//------------------------------//
// To Be Born 
// Story: Apotheosis 
// by Daetrin 
//------------------------------//


Luna couldn't help but stare. The forest had been caged. Scintillating shards were driven into the ground, describing a fence of sun-bright crystal. Solid beams of light crossed between the upright stands, creating a luminous barrier. It curved off out of sight in both directions, encircling the entire grove.

She recognized her sister's handiwork, of course. She just didn't know why Celestia had felt the need to imprison that particular stand of trees, but it did not bode well if that was their way out. And it was their way out, she was certain: she might not entirely trust the ouroborus, but she knew it told only the truth.

"What is this?" Twilight's voice came from beside her, slightly wavery behind the invisible layers of power that surrounded her.

"It is a divine wall. It looks like it was made in haste, and I can't tell if it's meant to keep things in or keep things out." Luna shook her head. "And we'll have to pass through it."

They started down toward the nearest point of the bright barrier, which loomed large and blinding as they drew close. Luna eyed the shining arcs of light, which seemed more like bars than beams. "We'll go together," she told the unicorn. "I'd rather not cross at all, but maybe my presence will help protect you."

"I could try and teleport across," Twilight offered, but Luna shook her head.

"If I know Celestia, the barrier isn't just physical. That would be more dangerous than simply walking through, and the ouroborus provided you with a gift of power just for that purpose."

The unicorn nodded, and they stepped up to the front of the barrier together. "On three," Luna said. "One, two..."

The light guttered briefly as they leapt through. Luna felt nothing, but there was an odd shivery scraping noise from Twilight. The borrowed cloak was briefly visible as it steamed and shriveled and evaporated in the light, sacrificing itself to protect the mortal beneath, and then they were through.

Twilight wobbled on her hooves, and Luna moved to support her, holding her up with a foreleg until the unicorn smiled up at her. "I'm all right, Luna. That was just... weird."

"Good." The alicorn was somewhat surprised at how quickly she'd started to worry about the other pony - but then, it had been a long while since she had reason to worry about somepony else. After those moments of recovery, they looked around to see what the other side was like.

The forest was strange and sinister, the trees bare and twisted but for patches of too-dark leaves, the ground dry and parched but for sprays of glossy thorn. There was something wrong there, but what exactly it was Luna couldn't tell. But they were committed; Twilight couldn't go back through the barrier, and there was nothing in the world that Luna would allow to separate her from the unicorn.

"That's odd..." Twilight said. "There's something familiar about this."

"You're right," Luna agreed, realizing it only in that moment. It was the same strange half-nostalgia that had tickled the back of her mind more than once during their journey, and she knew there was some piece of her past there. And by the look of the surroundings, it wasn't a pleasant one. "I'm not sure what it is though."

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." Twilight looked more determined than Luna felt, but she had to agree. The only way was forward. They began to make their way into the forest, directly away from the barrier and roughly towards where the center should be. Luna gave the thorns a wide berth, wary of the dark tips on the long, wicked-looking barbs.

The leaves rustled overhead, and it took some time for Luna to realize why the noise bothered her. She stopped suddenly. "Twilight... there's no wind."

"What? Oh." The unicorn's eyes widened as she suddenly understood what Luna meant, and she looked around with a new uncertainty at their surroundings. Every noise seemed more sinister in the light of that revelation, and Luna determined to stay as far away from the trees as they could, as well.

The forest seemed completely trackless, an unquiet sameness in every direction. The only real landmark was the steadily receding light of the border wall. Luna felt more uneasy the deeper they went, as if there were something watching them. And that might very well be the case, given the eldritch independence of flora that surrounded them.

Even as the last hint of the luminous wall faded, a new radiance stained the brown and green of the aberrant forest. It was not natural; it was a strange and impossible inverted spectrum, leaching the color from everything it touched even as it illuminated. "That... can't be good," Twilight said, peering ahead at the colorless shadows.

"I didn't think we expected anything good," Luna answered dryly. "But I have to admit that this is a surprise."

"What is that?" Twilight sounded bewildered, and Luna couldn't blame her. It rather hurt the eyes to look at; not because it was bright, but because it was wrong. At least, wrong to her eyes. Luna had to admit that it was possible that it was normal in this place, however unlikely.

"I have never seen anything like it." She could make that admission with no qualms at all. It didn't even spark the uneasy near-memory as the rest of the forest. "But I expect that's where we're going."

"Of course." The unicorn's wry tone matched her own, and they took a moment to grin at each other in recognition of their shared skepticism.

