A white Alicorn, awash in the glory of the midday sun, stood on the balcony of her old royal bed chamber in Canterlot. She watched the Demons of Tartarus spilling over every inch of her city as they fought against the converted dragons of Valorhold. Her face was an unreadable mask; calm and serene despite the turmoil raging within herself.
A raspy voice called out from behind her. “Is that you, Cadie?”
“Oh, I’m sorry Love Note, did I wake you?” said the Alicorn, turning around and smiling at the old mare sitting on a couch in Cadence’s bedroom. “No, I’m not Cadence.”
“Huh,” said the old pony blinking at the the unexpected sight before her “I knew I’d meet you eventually.”
“Oh you did, did you?”
“Yep. Looks like Cadie owes me fifty bits.”
The ethereally maned beauty chuckled softly. “Were you gambling on whether or not I would reappear?”
Love Note scoffed as only an old mare could, “It was never a matter of if, dearie, but a matter of when. Cadie said you never knew when to leave well enough alone.” she rubbed a knobby hoof under her scruffy chin and added. “No, our bet was on whether or not I’d live to see the day you came back.”
Love Note sat up on the couch, contorting her face as she maneuvered around her aching hip. The large white pony said nothing and waited patiently while the old mare moved into her new position.
“So. What brings you here? Aside from the fact that this is your old bedroom, and the whole world seems to be falling apart.”
“Aside from that?”
“Aside from that.”
“Well... To be honest, I was hoping you could give me some advice.” she said with a defeated sigh. “I don’t usually ask for guidance, but I’ve been out of the spotlight for so long, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about any of this.” She pointed a hoof back over towards the balcony and the city below.
“What’s your name, Princess?”
The white Alicorn frowned “I’m no Princess. Not any more, I’ve long since abdicated that throne.” She added with a more hopeful note “You can call me Celestia, if you’d like.”
“Alrighty, Celestia, come on over and let’s see what this busted old mare can do for you.” Love Note tapped the empty couch cushion next to her with a hoof, and Celestia walked over and sat down.
“Suppose,” the former Princess said after she made herself comfortable, “that I do nothing. That I let the Princesses and ponies do what they do. What’s the risk?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I never expected my ponies would do so well on their own. They rule themselves with the Senate, and Cadence and Twilight are mostly figureheads. Less so with Twilight, what with her being in the Senate, but the point remains. If I do nothing, will my little ponies surprise me again and save the world on their own?”
Love Note said nothing, but offered a pat on the leg as Celestia continued. “And because I’ve done nothing for so long now, part of me feels like I can’t do anything.”
She took a deep breath to keep her steady, but the worry was plain on her face. “Equestria is falling apart. My city is flooded with demons and dragons and—“
“Alright,” interrupted Love Note with a crooked smile “Things are bad now, but let’s not throw the country out with the bath water. What would happen if you did do something?”
Celestia thought about that for a moment. “You mean, what would happen if I revealed myself to the world?”
“Your words, not mine.” The old mare said slyly.
“But if I did that, then...” She trailed off, as she stared into Cadence’s wall-to-wall shag carpeting.
“Then what?” the old pony asked pointedly. “What are you afraid of?”
“Afraid? I never thought of it that way before. I guess I’m afraid of losing the life I’ve built for myself. That I would be a prisoner of the crown they would make me wear. I just want to live my life.”
Love Note let out a hoarse laugh. “Shoot, is that all? And here I thought you were going to make this hard on me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Celestia, we rule ourselves now. We’ve been doing it for hundreds of years. you just said so yourself a few minutes ago.”
The Goddess of the Sun glanced at the old mare in surprise.
“Just because an Alicorn or two come out of the woodwork doesn’t mean we’re going to disband the Senate and suddenly forget how to wipe ourselves.” Love Note punched the pony in the shoulder with a rickety hoof.
Celestia rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly. “So. You think I should stop hiding?”
“Is that what you want?”
“I’m still not sure. Sorry.”
The old mare leaned back and let out a terse breath, her hip creaking along with the ride. “You know, I was going to go to Cloudsdale with Cadie yesterday, but this stupid hip of mine started acting up again. Could you be a dear and lend me a hoof?”
She nodded, and got up on her hooves to help Love Note back into a comfortable position laying down on the couch and she shifted around to get comfortable under her hooves.
