"Wait, what?"
Amoris giggled. "It was all just a lesson, a plan to elicit your control! I told you I would get you control, and oh, did I!" She twirled her hoof in the air. "And with an amazing display to boot!"
"But-" Scootaloo stuttered. They were both dumbfounded.
Discord appeared with them (even though he was only a few feet away). "It's another one of Amoris' lessons. The really, really over the top ones. Amoris, you really outdid yourself this time. It took me quite a bit longer than usual to figure it out!"
"What-" Sweetie Belle tried to say, but Amoris interrupted.
"Well, I decided to go all out, you know. I've been gone for thousands of years." She laughed lightly. "Anyway, most of that stuff you two said is true. When I first found that I had Heart Magic, I very quickly found out from the Fates that I was not to be the true bearer of the magic. I was to be the guide for the bearer.
"I was to discover its secrets and all that, find out everything about it so that when you came along, I could impart all my knowledge about it. I'll admit--I was a bit jealous of you. But I would never let it go so far that I would become evil." She giggled again. "No, that would be silly. But I did make it believable. I'm the Divine Actress, like you said. I'm literally the master actor."
"So... That means I'm this 'true bearer'?" Sweetie Belle asked, cocking her head.
"Certainly! And Scootaloo is the true bearer of Soul Magic. That was that dancing you just did, by the way," she added, offhandedly. "It was wonderful."
"Wait. What?" Scootaloo thought back to what happened, and her eyes widened, her pupils shrinking. "I danced!"
"You did!" Amoris replied, seemingly obliviously.
"But dancing is-"
"Really awesome, kid," Rainbow Dash said, grinning. "I just found that out."
Scootaloo paused. "Huh."
Amoris continued before Scootaloo could say more. "I figured out that the only way for Sweetie Belle to control her own magic was through Scootaloo's Soul Magic. How? In the first test I performed, the control slipped away fairly quickly. The second time, when you and Apple Bloom were with her, you tempered her for some time. I wondered why until I noticed that there was something a bit different about your connection, Scootaloo.
"I realised that that was because your Soul Magic was doing something. Or, trying to do something. I don't remember." Amoris chortled. "What I do remember is that that led me to this solution: I had to do something drastic, something that would bring you all so close to the brink that instincts would bring out Soul Magic in Scootaloo. And this was it!" Amoris beamed.
"Wait, so..." Scootaloo thought for a bit. Then, finally, she figured out what happened. "Wait. This was all just a lesson? You're not actually evil?" She was extremely surprised.
Amoris deadpanned. "You just figured that out now?"
"Yeah?" Scootaloo shrugged. Amoris buried her head in her hooves and sighed. Scootaloo remained blissfully oblivious.
"Wait," Twilight said, her brow furrowed. "You're telling me that you did something that could actually kill everypony, pushed us to the brink of failing, and then crossed your hooves and hoped?"
Amoris mulled over the statement for a bit. "Yes, that's exactly what I did! Spot on. But everypony else already knew this, dear. You're supposed to be the smart one."
"It could have killed everypony if we failed?"
"Of course! Obviously you wouldn't fail, but still." Amoris cocked her head. "Why?"
"It could have killed everypony if we failed!" Twilight was indignant. "That was reckless! Incorrigible! It was- I can’t even think of anything else to call it, that’s how terrible it was!”
Amoris just giggled. Twilight threw her hooves up into the air.
"What about all the damage the ponies did?" Fluttershy asked, growing more confident at the realisation.
"Reversed, with the hate spell." Amoris continued to smile infuriatingly. Fluttershy looked around, and Discord helpfully set up another hologram (only 3d this time, thank goodness), showing that the broken and charred buildings had been fixed and the many messes had been cleaned up. The nobles had also all forgotten the secrets accidentally revealed. It was fun watching them playing their "greatly important" games.
Twilight paused. "Wow," she eventually said. "You were thorough."
"Yes I was. That spell took a lot of work, you know. I can't just do that kind of thing in seconds. A certain little pony here probably eventually could, though." All eyes turned to Sweetie Belle and by extension Scootaloo, and they gasped, finally realising what was there.[1]
[1]: Amoris definitely had not put any sort of aversion spell.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, however, were quite confused. "What?" Sweetie asked. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, not something wrong. Although I suggest that Sweetie should look behind her, and Scootaloo should look up just a bit." Amoris smirked slyly.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, rather looking at each other. Their eyes grew wide. "Scootabelle, you have a worn!" They exclaimed, their words jumbled up. With that failure, they instead looked at themselves and their eyes grew wider.
