//------------------------------// // Hope's Comeback, Remembrance of Redemption // Story: The Good King Returning Alive // by Misty Shadow //------------------------------// Hope...please forgive me...you have always been too good for me...that’s how you’ve always been deep down...and deep down, I’ve always been evil… “NO!” Radiant Hope angrily shouted in response to hearing those words, spoken by King Sombra, go through her mind. “How have you forgotten what I taught you?! No one is destined to be good or evil! You need to remember that you’ve been redeemed!”  In her mind, she was surrounded by darkness, trying to call out to her lost friend.  But Hope, I’m worried...my greatest fear has finally been realized...you were wonderful in how you didn’t let my apparent death shake your faith...but now I worry that what I have become… Radiant Hope stood still in terror as she saw a familiar face slowly creep out of the darkness, one with beastly teeth and sickly white eyes… ...may finally make you lose the hope you gave me… Hope loudly gasped, awakening from a nightmare as she thrust herself up from her bed. After what had transpired with her and the trio of regents who had been manipulated by the green-eyed shadow, she had since conceded, agreeing to retire to a resting room in the castle. She knew that the shadow’s hold on them would soon return, but trusting in what Amore told her, she decided it was best to lay low for one night.  Now, however, she was becoming more nervous. Her anxiety grew even further once she heard her bedroom door creak open slowly… “AH!” she cried, startled.  “Ssh!” the one opening the door shushed her, revealing himself to just be one of Cadance’s guards. “Keep quiet!”  He came into the room and shut the door behind him slowly before he approached Hope’s bed. Hope was still feeling tense until the guard calmly told her… “Please, relax. Everything will be just fine. I’m not a pawn of that shadow controlling them. At least not anymore…”  “Hold on…” Hope responded, recognizing this guard’s voice. “You’re…”  “Yes, it’s me.” the guard replied, taking off his helmet. “Snow Sentinel.”  “I thought you were one of Twilight’s heralds…” Hope said in confusion. “Why are you here?” “I’m actually one of Princess Cadance’s guards…” he answered guiltily. “I infiltrated Princess Twilight’s castle as a spy.”  “...Why?” a bemused Hope asked. “Was it the shadow, or…?”  “Through the crystal princess,” explained Snow, “the shadow gave me the order to spy on Twilight, posing as one of her guard overseers. At the time, I had no idea, but I see now in retrospect that I was being manipulated by charisma.”  “Charisma?” Hope questioned.  “Do you believe it was only Sombra’s dark magic that got his subjects to cater to his every whim back when he was evil?” Snow asked in turn. “No, he himself has always carried with him charisma, a strong aura that can manipulate even the purest of hearts to believe they’re better off being in submission to evil. It was passed on from Cadance to me, which is how the shadow was then able to track me and control me completely. However, thanks to the efforts of Princess Twilight, I am now fully free of him. If only the same could be said for those three…”  “So are you here under Twilight’s orders?”  “Affirmative. I’m no longer a double agent, but a loyal servant to good. And now, we shall discuss the plan to stop the shadow and bring back your friend…”     “Do you know any of the shadow’s secrets that would help us prepare?”  “Unfortunately, while Twilight and I do believe Discord’s bizarre elaboration on his background was actually accurate now, our knowledge of the fiend is still woefully limited. One once occult truth that is now crystal clear though is that his power is weakened by...charisma. Not the evil kind I just spoke of, but the good kind. The evil kind manipulates those with weak hearts into servitude, but the good kind awakens the latent powers of weak but well-intentioned souls, driving them to banish the darkness from their minds.”  “Thanks for the info,” said Hope with a cocky grin, “but I kind of already knew.”  “Hmm?” Snow responded bemusedly. “How?”  “It was Amore.” she answered. “When I made it clearer than ever that the stand I took for Sombra was on an eternal oath I would die for, the shadow temporarily lost control, and she was able to enter my mind, talking to me like she was her ordinary self. It was then that we were able to formulate a little strategy of our own, a little trick that shadow will surely never foresee…”  “Do tell…” Snow requested.  Meanwhile, Princess Amore had also retired to a resting room. She was sitting on the velvet carpet on the floor, brooding over a burning fireplace.  “The road to hell is paved with good intentions…” she reminded herself of this old saying solemnly. “But I was not simply manipulated because of my immature belief that the ends justified the means so long as we meant well in our shady tactics...no, both Sombra and I have always been more alike than I ever could have imagined. We are both so easily manipulated...by guilt.”  Amore’s horn began to light up ominously…  “I felt bad that Sombra had suffered all those years in the light because of me and my foolish hope, so I sent him back to the darkness I took him from...but I was a fool. I played right into that shadow’s scheme...so I will rectify my mistake through this sacrifice. Not to make myself feel better, but because I want to save him for real this time…”  Amore looked deep inside her heart, which was growing, becoming like the Crystal Heart… “Tomorrow, hope will make a comeback. Tomorrow, real hope will be known again by all…”  And so, when day broke, the time came for that prophecy to be put to the test. Standing on the outskirts of the Empire in V-formation were seven hooded figures, the one in the center, the leader, being a familiar heliotrope unicorn… “Oh, young ones…” the leader spoke to her subordinates in a familiar tone of voice. “It is only out of reluctance that I beseech you to suffer together with me as we bear the symbol of evil…” “Don’t talk to me like a child…” a cheery, reformed Changeling said forebodingly. “Hee hee hee…”  “Know that we are not here to senselessly cause chaos in the name of our ego-driven “truth”…” the leader declared, prepared to pull back her hood for a brief moment. “We are here…”  *DING*  The sound of a light twinkling could be heard from inside the leader’s brown parcel, as she pulled back her hood to reveal that she was Radiant Hope.  “To conquer this Empire’s evil.” she finished as a light shining from the top of the Crystal Palace revealed that the other hooded figures were Twilight’s six star pupils from the School of Friendship, Sandbar, Silverstream, Yona, Smolder, Gallus, and of course, Ocellus…  “Of course.” Ocellus replied in a seemingly innocent tone.   “Granted, I have used this tactic before and it involved causing mayhem then too,” admitted Hope, “but that was only for diversionary purposes. Just like back then, this is a heist for the Crystal Heart. But again, it’s not plundering for profit, we only mean to keep the Heart out of evil’s hands. So long as the light shines ever more brilliantly in the Empire while that thing reigns over the minds of the Empire’s leaders, the power of the darkness grows in tandem. If the Crystal Ponies are to ever realize that they’ve been lied to, a fate that is inevitable, the darkness will overpower the light. Soon after, all of the Empire, and in turn, all of Equestria, will be overtaken by the green-eyed shadow and turned into his mindless slaves...before that happens, we must teach the Crystal Ponies to stop depending on the Heart and start having hope in themselves!”  “Are you certain that his plan is really that convoluted and contrived?” Gallus asked, bemused by the long monologue as he felt like his head was spinning.  “Snow most certainly knows from Twilight that there will always be darkness in the world, leading others to find the light.” Hope answered. “The reverse is definitely true too, we’ll always possess a reckless lust for a light of false hope, leading others down the path of darkness, and it’s the only thing that makes sense. There’s no way that odious demon would do something good if it were not to aid his evil...and I can’t shake the feeling that he has something else up his sleeve…”  Inside Sombra’s study, Hope premonition was proven to be true... “Heh heh heh…” the green-eyed shadow snickered sinisterly. A sound akin to water being pumped inside of something could be heard as he hovered above the door where the umbrum were sealed. “Whoever sealed the umbrum here thought they were so slick...putting them behind a wooden door! That is just sad! Mwa ha ha ha ha!”    “Gah...agh...why...Sombra...why must you continue to torture us?”  Sombra began to cry, knowing what his kin were suffering through behind the door, being drained of their energy.  “Even you don’t deserve this…” Sombra said despondently. “And I know I don’t deserve this either…so why do I continue to hate myself?” Sombra then saw his ghastly appearance in the reflection of the shadow’s eyes.  “Because it’s not the umbrum, but this monster that embodies what I really am…”   Meanwhile, in the town square of the Empire… “Step right up, everypony!” Sandbar gleefully proclaimed to a crowd of Crystal Ponies.  He and Gallus were now dressed like vaudeville performers, each boasting the classic hat, suit, cane, and mustache as they posed for a crowd gathering around a stand they had put up. “Witness the magic happen with the game of the century…” Gallus introduced said game by pointing his cane to their stand’s sign above… “Look alive, look alike! Where we find out just how much we all kind of look alike!” “Oohs” and “ahs” were heard all over the crowd as one upper-crust mare just rolled her eyes.  “Today,” continued Sandbar with the explanation of the game, “we’re going to find out for just two bits, how much you would look like this guy only wearing his hood!”    During his explanation, he had held out a picture of Shadow Lock. Curious muttering ensued among the crowd.  “So who will be our first participant?” Gallus asked the crowd.  “Pfft, not me.” the upper-crust mare retorted, walking away. “What feeble-minded lout could be amused by something so simple?”  “Step right up, everypony!” Silverstream declared to her own crowd from her own stand. “And be razzled and dazzled by the Crystal Empire’s first...sand stand!”   She held out a jar of glittering sand, causing the upper-crust mare’s eyes to sparkle.  “How exquisite!” she cried jubilantly. “We don’t even have a beach here!”  Watching the scene, Sandbar chuckled to himself.  “A sand stand…” he said to himself. “We really have our jobs cut out for us here…”  Not far from there, close to where the Crystal Heart was being monitored by guards, Smolder was seen eating crystal...from Spike the Glorious and Brave’s statue.  “No offense, bro…” Smolder consoled her friend. “Seriously, it’s a complimentary snack.”  “Hey!” a nearby guard yelled in protest. “Stop biting our statue!”  “Take a bite out of this!” Smolder taunted them by slapping her butt before she flew off.  “After that delinquent!” the guard called out orders for other guards nearby to follow her.  Once those guards had left, Yona entered the scene, “practicing her dance moves”.  “1, 2, 3, WALTZ!” she exclaimed as she stomped the ground, giving the remaining guards a shake. “1, 2, 3, WALTZ! 1, 2, 3, BAM!”  “Enough of-” the guards who followed her demanded before they got interrupted by a tremor. “-THAT!”  These distractions gave Radiant Hope an opportunity to sneak closer to where the Crystal Heart was. With only two guards left in front of the pedestal holding it now, coming from behind was a cinch… “Hee hee hee…” Ocellus snickered from behind a building, the only one left of the Student 6 yet to fulfill her role. “They really will never foresee this…”  “I got it!” Hope exclaimed to herself victoriously after snatching the Heart and swiftly retreating behind a building.  She looked at her reflection inside of the Heart and smirked with triumph...until she saw the scowling face of Princess Amore appear in the Heart as well.  “I’ll show you what you got…” she said menacingly. Meanwhile, back in the town square…  “Woah!” one of the stallions who took part in Gallus and Sandbar’s game exclaimed upon looking in a hand mirror. “I really do look just like Tempest Shadow!”  “Shadow Lock.” Sandbar corrected him.  “Who’s Stygian again?” the oblivious stallion asked, leading Sandbar to roll his eyes.  “Alright, who’s up next for our game?!” Gallus proclaimed to the crowd.  “Not me or anyone else!” Princess Amore retorted, stomping a foreleg to the ground to make her arrival known.  The crowd of Crystal Ponies gasped as they, Gallus, Sandbar, and Silverstream turned to face Amore. She, now joined by Princess Cadance, King Sombra’s opposite, and two guards who had apprehended Smolder, Yona, and Ocellus, was clutching Radiant Hope by the neck.  “The jig is up!” she declared to Gallus, Smolder, and Silverstream. “This marauder has confessed to you three being complicit in her scheme to steal the Crystal Heart! Did you really believe we’d allow you to abscond with it?! Surrender yourselves now! We don’t want to have to do anything to your friends!” Amore clutched Hope’s neck tighter, leading Silverstream to bite her nails while Gallus and Sandbar growled. They had no choice. They ditched their disguises and slowly walked towards Amore begrudgingly… “No…” Hope said in her mind. “It’s not going down like that!”  With that, she bit the foreleg of Amore’s holding her hostage. “Ow!” Amore cried in pain as she pulled her foreleg to her mouth, giving Hope a chance to escape. Running towards Gallus, she pulled something out of her cloak.  “OH, NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!” Cadance and Opposite Sombra yelled angrily as they charged up magical blasts in their horns. Cadance fired her blast first with Opposite Sombra’s blast following shortly after. “Gallus, cat-” Hope was about to call out to Gallus to catch what she had pulled from her cloak before Cadance’s blast shot her in the back, leading the object she pulled to go flying past Gallus.  “Wait, that’s…!” Opposite Sombra exclaimed in his mind fearfully, realizing what the object was. “...The Crystal Heart! Amore didn’t have it confiscated before she called us over?! IMPOSSIBLE! WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!”  “I have it!” Silverstream exclaimed gleefully, catching it in her claws and holding it out. However, Opposite Sombra, unable to stop himself in mid-blast, accidentally shattered the Crystal Heart with his magic.  “I mean...I had it…” Silverstream said defeatedly as she watched the Heart’s remains fall to the floor. Everyone stared at the ground speechlessly. A long moment of silence was had… “Fwa ha ha ha ha…”  Until a familiar evil laugh broke it up…  “MWA HA HA HA HA!”  The laughing continued as the green-eyed shadow manifested itself from out of Cadance and Opposite Sombra’s minds, materializing as a dark cloud.   “So, are you clowns enjoying the pinnacle of the Empire’s restoration to glory?!” he mocked them. “HA HA HA HA HA!”  All around, the Crystal Ponies screamed and panicked, fleeing the town square. Even the guards let go of the three students they had arrested and deserted their posts, leaving only Hope, the Student 6, and the Empire’s regents at the mercy of the shadow.  “W-w-was this…” the dumbfounded and terrified rulers stammered. “A lucky moment you took advantage of, or…?”  “If you believe I was ever truly abetting good, I’ll sell you some swampland in the outer reaches of the south!” he continued deriding them. “Too predictable is the path of self-righteous fools...of course I planned this from the start! No matter how much power I had over your minds, I still had influence over your actions with my charisma! What you’d call “bad luck” was just me subconsciously influencing you to act hastily! I’ve always had the reins, and how easy it would be for me now to fully control you again…”  The regents gasped as they saw vines protrude from the shadow.  “As if there’s a need.” he scoffed as he abruptly retracted the vines. “For in your stupidity, you delivered me a greater pawn than all of you combined…with him, I will surely be able to conquer all of Equestria, for he is the spitting image of me...”  The shadow then made a swishing motion from the ground to the air, and from the shadows that formed below him, there materialized...King Sombra.   “No…”  This was all Hope could mutter as she felt faint, watching the visage from her nightmare appear right before her. Sombra’s face...was that of an umbrum’s.  “WWWHHHYYY?!” she shrieked at the shadow. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM?!”  “Why don’t you ask him?” the shadow nonchalantly retorted. “He’s the one who chose this new form. He grew weary of your anguish, forcing yourself to cling to false hope of him not actually being a monster. Now that he’s accepted himself, you may both be free.”  “...” Hope began to calm herself down, realizing that this was just another test of her hope. Hardened by greater trials before, she saw the grain of truth in the shadow’s lies...she did have to ask him.  “Sombra…” she spoke to her friend sincerely. “Please tell me what you really want. Not what you think you have to want because of what you’ve been told about good and evil. I only want to know what you want from the bottom of your heart. Your words gave me hope...and when you give others hope, they hope in you too…”  A light from Hope’s parcel shined in Sombra’s eyes. Feeling like he was reliving that moment in the hall again with hope rather than despair, he cried even harder than he had then.  “I WANT TO NOT BE ALONE ANYMORE!” he cried out from the bottom of his heart. “I JUST WANT US TO BE HAPPY TOGETHER! BECAUSE YOU’RE THE FIRST FRIEND I EVER HAD!” Everyone was awe-inspired by Sombra’s emotional honesty. Everyone except Hope, having already expected this, who was crying tears of joy.  “I never doubted you for a moment…” she told him lovingly.   “This can’t be...THIS CAN NOT BE!” the shadow cried in disbelief, feeling his power abate from the influence Hope’s good charisma had on Sombra’s mind. “I-I HAVE THE UMBRUM’S ENERGY IN ME NOW! I HAVE AN INFINITE SOURCE OF POWER!”  “Darkness’ power is not infinite.” Hope said with a confident smirk. “It’s limited by the power of light. Evil wins when we lack humility, understanding, and faith. But so long as there are good ones in the world willing to accept when evil triumphs and learn, darkness doesn’t stand a chance!”  “Oh, give me a break!” the shadow returned to his slighting. “You’re just one little pony with a retinue of losers at your side! I can sense the difference in our strength, and you’re still no match for me!”  “Way to miss the point entirely…” Hope retorted as she shook her head. “I’ve learned from my past experiences of evil triumphing that the good must be willing to make personal sacrifices. If it means that Sombra won’t suffer in solitude anymore…”  “HOPE!” Sombra cried in concern, feeling his aura being drained. “She wouldn’t!” Sombra’s opposite, shocked, exclaimed in thought, sensing what she was going to do as she charged up magic in her horn, drawing dark energy from Sombra towards herself. “I will gladly sacrifice myself.” Hope finished as the dark energy poured down from her horn to her body, wrapping itself around her and transforming her into…an umbrum-pony, just like Sombra.  Everyone was amazed by how much Hope really cared about her friend. With them all feeling moved by Hope’s charisma, the shadow’s power decreased even further, driving him to desperation.  “YOU MORONS!” he bellowed. “THIS CHANGES NOTHING! I STILL HAVE THE POWER TO MANIPULATE AMORE WITH MY CHARISMA! I’LL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER GUILT FOR YOUR PAIN AND USE THE POWER OF LIGHT AGAINST YOU!”  “Just try it!” Amore exclaimed, goading the creature. “I’ll even open up my mind to you! I’m going to prove that you can’t control me anymore!”  “And I’ll show you that pride goes before the fall, mwa ha ha ha ha!” the shadow retorted with an evil laugh as he entered Amore’s mind with great haste.  Watching the scene, Hope smiled...and so did Sombra, who used his magic to levitate something out of Hope’s parcel… “Hope...thank you.” he said before he did what he did next.  Meanwhile, the shadow found himself beyond bemused at the scene he arrived to in the mind of Amore...the purported mind of Amore. He was in a Changeling hive facing Queen Chrysalis, who was lounging on a body pillow of King Sombra, below a poster of Sombra’s opposite striking a dramatic pose, and staring up above at a ball of darkness and a ball of light harmoniously floating in a circle.  “Yo.” Chrysalis unceremoniously greeted him before she changed into Ocellus.  “.....” the shadow could only stare blankly for a while before he could speak again. “Is this some kind of a joke? You can’t be Amore...who are you?!”  “I am what I am.” she answered.  “DON’T PLAY MIND GAMES WITH ME!” the shadow shouted. “IF YOU’RE THAT INSIPID GIRL, THEN WHO’S THAT?!”  Through “Amore’s” eyes, he looked over at a grinning Ocellus, who reached for a zipper on the back of her head. Unzipping it, she revealed herself to actually be...Discord.  “Surprise!” he exclaimed tauntingly. “Twilight reversed the spell that banished me! Bet you weren’t expecting to meet your maker today, ho ho hoo!” “I don’t believe it!” Cadance exclaimed in her mind, shocked. “I really was wrong to banish him!” Mortified, the shadow instinctively turned to Hope and Sombra, realizing his doom when he saw what had been done...Sombra had thrown the Crystal Heart back into its pedestal.  “HOW IS THE CRYSTAL HEART BACK TO NORMAL?!” the shadow shouted. “IT WAS DESTROYED!”  “You never noticed…” Hope replied, revealing her scheme. “...but its restoration was already prepared ahead of time by the spirit of the Heart. The Heart was just a symbol. Only real light and love will restore the Empire to its glory...that’s the truth Amore realized!”  From inside the Heart, Amore’s soul was crying tears of happiness. The night before, the spell she had cast on herself transformed her into a new Crystal Heart. The whole day, Ocellus had pretended to be Amore while Discord pretended to be Ocellus. Realizing how he had been bamboozled as the Heart began to spin and light up, the shadow completely lost his composure.  “HOW STUPID AND DESPERATE CAN YOU SCUM GET?!” he roared at Hope and Sombra. “DO YOU NOT REALIZE THE HEART WILL DESTROY YOU BOTH TOO?!”  “That matters not.” they answered solemnly. “Because we have hope. Hope in an eternal bond that death will never undo…”  “PREPOSTEROUS!” the shadow yelled. “I’M AN IMMORTAL BEING OF PURE, EVIL ENERGY! If you destroy me, I can always return to this world when the time is right in a newer, better form! Your sacrifice means nothing! DARKNESS CAN NOT BE DESTROYED!” “You really are the worst kind of loser…” they retorted. “You can’t accept that we’ve accepted that fact. As our souls are formed under adversity, so are our bonds. For eternity, we shall endure evil and grow stronger together as a result. We won’t destroy you forever...BUT WE WILL SHOW YOU THE DOOR FOREVER!”   With that, the Crystal Heart finally finished settling in place, and a light even stronger than the light from the Heart before it began to radiate all across the Empire. The Crystal Ponies were no longer in a panic once they felt the touch of a light from Amore’s spirit that gave them their crystal coat. The shadow, on the other hand, was franting, watching himself dissipate in Ocellus’ mind.  “Good to have you!” Ocellus told him innocently, waving goodbye while closing her eyes and smiling.  “NNNNNOOOOO!” the shadow screamed as he was pulled from Ocellus’ mind by the light and thrust toward the Crystal Palace. He ended up in Sombra’s underground study, where he would be sealed inside the umbrum’s door. As his spirit and the door merged, his avatar of Sombra was frozen into a pose of Sombra crying in terror while holding out his forelegs from the door. And so, his final words were… “I...couldn’t make them pay. I could never actually break...a true bond…”  The shadow finally accepted his fate, realizing that this door would not forever depict the defeat of Sombra or a shadow with no identity, but only the defeat of him. The spirit of The Tree of Chaos…  Hope and Sombra, however, would soon meet their fate too. Now umbrum-ponies, the light from the Crystal Heart was causing them to become purple mist destined to dissipate, and a weeping Amore thought there was nothing she could do to stop it.  “Don’t cry, Amore…” Hope attempted to console her. “You made your sacrifice, it’s only fair we make ours…”  “I always felt I got off too easy the first time, anyways…” Sombra joined in. “I’m just glad I was wrong about our next journey not being together…”  “You better believe you’re wrong!” Cadance and Sombra’s opposite cried in protest, shooting magic at Sombra and Hope respectively, encasing them in bubbles. Sombra and Hope appeared as shadows with eyes inside of their magical essences.  “You two have changed too?” they questioned. “You’d fight against the power of the Heart’s light to save us?”  “You really think I’d just let you die after I was wrong about you, Discord, and everything?” Cadance told Sombra. “If I was right about one thing, it was giving you a second chance back then...now I’m the one who should be asking you for a second chance!”   “There was a time when I arrogantly believed that I was a victim of the darkness, that no one else would’ve made the sacrifice I made…” Opposite Sombra told Hope. “But then you not only showed me my way was wrong, you showed me that no hero who makes a sacrifice like that has to be alone!”  “We’re here for you, too!” the Student 6 and Discord exclaimed, giving Cadance and Opposite Sombra more strength to fight against the Heart’s power. In turn, this sight gave Amore’s spirit more charisma, good charisma powerful enough to enhance Cadance and Opposite Sombra’s magic even further, making it stronger than the magic of the Heart. Soon, their magic was able to transform Hope and Sombra back into ponies, leaving everyone relieved and joyful.  “You did it!” Hope cheered, ever grateful. “You saved us!”  “What about Amore though?” Sombra asked in concern. “How does she feel?” “Never better.” Amore bluntly replied, her spirit speaking to all of them in their minds. “I want none of you to feel any guilt towards me. Not because of the bad I did, for this is not a punishment. This is a reward for the good I was finally able to do, thanks to you. I lived my earthly life a thousand years ago and never even died. It only gives me joy to move on to this ethereal form, allowing me to give light and love to all...you have no idea how much I wish I could’ve been like this back then, Sombra…”  Sombra teared up, smiling with tears of joy in his eyes. He knew that they had both finally been fully purged of their guilt, as the light from the Heart beamed ever so brilliantly across the land...  The next day, in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s castle…  “News from northern Equestria!” Snow Sentinel uttered a familiar exclamation as he entered Twilight’s throne room. “Your Highness.”  “Yes?” Twilight replied with a smile.  “I just wanted to inform you…” Snow answered, smiling back. “That IT has returned...better than ever before.”  “I knew our strategy was immaculate.” Twilight remarked. “Obviously, I’m not a perfect planner...but I know exactly how friendship always finds a way…” Of course, Twilight also knew that friendship would always include quarrels… “A BODY PILLOW?!” Radiant Hope cried indignantly.  She, the Student 6, Discord, and King Sombra were at the library in Twilight’s castle. A giggling Ocellus had just let it slip what was happening in her mind while she was impersonating Amore, and Hope was once again agitated. The librarian, on the other hand, no longer cared about the noise from the lot. She was simply tuning everything out by listening to the dictionary on CD.  “Hey, you wanted to sleep where he was…”  Smolder chimed in, guffawing. “Friend, right? Hot dog! Bwa ha ha ha!” Hope just sighed.  “These kids still have so much growing up to do…” she mused in her mind. “But we wouldn’t have beaten the shadow without their help. Despite our disagreements, friendship worked out in the end...because we all chose to have hope…”  “All that matters is that you found good man!” Yona proclaimed. “Papa don’t even mind that Yona interest in pony! So long as he love to shave Yona’s back hair!”  Sandbar went red as a tomato.  “Yakkity yak, don’t talk back!” Discord playfully teased him. “Hoo hoo!”  “Speaking seriously, what are you and Sombra going to do now?” Silverstream asked.  “Yeah,” interjected Gallus, “are you guys at all worried about what you’re going to do for your next journey?”  “We’re confident we still have loose ends left to tie.” Sombra answered as Discord winked behind him, holding out his diary and the special edition of Me and My Shadow. “Just as darkness will always be present in this world, we’ll always have a journey to embark on.”  “I’m glad this journey has finally concluded on a good note though.” Hope said happily, knowing Sombra’s sentiments reflected hers.  “Definitely.” Sombra responded, smiling warmly. “This is only the ending of the end, the beginning of a true beginning.”  “Because not even death will stop you…” they all proceeded to say sincerely. “...so long as you have hope in…” Discord revealed that he had restored Sombra’s diary to normal, discounting a new entry he had added at the end of the book that described the adventure they had together. The last page showed them all together in a photo with Twilight, Snow, Cadance, Opposite Sombra, and Amore’s spirit hovering over the new Crystal Heart, and the page was titled what the group finally exclaimed… “The good king returning alive!”  The End.