The sight of his sister alive once again filled Shining Armor with an unrivaled joy. "Twilight!" Spike yelled out, snapping Shining Armor out of his trance as he ran over to Twilight and grabbed her chest, hugging her tight.
"Uh Spike, I appreciate the hug but can we do it when I'm not defending all of Equestria?" Twilight asked, completely confused by her number 1 assistant's behavior.
"I'm not letting go Twilight, I'm never letting go." Spike replied as he hugged Twilight a little tighter.
"Spike what's gotten into you?" Twilight said even more confused. But she wouldn't have time to process it as Chrysalis, who was stunned, got back up and was ready to attack Twilight. She charged at Twilight with sheer rage in her eyes and Shining Armor saw it too and before Chrysalis could reach her, he charged his horn and once again forced all of the changelings out of Equestria. After doing that Shining Armor ran over to his sister and gave her the biggest hug he could give. "Shining Armor, what's gotten into you, what's gotten into the both of you?"
"We'll explain later but for now let us just hug you." Shining Armor said as he hugged Twilight tighter to her continuing confusion.
"Uh okay."
"Oh Twilight we thought we'd never see you again," Spike said as tears ran down his eyes.
"Okay seriously what in Equestria has gotten into you two?!" Twilight asked as the others gathered around also wondering what was up with them, Rarity showing the most concern for Spike and Cadance for Shining Armor.
"Oh Spike you poor darling this whole crisis has fried your mind let's get you into bed right away."
"And while we're at it maybe we should get my Shining Armor's head looked at," Cadance said to Rarity.
"We're fine, we can explain but it's kind of a long story." Spike said as he finally let go of Twilight.
"Does it have something to do with that strange cloaked pony that's holding a crystal ball?" Pinkie Pie asked. Suddenly everypony and Spike looked over at Kronos who was holding the sphere that Spike used only moments ago to bring the trio here with a sinister smile on his face.
"Finally! At long last!" Kronos then placed the sphere in his chest and suddenly a strange magical energy surround him. Kronos then laughed like a mad stallion sending chills downs the spines of everypony and Spike and as the energy swirled around him like a tornado, Kronos left the others utterly shocked with what they saw when it cleared.
"This day was supposed to be perfect," Cadance couldn't help but say.
"And yet this day just seems to be getting worse and worse," Twilight added to her almost sister in-law's comment.
"Kronos what the heck happened to you?" Shining Armor asked.
"I have become whole once again!" Kronos said.
"What is that thing?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"An ancient myth," Twilight answered in more shock than the others, making them look at her instead. "Kronos. Back when Starswirl the Bearded was around he created this to help him fight off the various creatures that endangered the ponies on almost a daily basis. Whenever it couldn't help stop the threat it just turned back time and tried again."
"But it was supposed to help ponies. Why is he giving off such an unfriendly aura?" Cadance asked.
"It's because it was beneath me," Kronos answered. "I may have been created by ponies, but that doesn't mean I wasn't superior to them. I saw how much stronger I was, how much better I was, and how I should be the one to rule. But Starswirl and half a dozen or so of his friends didn't agree. We fought and only won because Starswirl snuck up on me and pulled the source of my power out of me which made me transform into what you saw me as before. I just barely got away but I swore one day I would return to the creature I once was."
"If Starswirl removed that sphere from you how did you know where it was?" Shining Armor asked.
"Even though it was taken from me I was still connected to it, it was still a part of me so I could sense where it was. But that crafty unicorn hid the sphere where he knew I could never reach it, at least not on my own. I tried several times to get it on my own and every time I did I was nearly torn into pieces."
"That's why you came to me," Shining Armor said, putting the pieces back together.
"Yes I knew I needed somepony to help me get to my core and you weren't the first. I tried explorers or those I told could find a treasure beyond imagination, but none of them could get near it. I needed somepony with not only the means to get me to my core but also had a reason to get to it at any cost."
"You used me." Shining said.