"Well, let's go see what it is." Luna started forward again, and they wound their way through the trees toward the source of that strange light. The noises from the trees and the bushes became louder, as if an immaterial wind were blowing outward from the origin of the strange brightness.

It could not have been better calculated to create an eerie and disturbing walk, but Luna was relieved to see that her own coat and mane - and Twilight's - escaped the bleaching effect that the trees and plants suffered. But that only made them stand out more, two spots of color in an otherwise grey-washed world. The monochromatic un-color made it seem as if they were in an empty land, even with the surrounding trees.

They broke into a sharply-defined clearing, where the light of the sun competed weakly with the anti-light that permeated the depths of the forest. The floor of the clearing was bare of grass or thorns or any distinguishing feature, and it was impossible to tell whether it was stone or dirt. And at the precise center was a hole in the world.

It wasn't in the ground or in the air. Rather, it seemed to be scrawled roughly on top of reality, touching nothing, a ragged-edged bite that led to nowhere. "I hope we don't have to go through that," Twilight muttered.

"No..." Luna said. "That is not a way out. It seems more like a way in from some place we were never meant to see."

"A way in... for what?"

"A way in for me." A new voice entered the conversation, coming from ahead of them, and behind, from all around. It was a whispery, tuneless sort of a voice, dispassionate but not emotionless, and the very ground seemed to stir as it spoke.

After a blink, Luna saw it wasn't the ground, but the unearthly radiance, sliding off the leaves and grass and trees and flying inward toward the tear in the world. As one, the two ponies stepped back from the light streaming under their hooves and whirling around that terrible fissure.

It coalesced into a vague form, an outline that held only the merest suggestion of a pony's silhouette. "Well, hello," it drawled. "It's been a long time." Holes that could have passed for eyes appeared in the mass of impossible light, looking directly at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Who are you?" Luna had to admit the thing was frightening. It was hard to look at, too, the edges of the shape barely defined and difficult to focus on.

"Why, you don't remember me? Hmm, perhaps not." The apparition's tone swayed up and down, turning its words into a sort of crooning singsong. "I'll give you a hint. I arrived here a tad over one thousand years ago, thanks to you, Nightmare Moon."

That was a shock. Luna just stared for a moment, unable to connect the strange being with anything she'd ever seen or done as the Princess Luna or as Nightmare Moon. Then Twilight made a noise of understanding from next to her. "The Everfree Forest! It's the same feeling here, that's what I recognized."

"And who are you, hmm? Little god-touched mortal, treading where you should not." The being's attention shifted to the unicorn, and the fear Luna felt twisted within her. She knew without doubt that under the thing's scrutiny was not a safe place to be.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle," the unicorn declared defiantly. "And you never answered Luna. Who are you?"

"I am." It laughed softly. "If you wish to call me the Everfree Forest, after that little patch that's grown around my prison here, I suppose it will serve."

"And what do I have to do with this?" Luna asked, trying to distract it from Twilight. She had a growing suspicion she already knew the answer, though, and she didn't like it.

"Two goddesses striving against each other with all their power? And then one slips, just a little bit. But a little bit of infinity is quite enough to drive a hole straight through to elsewhere. Elsewhen. Elsewhat." The ill-defined outline seemed to almost dance as it spoke. "Perhaps now you recall?"

Luna felt hollow. The memories weren't clear, and probably never would be, but she remembered enough to know that there was some part of that conflict that had devastated the palace and the surrounding countryside. It seemed terribly possible that something like this could have been birthed in that cataclysm. She took a deep breath and faced what her duty had to be. "Well, that means you are my responsibility."

"Oh, am I now? If that is the case, then you are my birthright." The spirit flickered forward, appearing closer without any real sense of movement. "A god of darkness and night to lead me out of this sunlit prison into the world I have inherited."

"What?" Luna stared, then shook her head. She could see how the spirit could think that if all it knew was Nightmare Moon. But she was no longer that person. "No. You cannot leave here. You don't belong here in the first place."

"My, how disappointing. I would have hoped that someone willing to destroy pieces of reality would be interested in seeing what I can do." The god of Everfree Forest swayed back and forth in time to its singsong words. "But then, perhaps all I need is you here. After all, you are hardly using all that power, are you? I can just reach out..."

"No!" Both of them protested at the same time. Luna gave Twilight a quick, beseeching glance, not wanting her to draw any more attention than necessary. Intellectually, she knew that Twilight was perhaps better equipped to deal with this being than she; whatever source of power the unicorn drew on when her eyes flashed white was obviously vast beyond measure. But power alone was a fragile defense, assuming Twilight could even draw upon it at need.