“Sakes alive, I tell you what, Celestia. Do not get old if you can help it.” she muttered as she rubbed at her hip with an old cerulean wing. “Now where was I? Ah yes. You know, whenever Cadie asks me for advice, which isn’t as often as it should be mind you, I usually tell her the same thing.”
“And what’s that?”
The old mare reached over and tapped the Alicorn in the chest. “Follow your heart.”
They shared a smile, ignoring an explosion in the streets below.
“Follow my heart, hmm?”
The old pony nodded but said nothing else. Instead wrapped her forelimbs under her head, closed her eyes, and began drifting off to sleep.
Celestia turned back towards the open balcony doors and closed her own eyes. “Okay heart,” she said determinedly. “Lead the way.”
Ruby Star was caught in a crossfire. She was stuck between the smoldering wreckage of the wooden stage where all this trouble began and the relative safety of General Iron Sight’s tent. She ducked behind the upturned metal desk she fished out of the tent and winced as a searing ball of flame splashed against the other side of it.
Leaning out to the side so only her horn and her head were visible, she fired bolt after bolt into the chest of the corrupted mage shooting at her. However each bolt she threw at it bounced harmlessly off of the pony’s surprisingly durable face. Seriously, she must have fired ten or twelve of the same high-impact magebolt into this sucker, and he was shrugging them off left and right. Not so much the first pony she hit with it, but this guy was unstoppable.
Unstoppable until a God of Chaos with two ponies under his arms fell on him.
“Ooph,” said Discord.
“Aah!” shouted Shining Armor.
“...” said Spellbound, still unconscious.
Ruby ran over to the three boys. “Star’s Garters, am I happy to see you three. What took you so long?”
Discord stood up and dropped both stallions to the ground and started dusting himself off. “Sorry about that, Red. We took the express route.”
Ruby Star looked at him funny. “You took so long because you took the express route?”
He didn’t answer. He was busy dusting himself off.
“Why does he call you ‘Red’?” asked Shining Armor.
“Because he hates me.”
“Mmm, I know what that’s like. He used to hate me, you know? He’d call me Pretty Boy.”
“And I can see why,” she said with a wink.
“Watch it, I’m married.”
“Oh yeah? I like a challenge.”
“To Princess Cadence.”
“Still?”
“What do you mean, still?”
“That was like a billion years ago. Isn’t there a statute of limitations on these things?”
“A statute of limitations? On Love? When you’re married to the immortal Goddess of Love?” He turned to face Discord. “Was today Bring Your Daughter to Work Day and she’s supposed to be following her mom around, or something? She’s not really a guardsmare, is she?”
“Hay! I am too a guard! And I’m almost twenty years old, thank you very much.”
Discord continued to ignore the two ponies, opting instead to frown at his own leg. “Ugh, I think Blue peed on me. Oh, wait, no. It was the guy we landed on. And that’s not pee.”
The three of them said nothing, but took two large steps to the right, before continuing their conversation.
“Alright, we’re getting off track. What’s the plan?” asked Ruby, still agitated about Shining Armor’s implication.
“Discord explained more of the situation to me on the way. Which one of these dragons is Spike? I think I can try to talk some sense into him.”
Discord stroked his goatee. “I’m going to guess that he’s the big purple one over there.” He titled his head to the left, and there where he had indicated was a truly massive dragon.
The beast rippled with muscle and chitinous plates. Each ridge on his body was an impenetrable fortress. He alternated between stomping a whole mess of very unfortunate demons, and roasting the survivors with his green flame. That last breath of flame was so hot that Shining Armor thought he could almost feel the heat on his eyebrow.
Ruby offered a hoof to Shining Armor. He took the hoof and shook. “Well it was nice knowing you, Pretty Boy.” She said with another wink, and then turned to set about dragging her unconscious partner back towards the castle.
But Discord grabbed her by the tail before she took another step. “No, I think he’s got something there.”
“Hay, let go of my tail. What are you—” Ruby Star didn’t finish her complaint before her head was filled with the call of Order. Discord had teleported the three of them right into the heart of the Grand Central Plaza.
“Alright, Shining, do your... Shining?” Discord watched as the white stallion doubled over in apparent pain, gripping his head.