"I played you like a fiddle. I was watching for a while before I actually talked to you, you were powerful but you were nearly sweating depression. And thanks to that I can finally take control of this land and the others beyond it. And this time none of you ponies or that little dragon, wait a minute, where is that little dragon?" The others looked mostly Rarity as it turned out Spike was not with the group, and suddenly Kronos found himself utterly engulfed in fire.
Spike read enough comics to know when a bad guy would go on a rant for too long. So he slowly made his way around and eventually behind Kronos then breathed almost as much fire on him as he did on the frozen cloud he melted when he saved the Crystal Empire.
"Wow, way to go Spike!" Twilight said rather in awe.
"I know such a brave little dragon isn't he?" Rarity said also rather impressed.
"You overgrown newt! I'll kill you!" Kronos said as he was putting out the fire. Spike then tried to breath a ton of fire on Kronos yet again but this time Kronos blocked it with a shield that he summoned with his newly reacquired magic.
"You can't get me with the same trick twice," Kronos said as he pushed back the fire quite a bit.
"Is that why I was able to sneak up on you like how you said Star Swirl did?" Spike said in a cocky tone that wasn't even trying to be subtle.
"Why you smart little brat!" Kronos then prepared a magic counterattack but Spike was teleported to where the others were by Princess Celestia.
"You shall not harm any of my subjects," Celestia said as she flew up and fired her magic right at Kronos who blocked it with his newly acquired hand and shot out a counter beam from the said hand. Celestia tried to push her magic forward but it was pushed back and Celestia was forced to the ground. "Uh, not again."
"You foolish ponies, did you think I'd let you take me down after all the time I've waited to get back what's mine? Nopony is going to stop me!"
"Well it's a good thing I'm a dragon." Spike said as he tried to breathe fire on Kronos but once again he blocked it with a shield.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Kronos said as he was blocking the fire.
"I already did." Spike said and before Kronos knew it he was on fire yet again.
"What but how?" Kronos asked and before he could get an answer the ponies bombarded him with attacks even from Celestia but only a little as it's been a rough day for her. "Get away!" Kronos then summoned a surge of magic energy to force them all back. "You fools, you think you can beat me, I haven't even used a fraction of my power and I've barely taken any damage."
"You are quite the creature," Twilight said. "You're powerful and tough but you're not smart."
"Excuse me?" Kronos replied.
"Well perhaps you're a little smart but not as smart as you think you are. Otherwise you would have noticed that I grabbed this." Twilight said as she revealed to be holding the core of Kronos. Kronos then checked and saw that in fact it was indeed his core.
"No!" Kronos then felt his body slowly change back but he used his newly reacquired old magic to stop it and then tried to grab the sphere.
"Nice work Twily!" Shining Armor said more proud of his sister than he's probably ever been. "Now to finish him off!" Shining Armor then tried to force him to break with a spell similar to the one he used to defeat the changelings, but Kronos stopped it with his bare hands.
"You may have taken my core but I can still use the power it grants me if I'm close enough." Kronos then started to turn back time to when he was still connected to his core. But Twilight, thinking quickly as she usually did, used the sphere to undo his time traveling.
"As long as I have the sphere I can cancel out your time travel powers."
"Then I'll kill you and take it back." Kronos replied as he smashed the floor with his fists breaking it and causing Twilight to fall. But Spike and Shining Armor quickly came to aid her and so did the rest of the mane 6, Shining Armor teleported to catch her while Spike jumped down to get the sphere. The mane 5 swarmed Kronos to keep him from attacking. "You think you can stop me, even if you take the sphere I'll get it back sooner or later. Nothing will stop me even if I have to wait until the end of time!" Kronos used another surge of magic to force Twilight's friends back, knocking them out and charging at her but she jumped over Spike and Shining Armor and hit him with spells and fire.
"This is one way to stop you, Spike Shining Armor destroy the sphere!"
"Right!" Spike and Shining Armor said at the same time ready to do just what Twilight said until.
"It's the source of his power so doing that should not only destroy his power, but it should also reset everything to what it once was," Twilight said.
"What?" Spike and Shining Armor once again said together.
