PONY POV SERIES SEASON 8: FINALE!

by Alex Warlorn


How We Came To Be Here

Sorry if you can't hear everything I say from here on out, no stuff isn't being erased from existence, we're almost out of time, and I think my messages are being filtered. But we're almost done. Hold on.

The Half-Lights? They've done nothing but be loyal to what Twilight would want, like any daughter. I can't hate them.

Shining Armor, he's done nothing but protect Cadence and help Twilight be a stronger pony. He cares more about them than he does himself...I could never be angry at him.

After I got a chance to check them out...I knew they were like Twiley, all wonderful ponies.

But...but...I just want Twilight back! So she can be in this future WITH us!

Don't ask me how, but I managed to get an interview with Rota Fortuna before I pulled the stupidest stunt in the history of stupid stunts I just told ya about.

She was really the first Alicorn that made it clear really, when you're speaking with a concept, you're talking with a terminal, a concept is everywhere their concept is.

Seriously...while entering her reality, I saw a version of her walking down an infinite road with stones made out choices and events, with a new version of her coming into being every time the road split, laying down the bricks in the road. A pretty infinite grassy field as far as the eye could see for the road to be laid down on. Where she was coming from was Celestia's Mom's dawn, and all the roads were being slowly built towards Discord's Mom's domain of dusk. If I squinted really hard, I could see another dawn beyond that, and instinctively knew another dusk was behind that.

Then my perceptions changed and there was a giant version of her surrounded by gears, cogs, piano strings and wires, many hooked up directly to her mechanical wing, and others wrapped around her tail and hooves...like she was a prisoner of her own realm. Standing on a big cog shaped platform surrounded in an infinite machine of clockwork pieces ticking away ponies choices as time moved forward.

Then I was in a bronze and gold observatory, with tall windows, swirl gray and and black polished marble floor, and a beautiful star scape outside. A beautiful brass model of the universe, no, of worldlines turning forever above our heads hanging from the ceiling.

I explained what I was doing there and what I was hoping she could help me find.

"You're chasing a dream."

"But there has to be some possible future somewhere where it happens!"

"You're that determined?"

"Yes."

Rota Fortuna looked through a telescope and several magnifying glasses at once, pointing them down at a big crystal ball ornamentally raised in one corner of the octagon, hexagon, whatever-gon room.

An eye that would have made Tiamat's look tiny stared down at me from one of the skylights. I gave out a yelp. The eye moved away as soon as Rota pulled her eyes away from the telescope.

"I can't say there are no worldlines where it doesn't happen. But worldlines where it has to happen aren't pleasant."

"Are you saying me seeing my best friend again isn't pleasant?"

"What you desire is selfish Rainbow Dash...each of your friends lost their Twilight Sparkle to Nightmare Eclipse. The friends of the final Twilight who brought Eclipse's ruin lost their Twilight. I lost a sister. But it is your Twilight Sparkle you most think of."

"I never said it wasn't," I said, my Element feeling heavy. Hey! Hey! Please stop with the stink eye! I'm...still kinda only mortal. "But you create every possible road for ponies to choose from. You've got to be able to create a road where it can happen without something awful happening!"

"Those worldlines tend to be forced, convoluted, and often drive away those-who-watch, and without those-who-watch, a world line before it has a chance to mature will wither away and die. Often they are created by inserts who are naught but empty vessels for the will of immature those-who-make."

"That's dumb! You're saying something awful HAS TO happen for something good to happen?"

"Not at all. I am saying everything has consequences. Every good choice, every bad choice, every grey choice. Both positive and negative."

"But...if there is no conservation for the existence of souls, it should be possible right?"

"Except Amicitia divided herself up into something new. There is a difference."

"I'm just asking...Is what I'm after completely impossible?"

"...not completely impossible. But this isn't just the price you and your friends would pay."

"I see."

"You have a chance to be part of a new universe that will need protectors and guides...you can...not balance out...but atone for your part as Nightmare Eclipse's coconspirators. You and your friends will be as loved and worshipped as any concept."

"And my best friend won't be there to enjoy it with me."

"You do have a filly, several in fact, who DO wish to enjoy it with you. Not counting your friends. I won't say you shouldn't risk what you have for something more. But think about how your choices will effect others who only desire to be your family. A choice is a rock thrown into a pond."

"...If I want something that will only cause me pain, why not just stop me here?"

"...Because I am Free Will. The ability to take away a being's right to self determination is something I simply do not have. Be glad I don't. Eclipse robbed herself of that right. It is VERY precious Rainbow Dash! Not all of us have that privilege!" She spread out her mechanical wing, and in the metal's shine I saw what I was made to know was true and understood.

I saw it in her clockwork wing...so many worldlines...and in all of them, the one constant I did see...Rota Fortuna loses one of her beautiful feathered wings. It's not even always the same way! Sometimes it's fighting the Invading Pain Fiends, or Morning Star, an almost miss of the Elements of Chaos that turns one wing gold, sacrificed protecting...Clover? Or some pony like her? But her beautiful wings would never stay a pair. And from that severed wing was born The Wolf.

Maybe I should have listened more, maybe I shouldn't have, all I know is...is that I thought I could make things right for my friends.

Applejack...was the one who convinced Fluttershy to leave Flutternice behind. To wait for us to come back.

"If she stays with us, ya'll only drag her into trouble with us. She doesn't need to be messed up in our schemes again."

So Fluttershy left Flutternice with 'Princess Gaia' ('Shy had corrected me on how to say her name). Don't ask why Fluttershy trusted her so completely.

"She's the only pony I know I can trust to look out for Flutternice's best interests," she explained.

Meanwhile..."Scootaloo."

"Yes Rainbow Dash?" Asked the Scootaloo from the worldline I'd called home.

"I might be going on a really long trip soon, I might not be back for a while. Everything that's mine is yours in the meantimes. I want you to promise me you'll look after the Scootaloo Army Alliance of Awesome, including you. If any of 'em need saving from themselves...help'em any way you can."

"You can count on me Dash! Promise!" We nuzzled.

And Spike insisted, "We should have just gone to the dawn of time and found Twilight's new worldline that way, or ya ASKED how to get there? I still say if we explained everything things could have worked out."

"They might have said 'no,'" I said.

"Might?" AJ asked.

"Maybe we could have asked Discord for help." Fluttershy offered. "He'd have wanted to help us, I know he would have!"

"He would have gotten in trouble. And we've paid him in enough pain already," AJ said. "And I'd rather we DIDN'T spark another Nature's Fury Vs Nature's Law war."