“D-discord!” Growled Ruby Star through clenched teeth “Get us out of h-here you idiot!”
Discord stared at the two writhing ponies. What had gotten into them? He looked around to try and see the origin of this attack. At the end of the Plaza was Spike, or ‘The Magicborn’ as he apparently liked to call himself now, fighting off a whole slew of demons singlehandedly.
Off to his right stood a young drake, still taller than the two story inn he stood before. “Tiny demons!” he shouted in his bloodthirst, “Thud will crunch you up, and earn his mate!” There was something off about the red dragon. The way his eyes would sometimes stare straight ahead and his arms go slack. Almost as if he was fighting against his more base nature.
It only took one such unguarded moment for a small army of the demons at his feet to crawl up onto his back and belly, where they held on tightly, and slashed at him mercilessly with their rusty blades. “No! Do not climb Thud! Fight fair, or do not fight at all!” The dragon roared in anger and with a few mighty flaps, was airbound, dropping demons as he went.
To Discord’s left were two large groups of motionless ponies. He recognized them as the Solar Court and the Lunar Court. Looking up, he gasped in alarm at the proximity of both Sun and Moon.
“Hay!” he ran over shouting, “What are you doing? I said no eclipse!”
They ignored him and continued their work. He reached the nearest pony of the Solar Court and picked her up to give her a shake. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, staring straight ahead. She was babbling some inanity about Order.
Something painful zapped him in the back of the head and he dropped the pony to the ground. “Hay, what’s the big idea? Red?”
Discord was shocked to see his little helper standing where he left her, her eyes dull and empty as she stared straight ahead at him.
“Order over chaos, law over harmony. The enemy of order is the enemy of all.” She said in a dry monotone as her horn charged up. She fired another magebolt at him.
He deflected it with a flick of the wrist and sent it hurtling into parts unknown. “Red, this isn’t funny. You’re on my side, remember?”
Next to her, Shining Armor clambered to his hooves. “Shining,” the God of Chaos implored, “tell her she’s on our side.”
Shining Armor’s body jerked to his full upright stature, and his eyes sprang open, burning with red light. His body shook with laughter.
“Oh, she’s on my side, devil.” Came a voice out of Shining Armor’s mouth that was not his own.
“Hey, that’s pretty neat. How did you do that?”
“You are not very wise for a ‘god’. How you survived my first attack in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters, I’ll never know.”
Something clicked in his head and Discord took a step backwards. He tripped over the pony he dropped behind him earlier and fell on his tail. “Y-you’re the Beacon!” he stammered “How did you—“
“Convert all these ponies? Haven’t you been paying attention at all? This is what I do. Had I known that Shining Armor here was the leader of these pesky demons, I would have sought him out sooner. Thanks so much for bringing him to me.”
“But... But you... And then I...”
“But nothing. Can’t you see you’ve already lost? You just gave me an army of demons, I have a flight of dragons lead by the strongest creature I’ve ever encountered, and I’m making that eclipse that you were so desperate to stop. Though I don’t think that 3 minutes is enough. I was thinking about using a duration a little more... permanent.”
Discord looked up again and noticed that the two celestial orbs were still moving towards each other at a steady pace. In frustration he howled, “Why? Why do all this just to kill me? I’m right here. Just...” He sighed, dejectedly “Just finish it already.”
Shining Armor’s body stuttered with laughter. “I don’t want to kill you now.”
“You don’t?”
“Oh no, where’s the fun in that? I want to destroy you. I want to annihilate you. I am going to take away everything you hold dear. Friendship? Gone. Free will? No more. A living and vibrant world? Dead.”
The red glow in Shining Armor’s eyes smoldered into a deep maroon. “I will destroy everything. Everything. Just to hurt you. Then your real torture begins. Before the end you will beg me to kill you. Only after I’m sure that there’s nothing left of you but an empty shell of your former self, only then I will rid this cold dead rock of your evil.”
The God of Chaos, disgusted with the Beacon’s depravity and intent, pushed himself up to his feet and dusted off his knees. “Oh yeah? Well, you’re forgetting one thing.”
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow.
Discord eyes bugged out of his head, and then pointed just beyond the possessed white stallion. “What is that?!”