Amoris beamed as they expressed their final observation. "We're alicorns!"
"They're what?!" Twilight and her friends cried, despair quickly filling them. Cutie Mark Crusaders alicorns... That would be terrible.
"Well, you aren't actually alicorns," Amoris replied, twisting her hoof a bit in the snow. "Just winged unicorns."
"Uh..." Scootaloo's face was blank.
"Isn't that the same thing?" Sweetie filled in for her.
"No. We get the word all from alicorn. An alicorn has pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony magic. You just have pegasus and unicorn magic. Although Sweetie probably doesn't have unicorn magic. However, you may be able to use the three-rune system directly." Amoris put her hoof to her chin as she began to think about it.
Twilight's mental gears were beginning to go wonky again. "I thought we got alicorn from all!" she exclaimed, incredulously.
"No, that would be silly." Amoris scoffed. "On the contrary, we got all from alicorn."
A stray hair popped out of Twilight's mane and Luna buried her head in her hooves. "Where did you get alicorn?"
"We made it up, obviously." Amoris giggled. "What else?"
Twilight's eye twitched. "And what about Sweetie Belle using the three rune system directly? Only non-ponies can do that!"
"Well, we haven't seen any regular ponies who can do that. But Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are the first winged unicorns." Twilight opened her mouth, and then closed it.
Then she opened it again. Then she closed it. "Well, I'm glad you understand." Amoris courteously waited to see if Twilight would say anything more. She did not. "With that done, we need discuss-"
"Are we immortal?" Scootaloo suddenly asked. "That would be so cool!"
Sweetie Belle nodded profusely. "Yeah! Wait... That means I would live forever and my sister wouldn't!" She swallowed. Never being able to see her sister would be terrible.
"I have multiple things to say about that, each of which would entail a long conversation." Amoris frowned, not sure if she wanted to deal with that. Then again, their reactions would be interesting.
"I want to hear them!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"I would also like to hear about this," Rarity echoed. "It involves me and my sister."
"Then let it be done," Amoris said, and perked up back to her usual happy demeanour. "One: No, you two are not immortal. You are mortal, but definitely with longer lifespans. You would probably live a few years longer than your children."
"That doesn't 'entail a long conversation,' " Sweetie Belle replied, frowning.
"Well, I guess it doesn't." Amoris giggled. "Anyway, two, even if you were immortal, you wouldn't live any longer than the Elements would."
Rainbow did a double take, immediately realising what that entailed. She wasn't that dumb. "Wait, what?"
"Yes, that means what you think it means," Amoris replied, rolling her eyes. "You're immortal, blah blah blah."
"Oh, my," Fluttershy gasped, quietly. "I'm immortal?"
"Oh my gosh! Does that mean I'm a princess??" Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing up and down. "That would be great!"
"Oh, heavens no. You'd be terrible princesses. That's a fact. I and the other divines easily saw that." Rarity quite predictably fainted.
"That does explain why I saw a really broken copy of myself on a rock after that one stunt." Rainbow chuckled.
"Figures you'd laugh at that," Applejack muttered, scuffing her hoof on the ground.
Amoris, meanwhile, had a hearty laugh. "They really did that? Ha! Oh, those Fates. Morbid sense of humour."
"Why are they immortal?!" Twilight cried, more hairs popping out.
"Whaddya mean why?" asked Applejack, sceptically. "Ya don't want us to be immortal?"
"No, I do, but why we're you made immortal? You're not alicorns! Last I checked, Celestia didn't set up any of us other than me on some magical spell to alicornhood!" Twilight's hair gradually became more frazzled.
"Well, after the Tirek incident, the Tree was feeling particularly feisty," Amoris exclaimed. "It realised that it wasn't going to get any bearers better than you 6, confirmed it with the Fates, and then made you all immortal just like that. Didn't consult any of us."
Twilight's mane instantly frazzled completely.
"At least he didn't make you divine," Amoris continued, her ear flicking. "That would be terrible. Mostly because it wouldn't work." She pointed at Applejack. "There's already a divine of earth and plants. Already one of animals, one of beauty, one of the air and of weather, and Discord's here for chaos.