Pinkie Pie said, "Well I think Dashie you should have stopped being a grouch and asked Razzaroo for help. She was able to have New Applejack and New Rarity exist from our Applejack and our Spike. She...she knows what it's like to lose everypony and...and see them turned into somepony different...even their souls being remade."

"I didn't ask her because I have a grudge. Razzaroo on the verge of becoming a concept. I'm not dragging her into this. This is...this is our crazy scream. She doesn't need to have her future ruined because of us...besides, I kind of like the idea that a hero can have a miracle help them out."

"What about-"

"NO! NO to EVERYONE," I finally said. "We're not dragging anypony to into our horseapples with us this time! We're doing this on our own, that is final...we've got enough blood on our hooves, let's make sure we're only risking spilling our own."

So here we were. In the universe Twilight Sparkle had made in her sacrifice.

We all bawled like fillies when we first saw it first hoof, when we crossed the line and into the pony world. Ponyville as we remembered it, Ponyville as it was supposed to be, our friends and neighbors as they were supposed to be. S-sorry! That's really sounding like that mockery of Twilight isn't it? But just seeing everypony happy and sane...we were all crying tears of joy. Nopony had to be erased for it. It rocked. It was wonderful...

Mayor Mare's not a statue ranting and raving. Apple Bloom's not a zombie. Sweetie Belle's not a doll. Carrot Top's not a psychotic triggered by the color green. Derpy delivering the mail in Ponyville and not marching around a castle. Dinky's a pony and not a muffin. Gilda's alive and doesn't have a curse to become feral at the sight of normal ponies. Scootaloo...I don't believe it. I saw the two of us together.

And yes, Fluttershy was even happy that Silver Spoon didn't get her head lopped off by her own dad. I was more happy that a father hadn't been forced to betray his daughter.

And one other thing? This world line's Discord was a statue. And may he stay one for the million years it'll take him to stop being a brat. This is what we should've done from day one. Or at least tried to do. There was no 'let's play again' option here. These ponies, they were being allowed to enjoy what came after, they could live their lives again.

This was the world Amicitia had made. And nopony could even thank her for it.

Okay...You know how the Half-Light, could chat with ponies either retroactively in their heads, or face to face?

We were less than that. We barely counted as ghosts. We couldn't do that.

Since we had entered via the spirit world, we didn't have a physical presence. Unless we felt like getting born here, but none of us were eager to go through diapers again. Or maybe it was just that we didn't belong here.

This also meant we couldn't meddling directly with Shining Armor or the Half-Lights. On the bright side, it also meant nopony could really sense us as more than a bad feeling. We were basically spirits.

So our big scheme kinda hit a roadblock.

Also, since we were hopeless amateurs with time magic from just what we saw Twilight's mockery do (remember the whole 'why I couldn't get professional help from mortals?'), and Fauna Luster is timeless, and something was screwing around with the worldline of Amicitia's gift to everypony: let's just say our flight had to land in another when due to the turbulence.

Fun fact, we were NOT omnipresent, at all. We spent the major of our time shadowing our counter-parts like stalkers.

Hey who gave you that comic book?! Are you even listening?

Hey! Oh, hey. This is private chat between the two of us! You got something you wanna ask too? Why did none of us do anything about Diamond Tiara before it was too late?

We didn't know. We didn't think she was important enough. We didn't think she had any meaning in the big flow of things...So the bully ran away from home? Who cares about that? Meant less misery for Scoots and her friends right? We had a lot more important thing to keep an eye on… we weren't present when Diamond stabbed Rarity.

We didn't know Discord was involved until the spirits of black magic gathered to crown her as a Nightmare...

Other Nightmares...they're loyalty gone wrong, they're the night gone wrong, they're...the magic of friendship gone wrong...

She's wrongness for wrongness' sake.

We can't even sense her magic anymore unless we're looking straight at her!

We forgot ourselves when we, for that one moment, sensed her rebirth, the spirits of black magic themselves calling out in a voice only we could hear, heralding her advent.

We came at her with everything, except we were made to remember that everything was 'nothing' in this case. We were a glitch in the system, like her. We were a wrongness in creation, like her. Except she had been born here, she was native, we weren't.

So yeah, we think Discord sensed us, and so did his new filly of the corn. We were a whole gallery of Nightmares and one Fallen Alicorn, we had millions of years of stolen experience on our side...and could physically affect them as much as shadows on a wall. We were to him what a cold breeze is to a normal person. Most ponies don't think 'Ah! It's a ghost trying to murder me'...they think 'what was that breeze?' So no, we didn't even get the justification of scaring the horseapples out of him for a second.

The best we could do was nudge things on occasion, and only if doing it made sense to the pony doing it!

We found out later that Discord had managed to claw Half-Light Dawn when she contacted Diamond Tiara's heart, and he wasn't even free, he was just channeling through her! I don't know if that had to do with how Diamond Tiara was related to Discord, or not. This had NEVER happened in any of the worldlines Twilight's mockery had shown us.

All I knew was, as a Nightmare she felt WRONG even by our standards, we couldn't even sense her new name and title, or Tarot, if she had one.

...I admit. All those cycles of taking Diamond Tiara from Discord? I at least knew by the time we started doing it Discord cared about her and she cared about him...I...I felt like this was a perversion of that one bit of light our Discord had for millions of years. They were still treating each other like family, thick as blood, but... instead of her being his one sunny day he genuinely cared for...she was his midnight on a new moon. It just felt wrong.

I'm talking about things out of order again aren't I? After a couple million years with 'Nightmare Paradox', you really start to lose touch with your sense of linearity.

Okay, let me try and get my thoughts a little bit more in order.

You done reading your comic? Okay. Not sure how much I could have just told that didn't count as...(what did Pinkie Pie call it?) 'out of character knowledge.'

One thing I realized I could do? After one too many tries to communicate with ourselves? I shared a lot of my memories of my life as Discord's pawn with Rainbow Dash as dreams. Including the fight where I killed her. Maybe it was the bond between us that brought us here in the first place, maybe it was because we had the same soul, maybe we shared the same dreamscape so I didn't register as an intruder, all I knew is that Princess Luna never came coming. No, I never showed her Twilight's mockery, that wouldn't solve a thing...

And I made sure Rainbow Dash would die before abandoning the coolest awesomest orange filly I know, that she knew exactly how bad it could go, how easily she could lose her new family, yes I said family don't look that surprised, you must have figured out how she felt.