Gritting his teeth, the stallion turned his head and his horn burned with red energy. There was nothing there. Looking back at where Discord had been, the Beacon of Order now watched as a frantic trail of dust floated in air, on a course back towards the castle.
He frowned at his hated rival’s antics. “Get Discord.”
“GET DISCORD!” The demons of Tartarus roared back in thunderous refrain.
Realizing they were no longer enemies, everything –pony, dragon, and demon alike- stopped attacking each other and flew, ran, or teleported towards the castle. Without a care for their own safety, or the safety of others, the tangled mass of them trampled over everypony and everything in their way. Each was racing get to Discord first. After all, the Beacon of Order, Flight Commander of Valorhold, and the Demon King of Tartarus commanded them to do so.
Soon the plaza was empty, except for the possessed bodies of The Magicborn and Shining Armor, and the assembled bodies of the Solar and Lunar courts.
Spike heard a noise and turned. The Beacon, through Spike’s massive green eyes, watched as a lone red straggler ran into the plaza from the South. He wore an ill-fitting chef’s hat and held a tray of fresh-from-the-oven crullers.
“HAVE FUN!” The demon shouted ecstatically as he ran to join his battle brothers besiege the castle.
“You did good, Bendy. I love you,” said Appleseed proudly. He bent down to kiss his wife, Merry Hearth, on her forehead.
She smiled back at him woozily. “Who would have thought that our baby boy would be born so far from Sweet Apple Acres?”
Appleseed nuzzled his wife and stretched an orange wing over the carefully bundled boy sleeping in her forelimbs. “What better place for an earthpony momma to give birth to an earthpony baby than in a cavern full of crystals, eh?”
Merry Hearth was about to answer him when something big thumped into the other side of their wooden door, causing her to jump slightly. The baby grumbled as startled sleeping babies do. Whoever it was at the door, it muttered a curse that neither pony understood.
The knock that followed it was plainly understood, though.
“Come in?” said Merry quietly, mindful of her sleeping son.
The door opened and in walked a pink maned white unicorn.
“Powder Puff?” asked Appleseed blankly, “What are you doing here?”
The pudgy unicorn was walking on three hooves, rubbing her muzzle with the other. “Oh, I was just out for a stroll. Can you tell me where ‘here’ is?”
Appleseed looked at his wife, and she at him. “You’re in the maternity ward of the hospital in the evacuation shelter below Canterlot.”
The white mare looked at them both with wide-eyes. “They built a hospital down here?”
“Oh yeah,” said Appleseed, “Remember when there was that big Senate vote on it and the other ones last April? It turned into a right big showdown between the two houses and the newspapers had a field day. But in the end Princess Twilight helped everypony see the reason in having state-of-the-art hospitals ready and raring to go in all of Equestria’s major emergency evacuation centers.”
Powder Puff nodded.
“Thank goodness they did to,” he finished, “otherwise Bendy and little Applewood here would be in big trouble.”
Powder Puff walked further into the room to get a better look at the new baby. He was a tan earthpony with a pale yellow mane. He had his father’s eyes. The two mares shared a smile.
“So you’re Powder Puff? Appleseed is always telling me that we should invite you over to the homestead for dinner one of these days.”
“I am. Does that make you ‘Bendy’?” she asked with a giggle.
“Depends on who you ask,” Merry chuckled dryly. Appleseed coughed into a hoof, blushing profusely. “But you can call me Merry.” She finished.
“Thank you, Merry. I will.”
“S-say, Powder Puff,” asked Appleseed, fidgeting with his wings, “you haven’t seen Honeycrisp anywhere around here, have you? Merry went into labor as soon as her hooves hit the ground down here.”
“Oh, Yes, Appleseed, I have. I fed her and other girls a nice big breakfast just a few hours ago. They’re with Princess Twilight.”
Both parents visibly relaxed, a burden lifted from their minds. “Oh thank goodness,” sighed Appleseed, reaching over to hug his wife with one leg.
“I’m glad to know she’s safe,” said Merry peacefully, “Though I still wish she were here to meet her baby brother.”
“Tell me,” asked Powder Puff, changing the subject, “have either of you thought about enrolling her into Princess Twilight’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”
Appleseed’s wings drooped and he turned away from the kind baker, looking instead at the heart rate monitor for his sleeping son. “Oh. We don’t have the bits for something like that.”
