The ponies awoke a little while later, groaning as they did so. "Everypony OK?" asked Applejack as she got up.
"ugh, what happened?" Lightning said as he rubbed his head to get read of the sudden migraine that assailed him. Thunder was suffering the same effect it seemed, groaning loudly.
"Oh thank heavens!" Rarity cried upon having discovered her tail was back to it's original length.
"Oh Rarity, it looks lovely." Fluttershy said, her eyes looking at Rarity with awe.
"I know! I'll never part with it again!" Rarity responded, nuzzling her tail.
"No, I mean your necklace," Fluttershy corrected, "it looks just like your cutie mark."
Rarity admired the necklace and did a quick comparison with her cutie mark. "So does yours" Rarity pointed out. Fluttershy gasped with wonder at her necklace.
"Look at mine, look at mine!" Pinkie Pie cried, showing off hers. The brothers, out of curiosity, checked to see if they had similar jewelry. Upon discovering they didn't, they sighed in obvious disappointment.
"Wow, Twilight." Applejack said, looking at her tiara. "I thought you were talking a lot of hooey, but I guess we do represent the Elements of Friendship!"
"Indeed you do." said an unknown voice.
All the ponies turned towards the voice. They watched as the sun rose, bringing a new dawn and, in a blast of light, the princess of the sun herself, princess Celestia, appeared. The ponies all bowed before her, save for three. Thunder and Lightning jaws sat agape in shock as they beheld the princess, While Twilight gasped in delight.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student." Princess Celestia responded, Nuzzling her student. "I knew you could do it"
"But, you told me it was just an old pony tale." Twilight said, obviously confused.
"I told you to make friends, nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart."
Twilight turned and smiled at her friends as the Princess said this. "Now if only another will as well." The princess continued. "Princess Luna!" The now small and cute looking alicorn princess gasped as she heard her name spoken.
"It has been a long time since I've seen you like this." Princess Celestia said, walking over to Luna. "It is time to put our past differences aside. we were meant to rule together, sister."
"Sister?!" Everypony, including Thunder and Lightning said.
"Will you accept my friendship?" Princess Celestia asked Luna, pausing for her to answer. The rest of the ponies literally stood on the tips of their hooves and leaned forward in anticipation. Pinkie actually fell forward, earning a deadpan look from Thunder.
Princess Luna hesitated for a minute, then, crying the whole while, She ran forth and nuzzled Celestia. "I,m so sorry! I've missed you sister!." Luna cried.
"I've missed you too." Princess Celestia said, her own eyes tearing up.
The ponies watched with approval, then turned their attention to Pinkie, who was sobbing quite loudly.
"Hey, you know what this calls for?" she asked cheering up immediately.
"A party!"
Everypony was back in Ponyville and the festival was in full swing. The ponies had accepted Princess Luna back with open arms, and there were cheers when it was announced that Twilight was staying instead of going back to Canterlot. Only two pegasi were not in the crowd. Thunder and Lightning were on the fringe, watching the celebration. Lightning looked depressed, while Thunder was cheerful.
"What's up?" Thunder asked, noting Lightning's depressed look.
"This was our chance to prove once and for all that we were heroes," Lightning said. "And what do we get? The mares we were supposed to protect ended up saving the day, and we get no thanks for the help we did."
Thunder smiled at his brother. "Hey so we didn't exactly save the day, but Nightmare Moon's defeated and everything is all right. What more could you ask for?" Lightning was cheered up a little and managed to smile back at Thunder.
Then they felt a presence before them and beheld Princess Celestia. "The mares told me that you had joined them as their protectors." She said, looking down on them.
"That's correct princess." Thunder managed to stammer out.
Celestia smiled at them. "Could you do me a favor?" she asked. The brothers nodded, unable to say anything else. "I want you to continue to be their guardians. watch over them and make sure to help them in any way possible."
Thunder and Lightning nodded again, this time unsure of what to say. Celestia smiled at them again and went back to the celebration. The pegasi watched her leave then Pinkie Pie appeared.
"What are you guys doing here? the party's over here!" With that, Pinkie grabbed both of them and dragged them over to the rest of the mane six, who all converged in a group hug around Twilight. Thunder and Lightning smiled at each other, then joined in on the hug, laughing the whole while.
This was going to be an interesting adventure.