"A divine for Honesty or Laughter or Generosity would be silly. What could they do? How could they help run the world in a way that we don't already do? At the very best you could be called demigods. I'm sure you could eventually find a way to become alicorns, though." That would certainly be interesting.
"Wait, how did we become alicorns?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Well, winged unicorns." No use counting on Scootaloo to correct her.
"When you used your magics together, you shared your very essence in a bond I didn't think possible. Heart and Soul intertwined and you became almost one. Two thirds of the way, in fact." Amoris smiled. "Anyway, I'm getting off track. So you shared your essence, and that includes your races: pegasus and unicorn. When you broke off, you left those races in each other. Hence, winged unicorns."
"Can I be a horned pegasus?" Scootaloo asked. "I was a pegasus before." She cocked her head and smiled lopsidedly.
"Winged unicorn and horned pegasus can be the same thing. Even though I don't think the latter has as much of a ring to it as the first one, you two are the first of your race." Amoris giggled, and relented. "So you can be what you want to be called."
"Great! I'm a horned pegasus." Scootaloo grinned. "And Sweetie's a winged unicorn." Sweetie nodded profusely.
"There you go then. I haven't figured out whether anything else was shared, but if there was anything it's negligible. It'd be nice to know, though." Amoris mulled over the statement a bit more, and then nodded. "And now we continue to the next topic that relates to this: Even if the Elements were not in fact immortal, and you were immortal, you could visit them any time you want.
"I suppose this really applies mainly to you," she continued, referring to Twilight and her friends. "Since Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are the mortal ones."
Rarity began to smile. "Even when she has died, I can still visit her?" she asked, to confirm.
"Does that mean ah can visit mah brother and Granny?" Applejack inquired as well.
"And my family?" Pinkie echoed.
"All of those, and more," Amoris replied, beaming. "Any time you wanted."
Twilight momentarily lapsed out of her neurosis to ask another question. "Wouldn't that ruin your lesson with loss? I mean, if Celestia knows how to go to the Astral Plane, couldn't she have gone and talked to you?"
"Yes, she could! But here's the kicker: I didn't tell her about it until I was sure she had dealt with the loss of both me and her sister." Amoris nodded to Luna. "Which means this is a good time for me to tell you, Luna. And I suppose by extension the Elements."
"Wait, does that mean I can talk with... Star Swirl?" Twilight's eyes gleamed. Amoris giggled and nodded. Twilight's hair frazzled again and she lapsed back into neurosis.
Amoris giggled again. "Anyway, it's quite simple. All you have to do is die."
"Wait. What?" Applejack was thoroughly perturbed. "Whaddya mean die?"
"Die. I mean you have to die. Just die. The way doesn't matter." Amoris cocked her head, seeming to wonder why Applejack seemed to be against the idea.
"Well, um, I'm not sure I want to die every time I go to the Astral Plane..." Fluttershy whispered. "Wouldn't that hurt?"
"Oh, I can set up a spell that allows you to just die. Disintegrate. Get turned into a fine dust. I'm not going to dance around the subject; it's definitely dying, it's just painless and harmless." Amoris was completely serious. "And then you can return exactly the way you were. Celestia does it all the time. So do the other divines. Really, it's not that hard."
They were all very sceptical. "Fine, if you won't believe me, Luna will do it. Surely you'll believe her."
"I am to do what?" Luna asked, surprised. Amoris transmitted the spell information to her before she could test further. Luna sighed and cast the spell, turning into fine dust that blew away into the wind. The Crusaders and Twilight's friends were horrified.
Luna appeared in the Astral Plane, glancing around and gazing at the place that held many memories. She had not been here in so long. She trotted over to the pool where the World Turtle resided, and looked down at it. It was interesting being bigger than the Turtle that carried the world you resided in. "Why, hello, Turtle."
"Hello, Luna!" the Turtle exclaimed, turning slowly toward her. "Did Cora finally tell you how to get here? Well, of course she did, I already know."
"She did. It is nice to be here again." Luna gazed around at the surroundings and smiled.
"There is a spell to return, but there is no time to teach it to you right now. You have to return immediately. Simply ask me to send you back and I can."
"Sendest thou me back, then, my friend." The Turtle smiled and nodded its head to send her back to where she had been before.
"I feel like an Eric."
Luna reappeared just in time, because Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity had been on the verge of attacking her mother. They all sighed in relief at her return. "Why, pray ye tell, are you about to attack my mother?"
