shook his head and sighed.

“I believe I’ve heard enough.” Celestia reared back.

“What? Come on, don’t be like that. We’re all together again! We can finally be a family, everything will work out. The Moon has plenty of fun things to do.” He tilted his head.

“Celestia.”

“Don’t take that tone with me.”

“Celestia.”

“Stop it!”

“Celestia!”

“I’m sorry!”

“You are not!”

“Fine. I’m not sorry.”

“Take me back. We must stop this.”

“Well… about that…” she looked away and scratched at her cheek.

“I don’t care.”

“There is no way to do it! There is no magic left in the planet! Even if we did go back, we’re limited to what we’ve got left, and it will take decades to recover!” He shook his head.

“That’s only half the truth.”

“No!”

“Celestia!”

“Stop it! Don’t say things like that! Do you know what I had to do to get you back!? Don’t do this to me!”

Sombra stood and pressed his snout against hers. I have to say, it would’ve been more intimidating if he wasn’t on his tippy-hooves just trying to be eye to eye with her.

“I know exactly what you had to do! I still don’t understand why you did it in the first place! How many times do I have to tell you, damn it!? I AM NOT WORTH THE MILLIONS IN EQUESTRIA!”

Celestia turned her head and backed away. Somehow, the giant mare looked so small.

“You are to me…” He shook his head and sat beside her, putting a hoof around her shoulders and pulling her into him.

“This… this is pathetic, Celestia. This is unlike you. Who are you now? The mare I loved would’ve done anything for her ponies, not sacrifice them for one stallion. Where is she? What have you done with my love?”

“I…” she looked away again, and he circled around to face her, gingerly putting a hoof on her face.

“Come now, you know better… take me back.” She shook him off and backed away, her mane going up in a blaze.

“No! We’re finally all together! I won’t lose you again! Not again… not again…”

Is… is she crying?

Little balls of liquid piled up on her face and floated away in bubbles in the low gravity space.

“It may very well be you that makes all the difference.”

But what should I say? How could I get her to change her mind if he couldn’t do anything? Do I really have that much influence? No, no, no… you’re thinking about this all wrong. She… loves you. She went across the galaxy just to give you a father, your father. If she would do anything for anypony, it would be… you. Time… to face the music.

“M-mommy?”

The white mare froze in place. The flames died, the feathers splayed, the shoulders rose, the head ducked. As if it pained her, she turned very slowly around until finally I caught her eyes. He was right. This was hurting her. If she could’ve found another way, she would have done that. But… I’m too important to her. She would’ve never been able to live with herself if she didn’t do everything she could to give me the father I deserve, my real father, and that… was more important than the world.

“Please… don’t go through with this.” Her teeth pierced into her lip. Blood started to bubble and float away.

Anything to make me not feel this way. I know it all too well.

I reached inside the clothes she’d given me and pulled out the one piece of them I’ve had ever since I was left with Dad.

“You know… I… I kept this, all this time.” I held out the pendant for them to see. A little gold trinket, wrought with orange topaz in the shape of the sun. Only the other day did I realize that there was a spell on this. It was like a little tracker. Whoever cast it could always find it no matter where it was in the universe. Something to come home to. She’d always planned on coming back for me.

“I… I always knew that… my brother’s mother wasn’t mine. My mother… was like the sun. Somepony radiant, somepony kind and generous… somepony full of love and hope, somepony honest and loyal. My mother was somepony who could do anything. Somepony that could save the world and protect the weak.

I always loved stories of the Sun Queen. How heroic she was, how brave she was, how beautiful she was… she was my hero. I always thought that... if anypony was my mother, then it had to be her, right? I had this, and it looked just like her mark…

I think… I finally realized the truth, that day with Fluttershy. I… tried to deny it. Deny the fact that I liked you, that I enjoyed having you around and how you would play with me and dote on me and tease me… like a mother would. Give me life advice when I needed it, hold me when I felt insecure.

