Twilight opened her eyes. She closed them immediately. Her head was laying on the desk, rays of the evening sun unluckily shining right into her pupils. She was back in the library and the candle was still mostly intact. According to the scale engraved on it, less than an hour had passed since she lit it up. The album was still on the table, right where she left it. Twilight ran her hoof over the weathered picture and sighed.
“Friends, what would you have done in my place?” she asked.
Can you really afford getting sentimental now? the voice in her head responded.
She said out loud, “You’re right, I can’t. But–”
No ‘buts’, Twilight. The voice was assertive as always. You have seven more hours to make a decision. Let’s focus on what we know first–
Twilight burst into the throne room with the album on her back. Luna was already there, standing near the throne, discussing some important matters with her sister. Both of them turned their heads to the source of the sudden noise. Twilight stopped for a moment. Although she didn’t expect Luna to fake her appearance in the dream, seeing her magical mane drifting in the air in the world thought to be deprived of all magic was a surreal experience. Being honest, until yesterday she didn’t believe that she’d ever see the Moon Princess again.
Luna saw her and smiled. “Hello, Twilight.”
“Hello, Luna.” She stepped forward in a polite bow. Her eyes were locked on a point on the wall as if she was afraid that looking at the Sisters would deprive her of all the confidence she managed to muster. “I have decided.”
“That’s good,” said Celestia, “Indecisiveness is a luxury we cannot afford. I hear that you’ve brought something with you. Is it the book you’ve talked about yesterday?”
Twilight silently nodded. She immediately realized her error and said, “It is. It’s for the Vault.”
“For the Vault?” Celestia looked towards the balcony with her blind eyes. She didn’t need them to see what was happening down on the streets. Some of the ponies were still finishing their goodbyes or walking around the park to kill time. A few were just waiting for the Princesses’ verdict in silence. The others...
A former farmer was planting pear trees on the castle grounds to commemorate his family. Nearby, a shopkeeper hung a sign that said “100% off, valid today only” on her shop. Next to a recently renovated statue of Fancypants the Wise, two teary-eyed nobles – the last of their kind – were shaking hooves, for the first in their lives not wishing misfortune upon each other. An older mare boasting a collection of scars from her youth (likely spent as an adventurer or a caravan guard) spread dozens of photos around her. The photos were colorful, depicting creatures and lands that few ponies heard about.
Celestia raised one of her hooves and pointed to a simple black door in the corner. It contrasted with the rest of the brightly colored throne room. “That lift will take you to the Vault. Come back soon,” she said.
Luna didn’t say anything, pretending to be distracted by a letter she was pretending to care about. She knew what she saw in Twilight’s eyes a moment ago.
Twilight, on the other hoof, awkwardly cleared her throat. “Um, Princess, I…” her voice drifted off.
Come on, Twilight! Someone only she could hear scolded her. What are you waiting for?
“I… I greatly respect your wisdom,“ she said, “But I decided that Luna is right. Even if we had no chance to win, we should still fight. You’ve said it yourself; we can’t afford to hesitate right now. And there are no worse forms of hesitation than giving up beforehoof.”
“I told you Twilight still has the fight in her, Tia.”
“Would you believe she’s not the only one?” To the surprise of the other two alicorns, Princess Celestia was smiling. She summoned the guardspony.
“Sky Blitz! Here, take this letter and read it to the ponies gathered outside. And thank you for your service in these last years, it was invaluable.” She bowed her head before the flustered pegasus.
“I… I… tha…” he stammered.
“Now go, quickly! It’s Equestria’s final stand, we cannot be late.”
Sky Blitz galloped out of the room before she finished her order.
“I half expected this turn of events ever since you woke up, Luna,” she said to the surprised alicorns, stretching out her hooves to see if they work, “If you and Twilight agree, it would be foalish of me to assume that I’m in the right. I trust your judgment.”
Celestia pushed one of the pillows off the sofa revealing a hidden compartment containing dozens of scrolls and a brown bag. Using only her front hooves, she quickly scooped them all up into the bag. Once she was done, she put it on her back and slowly stood up.
“Twilight, Luna, lend me a hoof, please. The lift is only a couple steps away but I’m not exactly in the best shape.”
They did as she asked. Celestia was right, even with Luna and Twilight supporting her from the sides, every step proved to be a challenge. On the way to the lift, Twilight asked, “Princess, are those letters… from me?”
“Some of them are,” she said, “But others are older than that. A lot of them have already been stored in the Vault years ago but I left the most important ones with me.”