"We thought she killed you!" Rarity replied, bringing her hoof up over her face.
"She did," Luna replied, deadpan. "And then I came back, as she said I would." The three blushed sheepishly.
"Anyway, do you believe me now?" Amoris asked, frowning on the verge of a scowl. They all nodded profusely. "You can all do that: Die, and then ask the Turtle to send you back. It's quite simple. Only immortals can do it. By the way, you're going to become part of the Hearth's Warming legend very soon for what you did." They were all very surprised by this.
"Ah thought we were supposed ta lay low and not get much recognition, 'cause it might attract bad stuff," Applejack replied, raising her eyebrow.
"You are," Amoris responded, sighing. "But, alas, too many ponies here in Ponyville saw what you did, and the ponies throughout Equestria saw you keeping their towns in order. There's no way you can get around it now--especially since you'll have to correct ponies about what happened if you don't want it horribly different from what actually happened.
"And on that topic, you're all eventually going to be hailed as... Well, something. Ponies will figure out you're immortal, and then they will look up to you."
"Um... I'm not sure I want a lot of ponies looking up to me... I couldn't handle that..." Fluttershy whispered, each time she spoke getting lower, almost to the point of inaudibility.
"There's nothing else for it," Amoris replied, dismissively. "They won't get it for at least 50 years, though. Maybe they'll think the Elements are prolonging your lives. But eventually they'll realise."
Pinkie Pie hummed. "Hmmmmmmm." She was leaning towards liking the idea of being immortal, but she wasn't sure. "Is there a way to become not immortal any more?"
Discord burst out laughing heartily. "Ha! You think you can become mortal. Ha!" He laughed more. But nopony else was laughing. He sighed. "Oh, pooh. Fine. There's no way to become mortal once you're immortal. None at all. It can't be done. I'm not sorry, though. You'll realise it's much better to be immortal. All those stories about how sad and lonely Celestia must feel are all wrong.
"And if Twilight can deal with being a divine without being like..." He pointed at the extremely neurotic Twilight. "Like that all the time, you immortals can deal with it, too. All of you 6 have equal mental and magical capabilities. Eventually, like Amoris here said, you could find a way to become alicorns, but not divines. Divinity is not completely based on mental and magical capabilities." Discord conjured up fake wings and horns for the five.
"Eventually, you will be recognised. Ponies will figure out disguises, they'll know when someone new comes after you mysteriously disappear, etcetera. There will never be a permanent way to get out of it. But eventually, like Discord said, you'll warm up to it." Amoris waved her hoof dismissively.
"Well, you got me," Rainbow Dash said, finally. "I guess I can't say no."
"Rainbow Dash, I of all ponies know you want it for the recognition," Rarity replied, chortling.
"Well- Yeah, but so do you!" Dash retorted, blushing.
"But of course. I won't deny that. Eventually I'll be a princess!" Rarity exclaimed, beaming happily. "Even not an alicorn, they'd have to make me a princess if they made that buffoon Blueblood a prince."
Amoris' jaw dropped. "Celestia actually made Blueblood a prince? After I specifically instructed her not to before I died?" Amoris scuffed the ground with a hoof.
Rarity's pupils shrunk to the size of marbles. "If you instructed her not to do that before you died..." She summoned up a fainting couch and fell back on it. "Blueblood is the only possible suitor that'd live as long as me because he's immortal!" she wailed, drawing her hoof up over her face and covering her eyes with it.
"Yes, Blueblood is immortal," Amoris replied. "There's a perfectly good reason for it, and he certainly deserves it, but that doesn't change the fact that he is, like you said, a buffoon."
"Only very few nobles know that Blueblood is immortal," Luna added. "Apparently, Celestia magically 'ageth' Blueblood until his 'death', and then introduceth him as a hidden son. The nobles are clueless in most matters not relating to their games, and only a few very sharp nobles know anything about it."
"And Blueblood is not your only immortal suitor," Amoris said, winking at Spike. Rarity was oblivious to who she was referring to, having forgotten about Spike's crush again and missing the wink because of her hoof over her eyes.[2]
[2]: Amoris later spoke to the Fates about this. She found that they had adamantly decided that a relationship between Spike and Rarity would not be an option for the next 30 years. They had been feeling particularly feisty, inspired by the Tree. Thankfully, however, the Fates' influence on immortals that weren't divine faded with time.[3]
[3]: Divines were immediately unchangeable.