Powder Puff waved the thought away. “What if I could talk to the Princess about getting her a scholarship? She has a great deal of talent, and I know the school would be honored to finally have an Apple for a star pupil.”
“You’d do that? For us?”
“I would.”
Merry spoke up, as she hugged a grey leg around her newest bundle of joy “Do you really think that she’s gifted?”
“I do.”
Powder Puff found herself wrapped up in a big feathery hug. “Thank you, Powder Puff! Boy if you’d do that for us, I’d... Why, I’d be sure that Canterlot Castle’s carts our finest produce from now until the day I die!”
Powder Puff hugged him back and laughed. “Okay Appleseed, consider it a deal.”
They separated and Powder Puff looked around the room, appreciating the fine quality of its quartz. “Well,” she said, turning towards the door, “I think I should get going. I feel like I’ve got a little more walking to do.”
“Uh... Powder Puff...”
The white unicorn glanced over her shoulder at the young grey mare, anxiously twiddling her forehooves on the bed.
“Yes, Merry?”
“This is going to sound weird, but...”
“Yes?”
Finally she blurted it out, with her eyes shut tightly, “Would you give Applewood your blessing?”
Powder Puff nodded and softly pranced over to the hospital bed. “I would be honored.” She tapped the sleeping foal on the forehead with her horn. “I bless you this day, little Applewood. The rising sun will be your joy. May your hooves be strong and your heart be light.”
The pudgy pony caught the dumbstruck look on Appleseed’s face, and giggled. “That was fun. I haven’t done one of those in years. Take care now.”
Without another word, she turned and walked back out the door, closing her eyes once more as she passed the threshold.
“Bendy?” Appleseed asked as he stared after the Royal Pastry Chef.
“Yes dear?”
“Why did you ask Powder Puff to bless our child?”
“I don’t know. But it felt like the right thing to do. I felt like I had to follow my heart on that one.”
Spellbound was resting on a picnic blanket on a hill overlooking the pristine glory of Cloudsdale. The sunset framed the sky perfectly, and he let out a contented sigh. He took another sip from his champagne flute, and felt something warm and feathery wrap around his side. A single feather brushed against his cutie mark.
“Tee hee!” said the slightly tipsy Goddess of Magic, “Oh Spellbound, that was such a good story! I loved the part where you slayed all the dragons. Tell me another.” she said, batting her eyelashes.
“Well of course, my dear. How about the one where I beat Discord with my horn tied behind my back. It all started whe—“
“What is this?!” asked a stern voice from behind them.
Spellbound shot up to his hooves and spun around, the world around him stopped moving and began to fade out of existence.
“Quick Name!” squeaked Spellbound, “Wh-what are you doing here?”
“Nevermind what I’m doing here, what are you doing dreaming about Princess Twilight like that?”
Spellbound looked around dumbly at murky expanse that surrounded the two stallions. “This is a dream?” he asked.
Quick Name stomped a hoof. “Well of course it’s a dream, you can’t afford champagne on your salary, can you?”
“No,” said Spellbound, who looked like he was going to cry.
“Suck it up, soldier. I need you to pay close attention to what you’re about to see and hear.”
Spellbound shook himself out of his funk and stood at attention. “Sir!”
“I need you to wake up and find Discord. Tell him to come to Cloudsdale and save us. I was knocked unconscious by the Beacon’s magic and I fear that the others are trapped there.”
“Wait... if you’re unconscious, how come you’re in my dream? What am I saying, why am I even paying any attention to you at all?! This is my dream, and I have a date with a Princess to finish, so if you’ll excuse me I—“
The light feathery mist surrounding them suddenly became the deep black void of night. Spellbound could no longer see Quick Name, let alone his own hooves.
“You will listen to me, colt, and you will do as I say.” The voice echoed from all around him. “Not because I am the Captain of the Arcane Guard...”
Spellbound shook like a lost lamb as some of the darkness began to pool together, creating an even shape in the void.
“NO, YOU WILL OBEY BECAUSE I AM THE KEEPER OF DREAMS. I AM THE CRAFTER OF CONSTELLATIONS. I AM THE MOON IN YOUR SKY AND THE BLACKNESS IN YOUR SOUL.”