I also shared with her memories and visions of other Rainbow Dashes, including one who unwittingly drove a Scootaloo straight into Discord's open arms when she decided to call an orphanage instead of take her Scootaloo in. Oh! I… I really shouldn't have mentioned that one. Look, Discord takes advantage of… it's not that bad? You already figured how Chrysalis would have done the same if given the chance? Okay...That's honestly kind of disturbing you've been through enough to realize that.

No! I promise! I wasn't trying to torture Rainbow Dash. Or anypony. Your Rainbow Dash would protect Equestria's best filly from the hordes of Tartarus before abandoning her family, she'd have to completely cease to exist before she'd turn on the world's coolest orange pegasus, she would never repeat my mistakes...Hehe, at least one thing I've done in all these years turned out for the better...At least this Rainbow wouldn't have to realize you don't know what you have until it's gone... Thank you for the hug, you don't know how much it means to me.

I'm sorry, I don't know if me poking my head through into this world is what retroactively triggered your Rainbow almost becoming a new Nightmare Manacle, or her almost becoming Nightmare Manacle was what let me find Twilight's world full of reharmonized ponies to begin with...All I know is that she bent but never broke.

Oh...you didn't know about that...look, she was in a dark place after Discord hurt her, like you, her friends finally brought it to the surface and helped her out. It's what inspired her to do the best thing she's done since helped beat Discord! I'm sorry for telling you all this.

Stop saying sorry so much? Heh. I used to say the same thing. Still do. But, admitted you messed up is important, take it from me.

The time we arrived?...Like I said, my sense of linearity was really atrophied and we had turbulence flying in. Can you blame me? That time loop lasted longer than AJ could count, and she still hadn't been with that mockery of Twilight from the beginning.

I think it was right after this world's Fluttershy became a new Nightmare Whisper for a few days, then got zapped into a nice new sparkling Alicorn right off the rainbow colored assembly line.

These ponies didn't know they were giving a first birthday party to a new fledgeling goddess with their Gaia Festival.

Yes, Fluttershy's secretly an Alicorn now, keep it under your helmet. Her Alicorn form got sealed away because she kinda messed up with it before, and needs time to learn how to use it the right way. Please don't mention it.

Our Nightmare Whisper had been at a lost for words when their Nightmare Whisper, looking a lot like her giant Nightmare Monster Decoy Puppet, got ka-zapped. By Fluttercruel of all ponies.

She also broke down crying realizing something. "She...she didn't kill anypony...not one of them…her Flutterni-Fluttercruel...she raised her..."

I think she felt like I did realizing the real Rainbow Dash of our worldline had succeeded where I failed. I know exactly how she felt. It bucking stinks to see your idealized self and realize it wasn't you.

And Princess Gaia, they all called her Princess Gaia...

"Fluttershy, I'm waiting," I said. The others all looked at her too.

"Well...it's like this."

I'll skip the stuff you've all heard before. But yeah...I think that mockery of Twilight mentioned a Fluttershy becoming an Alicorn but...I sure never expected this. I wonder if there's a goddess Berry Punch born during one of the cycles that I never heard about, no don't tell me, maybe I don't want to know what her concept and domain would be like. I guess this is proof a Concept is eternal and all Twilight's mockery ever killed of an Alicorn was flesh and bone..

I wonder, that Princess Gaia, did she not meet with us, cause she was afraid we'd feel less real with her around? Did she not want to see us after everything we did to her foal? Maybe I'll ask her someday. Maybe she just didn't sense us in the mess of pain and sin she absorbed from the Sunnytowners...

Maybe our connection to time had atrophied too...we were able to see the Half-Lights, and were able to follow them, they seemed to be where the action was after all. Guess that was kind of their job.

You have no idea how many times I screamed at 'Twilight' to 'wake up' and telling 'her' I was right here, and to 'pull yourself together!' Maybe hearing the voice of the pony she thought was obliterated would be a friendship strong enough for her to come back into existence even if her essence had been divided up and remade?

They...they didn't even hear me.

I...I...couldn't I just get her back for a few moments?...Just long enough to say how I feel? Please Rota Fortuna…let me have that...Right...you can't play favorites no more than Fauna Luster can hate a living life. Is this what you meant by this only leading to pain?

Remember how I said I think our connection to time had atrophied? I think it's what let us hitch a ride with the Half-Lights when they were helping their brother along. Even through events that had already happened technically by the time we arrived in this world line. Or time was just royally bucked up for some reason. Hard to tell...it's time.

And you've gone cross-eyed.

You again? Did you have to give her another comic? She needs a break? Okay, fine.

I didn't mean to confuse her like that. Time is weird. Including noticing details and facts that didn't add up even with my screwed up sense of 'before' and 'after.' Yeah, you know this story already, another of Pandora's wayward foal accidentally unleashed by some foolish deer trying to enter Pandora's domain but just breaking into her waste basket. And of course every sealed eldritch horror isn't as friendly as Ponythulhu.

"After I have remade the world in my own image! You shall be next!" Pandora's mistake had pointed right at us. Yeah. The first being who could see us, and it had to be this thing. He tried to eat us...but we were either too spicy for him, his eyes were bigger than his stomach, or he wasn't a big enough fish yet, or maybe he just couldn't touch us either. Either way, since he couldn't do anything to us, and we couldn't do anything to him, he ignored us like we weren't even there. After all, we couldn't be bent to his will to be Summons for one of his fancy attacks, and we couldn't be opposition for him to overcome, so we meant nothing to him.

Chrysalis never mentioned us about when she got tossed into her state of...what did Pinkie Pie call it? "Cheap, off-screen, brush off death."

There's plenty of layers to limbo granny! Shadows of existence, the realm of mirrors, the domain of dreams, you could fill a book just talking about him. Besides...ahem, we -might- have had a few run ins with her, but maybe she didn't recognize us. Or maybe she didn't think we were worth mentioning during her state of worse than Hell. I'm not Nightmare Mirror, I don't have to tell everything completely honestly. Ya know, in Dark World, most of the time Chrysalis was on the good guys' side, when she didn't let Cadence absorb her, they were co-rulers of the swarm.

At least she didn't try to eat us. Props to her. Yeah she was a evil nag, but most ponies don't realize how much damage she saved the world from when she was a wanderer in Zebrafrica and ate that stupid jerk magic-eating feathered thingie from another universe. And to her credit, unlike him, she was no coward.

Welcome back kiddo. Sorry for that headache before.

On a tiny note about books, I'm an officially now a Daring Do fan too...I read that book in the hospital with Dash. And it only took me a few million years to appreciate books!