And the godling was decidedly dangerous, if Celestia had felt the need to imprison it so. The painful non-color of its form and the twisted nature of the land where it laired was argument enough for her even without that. Luna planted her hooves firmly and raised her head. "I am no longer the individual that opened that way, no longer a creature of spite and destruction. I am not here today to complete what I started all those years ago, but to reverse it."

Of course, she had no idea how she was going to do that. But she was committed to taking up again the duties that she had laid aside, and she couldn't turn away from the first one that came her way simply because it was difficult. "I give you a chance. Leave, now, go back through your hole to where you belong."

"I don't think I shall," it crooned. "I don't think you have the ability to dictate to me. What a small, sad god you are. To have abandoned your power, your privilege, and then still seek to control." It swayed closer, the un-color flickering. "Well, what you have cast off, I shall take."

"Leave her alone!" Twilight shouted. Luna blinked as the unicorn appeared in front of her, horn glowing, and cast forth a shimmering shield, surrounding them with a protective field.

"Oh, little mortal. You should never involve yourself in the dealings of gods. It can only end in despair." With that last word, the godling's outline flashed, and molten lightning crashed into Twilight's shield, and through it. It slammed forward in an unstoppable rush, swarming along the power projected by the unicorn and arcing into her horn. The shield vanished like a popped bubble, and Twilight gave a high, piercing cry as she glowed briefly from within, a cry that was cut off suddenly by a sharp detonation.

Luna stared, the world reeling around her as Twilight Sparkle tumbled to a halt at her feet, battered, broken, bleeding, and still.

"No," she whispered, and her voice came from a great distance, as if from someone else entirely.

"It is the consequence," the spirit said dismissively, "of getting in the way."

Luna's head snapped up, her eyes narrow as she looked at the god. "You hurt her." Anger gathered behind her like floodwaters behind a dam, bearing with it all the power she had been sundered from. But this wasn't petty anger, or jealous anger, or selfish anger, that had poisoned her so. It was righteous anger, and it was strength. "You. Hurt. Her." For the first time in a very long while, Luna embraced her power with one mind, one heart, and one purpose.

Darkness fell.

The moon blocked the sun, an instantaneous eclipse that brought the stillness at the heart of a storm. Even the godling's unnatural luminescence was muted by the sheer glory of the goddess of night in her full and wrathful power. The crushing weight of her will pinned it in place, and it writhed in surprise. "You cannot!"

Luna's muzzle curled upward in grim amusement at the unwitting reference the godling made to the last entity that had dared stand in their way. She gave it the only answer it deserved. "I can."

Time slowed. Her coat blazed with an atramentous darkness as her shadow spread, devouring all the light, natural or unnatural. "You," she said, her voice colder than the space between stars and harder than a planet made of diamond. "I condemn you. I strip you of your power, your past, and your destiny. But I have learned there is nothing to be gained from destruction, and so you will live... however much you may wish otherwise."

She reached out, sharp as starlight, and cut the spirit's godhead from its soul, paring away its power and unraveling its fate. Streamers of energy flew toward her, were inhaled and transmuted into something new and marvelous. She gently, almost reverently touched the hole pierced through the very world itself, and unmade it, the eerie glow of elsewhere fading forever.

The remains of the sundered godling raged helplessly as she molded a mortal shell around it, giving it the form of a clawed horse, milk-white of coat and black of eyes. "I condemn you," she said again, "to life. You will tarry here until you understand." With a small fraction of the power she'd taken from the godling, she bound its essence to the twisted forest it had created, imprisoning it more surely than Celestia ever had. "Now," she hissed. "Run." It bolted into the darkness, vanishing among the trees.

Now she turned her attention to the fallen unicorn, for whom less than a breath had passed. There was a spark of life there, but it was fading. She gathered up all the misused godhead she had stripped from the spirit, filtered through her essence and cast again into a precious dowry. Luna was not a goddess of healing, and this was far beyond her abilities. But while she might not be able to restore Twilight, she could still save her.

Gently, gently, she lifted the unicorn's body up. Slowly, slowly, she leaned forward. And tenderly, tenderly, she pressed her muzzle against Twilight's own in a soft kiss. And through that kiss, she breathed divinity.