"How tragically ironic isn't it you two?" Kronos asked as he started to laugh.
"What's wrong with you two? Hurry up and destroy it!" Twilight said as she was still holding off Kronos but she knew she wouldn't be able to do that for much longer. "Hurry! Before he gets it back!"
"No we can beat him another way right?" Maybe we can force him out of Canterlot and then lock up his core somewhere he can never get to it."
"Shining, why are you acting weird? If there was a worst time to be weird this would it by a long shot!?"
"Twily…" Shining Armor tried to explain but his throat got all choked up.
"Because you die!" Spike said with tears in his eyes as he held the sphere tightly. Twilight was in shock when Spike answered and in her shock Kronos charged through but Shining Armor created a small barrier around him and Spike. While small it was more than tough enough to endure Kronos's attacks. "Chrysalis kills you and life for us all has been horrible ever since."
"Spike's right," Shining Armor said. "I never got over losing you, that's what all this is about, he used me, he used us." Shining finished when he looked over to Spike.
"So if you destroy his core," Twilight said. "I'll be dead?"
"I'm not going to let that happen!" Shining Armor said. "We'll think of something we can beat him somehow!" Suddenly Shining Armor's shield started to break and crack. "There has to be something we can do!"
"There is," Twilight said in a rather calm demeanor. "Destroy the sphere."
"What?!" Spike and Shining Armor once said together.
"It's the only way."
"No it's not!" Spike said. "You could go get the Elements of Harmony."
"My friends are all out cold and I can't use it without them."
"Call the guards!"
"If Princess Celestia couldn't beat Kronos they won't stand a chance."
"We could, we could, WE COULD DO SOMETHING!" Spike said as he started crying again. "There has to be something."
"They can't guarantee beating Kronos." Twilight then hit Kronos with a powerful stun spell that managed to stop him in his tracks just as he almost broke Shining Armor's shield. "We can't risk the damage he could do, it's like when Princess Celestia trapped her sister in the moon, sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good."
"No, we can just beat him now!" Shining Armor said as he tried to finish off Kronos who was on the verge of breaking through the stun spell.
"You creatures truly are pathetic, Twilight's right but your emotions won't let you see reason that's why you'll always be below me. You fight for trivial things like love or friendship. You should have learned they don't matter in the grand scheme of things eons ago. But no you still act like they matter that much. No matter what I'll always be-" Suddenly Kronos felt like he'd been impaled and what he saw when he looked up shocked him. "What have you done?" Shining Armor turned around to see Spike had struck the sphere by punching a hole right in it.
"What did you do?" Shining Armor asked.
"Twilight's right," Spike said with tears going down his eyes like a pair of waterfalls. "This is the only way to defeat Kronos."
"You, you stupid pony wannabe!" Kronos said as he got back up.
"I'm not a pony wannabe! I'm a ferocious, fire breathing, DRAGON!" Spike then breathed fire right on the sphere causing it to melt quite a bit and made Kronos fall down and when he punched the floor in annoyance and frustration he broke another hole and fell through it landing right on his head. "Who's beneath who now?" Spike said happy to see Kronos in a rather pathetic state.
"Curse you." was all Kronos could say as he couldn't even get up anymore somehow. Suddenly the fabric of reality started to fade away into cosmic dust, Spike again having read a lot of comics before knew what was going on. The sphere became so damaged it was as Twilight said. Time was resetting and Spike hugged her once again as hard as he could, surprising her.
"If I hold on to you I can take you with me."
"I don't think that's how it's going to work Spike, I can understand losing me can be rough, but perhaps in a cosmic way this is all for the best."
"Twilight darling, what are you talking about and what is going on?" Rarity asked as she and the others got up. Spike then let go of Twilight and walked over a bit to Rarity.
"Twilight you said it would all reset as if nothing we changed or did happened?"
"Yes Spike." Twilight answered having a very strong idea what he was going to do. And she was right Spike kisses Rarity right on the lips to her surprise and then to Spike's surprise Rarity started to return the kiss rather passionately.