The breaking of this worldline from the heart world meant all bets were off, but we still couldn't break through. Sometimes I wondered how we didn't explode from our befores, nows, and after getting jumbled.

At least it was getting better being in a real worldline instead of the imitation Ponyville I think helped a lot, and being in the Mother of Everything had helped a bit.

Were we there when Shining Armor faced off against Pandora's mistake? Yeah. Shining Armor was also among our first attempts to create a new Nightmare. Ow!

Wait wait wait! We had a really good reason! No seriously we did! You think I want to go back to working for that send up of Twilight? She destroyed my universe! And remember? No more blood on our hooves?

It wasn't like that! It wasn't!

I wasn't trying to get Twilight Sparkle's brother to ascend so it would force the other three to ascend and force them back together into one so I could have Twilight back, I Pinkie Pie swear!

Okay okay! So here's the deal! Maybe...maybe we were trying to stop Shining Armor from killing Pandora's mistake? I'm serious! He's Twilight! And Twilight's nightmare when based on all that anger would just torture him and breaking his toys until the wolf arrives, then bada-boom! He was never a Nightmare to begin with!

Or if he was still a Nightmare after, this world's Twilight and her friends, just rinse and wash and him with the Elements like they did Fluttershy, and ta-da, Equestria's first Alicorn Prince!

I'd like to see Chrysalis brainwash him after he'd been purified by the Elements and become an Alicorn!

Tartarus, maybe if we were lucky, being challenged like that would make him go all the way the other direction from rising to it and skip Nightmare straight to Alicorn! It's happened before! Just ask Trixie!...Uh, our Trixie. Erm, the Trixie from the loop that gave that middle-hoof-to-Twilight's-goodness the scar on her face...

Come on it was a good plan! Are you saying Equestria wouldn't do good without another Alicorn around? And think about gender equality! And Cadence wouldn't have to outlive her husband!

We were gonna make sure he got purified before he caused any trouble!

Look, we're from a post apocalyptic dystopia, even without that mockery of Twilight our solutions aren't 'sparkling white' as they used to be. And can you really call a new Alicorn around to protect this world Twilight made a bad thing? Besides, once he was a god, the Wolf wouldn't be able to touch 'em!

And...I admit, I was a bit clopped off when I saw that parasite had dragged Gilda into that mess just so he could get her killed to get to Rainbow Dash. Hehe...Way to go, Gilda, you screwed up his script real good! I knew there was a hero in you even back then!

And...it was odd. During that whole mess, we started seeing cracks in reality forming from where that out of control parasite was twisting it in knots. Pinkie Pie...being Pinkie Pie tried to reach through one and found herself become more real. Like with reality breaking down there were back doors opening. We were about to jump through and try to possess one of that existence vampire's puppets and help Shining out when the Wolf finally munched on Mr. Marty Stu. Then again, I guess if we had it might have looked at us for its side dish. There had been shadows of existence looking ready to wiggle on through ahead of us.

You didn't think to ask how we could've done all that when we were phantoms.

We'd been Nightmares for millions of years. We were anointed and crowned by the spirits of black magic. All ponies can use light or dark magic if they have their heart in it. And we can talk to that part at least.

Nightmares may not be pretty, but they're still the 'quick and easy' path to Alicornhood. And with the Elements ready to clean them up, it was a fast way for them to ascend. And Equestria was gonna need all the protectors it could get and it couldn't afford for them to wait the years it would take for them to do it the nice and safe way.

I'll admit, we were scared of the Wolf. That thing existed explicitly to deal with viruses like us. Just we were below the list of priorities with Pandora's mistake having gone way out of control and Shining Armor around.

I wished Shining Armor HAD been able to see us after the Wolf glazed him. But we weren't shadows of existence.

Then Shining Armor took care of our Wolf problem for us. But I was relieved that Shining Armor wasn't eaten by that duty blind mutt. AJ actually felt bad for it. 'Truth is, it's just doin' it's job.' And so did Fluttershy since...well, animal getting killed.

Me? I was more happy about Shining Armor than sad about that beastie. He was Amicitia's creation, same as the Half-Lights, he was a PART of Amicitia, that meant a part of my Twilight was inside him, same as the Half-Lights. And, from everything Cadence told us, he was the keystone to this entire universe not turning out the same as ours. If the Wolf made it so he never existed, then this world would have turned into a new kingdom of chaos, and a new Nightmare Eclipse would likely be just around the corner too.

I'll die before I'd work for that mockery of Twilight again.

Cadence saved Shining Armor, and saved the world from becoming a place that ponies inside Tartarus wouldn't want to be brought back to life in.

In Ponyville meanwhile, we either caught 'memories shadows' or hearsay of the interesting times. In particular, Twilight saving Trixie from herself and becoming friends with all of our versions here. I knew there were other worldlines out there were Trixie and Twilight became friends, but it was still something to see in Twilight's new world.

You have NO IDEA how much it hurt Spike to know how much Rarity had suffered from Discord.

And Pinkie Pie...well, her being a whole Pie instead having split personalities wasn't something we expected either. Twilight's new world was full of surprises. Our Pinkie got that 'seeing yourself but better' feeling that her new self managed to merge with her personalities peacefully instead of...well, you saw Angry Pie in that last loop.

So yeah, we learned about it, The Infamous Want It Need It Spell incident, Spike couldn't believe how much Twilight had fallen apart apparently that day...she had been working so hard to make sure everypony took therapy she hadn't bothered with her own. And now all of us would be expected to give letters to Princess Celestia but only when we had something to actually say.

Yeah yeah you've heard all of this before I know! But it was sure new to us! Princess Luna being accepted in Ponyville and making a new friends. Rarity and Sweetie Belle, realizing how much they meant to each other. AJ was sad to see how truly obsessed with her cutie mark Apple Bloom had really been at this age accidentally infecting herself with the ancient cutie pox plague that had brought about Sunny Town to begin with.

Me...getting a pet. Who wasn't anything like me on the outside, but had everything that made me me in the one spot that counted.

Sure, Tank is slower than slow, but he's loyal, determined, relentless, wants to be accepted, and wouldn't hurt a pony if he could help it.

Tank...I never...I did never...I asked Fluttershy if she knew what happened to him in our world.

"I...I think...please Dash, don't make me tell you."

I didn't. I'd had enough about knowing how awful the world Discord had made and that mockery had kept going.

Mare-Do-Well? If you ask me? That me needed a wake up call. But I didn't get the masks. Why didn't they help ponies without the costumes?

