//------------------------------// // Chapter XIX // Story: The Ending of the End - Love and Tolerance Edition // by StarlightisVERYcute //------------------------------// Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow floated in an ethereal, blue-and-white realm. Stars twinkled all around them, surrounded by watercolor nebulae. The milky horizon glowed on its own, and everything seemed oddly blurry and luminous. “Where… where are we?” Applejack murmured softly. “What happened?” “Did I hit my head too hard after that battle?” Rainbow grumbled. “Because this sure doesn’t look like Equestria… or anywhere, for that matter.” “Ooooh, is this space? Does this mean we actually can breathe in space?” Pinkie took a deep, exaggerated breath. “I call dibs on the first space pony party!” “Well, wherever we are, it’s absolutely stunning,” Rarity agreed. “I’m getting so many fabulous ideas!” “It’s really beautiful,” Fluttershy agreed softly. Rainbow scanned the situation. Alright, we’re floating in a sea of stars and space clouds. It seems pretty safe, after all we’re all— “Wait, where’s Twilight?” she demanded. “Twilight? Are you okay?” Fluttershy called out. “I… I don’t believe it!” Twilight gasped, floating into view. “I’m back here… and you’re all with me!” “Now hold on a minute, Twi. ‘Back here’?” Applejack echoed. “What in the hay does that mean?” Twilight smiled, a small little smile that hinted at a deep joy. “This is where I became an alicorn! But when I did, it was with Princess Celestia guiding me. Now… it’s the six of us. I’m not sure what it means, but…” Pinkie stuck her head down. “Well, maybe we follow this road of stars?” “Oh, Pinkie, it’s beautiful!” Rarity beamed. “I’ve never seen anything like it!” Rainbow flapped her wings a little, and took a step forward. The other five walked beside her. Floating picture frames, with animated moments of their lives, appeared out of the horizon. Each one depicted one of the Six at a moment in their life: Rainbow speaking to “A.K. Yearling” about who she really was, Pinkie struggling to keep Flurry Heart a secret, Fluttershy standing up to Discord and making him reform, Rarity being treated improperly by Prince Blueblood at the Gala, and Applejack welcoming Grand Pear back into her family. “It’s… it’s our lives,” Applejack whispered. “All the things we’ve faced!” The images changed to other moments. Pictures of other scenes of their lives. The Tree of Harmony, in Twilight’s guise, appeared before them. “You have done what no others could. You united more creatures in Harmony than even I was able to. Now, see the world as I have.” A massive frame appeared before them, and in rapid succession, they saw all the foes they had to fight. The six of them stopping Nightmare Moon and Tirek, Starlight and the Pony of Shadows, Cozy Glow and Sombra. And finally, all of Equestria working together to defeat Grogar. But there were other visions too. There was a branch of the Tree being pruned, and with a gasp Twilight realized it was the Staff of Sacanas. There were the Plunderseeds slowly approaching the tree as it tried to stall them for over a thousand years. There were their students, trapped in their own worst fears under the school. “What did ya do to Gallus?!” Applejack asked, her mouth agape. “Ya almost crushed him!” “He chose what he saw in my roots, not I,” Treelight replied evenly. She met Applejack’s glare without blinking. And there was six duplicates of the friends, all off-color and with oddly frayed manes, fighting Queen Chrysalis and trying to extract the Elements. As they struggled, tentacles of white energy from the Tree grabbed them and squeezed them tight. “Wait a second… that’s Midnight!” Twilight said, shocked. “You never told us?” “Midnight?” the tree repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Who is Midnight?” And as Fluttershy watched in horror, the six copies melted and collapsed into sticks. “That’s awful!” she cried. “You just destroyed them!” “I detected the six of you having embraced disharmony,” Treelight replied. “I attempted to dispel the magic upon each of you, and revert you to your normal state. The same thing happened when you broke Nightmare Moon’s hold over Luna. Had you been the real ponies, it would have simply restored you to normal, as it did to Luna.” “But it didn’t on these poor ponies!” Fluttershy protested, an angry, disgusted scowl splattered across her face. “And you just… annihilated them!” “I undid the anomalous magic upon them,” Treelight answered evenly. “They were wood before, and to wood they were reverted.” “That’s not right,” Fluttershy argued. “They deserve the same chance our enemies got.” “Fluttershy’s got a point,” Rainbow said with a nod. “We should give them a chance too.” Treelight shrugged. “As you wish. In fact, that is why I came here.” “To show us what you’d seen?” Rarity asked. “And to admit that I am… a less-than-perfect exemplar of Harmony. I have… not been appropriately merciful or kind, and for that, I acknowledge my failings. And so…” Treelight knelt before them. “You are the truest embodiment of Harmony now.” Twilight gasped. “We are?” Treelight nodded. “Now, it is time for you to fulfill your destinies.” A tiny blob of blue magic darted out of Rarity’s chest. Another, this one a vibrant red, from Rainbow. Pinkie’s bright blue shot out alongside them, as did Fluttershy’s pale yellow and Applejack’s orange. Each of these blobs grew in size, and then stretched out, surrounding Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack each in a little whirlwind of light. Twilight looked on, her eyes wide, barely able to believe what she was seeing. Finally, a brilliant white glow burst from each of their chests. They rose higher and higher, until each of them was engulfed in a star’s radiance. Twilight felt tears trickling from her eyes as the world went white once more.