"Rarity time is resetting so I have to ask this now, if I asked you out would you say yes?" Rarity hesitated but not for long as she rather wondered that herself.
"Ask me in a few years," Rarity said. "You're a tad too young for me but I can't deny I care for you. And when you come of age, I believe there would be quite a chance I would become quite fond of you." Meanwhile Shining Armor just stood next to Twilight once again choked up but this time he fought it off as he knew this would be the last time he'd talk to his sister in pony for a long time. He pulled Twilight into the biggest hug he could give and she returned it.
"I'm so sorry for the bad things I said to you I didn't mean any of it, you're the best sister a pony could ever ask for and I mean that from the core of my being."
"And you're the best friend a dragon could ask for. You were the closest thing I had to a mother." Spike said as he joined the hug.
"Thank you," Twilight said as she cried tears of joy. "Hearing that warms my heart like it's the sun, I love you guys."
"We love you too." The three held onto each other as time was on the verge of resetting when suddenly Kronos jumped out of the hole with a second wind.
"You'll pay for this!" Kronos yelled, eyes red with a desire for revenge. Shining Armor then saw what was left of the sphere then picked it up with magic and threw it at Kronos.
"Hey Kronos," Shining Armor said, getting his attention before blasting the sphere and breaking it into pieces. "You're history!" Kronos was then blasted by Shining Armor and he disappeared into time. Shining Armor then held onto his sister once again with a tight yet warm hug. "I love you, no matter what Twily I'll love you always."
"I feel the same Shining Armor." Twilight said as everything around Spike and Shining Armor started fading away, including her.
"Please don't leave us Twilight," Spike said as he was hugging her as well. "We need you."
"I'm sorry Spike, it's not my call. But I'm so glad you said you thought of me as a mother, because I've always loved you like a son. And Shining Armor no matter what. Across space, time, and even death, you will always be my big brother best friend forever." Twilight said as she faded away. Spike and Shining Armor then found themselves back to where they found the sphere only moments later.
"We're back." Spike said.
"Yeah, but where's Kronos, shouldn't he have been brought back too?" Shining Armor asked.
"I'm not sure what happened to him. Maybe he somehow got blasted into a different timeline or something, it's hard to tell. I don't really care, something tells me we won't have to worry about him ever again."
"Well that's good to know." Spike said.
"By the way, how did you light him on fire from the floor?" Spike then revealed a bottle he had.
"When he blocked my fire a second time I splashed some olive oil on the floor and lit it on fire when he was blocking the first fire."
"So you used it as a distraction. Smart."
"Thanks, hey listen about what I said at the falls-"
"It's okay. We've all been emotional for some time." Shining Armor said.
"Yeah, so I guess we might as well go home now."
"Yeah, the others will most likely want to hear about this." Shining Armor then bent down. "Would you like to ride on my back?"
"Really?"
"Yeah all those attacks probably took a lot out of you. You earned it great and honorable Spike the brave and glorious." Shining Armor said with a wink.
"Yeah it kind of did," Spike said as he got on Shining Armor's back who stood up and started walking off. "I think that's the first time you ever called me that."
"I guess I was overdue." Shining Armor then seemed like he was deep in thought for a moment. "Spike, you've really become quite the hero, Twilight would be very proud of you."
"Thank you," Spike said, who was now deep in thought. "Shining Armor, are you okay?"
"No Spike, but I, will be."
***
"And then Spike and I arrived back in the mountains and then we came home," Shining Armor explained to the princesses upon returning to Canterlot.
"Wow that is quite a story," Princess Luna said.
"Are you okay Shining Armor?" Princess Cadance asked.
"Yeah I feel good, more than I have in a long time."
"Well then since that's settled I suppose all that's left is to talk to a little dragon about taking off without telling me." Princess Celestia said as she approached Spike who smiled sympathetically at her. "You aren't getting out of this by being cute, you had me worried sick." Not too long after that the ponies got back to their lives but rather better, while Spike still lived in the castle he would visit Ponyville spending time with his friends, mostly Rarity. Shining Armor would also get to know Twilight's old friends and would even become the new Element of Magic. Not too long after that Princess Celestia had brought the new mane 6 to free Discord believing he would be of great use if he used his powers for good.