"Wait, so why do we have to die to go to the Astral Plane?" Rainbow asked, suddenly, in a moment of insight. "That seems sort of weird. I mean, it might make sort of sense with just immortals, but divines? Really?"
"Well, one: Not all rules can be easily applied to a select group of people," Amoris began. "Especially when it involves the finicky World Turtle, particularly the boundaries between worlds. Two: Well, first, guess whose fault it is."
Discord scrunched his face up from the suspense, but could hold the answer in for no more than exactly 4.2 seconds. Those 4.2 seconds were spent saying, "Oh, I can't hold it in any more!" overdramatically. "It's my fault.
"Figures," Applejack said, rolling her eyes.
Discord looked taken aback (in an obviously fake manner). "Why, you offend me! How could you think I'm obviously at fault for every silly rule the divines have? Other than the fact that for most I am." He chuckled.
"Ya just answered yer own question," Applejack replied, smirking. Discord muttered something unintelligible.[4]
[4]: Even if it were made louder, it would still be unintelligible.
Amoris threw her hooves up in the air. "Will any of you let me continue?" They all closed their mouths before saying anything further. "Finally. Anyway, a long time ago, Discord got into the business of transporting ponies to the Astral Plane for a fee. This would have been just fine back then, since we didn't see anything wrong with ponies going to see their dead relatives in paradise.
"But then we found out from the Turtle that apparently, ponies residing on the Turtle are very, very small, because they keep their original form. Dying sends your heart, soul, and mind, the three eternal parts of a pony, up to the Astral Plane in a much bigger form. But just teleporting there didn't do that, and since they still conformed to the World Turtle's laws, making them really big would be very, very bad, naturally. Even with Discord's magic.
"We let it continue for a while, because ponies got to see their loved ones before they died--Discord shrunk the ponies already in the Astral Plane, because that would work fine--but then one pony accidentally stepped on a mare, which naturally killed her." They all gasped, including Twilight (excluding Discord), even though she was still neurotic.
"So we convened and unanimously--minus Discord--made the rule. Not before asking the World Turtle if we'd be able to except the immortals and divines. It said we could not, and so you get the rule as it is presently. However, a stipend of the rule stated that you had to be divine or immortal to return, and we hadn't figured out how to make ponies immortal but not divine yet, even though we knew that was a category, so we apologised, made her divine, gave everypony false memories of her gaining divinity, and sent her back."
"Who was the divine?" Rarity asked. "Do we know her?"
"You do, in fact. Her name is Cadence." They all gasped again. Cadence hadn't actually ascended of her own merit? But it was clear she didn't know that.
"Wait, isn't her name 'Me Amora Cadenza' or something like that?" Rainbow Dash asked, cocking her head.
"Oh, no, of course not. That would be absurd. She was a regular pony and regular ponies hardly ever gave their children non-Equestrian names. Celestia added that stuff after I died to make it 'official' or something." Amoris scoffed. "Anyway, we needed a Goddess of Love anyway, and Cadence was pink and had a heart for a cutie mark, so it was perfect."
Twilight's mane and tail frazzled further, if that was even possible. "You know, I feel like I should stop saying things that are totally different from her perspectives. I've broken her twice in the last two days, now."
"Hey, about that!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Did anypony else notice that the days were moving really really fast?"
"Hey, yeah!" Rainbow Dash realised. "I'm not even close to tired, and night's passed at least twice by now!"
"I'll explain that in a bit," Amoris replied. "First we need to lay out what needs to happen soon: We need to figure out who is the Guide for Scootaloo. The Fates probably know, but they'll laugh at me if I ask them. That's just how they are."
"Okay, so what about the day and night thing?" Dash asked, again. "What happened?"
"Ah, yes, that. Before I returned, the Fates told me to speed up the movement of the sun and the moon, for suspense. I didn't know what they meant yet, of course. Today is Hearth's Warming Eve, but I arrived early two days ago. And it is almost Hearth's Warming Day." Sure enough, the moon was coming up and night was falling over Equestria.
"This has been a very serious conversation, with many important discussions and revelations," Amoris continued, sagely. "So, let's abruptly change the tone to something much more light-hearted! We have about two hours to set up a Hearth's Warming party in Ponyville, so get to it! I've already prepared a party in Canterlot, I just need to set it up. I'll be back! Tata!" And with that, she teleported away.