It was like… I finally had my own, ya know? The… the mother I’d always wanted. But… you weren’t everything I’d imagined. Nowhere close to perfect, a slob, a drunk, lazy, mean, almost cruel… But… you were always there when I needed you, and you cared about me and my friends.

You helped me make friends. You helped Dash move on from her mother, you fixed Rarity’s parents, you got Fluttershy over her issue… for the most part. We’re still working on that one, but she’s talking about it and taking it seriously now. You helped Applejack fix her relationship with her family, and you helped me… sort out everything about my brother and Pinkie. I know you’re a good pony. If nothing else, you could never hide that. You tried your hardest to be off-putting and push us away, but you’re just… you’re too good for that.

Even now, at the height of your insanity, you still couldn’t bring yourself to kill ponies you knew for Father, so you saved the entire town. You… no, we can still stop this. It doesn’t have to end like this. We can start over. We can find a better way. Just… be my mommy again, please?”

I don’t remember when it started, but there were a lot more bubbles floating around me now. Celestia… Mother, was in pain. She looked sick. Somewhere between lashing out and throwing up. Maybe even both. In an instant, all her muscles tensed up and she backed away.

“Damn it!”

Flames erupted from her mane and tail and she smashed the ground and the whole moon shook. My father grabbed me and protected me from the blast, and moon dust went flying all around. The fire died down a bit, and after giving me a look that said ‘stay here’ he went to her.

“Celestia… It’s alright. We always knew that you would go on without me one day. I’m a thousand years older than I have any right to be.”

She turned to face him with a quivering lip and tears in her eyes. He put a hoof on her shoulder and smiled sweetly.

“You’re not alone anymore. Take care of our daughter. Be the mother she deserves. Let me go.” Again, she shook him off.

“No! I… you… you were the only one, I… I can’t! I love you!” He nodded and jumped to catch her neck. He wrapped around her and ran his hoof through the flames, somehow, without burning.

“And I love you. I love you so much, that I would give up my life to keep you from making this mistake again, and again, and again. Celestia… if you love me, if you love our baby… let me go.” Celestia started to breathe heavily. She batted Sombra away and held her head in her hooves.

“I… you…! DAMN IT!”

In the next moment, I wasn’t quite sure what happened. At first, Celestia’s horn started to glow with such intensity, that I thought the sun was coming out. In the next, I found them on their backs, both with a hoof in the other’s, and sweating and breathing hard like they’d just run a marathon around the moon.

“Good goddess. I can’t believe… you had that in you,” Sombra wheezed.

Excuse me?

“Me too, really. That spell has never worked before.” I blinked again.

“Did I miss something, or what?” Mother raised her head.

“You missed a lot. And I mean, a lot. Jars and jars worth of a lot… Holy shit.” Father put a hoof on her chest.

“Celestia, please.” The big mare took his hoof and kissed him.

“Yes…” She stood, helped him stand, and then brought me close with her wing.

“Let’s go take care of this. It’s time… to end the story.”

“Alright, here’s the deal. The comet will hit the surface in fifteen minutes. If that happens, it’s all over.” I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, no shit. How do we stop that?” She scowled at me.

“I was getting there. Geez, don’t talk to me like that. Nightlight didn’t raise you in a cave.” I rolled my eyes and then Mother continued. “Anyways, Luna’s missiles failed the moment we took out their magic-”

“You took out their magic. I was a pawn.”

“Oh my goddess.”

“Girls!” Father gave us both a pop to the head, and in unison, we rubbed at the spot with the same foreleg. “Focus.” Celestia rolled her eyes and sighed.

“You’re not making this easy for me, ya know that?” He nodded.

“I do. How do we stop it?”

She decided that her hooves were very interesting, so she started tapping the tips of them together.

“We have to divert or destroy the comet. To do that, however, will require a significant amount of energy similar to that of several nuclear weapons pointed at the center of the comet. The only thing capable of that right now… would be the elements… which are sustaining your life.” Father nodded.