•••

Twilight walked along a path. She wasn't sure how she had gotten there, she only knew she had to walk it. It was a pleasant enough path, surrounded by green, but there was something fundamentally right about it too. But ahead of her, standing in the path, was a door. It was a narrow door, standing open invitingly, and she paused momentarily at the threshold before she stepped through.

It shut behind her.

She stood at a fork in the path. One choice led to somewhere incredibly beautiful, bright and shining. The other path was long and winding and the end was impossible to see. But Luna stood there, waiting. Twilight made her choice, turned her back on the bright and shining future, and went to her dark goddess.

The world expanded outward. The seed that had nourished and been nourished by her power for so long grew and bloomed, washing through every fiber of her being, twining with something else flowing into her from the outside to create something new.

Light blazed in the darkness as Twilight's eyes opened. An intense presence flowed outward from her soul, rendering her whole and more than whole. The unicorn's mind whirled upward as her body illuminated the clearing, etching it as a chiaroscuro tableau. Then she flew back down into herself, looking into Luna's eyes as they finally broke the kiss.

"Luna..." Twilight said wonderingly. "What... what has happened?"

"Well, that's simple," Luna said, tears standing in her eyes. "You refused to leave me."

"Of course I did." The unicorn laughed softly, intoxicated by the power and potential that blazed within her. It was more magic than she had ever handled, and yet it was no effort at all to keep it controlled. She knew with the merest flicker of a whim she could expand her perceptions outward, and even now there was something new about her vision. "But this." She put a glowing hoof to her chest. "What is this?"

Luna's expression sobered, and she pulled Twilight against her, resting her muzzle on the unicorn's head. "You were dying, Twilight," she said softly. "And nobody - not even I - could stop that. But I could give you a choice."

Twilight leaned against the alicorn as the scattered fragments of memory returned to her, and she realized exactly what had happened. "There was already a seed of something very like godhood growing within you," Luna continued, "but you lacked a god's vast fate. The spirit has misused that," her voice hardened. "And so I stripped it of that potential, and offered it to you. The possibility of the future. There was one instant, one single instant where your soul could open wide enough to accept the enormity of that gift. And you did. And I am so, so very glad."

"So you kissed me back to life," Twilight murmured, tilting her head to look up at the larger pony.

"Well, yes," Luna said, a light flush coloring her muzzle.

"That isn't fair," the unicorn said in quiet voice, suddenly feeling very small despite the surging power she contained as the words tumbled from her mouth. "I didn't get to enjoy it."

Luna arched her neck, startled, and then laughed softly. Wordlessly, she lowered her head and pressed her muzzle against Twilight's once again. The unicorn glowed even brighter that time.

Some while later, Twilight looked at the sky, where the moon still hung, blocking the light. Despite the utter darkness, she could see it clearly, just as she could see Luna's power tamed and under control, shimmering beneath her skin. Twilight had managed to reduce her own luminosity, but she still flickered like a banked fire. "So you're..." She gestured upward. "Able to raise the moon again now?"

"Yes, I am whole once more." Luna inhaled deeply and let it out in a slow breath. "Which means we can go back now. Return to Equestria and... see what may come."

"Draconia," Twilight reminded her. "We were supposed to be involved in diplomacy before all this."

The alicorn let out a breathy little laugh. "I'd forgotten, after all of what's happened. If there were any doubt that I needed you..." She shook her head. "You could do this now, but I suppose I should demonstrate first. Watch."

Twilight nodded, loosing her perception a bit, looking out on the layers that made up reality, an infinity of threads woven together to form the visible fundament. A tiny sliver of the power leashed within the alicorn reached out, sliding into the skein between worlds, and a silver glow appeared before them. It brightened as Luna found her way with easy assurance through all the world to the same chamber that had started them on their journey so long ago.

The glow flashed into a silver-rimmed opening as the alicorn connected two points of the skein, and together they walked through. Their hooves went from soft dirt to hard metal, tapping on the reflective surface of the runed room. Twilight could now see the astoundingly complex weave of magic that bound it together, giving it a small portion of the talent that Luna had just demonstrated.

Though her mundane eyes could not see through the stone and silver walls of the mountain, her new senses could, and she realized there was someone waiting for them on the other side of the door. Or rather, several someones, but only one she cared about. "Come on, Luna!" She cantered toward the door with the alicorn close behind, and it swung open without her being aware of doing anything but wishing for it to be so.

A shout came as the two ponies stepped into the immense hall. "Twilight!" A small dragon ran across the stone, leaving three much larger draconic forms behind.

"Spike!" The unicorn exclaimed as the dragonling flung his arms around her neck, and Twilight returned the hug tightly. "I missed you!"