"With the mask, she was able to focus all her resentment of being 'outshined' on Mare-Do-Well when they moved in to pick up the slack. If her friends had done all this without the masks, she'd have become paranoid and convinced herself her friends were trying to steal her spotlight out of jealousy and become even more reckless and theatrical, till somepony got seriously hurt, she'd lose all the ponies who believed in her except the other Elements, and the Wonderbolts would have delayed giving her a look over since they couldn't be associated with a mare who proved glory seeking came before the ponies she was supposed to be helping," AJ finished looking into her own mirrored wings. "And the partner of a pony name Lightning Dust wouldn't have had the guts to tell Spitfire about her recklessness until it was too late."

"Applejack...why the heck did you tell me all that?!"

"Dunno...felt it needed to be said darlin'."

The Canterlot Garden Party?...Okay, those stuck-up elites were right...we really didn't have any manners back then. And Twilight's dancing stinks no matter the worldline. Yes, believe it or not Eclipse still stunk at it no matter how many eons or Twilights she had behind her. I'm surprised Shining is half way decent at it at all.

Our Spike was hurt that Rarity would chose to socialize rather than be with her friends, and that your Spike couldn't be at the birthday party for his big sister in Canterlot. And Fluttershy, our Fluttershy? She was overjoyed to see Rarity reach the stars like she had wanted to all her life.

"This is what she dreamed about when she asked me to be a model, she finally has it. Thank you Twilight, for making this world for her."

And of course Fluttershy was freaking proud of Fluttercruel for being the one that got that Fluttershy to relax and get the garden animals to relax around her.

And of course...see us have that birthday party together? The six of us? Just having fun? I PINCHED MYSELF just to make sure it wasn't a dream.

I still can't believe Rarity beat me at hoof-wrestling at Flutternice, I mean Fluttercruel's cutie mark party, I must have been tired out from AJ! Fluttershy was delighted, and maybe a little ashamed, she had never given Flutternice one.

"I swear, I'll give her one when we get back, I promise."

"And I'll help plan it!" Pinkie Pie cheered.

They nuzzled.

Spike...our Spike, he had to look away the whole time when this world's Spike became a feral greed driven beast. And it was Rarity who brought him back to himself. Who knew? Maybe they'd have their happy ending here, anything was possible.

It was nice to experience a Hearth-Warming Eve again as regular ponies...okay...we didn't experience anything as regular ponies, our new selves did ...but...that wasn't so bad.

Most of this is boring 'been there, done that' for you squirt? Come'on! After a million years even if we were phantoms it was paradise for us! I know that should have made it Tartarus, not being able to touch any of it...but we were all HAPPY FOR them!

Family Appreciation Day. The Cakes' twins being born (Pinkie Pie LOVED that one more than you can imagine, even if she wouldn't be their adopted mother in this world).

Then Applejack, this world's Applejack, chose to be an adult rather than run away from being a 'second place loser'. And in that choice, she shattered this world's connection to the heart world. She was the one.

And then we saw Applejack face off against...another Nightmare Mirror. Okay, more like OUR Applejack saw it all, and she just told us about it. A Nightmare Mirror that had somehow mutated into a gypsy cart sized monstrosity, gone all 'multiversal conqueror,' and was doing a better job of making other her's than we had. Our Applejack was a bit...hard to read. "...Ah hate her doin' what Ah did to Fluttershy, to her other selves...but darn it Ah still want a world without lies."

She had to look away when Super Mirror got her flank kicked by six Applejacks from across the multiverse...including ours?

"That used to be me...Ah used to be the hero savin' the multiverse from big bad evil me...Ah threw bein' her away, now that's the Applejack back home."

Apparently she shadowed Super Mirror a little ways before everything broke apart and saw Something that made her cry, but didn't say what except 'she'll be okay...her world's a little better off now thanks to her getting that rainbow shower.' I don't know what she meant, but Mirror didn't cry over spilled milk.

You heard about how Trixie helped deal with the Flim and Flam brothers. Big Mac and Cheerilee's relationship getting damaged by CERTAIN well meaning 'help.' Yes yes, I know, all the choirs as payback. You really didn't know? Applebloom was right. They do like each other. But that stupid love poison nonsense just made things HARDER!

Don't cry. I didn't mean to say it like that. Just take it as a learning experience, you can't force these things along.

Futtershy acting more like Fluttercruel than Fluttercruel and the two fighting over asking Iron Will on a date. Yes, our Fluttershy blushed like a Hearth's Warming tree at the last part.

And yeah, given the name of Flutternice's weapon, it is kinda ironic. Fluttershy made me Pinkie Promise not to share details.

And...yeah, Gabby Gums. Our Applejack wasn't happy about it either, and...I can't say I was happy either until you got your act together, okay, we can skip it.

Spike blushed when this version of him and Silver Spoon became part of the CMC. I admit, I was proud of you for learning what we never did in millions of years: to just forgive and forget. And...yeah, we didn't know all it took to travel sideways in time was a minecart system, a flux capacitor, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders...then again, one of you is a saint in our world, the other probably should be, and the last was, well, ya know, so I guess that makes sense.

Fluttershy earning the respect of the town back during Hurricane Fluttershy. And...this world's Pinkie Pie and Rarity having a BIG heart to heart when Rarity tried to eat a cake the Cakes had spent a fortune putting together.

No, these aren't the order of events this all happened all in, this is just the order we managed to pick it all together.

Look! I'm sorry you got bored! Maybe the editors later can slice out the dreary bits!

I'm sorry I'm sorry! Geeze! Don't get so bent out of shape. Hey! Did you fall asleep?! Look...I know it was all boring to you...but...seeing ourselves like that...it was...nice.

Sigh. Okay. I'll try to skip the details you've heard now.

But when...but when Half-Light Dusk was turned into Chrysalis' brainwashed minion? Oh Sweetie Belle did tell you about that or not?

It hurt more, than you will EVER possibly know! And when she did the same to Shining Armor? I felt like a part of me DIED! It only got WORSE and WORSE as she did the same to Applejack, to Sweetie Belle, to SPIKE, Moon Dancer, and when she finally did it to Twilight Sparkle?...I wanted to kill her. Not maim, not stop, I wanted her dead.

And no, it wasn't just the 'who', it was the 'what'. It was the golden world, yes, I'm calling this world the golden world. The world Amicitia DIED to create. The one where we finally got a happy ending. Now Discord was loose with his demon brat and formally invited his cousin to help spread the misery, they were going to rip Twilight's world apart. And then this stupid witch shows up and decides to throw her hat into the 'let's make the sunshine and rainbows world miserable' ring. And we were helpless. Totally helpless. IMAGINE THAT!