“I had figured as much, but didn’t want to assume.” He took a deep breath and then held out his hooves and closed his eyes.

“Well, go on. Let’s get this over with. You don’t have all the time in the world.” Celestia shook her head.

“I can’t. You do it.”

Son of a bitch!

“Oh, come on, I have to kill him?” She scratched at her mane with both hooves.

“Don’t say that! This is bad enough as it is, just do it already! I can’t watch this!”

Celestia turned away, and then Father put his hooves on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes.

“It’s alright. Don’t think of it as killing me, think of it as saving your world. Who knows, I might survive, and all this might’ve been for nothing.” Of course, Mother had to chime in on that one.

“Yeah, let me just say that there’s a negative chance of that happening. In the best case scenario, you’ll be separated again. If the comet isn’t destroyed, I suppose I could go after you again, but… I have a needy daughter to take care of, so I might never get the chance…” Sombra and I rolled our eyes.

“We knew that, you didn’t have to say it,” Father explained.

“It’s important, alright!? I hate this. I hate dealing with death, you of all ponies should know that. This… is it.” She turned back around and crossed her hooves. We shook our heads, and then he turned back to me.

“Seeing as she’s as irresponsible as ever, it’s up to you to do it.” Then he leaned in to whisper, “I know I said she needed to take care of you, but… it’s really the other way around. Take care of your mother for me, alright?” I swallowed and nodded. This was nerve wracking. I could feel the heat of the doom ball approaching faster and faster.

Everything rides on me… but I guess they think I can do it, so I might as well live up to their expectations, right?

“Yes sir.” I took a deep breath and remembered how I did the last two times. Right below the horn, in the center of the forehead is where it is.

“Just remember how you did it before. You’ve experienced all their melodies, you know how they sound, and you know how they resonate. Keep that in your mind, reach for it, and pull.”

I stood up on two hooves, put one on his shoulder to stabilize myself, and then sent the other into the void. The first chord, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh. And finally, to close the loop. I took hold of the neck I felt deep inside, and pulled.

To my surprise, it came out easily. When it was in my hooves, I was mesmerized. A golden fender, simple in design, but more beautiful than any other guitar I’d ever seen. Polished wood, six strings of six different colors, Orange, Yellow, White, Pink, Purple, and Blue. Six knobs and tuning pegs made of colored gems that matched the strings, golden frets, a piano black neck, and a golden head. My father fell on me, and I could barely feel him at all. His limp body was cold to the touch and growing colder by the second.

“My darling… thank you, my Twilight. Stay at your mother’s side. Don’t let her fall into despair again… look after… your…” His pulse was gone.

“NO!”

Celestia took the body in a flash and poured tears on him as she cradled him in her hooves. I put a hoof on the wailing mare’s shoulder, but she knocked me away.

“No! You… still have a job to do. Go… save the world or whatever.” I left my mother to mourn and took to the sky. It was easy. I had complete control of my wings, but everything was stronger than I remembered it. I could fly high and fast, and I felt like there wasn’t a limit to what I could do. It was… almost like being in Bramos again.

The power of the elements all in my control made my thoughts reality, and once again, I could feel my Father as he was before. I raced through the air to meet the comet, and I could hear his voice in my head.

“I never got the chance to teach you when you were young, so don’t forget a word I say! Keep your back hooves shoulder width apart, steady your balance, and keep your forehooves choked up on the neck! One clean swing is all it’s gonna take. Here it comes!”

I stopped midair and readied my guitar. The burning ball was shooting close and there was a sudden fear that overcame me.

What if I can’t do it? What if I fail?

“That’s not gonna happen. This is your moment to shine. You’ve made it this far, and there’s no turning back! Knock out that Star Overhead!”

Confidence surging in me, I fixed my grip on the guitar, wound my shoulders back, and as soon as the comet was in reach, I swung.