"Did... she... say... party?!" Pinkie exclaimed, grinning widely.
Twilight's bubble of neurosis finally popped and she returned to normal. "I think she said party. Well, we've got a town to prepare!" The others in the group cheered their approval and the town began a grand reprise of the song that had started this amazing day.
Scootaloo danced around as Sweetie sang, jumping up and stringing streamers and lights across the trees. Rainbow Dash shot about the town, placing poles on the tops of the buildings as Fluttershy followed, stringing long lines of streamers and ornaments across the poles.
Pinkie shot her party cannon again and again, decorating the buildings with wreaths and confetti. Discord conjured tables and food and even a DJ to help out the montage as the ponies decorated much faster than they should have.
But that was the power of the Heart Song.
As the ponies sang the chorus, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo galloped up to Luna. "Princess Luna!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Can we be princesses?"
"Just honorary princesses," Sweetie clarified. "Since we're almost alicorns!"
"Little ones, you cannot just be princesses," Luna replied. "Ponies will question your princess-hood."
"No they won't," Scootaloo said. "They'll question that we aren't princesses!" Apple Bloom galloped up and nodded profusely in agreement.
"Ya know, ah read in a book somewhere that there was this one pony who had some disorder or somesuch, so she looked like an alicorn even though she weren't one," Apple Bloom recalled. "Everypony asked why she weren't a princess. Tec- somethin' or other. Dunno. Everypony mostly forgot 'bout 'er."[5] Luna hummed, mulling over the statement.
[5]: This is a good time to mention that each sentient race on Ioka was created in the image of one of the divines. Thus, each race has its own divine. Some have more than others. Each race's divine(s) looked different in some way from the regular creatures.
"And since we're little, they'll get that we don't have any responsibility yet!" Sweetie Belle added.
"An' if'n they become real alicorns?" Apple Bloom continued. "An' ah think that could happen. They'll already be princesses!"
"Yeah! What if we became alicorns? Ponies might become suspicious that the alicorns they were seeing are only just then becoming princesses!" Sweetie Belle argued. Luna was sceptical.
Amoris appeared. "I love that idea!" she exclaimed, happily. "We'll have an impromptu declaration at dawn-"-the night was rapidly approaching midnight-"-and then a coronation as soon as we can! And those two bullies of yours will be so jealous."
"Yeah!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exclaimed, together, while Apple Bloom whooped. Luna sighed.
"If thou sayest so, mother," she reluctantly caved.
"Hopefully your sister will listen to reason as well," Amoris added, chortling. "Anyway, I'm going to go finish the preparations for the Canterlot party and talk to Celestia. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, lay low and don't let the bullies see you." Amoris giggled. "This will be good." Then she disappeared.
The Crusaders grinned.
Midnight passed and Mayor Mare stepped up to the stage as the ponies cheered. "Happy Hearth's Warming, everypony!" she exclaimed. "It has been a mess these past three days, but we've gotten through it, just like we always do!" The ponies cheered again. "I don't want to delay your party-going any longer. Let's celebrate Hearth's Warming, our Founders, and our heroes!"
Apple Bloom trotted around the party, knowing that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were following her as inconspicuously as they could. It wasn't working, but she didn't let them know that. She was acting as a decoy, keeping them away from her friends while they were prepped for their introduction as princesses of Equestria.
Apple Bloom led them to an area where any other ponies were out of ear-shot. That way, she could stall longer by letting them make fun of her.
"I heard that Scootaloo got her lame cutie mark," Diamond said, snidely, as she emerged. "And you still haven't."
"Why are you guys even together any more?" Silver asked, rhetorically. "You're the only one without a cutie mark, so you're still even lamer than them."
"'Cause we're friends," Apple Bloom replied, adamantly.
"Hah!" Diamond exclaimed. "If I were them I would ditch you the moment I got my cutie mark."
"Too bad we're better friends than you two are," Apple Bloom retorted, grinning. "And anyway, ain't no way you'll be able to call 'em lame after dawn, and even me by extension." She chuckled lightly. While usually she'd be put down by the insults, the current situation was too great for the same old stuff to bring her down.
"Like any of you will ever be not lame." Silver adjusted her glasses.
"Oh, jus' you wait 'till dawn up on that there stage." Apple Bloom smiled as the sky began to grow lighter. The sun would soon come up and the two bullies would be proven oh so wrong.