Unlike most, I accepted Chrysalis' honest opinion about herself that she was nothing more than a wild animal that could think like a person. She was a beast, without moral, without decency, a creature driven only the will to survive. And I'd put her down like one!

Did we consider helping her take out Discord?...Fluttershy did, being the calm one even when she is clopped off, but AJ shot down that idea by showing us the world where she won with her wings. "The truth is here, it don't matter which sidewinder wins, ponies still lose."

Later, Fluttershy hated to admit it to herself, but the world that Queen Sweetie Belle would have created, was very much the kind of ideal world that Nightmare Whisper would have approved of compared to the world Chrysalis would have.

I suspected one of us might have nudged along Sweetie Belle's high pace at learning black magic, or Sweetie Belle was just a late bloomer. Though we all admitted Queen Sweetie Belle's world would be better than the world Chrysalis herself had planned.

Spike still went completely berserk when Sweetie developed Stockholm Syndrome for Chrysalis. He'd been royally clopped off before and barely kept himself composed, but that'd been too much. He spent about an hour straight trying to kill Chrysalis, not caring all she felt was a chilly breeze as she had a tea party with Sweetie Belle with plush animals and brainwashed Applejack dressed in the most girly-girl maid uniform in history. AJ tried to kill her for that alone on principle.

So yeah. I admit it. We pulled out all the stops. We had one weapon. And we were going to use it. We were eager, maybe a little too eager, but we didn't have much choice. Besides, maybe if we threw things off the rails far enough, it'd force Discord's hand and turn things into a melee that'd take him, the wicked witch, and the new Nightmare (or Nightmares) down in one rainbow.

Pinkie Pie whispered to herself during Chrysalis' reveal, telling her to accept the Nightmare, to force the world to be fair, and to turn it back into the world were villains only existed in story books, and monsters were just harmless Halloween stories. To bring forth Nightmare Granfalloon into the world. To have her first act to turn Queen Chrysalis into Princess Crystal of the breezies.

AJ would whisper to the heart of her brainwashed self. She came the closest out of all of us I think. We could tell. This Applejack, she wanted deep down to create the world without lies Nightmare Mirror was always going on about when she talked about her own designs as a Nightmare. This AJ wanted to accepted the Nightmare.

Don't look at me like that! And we were gonna try and be their shoulder angels, I promise! Heck, AJ even suggested she could put that kind truth she could do now to good use and help them all the way through to ascend, or at least try!

Fate would provide an emergency stand-in Element of Harmony for a complete group, that's how it always works. And how could it have possibly have made it any worse when we already had Discord's circle of evil and a psychopathic witch leading an army of hostile invaders attacking Equestria at the same time? At least if there's one thing a Nightmare of an Element of Harmony would do, it's try and stop its friends from getting hurt, which is an improvement over the all-powerful monstrous foal-child and the wild animal that walks like a pony.

War Ponies 40 Carrots? What does that game have to do with anything?

We were helping to save Equestria, the world, the only way we could!...When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

And each time we thought we were about to get what we wanted, and a new incomplete Alicorn was about to be born, ready for the Elements to then wash and wax them into a complete Alicorn lickety-split, we'd cheer.

"Awesome!" I'd start.

"Yee-haw!" AJ would add.

"Yippie!" Pinkie would cheer.

"Yay!" Nightmare Whisper would say.

"Cool!" And Spike would finish.

Awesome! Yee-haw! Yippie! Yay. Cool!

Becoming a Nightmare and then being zapped by the Elements is the fast track to becoming an Alicorn. And they needed all the Alicorns they could get. We've arranged Discord's defeat enough times to know how many Alicorns it takes to beat him!

We were there when Twilight Sparkle was fighting Cadence, thinking Cadence was Chrysalis. If Twilight...if Twilight became a Nightmare here...she'd give the REAL Chrysalis her just desserts, and with Trixie in town, they already had a full set of Elements to finish her Alicorn transformation. And her transformation into a Nightmare would CURE HER of Chrysalis' stupid illusion! I knew it would!

We had to do it before she killed Cadence!

...Still made me sick. There, I admit it. I'm Loyalty. Excited at Twilight giving into her fury when it was misdirected at Cadence even if I knew that's not what she meant...and yeah, I had flashback to helping that insult-to-Twilight-Sparkle make it so Cadence died who knows how many times over!

We there there again when Chrysalis forced Shining Armor and Twilight to fight to the death. I think we were the only ones who noticed the endless protective enchantments Chrysalis had installed against magic attacks around Sweetie Belle to protect her from a stray shot as she played her part. Heh, she had never considered making a Scootaloo-Proof Barrier did she?

If Twilight had been killed, Chrysalis would have just used Trixie or Moon Dancer for her scheme instead...and if Shining Armor was killed, she'd have used a emotionally broken Twilight as his REPLACEMENT, after all, with Sweetie Belle, Chrysalis didn't need Shining Armor's love anymore, just his shield magic, which Twilight had copied. And the changelings would have gotten a show of how powerless these ponies were to their Queen's designs. Chrysalis hadn't made a scenario she couldn't win, she'd made one where she'd lose nothing.

Only she hadn't counted on Equestria's bravest filly saving the day by getting her and Sweetie Belle almost killed until she learned how the fly LONG BEFORE any the Scootaloo I had known ever flew. Hehe, has this universe's Razzaroo ascended already?

And our hero got her cutie mark out of it too didn't she?! And a spanking...What our number one badflank knuckle-head flier did was awesome, but even I admitted it was stupid. I was honestly more surprised not-millions-of-years-old me admitted it was dumb and was the one giving the spanking. And yes, I know calling that stupid is the pot calling the bucking kettle black! I had a persecution complex, I know how reckless I can get.

So thanks to rushing in to save the day, Twilight was denied the fast track to becoming an Alicorn twice. But, I think I was grateful, and I'm proud.

Sweetie Belle? Come'on, even we're not that bad. Okay, we were that bad, but not now!

And Sweetie in her heart was too conflicted I think to become a Nightmare, a Nightmare has to come to a single truth, a moment of perfectly flawed understanding. We'd seen what happens when a Nightmare's heart ain't all in it. What kind of Nightmare WOULD have she become? I dread to think what kind of Nightmare would be born from an angry and hurt filly. Maybe she'd have turned everypony in Equestria into changelings and made all her stuffed animals into love cats. I don't WANT to know. Even we aren't that crazy...anymore.