A dawning of night crested some unseen horizon, and Spellbound’s vision was filled with an unending sea of stars. The pooled darkness stood out from the tapestry of light behind it, growing limbs and a slender frame. Wings sprouted from its back and a long horn crowned its head. The creature’s eyes opened, revealing two pearlescent orbs.
“I AM PRINCESS LUNA, AND YOU WILL AWAKEN!”
Discord stood over the fitfully sleeping body of Spellbound and pulled back the bucket he held in his hands, ready to splash its contents over the only pony he knew he had left.
“One... Two... Thre-“
Spellbound’s eyes shot open and he reared his head up with a jerk. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean it!” he shouted.
This startled Discord into releasing his grip on the bucket, sending it flying until it broke against the castle wall far behind him. When its remains hit the ground, about a dozen scorpions with anger management issues scurried out snapping irately at the air.
“Oh great!” frowned the draconequus. “Now I’m not going to get my deposit back on the bucket rental.”
Spellbound rubbed the top of his head and winced. “It could be worse.”
“How could anything be worse than not getting the deposit back on a bucket rental?”
“You could have this weird dream where your boss, who is a stallion, turns into the hottest Princess you’ve ever seen.”
Discord ignored him and shook his head. “They’re never going to let me rent buckets there again.”
Spellbound got up off his rump and tapped Discord with a hoof. “Come on, we have to get to Cloudsdale.”
“Cloudsdale? Why do we have to go to Cloudsdale?”
“Because Hot Dream Princess Quick Name said so.”
“...Okay... Ignoring how creepy that is for just a moment, how are we going to get to Cloudsdale?”
“Look, I don’t know, maybe we can wrangle a dragon to fly us over there. Or something.” He trotted off towards the West wing of the castle.
Discord stood in deep thought. Then he nodded. “A flawless plan. I love it!” And then happily trundled after Spellbound. “Oh by the way Blue, did you know that the Beacon of Order is one sick puppy?”
“You don’t say. I thought there was something off about ho—“
“GRAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWRRRRG!” came a guttural shout from farther West.
Spellbound watched as a flying dragon, covered in demons, slammed into the side of the castle. Whether the dragon was red before the demons got it was up for debate. Unfazed, the blue stallion ran on ahead. Discord found himself scrambling to keep up. His legs still burned from his last little sprint.
Spellbound knew the castle very well, and burst from room to room, teleporting through available shortcuts as he ran. “We got one down at the West Entra—Princess Twilight?” he said as he scrambled to a halt.
“You know,” Discord puffed, “I haven’t been to the Castle in a very long time, but did they really rename this the West EntraPrincess Twilight? Seems a little gauche, don’t you think?”
He ran around the corner and saw the purple pony that was apparently mesmerizing Spellbound, and stumbled to a halt.
“Oh, I get it.”
Twilight frowned at him. “Discord. Do you mind telling me what the hay is going on around here?” she pointed a hoof accusingly at the crumpled dragon a few feet away.
“Oh, do you like it?” Discord asked casually as he walked up to her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and started to make a most clever quip. “I call it—“
Something red or rather, a lot of somethings red, began spilling over the reinforced iron doors of the West Entrance behind the gaggle of mares. “HELP, HELP, WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!” he finished, shaking the Princess in his fear.
In the distance there were two explosions. The first was a legitimate explosion, the kind with debris and shrapnel. The second was an explosion of sound. Of the shrieks and screams that issued from the rank guts of a hundred thousand angry demons. It was a roar of victory. Accompanied by the roar was an ominous flickering of the magelight torches throughout the castle. They had broken through Canterlot Castle’s defensive runes.
Twilight pulled herself out of Discord’s grasp and she took in the scared faces of those around her. “Okay, nopony panic.” She said as her ears pinned themselves to the back of her head, “The castle’s defenses are down. We have to get to the throne room and—“
The purple Princess’s instructions were interrupted by one of Sandy’s terrified screams. Twilight balked as a demon of Tartarus, something she’d not seen in centuries, buzzed through the air over Sandy’s head and landed on Discord’s head.
The red menace snarled and gnashed its broken teeth against Discord’s pair of horns. First the left one. Now the right. All the while smacking him over the head with a rusty mace. “Get it off, get it off!” The panicky draconequus demanded.