Twilight adjusted the album in her saddlebag as she entered the lift. “You know, I thought I’d feel terrible knowing what we’re going to do. But instead I almost feel anxious.”
“I do know,” said Celestia, “I spent five decades building this place and I feel the same way.”
“I, too, felt this when I stood against the Pulse,” chimed in Luna, “We’re taking the fate of Equestria into our own hooves, for the first time in –“ she furrowed her brow “– too long. Whatever happens next, no one could ever say that the ponies of Equestria gave up without a fight.”
A few minutes later, the lift arrived at the bottom floor, many miles below the throne room. A thin corridor separated the lift shaft from the Vault itself. It was meant to be collapsed right before the final Pulse, blocking the entrance and safely sealing the knowledge stored within.
The corridor ended with a sharp turn. So far, the three Princesses were walking in silence, Celestia relying on the other two for support. As soon as they passed the turn, Luna gasped. “You built this in fifty years?”
“Give or take a couple, yes.” Celestia nodded. “It’s as impressive as Twilight told me, I take it?”
“It looks like a palace, not a warehouse!”
“Although I could never see the results of the work, I made sure to arrange for the best of the best to construct it.” Even knowing what was going to happen to the Vault, Celestia was still proud of her project.
She had every reason to be. Luna’s impression was correct – the exterior of the Vault buildings was chiefly inspired by the old Canterlot Castle. They were built inside an enormous artificial cave supported by dozens of massive stone pillars. Even though the only light sources down here were the rare luminescent crystals, the cave was bright as day. The crystals were generously scattered around every corner, coating the streets in a cool, faint blue light. However, they were only a part of the reason why the light was omnipresent.
The other, arguably even more important cause could be found all around the alicorns, in the walls and above their heads. Much like the decorated chest that Twilight found, every inch of the cave walls was covered by the shiny gray metal. But although the idea was similar, the scale was incomparable. From what Twilight remembered, the metal layer was over a meter thick in its thinnest spot. Furthermore, instead of a fragile glass coating, the elementary magnesium was solidly held in place by heavy panes of tempered glass.
Below the glass dome, countless golden spires crowned an equal number of slender marble towers. Every tower was slightly different in size and stored a different branch of ponykind’s knowledge. The largest of these towers easily rivaled the Crystal Castle in size. Princess Celestia effortlessly found the way to the tower they were looking for. She has never been in the Vault herself but every inch of the place was a part of her deliberate design.
The Tower of Legacy was comparably average, with floors roughly the size of small rooms. On the inside it was filled to the brim with chests, bookshelves and scroll racks. All those containers were full of items of varied origin and sometimes dubious history.
Celestia opened the bag she was carrying and scattered the letters on the ground. Seeing it, Twilight pulled the photo album out of her saddlebags and placed it right in the middle of the pile of letters. The air started crackling – the faint magic in the room was almost palatable. Twilight looked at Princess Luna with wide open eyes and asked in a trembling voice, “What now?”
As if on cue, the Princesses of Day and Night exchanged a determined look despite Celestia’s blindness. Luna took a step forward.
“Now –“ she raised a hoof to Twilight’s chest “– we need your spark to start the reaction. We’ll help you take it from there.”
“But what if I can’t do it? Thousands of years have passed since I’ve done it last.” Twilight was shivering. Whether out of fear of failure or the consequences of the opposite, no one in the room – not even Twilight herself – could tell for sure.
“We’ll know soon enough,” said Celestia, a barely visible reassuring smile appearing on her muzzle, “but in the countless years I’ve known you, whenever the fate of Equestria was at stake, you have not failed even once.”
Twilight took a deep breath and said, “Whatever happens next, Princess Celestia, Luna, it was an honor to stand here with you.” She bowed her head.
“Likewise, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna lightly nudged Celestia and the two sisters synchronously returned the bow.
Twilight swallowed loudly and closed her eyes. She remembered her life in Canterlot as a unicorn under Princess Celestia’s personal tutelage. She remembered meeting her dearest friends, she remembered venturing to the Everfree forest and – with her friends – undoing her mentor’s most painful mistake. She remembered the many adventures she has experienced alongside Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. She remembered befriending Luna and helping her adjust to the present times.
The memories started flowing faster and faster as she no longer felt the terrifying sting of uncertainty. She saw her entire life before her eyes and knew with an absolute clarity what must happen next.
Somewhere far away, two royal sisters saw a purple alicorn rise above the ground without any movement of her wings. Localized bolts of energy were crackling everywhere around them. When the horn of the third alicorn started glowing in a blinding white light, the sisters joined her with all their magic.