The whole idea was Twilight to become an Alicorn, becoming a Nightmare and getting blasted by the Elements IS the fast track to becoming an Alicorn...an insanely immoral and DANGEROUS one?...Admittedly yes, it was. But I don't think we could have made things worse with what Discord and Chrysalis were planning!

Besides, Princess Gaia is proof that it can work. We didn't need all six. We just needed one or two more. Four alicorns united can overpower Discord, Equestria had four already, but they still needed one or two to balance out the Grand Master of All Things Grim and Dark, The Inverted Beer Bottle Of Chaos, and the little nameless horror who had already turned two more innocent fillies into their eager little minions. What do I mean? I think that's censored to you too, sorry. I don't know what you're hearing and what not and we don't have time to weed through it.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy...I don't think I've seen them so enraged in so long...

I felt humiliated and ashamed when Chrysalis admitted that one of us going Nightmare was a possible way she figured to go Alicorn, munch-munch. Blech.

That nag had so many schemes inside schemes to become an Alicorn, and didn't have a single one of what she'd do afterwards.

And I admit it, if we'd been able to do anything to Discord's devil child when Cadenza petrified her? We would have. In a heartbeat. Hey, no need for that slap.

Yes, she's a kid. But she was currently helping her uncle and 'cousin' try to make the world a new living Tartarus. If we could snuff out the embers before they could become a roaring fire, we would. And she's the key stone, if we took her out, Discord's plan would fall to shambles. But of course, the best we could do was latch onto a scared pony nearby and trying to make them a Nightmare we could lead to doing that, but that fell flat. Shame Sunset Shimmer hadn't wandered through the mirror during that mess, Nightmare Inferno put up quite the fight with Nightmare Eclipse in one loop.

Discord's second reign of chaos made his first one look like fluffy bunny land. And that parody of Twilight made it worse than Tartarus. And these monsters, one of which was a sadistic man-foal who saw the world as his play thing and another who literally sees sowing tragedies and agonizing fates as high art, and the last was wrong even for a Nightmare, wanted to create something that was the worst of both worlds...out of the world Twiley sacrificed EVERYTHING to come into existence! I'll do anything to prevent that.

And we were there...when Cadence was fighting Cadenza...Cadence kept her full power as an Alicorn sealed off, blocked off, not wanting to see her whole and completely self. As Rarity would say, a mud bath of Nightmarification, then a hot shower of the Elements of Harmony would make on par with Celestia and Luna if she unlocked all her divine power and experience. Or she might eat Cadenza, doubling her power AND get rid of the psychopathic witch in one go, win win.

In the end...none of it worked. We failed. No new Alicorns. Well, okay, one Zebra Alicorn, but she was a newborn with no greater hidden self to awaken. At least we got the satisfaction of knowing the old witch was deader than even a Shadow of Existence.

And Sweetie Belle...she had the potential to become an Alicorn after all...her soul was a twice removed reincarnation of Cadenza after all. A little Nightmare would be easier to blast with the Elements, but would be less help against Discord too. Applejack pragmatically pointed out that Sweetie and Diamond had that freaky link, so purifying Nightmare Sweetie Belle might purify Diamond as well (and maybe catch her demon uncle in the crossfire). But Spike wasn't happy about the suggestion.

Not that any of us could think of what could drive Sweetie Belle to become a Nightmare anyway. And a heart that understood black magic instead of simply knowing was much more resistant to being overwhelmed by it. I'll give Chrysalis one credit, she knew how to teach a pony how to use black magic the RIGHT way. I don't know if the spirits of black magic are happy or angry about that.

Applejack...her eyes were fixated on Apple Bloom's. "Desperate times. Desperate measures," she said to herself. She cut herself. It was Truth, not blood she bled. I wonder what I bleed now. I just...made me realize how far from mortal we'd become.

You know the evening, love was in bloom, a beautiful bride, a handsome groom, two hearts becoming one, and a bond that could not be undone. And Sweetie Belle getting her cutie mark long before the one in our world did. Spike bawled his eyes out. So did Fluttershy. And Rarity and Sweetie reunited with their parents to boot.

I'm sorry the same couldn't be said for everypony, but with changelings no longer the enemy, maybe that would change...I'm several million years old, and I don't know if I'm comfortable knowing that or not. That was all static? Sorry. You'll find them again, I'm sure of it.

So many friendships got made during that wedding war, so many that had never existed in any of the cycles of our world. So many that had never had the chance to exist in our world. So many new friends, so many old friendships rekindled. Twilight making friends with her old school mates, the hoof-maidens, Lyra's family, Derpy's family, the Gifted Unicorns, the Pony Guards, it was one huge knitted scarf of friends. I'd be lying if I said Shining Armor and Cadence's bond was the only beautiful bridge between ponies solidified that day.

And Silver Spoon and Spike getting under Twilight's skin I'll admit WAS pretty funny! But I wouldn't want to Spike or Silver Spoon right then!

We're right back to where you started aren't we? Okay.

We had to simply watch as the fog was spread, laying the trap.

Trixie left town, but that wouldn't protect her for long.

And...reality began to crack. As the rumors took hold. Not just one published by the school paper, but all rumors that gained enough momentum. Button Mash wakes up one day, and has always been the friendly and energetic colt-friend of Sweetie Belle. And they were going to get worse.

You've just saw all of this happen. But the same was happening everywhere that Discord's cousin had spread his outer-reality magic to inflict the curse.

And the stress reality increased, and the cracks began to widen. The rumors, no-things, like snakes, slithered and sought their target ponies, to turn them into what others saw them as. It was the world D___t had wanted to create, here at last.

And Sweetie Belle, against all odds... she found the Blank Wolf, reborn, and sent early before it had fully matured to deal with this mess too big for it, but obeyed it's instinct. And...she made it a pet....Our Spike declared the wolf a friend when it protected Sweetie Belle not only from the rumor that would have turned her into a robot, but also the one that would have turned her into a extra-reality demon with none of Sweetie Belle's personalty or heart. But the wolf, Blanky, couldn't be everywhere at once.

And you squirt,...in your sleep, I encouraged the memories of your self that you had gained from the memory spell with Twilight ...and you recreated the ornament your sister Cheerilee had made in the age of dreams with the combine efforts of your friends. Something that defied everything grim and dark, and from a world not this one, but was born in this world.

And...Fauna Luster and Father of Alicorns themselves appeared in the guise of fillies just to make sure you were wearing it and that you'd have an idea what to do with after Tartarus came to your door step.