Twilight grabbed the foul thing and flung it back from whence it came. She tracked it with her eyes, and watched as it bowled into a half a dozen other demons. More and more were spilling over the wall and the reinforced iron door it contained. They clambered over each other and the downed dragon in the entrance’s outer stoneway that she and her friends had teleported into.
They ran hard for that final archway, screaming ‘Discord’ this and ‘Not Ponies’ that. She wasn’t about to let them into her castle. The nearest one leapt off of the last of the low steps and smashed its head into a translucent purple barrier that hadn’t been there a second ago.
Another flung himself against it. And another. Soon the archway was filled with angry red faces all smooshed up against Princess Twilight’s barrier.
“Discord?”
“M-yes?”
“Why are there demons attacking Canterlot?”
“Would you believe me if I said it was your brother’s idea?”
Twilight stared off into space, scrunching up her face in confusion.. “Shining Armor did this?”
“Yeah, it was a good plan at first, but then well... let’s not going pointing any hooves here, but somepony didn’t tell me that the Beacon could possess or mind control other ponies. So imagine my surprise when I teleported Red, Shiny, and myself over to Spike—“
“Spike?” asked a suddenly more interested Rarity.
“Only to find out that he was already possessed—”
“Little Spikey-wikey is out there? And he’s possessed?!”
“Jeez, can I get through a whole sentence without being interrupted?” Discord asked the distraught white unicorn. She nodded, but bit her lip in concern.
“So. Where was I? Oh yes.” He started counting off on his talons “Spike is possessed, he brought a whole mess of dragons from Camp Hug-a-lot with him to Canterlot, The dragons sweet talked your guards into a trap and they all got themselves corrupted, and then Shining Armor, who’s the new King of Tartarus by-the-by, was possessed when he went to try and talk some sense into the big purple palooka.”
Discord took a breath and let it out. “Also, Red was corrupted too.”
Spellbound spun around on the spot, his eyes seeking out Discord’s in urgency. “They got Ruby Star?!”
“I’m afraid so, champ.”
“This isn’t good,” muttered Princess Twilight. “Okay, new plan. We need to get to the throne room and reactivate the castle’s defenses. If we don’t get those up then everypony down below in the crystal shelters is in danger. Their safety is our number one priority.”
“Right.”
“Of course, darling.”
“Sure, sure.”
“Once that’s done, we need to bring the fight to the Beacon. Discord, you said that he’s in the Grand Central Plaza?”
“I didn’t, but—“
“Excellent. Can you whip us up a distraction with a little bit of chaos? Something to give us some time to neutralize the bigger threats?”
“Ah. Yes. Well, I would. But...”
“But, what?” she asked wearily.
“I don’t know.” He said, windmilling his arms in explanation. “I just seem to forget I have it when I need it.”
“Come again?”
Discord groaned and pulled a lion’s paw down over his face. “I did something, or something was done to me, and now whenever I can use my magic... I don’t.”
“Well this is just wonderful, isn’t it?” grumbled the Crystal Empress with a toss of her purple mane. “We’ve got one out of four Princesses conscious and accounted for, Discord is broken, the castle grounds are positively lousy with those unkempt little beasties, and little Spike is out there all alone.”
Twilight’s ears flicked back and forth as she turned to look at her old friend. “Rarity, Spike’s going to be fine. Believe me, if there’s anypony I’m not worried about right now, it’s a 400 foot tall fire-breathing dragon.”
Rarity puffed out her cheeks, and then let out her breath with a harumph. “Oh, alright, Twilight. I’m sure Spike can handle himself. Alone. Out there with all those nasty dragons and corrupted ponies. Still, I’d have to say this is definitely going on my top ten list of worst birthday celebrations ever.”
Discord stepped over the unconscious body of Princess Cadence and lifted Rarity into the air.
“Unhand me you brute!” she implored, her legs kicking the air between them furtively.
“Say that again?” he asked, ignoring her pleas.
“Which part? The part where this is the worst birthday celebration ever, or the part where I demanded that you unhand me?”
“The first part.”
“This is definitely going on my top ten list of worst birthday celebrations ever?”
“Now just say the important part.”
“My top ten list?”
“No no, the really important part.”
“Birthday celebrations?”