"I was so worried, Twilight! And, uh... why are you glowing?"

The unicorn blinked and looked over at Luna for help. The alicorn chuckled softly and crouched down to be at a level with Spike. "She glows because she is a goddess newly born, and the universe itself echoes with that transfiguration."

He looked back and forth between them, a baffled look on his face. "You... you're joking, right?"

"No, she's not joking," Twilight said affectionately. "It's a bit of a long story, but it's true."

"So I - then you - should I - " Spike spluttered in confusion and Twilight laughed and hugged him again.

"Oh Spike, don't worry about it. I'm still Twilight Sparkle."

"Yes ma'am," the dragon said gratefully, glad enough to put that confusion aside. Twilight smiled at him and then looked up at the other dragons who had been waiting. Scar had a roiling aura of smoke and fire, she could now see, twisting off and away to elsewhere - to the ouroborus. Lady Embersky and Lord Chasm were nearly as impressive, bright and dark mingled together, two souls bound to each other.

"We had questioned the wisdom, the safety, the propriety of leaving our son in the hooves of a unicorn," Lady Embersky said, in a voice like a silvered trumpet. "But you have shown that you are worthy."

"It is not power that we respect," Lord Chasm rumbled before Twilight could respond to that. "But in returning here, in this way, you have demonstrated the value of your abilities and choices."

"Besides," Lady Embersky added in a more whimsical tone, "Spike likes you."

"Oh, um, thank you." Twilight bobbed her head to them. She hadn't been seeking their approval in what she'd done, but she supposed that was part of why she'd earned it. "And I'm rather fond of him, too." She smiled down at Spike.

"Then we shall leave him in your care. Spike?" The dragonling looked at his mother as she spoke, and reluctantly let go of Twilight to cross over to her. They touched paws, Spike's green nearly vanishing against the copper scales, and then he repeated the action with his father. There was, Twilight realized, far too much of a size difference for any more affectionate a gesture.

"We will be visiting," Lord Chasm added, and they both swept out as Spike returned to his place at Twilight's side. She watched them go with her other senses long after they'd gone out of sight, feeling that, goddess or not, that parting statement was ominous.

"That was... interesting," Luna observed.

"Yes, it was," Twilight agreed, then chuckled. "You'd think this whole goddess thing would make parents less intimidating, but it doesn't."

"Mothers are more fearsome than any god," Luna confirmed. "Or," she added with a frown as Scar made his way over to them, "any king."

"Oh my," the dragon murmured. "Have I lost my fearsome aura of invincibility?"

Luna narrowed her eyes at Scar, and her aura roiled briefly. "You," she accused, "sent us there deliberately."

"Alas, yes." Scar sighed theatrically, then turned suddenly serious. "Before you impugn me for that, you might consider where you have ended up. You, whole and restored." He turned to Twilight. "And you... I must admit this was unexpected." His eyes danced with amusement as he essayed a bow. "Welcome to a very small club indeed."

"Ah, thanks." Twilight still couldn't tell to what extent the dragon was being honest. "But why did you send us off to the heart of the world? Did you know what would happen?"

"Now for that," Scar grinned, "I am not the best person to ask. Follow me." The dragon vanished into smoke again, pouring along the hallway faster than a pony could trot. Twilight frowned briefly after him, then smiled to herself.

"Come on, Spike," she said, lifting the dragon into place on her back, then she looked at Luna. "I'll get this one."

"Be my guest," the alicorn smiled, stepping closer, and Twilight cast her senses over Scar's trail, to where he waited at the landing circle outside. Her method of travel was unlike Luna's threads or Scar's smoke, as she simply reached out and moved them with a silk-smooth flash of light and the merest flicker of will.

Scar was not surprised to see them appear, merely nodding and looking out at the sunset. The two ponies stepped up next to him and followed his gaze. Twilight was aware of the cold, but she didn't feel it as a chill she needed protection from. It didn't seem to bother Luna either, though their breath steamed in the air. "Well?" Twilight prompted.

She was answered by a bright flash in the air, and Princess Celestia appeared out of the setting sun. Like Luna, her godhead was leashed and tightly controlled, but instead of a dark glory hers blazed brilliantly, to the point that Twilight was surprised that it didn't cast shadows.

"'Tia!" Luna exclaimed, and ran forward. Twilight followed close behind, and Celestia took each of them under a wing, giving them a hug and an affectionate nuzzle.