"Well this is quite a touching reunion," Discord said. "Shining Armor it's quite amazing that you've become the new Element of Magic to replace Twilight."
"You know about that?" Shining Armor said.
"Being turned to stone doesn't keep me from hearing what you're talking about among other things, I'm sorry for your loss." Discord said to Shining surprisingly sincerely.
"So you know, that was actually why I wanted to free you."
"Sorry Shining Armor, not even my magic can revive the dead." After that Discord would do just as Celestia wished and even more so. Such as capturing a creature known as Tirek. He tried to get him on his side to take down the ponies which was rather tempting for him but as he considered it he thought about Twilight. While he didn't know her all that much and she was the one that stopped his takeover, he had to admit he always sort of liked her which got him thinking even more. If love and friendship was so important that Twilight would lay down her life for it, then maybe just maybe it was far more valuable than those like Tirek and Kronos made it out to be.
"Well?"
"No deal Tirek."
"What?" Suddenly Tirek was trapped in a cage and would be brought back to Tartarus. "You're making a mistake, Discord."
"Maybe, but it's mine to make." After that Discord would continue to do good and actually found it to his liking. He then brought it to himself to bring balance to the land his way of honoring the pony who most likely would be doing this stuff in his place. From stopping a cult leader to a pony of shadows to a seemingly sweet filly that was actually about as cunning as he is, and would even stop a certain ram in quite an epic fight, but that's another story. As for Shining Armor, when Cadence eventually gave birth to their baby she was brought to Canterlot castle to show Celestia and Luna.
"She's so beautiful," Celestia said.
"It's still so amazing to believe she's a natural born alicorn." Luna added.
"Yes it makes me feel that she's going to be somepony truly special when she gets older."
"By the way, where's Shining Armor?" Luna asked.
"Visiting Twilight," Cadence answered. After his adventure Twilight was given another funeral and Spike was able to give a rather good eulogy with help from Celestia and Luna. After that Shining Armor found it easier and easier to visit Twilight.
"She's an alicorn so we're expecting big things from her right away. If she's anything like you she's going to be doing great things before we know it. It's like Spike said at your funeral, when great deeds are remembered your name will stand above all others. I know my daughter will do great things but I'll never forget you. Cadance may be the princess of love but greater love hath nopony than she who lays down their life for their friends. I miss you Twily, but it doesn't quite hurt as much because I know you're still here with me.
I'm sorry I didn't visit you sooner. I wanted to but it took me a while to come to terms with it, but I learned not to run away from it better late than never right? I should go now the grass is starting to itch, but you should know no matter what. Across space, time, and even death, you will always be my little sister's best friend forever, I love you Twily." After that Shining Armor went to see his wife who was with her daughter that hasn't been named just yet.
"Hey there you, look sweetie daddy's here I wonder if he thought of a name for you." Shining Armor then took his daughter when Cadence offered her to him and he held her in his forelegs.
"I did have an idea for a name that's been bouncing around in my head for quite some time."
"Something told me that is was," Cadance said. "It's okay Shining Armor, go ahead."
"Really?!" Shining Armor said as he had to contain his excitement to not get his soon to be named daughter to start crying.
"Of course." Shining Armor then gave Cadance a great big kiss.
"Thank you so much Cadance, I knew there was a reason I married you."
"Good to know," Cadance replied. Not too long after that Cadance and Shining Armor would make their way back to the Crystal Empire as running it can become a full time job. The royal couple made their way to the train as they felt like taking a more scenic route for a change, but as the train moved out Shining looked out the window and couldn't believe his eyes. Twilight's ghost was at the station waving goodbye to him with a smile.
"I think things are going to be better from now on." Cadance said.
"Yeah, I think you're right Cadance, I think you're right," Shining Armor said with tears of joy. "Now let's see if we can get little Twilight Sparkle to take her nap now."
The End