The bullies had to see this. No, of course they didn't believe her! But still, you know, they had to make sure that she was lying. Obviously she was, but anypony else might think she wasn't, right?
As the sun rose, trumpeters lined up on the stage, side by side against the back, leaving room for one pony or two foals to enter. The two bullies pushed and shoved through the crowd, making their way to the front of the ponies watching while eliciting a few disapproving glares and disgruntled oofs.
Amoris stepped out onto the stage, her wings spread wide and a glow coming from behind her to illuminate her further. "Hello, my little ponies! It is I, your queen, the Goddess of Care, the Divine Actress, Cor Cantae Amoris!" Many of the ponies murmured, for they didn't know that they had a queen.
"In case you don't remember ever having a queen, that's because I only recently returned from what you could call a very long vacation. I returned to guide a very special pony, and bring that pony's friend into her own power. And it is with great pleasure that I introduce our newest two alicorns, honorary princesses of Equestria! Without further ado, Princess Sweetie Belle and Princess Scootaloo!"
Amoris rose up to make way for the two fillies, who stepped out into the sunlight, illuminated by the glow. It was clear that they were taller than they had been before the ordeal began. They unfurled their wings and turned toward each other, touching horns as they proudly displayed their cutie marks: Sweetie Belle with a heart enveloped in her light green aura, with music notes rising up from it, and Scootaloo with a pair of ballet slippers enveloped in a blue magical aura, bubbles rising behind the slippers to represent the soul.[AN 1]
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stared. Silver shook her head quickly to get rid of what was obviously an illusion, but succeeded only in throwing off her glasses, which she scrambled to pick up. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo glanced inconspicuously at the disgruntled bullies and smirked to each other.
Luna had teleported back to Canterlot to celebrate Hearth's Warming with her mother and sister. She sipped tea as she watched the nobles dance, all oblivious to having ever revealed the secrets they so carefully held. She chuckled lightly at the thought, and then further when she realised they thought they could hide their secrets from the princesses.
She yelped and startled back when Discord appeared in front of her in his suit. "Oh," Luna said, when she realised who it was. "Hello, Discord."
"Why, hello, Luna!" he exclaimed, bowing with his claw to his chest. "Fancy seeing you here. Well, I came to see you here, so strike that." He chuckled lightly. "I have come to ask you... For a dance."
Luna was caught off-guard for the second time that day. She looked at him sceptically. "A dance? And why, pray tell, wouldst thou please to dance with me?"
"It is a token of our friendship. To make certain that you want to be my friend, you see." Discord smiled and snapped his fingers, turning into a light green alicorn Luna's size, but with the same suit and his usual two horns rather than one. "May I have this dance?"
Luna thought for a bit. "If it is for thy described purpose, then let us dance." She smiled and took Discord's hoof, stepping onto the dance floor. The nobles made way for the two, extremely surprised that Discord of all creatures was dancing with Luna of all ponies.
Discord mentally pumped his fist. Score!
And so they began to dance.
Back in Ponyville, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo turned toward the crowd again, and Sweetie Belle began to vocalise, a crisp, familiar tune filling the air as the magic of the Heart Song compelled the citizens to sing with her.
"The fire of friendship lives in our hearts,
"With our hearts and our souls, we cannot drift apart." At this, Scootaloo began to slowly dance, her own misty magic calling down a light snow.
"Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few,
"Dancing and singing will see us through." The Knife rose up into the air and turned into a fine dust. The magic spread the dust, not just around Equestria, not just around Ioka, but all the way out into the relatively massive pool of the Astral Plane.
"The times we've spent together as one,
"How wondrous they've been since our quest has begun.
"We are a circle of pony friends..." Even the two bullies joined in now, the magic bringing them in as well.
"A circle of friends we'll be to the very end!"
Somewhere in the Astral Pool[6], tiny pieces of dust began to-
[6]: The Astral Pool (with capitals) was the pool where the World Turtle resided. There were many pools in the Astral Plane, but this particular pool was capitalised because the Turtle wanted it that way.
"Oh no, none of that!" the Turtle exclaimed, completely removing any traces of the spell and then incorporating the matter of the Knife into random parts of the World. With the help of its Mind Magic, it even did some calculations to actually change the atom types, just to make sure that it couldn't possibly be the Knife in any way, shape, or form.
And so the Knife was unmade.