"My beloved sister. My most faithful student. I am so glad to see you both. And to see both of you well," she added, giving Luna a meaningful look. The dark alicorn ducked her head in acknowledgement and Twilight looked up at Celestia.

"So, wait, does this mean you knew what was happening?" The unicorn looked up at her mentor, and Celestia sighed softly.

"Yes, this was all my idea." The alicorn looked down at her sister. "I had hoped time would heal your wounds, but you had only gotten more isolated. It was even worse after Nightmare Night, because, as you said to me, a once-a-year bogeymare is no fit position for either goddess or princess."

Celestia shook her head. "No, you had to find your own way back to who you were, and that couldn't be done by my asking you to, or by staying in Canterlot or even Equestria. There was only one place where you might have the chance at that sort of healing. But I could not send you alone."

She turned to face Twilight. "And I must apologize to you as well, Twilight Sparkle. I abused the trust you had in me, but I truly believed that you would be the best possible companion for my sister. It was selfish to risk you for my sister's sake, but I could not repeat those past thousand years again." The white alicorn looked back and forth between them. "I risked both of you, and while I am grateful to have you both back as individuals, I don't know if after this I will have you back as friends."

Twilight had to admit she felt a flash of anger, but only a flash. The honest melancholy in that voice made it clear that Celestia had not wanted to make the gamble she had settled on. "Of course you do, Princess!" she assured her teacher.

"Oh, 'Tia." Luna shook her head chidingly at her sister, and then laughed. "You haven't changed, but as usual you were right. Don't worry about it."

"Thank you." Celestia hugged them again, and then put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Now, you." The unicorn met her eyes and they looked at each other, goddess to goddess. "You must tell me how this happened. I knew you had a very special talent, but this is far and beyond simply talent. Tell me everything that's happened, from the beginning."

They poured out their story as the sun sank slowly toward the horizon, and Celestia merely listened without comment. It wasn't until they reached the incident with the ouroborus that they faltered, and Twilight and Luna looked at each other helplessly. Finally Twilight mumbled, "so Luna and I are... um... together." She couldn't bring herself to look up at Celestia.

"You... Luna...!" Spike stammered, and then wobbled and fell off Twilight's back in a dead faint. She caught him before he hit the ground, grateful for the distraction, and settled him back in place with one of her now-worn blankets.

"I'm so happy for the both of you." The two of them stared up at Celestia's words.

"What?" It came as a chorus, and Celestia smiled softly.

"I had hoped that you would find someone, at least to be a friend," she told Luna softly. "That you have found something more is a blessing. Though you still haven't gotten to how Twilight became what she is now."

"Um, right." Luna quickly filled in the last of the story, blushing furiously as she told her part in Twilight's transcendence. Celestia, mercifully, managed to keep her expression controlled and attentive throughout.

"Interesting," she said, not passing any comment on the particular methodology Luna had used to revive Twilight. "I have never heard of anything like this happening before. But there is a first time for everything."

"So... what kind of goddess am I?" Twilight asked. Celestia treated this as a serious question, and the unicorn could see her bright power flare as the sun goddess studied Twilight with all her senses.

"I'm not certain," she admitted at least. "Perhaps you are the goddess of magic, or perhaps you are completely unbound. You have plenty of time to figure it out."

"I suppose I do. Heh." Twilight shook her head; immortality was too large a concept for her to contemplate yet, and she set it aside. "So... do I just go back to Ponyville then? I mean, with Luna and I..."

"It is up to you what to do. They are your own choices to make, but now that you are a goddess, your breadth of choice is quite a bit wider."

Twilight turned to look at Luna, and the dark alicorn smiled at her. "I think I would rather live in your tree at Ponyville. Stepping to Canterlot for my royal duties is no longer an issue."

"True enough," Twilight giggled. After threading through realities, a mere jaunt from one city to another was hardly a problem at all.

"And now, dear sister..." Celestia nodded to the sky, where the sun was steadily sinking out of sight. "I believe you have something you need to do."

"Yes," the alicorn said firmly, stepping out to the edge of the landing area and looking at the opposite horizon. Twilight followed behind, standing behind her as the alicorn lifted her head and took a breath, her horn glowing softly.

The moon came up.

The rest of the sky remained empty, and Luna looked at it for a moment, then turned to the unicorn. "Twilight?" she said in an oddly shy voice. "Would you like to help me put up the stars?"

The smaller pony gently set Spike aside, still swaddled in blankets and stepped up next to Luna. The alicorn put a wing over her, and Twilight cuddled in next to her. "I'd love to."