Discord released the Crystal Empress, dropping her onto the pillow-like softness of Cadence’s head.
He turned to face the corridor that he just came from and stroked his goatee “Birthday celebrations... hmmm... Oh!” And he took off running down the hall like a shot.
“Hay! Discord!” Twilight called after him, “The Throne Room is the other way!”
Discord just smiled and waved over his shoulder, laughing maniacally. Then he was gone.
“Okay, well that was pointless. Come on girls, the Throne Room’s this way.”
“But what about the other Princesses?” asked Smarty Pants.
Twilight looked at her two unconscious royal sisters and then back at the purple border keeping the gibbering red horde of demons at bay.
“That barrier will hold. They’ll be safe here until wake up. Now let’s go!” The others nodded, and the two former Elements of Harmony, Spellbound, Honeycrisp, and Smarty Pants all rushed off down the opposite corridor.
Powder Puff walked with her eyes still closed and she felt the warmth of daylight spill across her face. Each step took her closer to her heart’s desire, she could feel it. As she walked, she felt a familiar transformation take place.
Her sides tingled as wings, white as any cloud, began to grow on her back. Another step, and her bouncy mane and tail bounced no more, instead they both floated up and flowed through the air. She felt her chubby underside vanish as her overall mass expanded to that of a larger pony. The largest pony of them all in fact.
Finally, a warm sensation washed over her flank, and she knew that her actual cutie mark was back, plain as day. Wherever she was going, or whoever she was seeing, she was going as her true self. Her heart was telling her that there would be no more hiding.
She took a few more steps before she was stopped by the soft sound of fluttering wings. She opened her eyes. There, laying prone on the ground, were the unconscious figures of Luna and Cadence.
And there, between the two them and facing away from her, was Sandy.
Powder Puff’s adopted daughter sat there on her haunches, looking at the two soundly sleeping Princesses. She heard somepony walking up from behind her, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn and face them. Whoever it was, they kept walking until they stood right next to her.
Then the pony standing next to her sat down so that their sides touched. The large pony had the same welcome but unusual warmth that her mommy always had. She even smelled like her. Something warm and feathery wrapped around the far side of her, and pulled her into a hug that was both familiar and altogether alien. Finally, she looked up.
“Hello,” said the beautiful white Alicorn.
“Hi,” said the trembling Sandy.
“Where are the others?”
“I don’t know.” Sandy looked away and pointed a hoof at the snarling wall of demons, still scrambling against Princess Twilight’s transparent barrier. “One of those things jumped out at me, and I hid under Princess Cadence’s wing. When I opened my eyes, everypony else was gone.”
“Were you hurt?”
Sandy shook her head. Then she looked over and pointed a hoof at Princess Luna, who drooled slightly in her sleep. “That’s Princess Luna. She was hiding as Quick Name.”
“I know.”
“oh,” the little pony said, barely above a whisper. Sandy’s wings buzzed and fluttered. She had a question that she knew she had to ask, but she knew there was no going back to the way things were when she had her answer. “Were... Were you hiding as Powder Puff?”
“I was.”
That was it then. Sandy knew that it was all over. The two ponies shared an uneasy silence, tempered by the occasional sniff from the little green pegasus. Celestia felt something warm a wet drip onto her feathers.
“Why are you crying, Sandy?”
“Because everything’s really scary right now. Because I wasn’t brave enough to go with my friends and they left me here. Because,” she said with a sob, “I think you were just pretending to be my mommy, and the pony that I thought was my mommy isn’t real.”
Sandy was hugged just a little tighter.
“Sandy. Look at me.”
She looked up into the face of this beautiful stranger and saw that she was also crying.
“No more secrets. No more disguises. This is the real me. And I will always be your mommy.”
She stared up into Celestia’s eyes and hoped against all hope. She was searching for something. And then she saw it.
The face of the mare she called mommy, plain as day. Sandy shook for a moment, and the dam burst. She cried and cried, hugging her mommy as tight as she could.
It was an important hug. It meant so much. It said so much.
Before long, the little girl had cried out all her tears; her faith restored. She sat there, hiccuping slightly, and buried her face into her mommy’s warm coat. “Always is a long time.” the little green pegasus said, as brightly as she could manage.
“Yes it is,” Celestia answered with a bittersweet smile, “Yes it is.”