But Twilight didn’t see that. Her mind was soaring outside the Vault, on the surface where a group of ponies gathered in a circle around the new Canterlot Castle. They directed their magic, their will, their very beings in support of the spirit of Equestria that flooded out of every entrance to the Castle.
A blink of an eye later, two things happened simultaneously. One, the Pulse overtook the Canterlot Bastion, instantly filling every corner of the land and barging into the open Vault. Two, a purple alicorn opened her eyes and a purple spark left her horn.
Just as the Pulse – if it really was sentient – was about to announce its ultimate victory, the purple spark returned to Twilight. In a fraction of a second it traveled far and wide through the Pulse, exploring Equestria all throughout its history.
Before anyone could so much as notice what happened, the entirety of Equus in the present erupted into flames. There was no shrieking and no struggle. The combined power of every single absorbed soul, from Equestria's past and present, obliterated the fragile frame of the entity known in this world only as the Pulse. Having accomplished its purpose, the flame obediently disappeared as suddenly as it came to be.
The world fell silent once more. However, it was not the sickly silence offered by the Pulse, but a period of respite for the universe itself. To an outside observer, the fight was over in less than a heartbeat. But of course, this hypothetical observer didn’t exist, nor could it exist.
Twilight woke up curled on the ground with her face in the grass. She tried to stand up using wings for support only to lose balance and fall again. Something about her body felt off. She checked her purple legs, her smooth back, her head with its stumpy horn and…
Her wings were gone! Twilight blinked several times and bit her tongue to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. The sharp sting she felt confirmed that she was very much awake. Then it hit her – the missing wings weren’t the only change. Her legs were weirdly short and thick and her horn was at most half its usual length. There was no doubt, she was a unicorn. But what could it mean? Did the spell work? How was she still alive? A familiar voice, although one she hasn’t heard in many centuries, interrupted her thoughts.
“Howdy, Twilight!” An orange pony wearing a cowpony’s hat lent her a hoof. Twilight’s heart started beating rapidly. Instead of looking up, she grabbed the outstretched hoof and, with the help of the other pony, got back on her hooves. She found it hard to keep balance. Her hooves were shaking trying to adapt to the new (old) body that they had to carry. No, Twilight mentally reproached herself, this physique doesn’t have anything to do with the shaking.
She swallowed hard and slowly raised her eyes. The other mare was patiently waiting with her front legs crossed. Her mane was blond and neatly tied near the end. Her cutie mark depicted three red apples. Twilight raised her gaze higher, where it was met by the warmest smile she’s seen in a long time and a pair of green eyes barely holding back tears. Twilight opened her mou–
An excited fuzzy mass of pink knocked her off her hooves, pinning her to the ground. The obstacle was quickly enveloped in a blue aura and dragged off of Twilight.
“Pinkie, darling, I told you not to do this!” The scolding words were spoken with such cheer that they couldn’t have been any less effective. “Give Twilight some time. She won’t disappear if you let go of her.”
Twilight’s eyes welled up with tears. She raised herself back up and looked at the group of ponies standing in front of her.
“Friends, I missed you like you wouldn’t believe!” she cried out through the tears. For the first time in Celestia only knows how long, she was smiling.
“Before we start hugging or something,” even Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite keep up her usual demeanor and stop her voice from trembling slightly, “I figured you should look around a bit more.”
Twilight did as Dash suggested. They were on a grassy plain near a hill. All around them were ponies who smiled, chatted, exchanged hoofshakes and hugs. She didn’t bother estimating their numbers. Two familiar nobles were sharing a laugh at the nonsensical conflict that kept their families apart for centuries. An energetic older mare with many scars was flying around, taking photos with an antique miniature camera. She had to be quick for there were many, many more ponies to photograph.
The path leading to the top of the hill was mostly empty. A draconequus dressed in a military uniform that Twilight has never seen before was leading a squadron of flying piglets clad in a metal knight’s armor. His target, Princess Luna, rolled her eyes and giggled.
On the top of the hill, a white mare with a prismatic mane flowing through the air was just finishing raising the sun on the first dawn of this new age. After she was satisfied with her work, she opened her eyes and saw Twilight staring at, no, staring into her shining pink eyes. Celestia smiled and waved to her (former?) student. Twilight smiled and waved back.
Five ponies and a dragon waited for her to say something. She didn’t need to. Her smile widened as she made the first step towards the group. Before she could make the second one, she was already locked in a heartfelt hug with her dearest friends. They stayed like that for a bit. No pony said anything. They didn’t need to.