Yes...Fauna Luster...she saw me...she looked at me... she didn't hate me...that's all I could tell from looking at that little earth pony filly's face before she and the colt both vanished to somewhere else.

"I'm worried about Trixie..." our Fluttershy said. "She's spread so many tall tales about herself...and there are so many nasty rumors about her...what'll the rumors DO to her?"

Pinkie Pie said, "Don't worry, I've got a plan to make sure Trixie stays safe!"

That plan? One name. Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower The Eighty-Eighth. That's all you're getting squirt. And lots and lots of gossip spread as the barriers holding reality began to crack more, but not enough for us to stop the tidal wave that was already coming, but allowed us to finally INTERACT slightly with this heaven just as it was about to become anything but. Allowing us the same level of interactivity as the Half-Lights...almost. A little. But Pinkie Pie spread gossip in the subconscious of several ponies about Trixie's imaginary friend...making sure Trixie would have a protector and a conscience to keep her safe in the nightmares about to begin.

We were surprised when Pandora helped Pinkie with that plan with Her Dad's instructions. And she was clopped off at her brother for tampering in her domain and twisting a happy ending into a 'grim dark mess'. Have you ever seen Pandora clopped off? You don't want to see Pandora clopped off.

Yes. The Gods themselves were mobilizing to try and intervene directly. Including the Elders themselves. You think that's comforting? AJ said it best:

"Yah don't feel better when yah look outside and see the guard mobilizin' for a full scale war. Yah get scared. And quick. Especially with the Princesses leadin' the charge."

Havoc even interviewed Button Mash and bribed him with a video game to lay down ground rules on how things worked in an RPG like setting to several of his classmates so it was in the collective consciousness. I'll give old Havoc this: he was Fear, and if there's one thing Fear knows how to do, it's be unexpected.

And he even had a message for us. "Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures When Two Hostile Forces Clash, To Quote Pandora: Let Them Fight. Help Kick My Son's Flank However You Can."

So yeah, that takes care of worrying about Mini Wolf. Of course Havoc knew we were here. He exists in ALL universes.

And with the cracks getting larger and larger, they were finally big enough for Applejack to play her hoof...and infected Apple Bloom's eye with a drop of Truth to safeguard against all falsehoods.

"Don't worry nasty ugly and dark Ponyville! Ponyville! Ponyville! Your heroes are here here here!" Pinkie Pie had shouted though nopony could hear us yet.

I am NOT describing what those rumors were twisting these versions of us into...a mountain of contradicting rumors, twisting the world every which way...Not again. And Diamond Tiara had made sure there was there was plenty of extra horrific rumors in the mix. Each one more hideous and horrid than the last.

Applejack was clopped off at the choice of rumor they chose to use on the real her. Whisper apologized to her for the bad memories of being forced to remain drunk.

Being...things from outside reality, the rumors couldn't affect us, but by the same virtue...we couldn't stop this...

...I already asked little Phobia to have the first go at punishing Discord if his family ever gets his claws on him for what I know his rumors would have happen to you hundred of times over. He said 'Save The World First, And I'll Be Happy To Oblige.' Don't worry, I know when to stop. But there will be a lot of slots open to punish the sick bucker.

Fluttershy being Fluttershy asked if Diamond Tiara would pay in the end if we succeeded. Bless her heart.

The little colt said. "Let me spell this out for you, ya ghosts. There ain't NO WAY to tell what's gonna happen next, OR how things are gonna turn out, OR who is gonna be left standing in what shape, that goes for EVERYTHING and EVERYONE here...fate's been tied up in knot, chaos has been straightened up into squares...There's no outcome that's certain anymore. That's WHY the four Biggest Pillars have had to step in, and why I've given you permission to interfere. It's that kind of mess. So there's NO POINT in asking 'will this pony be such and such?' Because 'be' is completely up in the air during a hurricane! Ya big palookas! Tell me you big pink ghost: what's rule one of a promise?"

"Keep them?"

"What's rule two?"

"...Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Exactly."

"I'm going to protect Scoo-" I started. Of course I'd sign up to keep one of the three ponies who could save all of reality safe, even if I wasn't sure I could.

"I admire you fear for her, truly I do, but there is no need. Miss Void will take care of that, and my wife desires this misery to end, and she so rarely desires anything, so that should tell you how good of hooves they're in…Have a nice time seeing the world be violated," Little Phobia said darkly and vanished.

"We won't!" Pinkie Pie called out.

And worse than curses, worse than Tartarus, a self-feed wrongness, doomsday, whatever you want to call it! It arrived on Ponyville's door step! And a sweeping force of pure, absolutely shockwave of changing reality, breaking it apart into smaller bits string together like strings on a pegboard, everything engulfed in fog.

"It's the death of the age of dreams all over again," Pinkie Pie whimpered.

"Not if three brave fillies can help it," AJ said, and covered us with her mirrors as the fog washed over us, restructuring Ponyville, Canterlot, and much else, into something that was a mockery of everything Twilight had sacrificed herself for.

Pinkie Pie shuddered. "It feels like one of the Big Four just got a doozy!"

That wasn't good at all.

And I haven't given up. One day, Twilight and I will be together again. Someday, somehow. It was the power of friendship after all. I'll see my friend again, someday, somehow. And until then, I'll keep believing, I'll keep hoping for a happy ending, even if I had to make one myself. Twilight did, and so can I.

And so can you.

So now you know my story, from when I woke up in the imitation Ponyville, to right now in your dreams. Scoots, your Rainbow Dash has helped you become a great filly this last year, and I'm cheering for you! We'll be doing damage control as long as we can.

You three are our only hope.

Apple Bloom. Scoots. Sweetie Belle. Don't give into despair. And don't give up on any of us. I'm not a goddess, I can't say something and have it be heard and understood, but please Scoots: everypony, Twilight and her friends, Cheerilee and your classmates, Spike, Silver, Tootsie Flute, Alula, Zecora, Luna, Celestia...Diamond Tiara...they can all be saved...there is always a way!

Time to wake up Scoots. I don't know how much of this your conscious mind will remember, but your heart will! Don't be afraid. And good luck. And remember, you're awesome. Sighed, ahem, well, call me Fallen Princess Fidelitas.


You can say I'm a fool,
Feelin' this way about you,
But I know you can make it all true.

I'll believe again in silver linings,
I'll believe again in friends and laughter,
I'll believe again in miracles I've already seen a few,
So believe in me when I say that I believe in you.

Open your eyes Scootaloo.

Love you.