• Published 21st Oct 2017
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The Problem of Evil - Quixotic Mage



What does it take to rule Equestria? Celestia’s vanished to give Luna a chance to find out. Twilight’s got strong opinions on just who should be in charge with Celestia gone. Meanwhile, Sombra stirs in the north, dreaming of himself on the throne

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Aftermath

It was a strange journey home. The ponies that had been possessed by Sombra refused to speak. They floated along, eyes glazed and minds clearly elsewhere. Luna feared that her and Twilight’s actions against Sombra had left an entire nation traumatized beyond repair.

Watching the ponies she had taken with her into the Dreaming interact with Sombra’s hostages was the hardest to bear. Applejack’s plaintive pleas for Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Applebloom to talk to her were gut wrenching, and seemed a cruel and unnecessary reminder of Sombra’s presence.

Luna wished she could have been with those ponies in the immediate aftermath of Sombra’s defeat. Though she couldn’t have done anything except offer moral support when they discovered that Sombra’s defeat had not restored their loved ones to normal. Instead, Luna had been trapped in the Dreaming.

Without the mantle of the moon and its concurrent command of the Dreaming, it turned out that Luna could not open a portal into or out of the Dreaming. She’d been forced to wait until those ponies to whom she’d gifted the mantle of the moon had recovered and then taught them the spell. They had to work together to cast it, though that could have been because of the pervasive exhaustion from the fight that had just ended. In any case, a portal soon took shape.

It was at that point that a second unpleasant discovery was made. Save for two, the ponies possessing the mantle of the moon couldn’t leave the Dreaming. No matter how finely they cast the portal or how they banged their hooves against it, it proved solid to their touch. Only Pinkie Pie and Sunlit Rooms could pass through the portal, and Pinkie refused to do so in no uncertain terms. So Luna had passed through the portal with only Sunlit Rooms at her side, leaving behind a promise to return soon to help guide the moon-blessed soldiers.

She had emerged into a flurry of activity. Twilight had taken charge and was getting everypony moving back through the city to collect all of Sombra’s victims that they could find. They’d scarcely managed to exchange more than a terse question and answer.

“He’s dead?” Twilight had asked,

“As far as I can tell,” Luna had confirmed.

And that was that. Twilight had dashed off to keep trying to gather his victims into one place before misfortune could befall them. Luna, for her part, had offered what aid and comfort she could.

Since the griffons had destroyed the train station closest to the city, they faced the prospect of a long march clear to Galloping Gorge before they would come to the next station along the line. It was still better than walking all the way back to Canterlot, but both distances seemed equally impossible a travel at the moment. Undertaking that march with so many ponies in a daze would be incredibly dangerous. Injuries would mount fast and they had very little in the way of supplies.

Bizarrely, by the time the motley collection of creatures arrived at the ruins of that first station, it had been repaired.

Not completely. The station hut was still in ruins, and Luna could see places where the track had been patched with whatever materials could be found lying about. As patchwork as the track looked, however, it must have been sufficient because a train was parked at the station, gently lofting puffs of steam as it waited for them.

The staff of the train bore the same dazed look as Sombra’s other victims. Despite that, they performed their duties adequately and, after a short discussion, Twilight began directing ponies to board the train. Luna hoped to have a much needed conversation with Twilight once everypony was settled on the mysterious train, but the other pony never seemed to sit still.

Truth be told, Luna did not try that hard. They had both changed dramatically since they’d last spoken. For all that they’d worked well together, Luna didn’t feel like she really knew the old Twilight, let alone the new one. And that was without considering exactly what Twilight had done to earn the mantle of the sun, however briefly she’d had it. No, Luna was not ready for that answer.

Besides, there was another task that required her attention now that she’d checked in with the real world. Luna found a quiet out-of-the-way spot and curled up to go to sleep. The moon-blessed were owed some answers and she intended to do her best to deliver. She might not be able to make a portal to the Dreaming, but she could still go the old fashioned way.

She could go the old fashioned way, but that was a circuitous route, taking her through a place she did not often visit: her own dreams. Luna dreamed of a night sky with a black hole where they moon should have been, and there was no mystery in that. She dreamed of spinning worlds dancing around one another in a vast cosmic cycle. She saw the great dome of the heavens crack like an egg, or unfurl like a flower, and no matter how closely so looked, she couldn’t make sense of what lay within.

And there were ponies there. No living ones she knew, but the ones she had once known long ago. They loomed over her, tall as giants, and shook their heads and cast her back. There was music there, but not of her making. Just as they chaos became too much, and the dream started to turn toward nightmare, her dream was suddenly filled with wavering sheets of light and color. A warm hoof was slung protectively around her shoulders.

“That’s enough, Princess,” a voice said. It carried her upward and with a sensation like breaking the surface of the water, she came into the Dreaming.

Pinkie Pie stood at eye level next to her, and Luna marveled at how the other pony had grown. She wore the added inches well, and the pink and green tinted mane suited her as faded colorlessness had not. There was a confidence in how she stood that seemed less artificial than it had before Sombra’s defeat. It was good that she felt confident, because Luna most certainly did not.

“I couldn’t find my way back,” Luna said slowly. “There should have been a path through my dreams to the Dreaming, but it was gone.” It made sense, she supposed. She had given up her connection to the Dreaming, and if she wanted to reach it in the future she would have to find her own way.

“I could teach you,” Pinkie offered. “I’ve always known how to get here.” She smiled and it was a gentler and softer smile than she usually wore. She held out a hoof and a yellow balloon with a smiley face drawn onto it appeared. Pinkie watched as it rose up and floated out of sight. “This place has always felt like home.”

“Pinkie, you can show the princess some other time,” Sunlight Rooms said. “Right now there’s a lot of ponies that want to speak with her.”

At her words Luna looked up and realized they were not alone. All 108 of the stars who now held the mantle of the moon were gathered around her. They stood in one of the compartments of the train in which Luna was sleeping, though the carriage had expanded to be able to hold them all comfortably. Worried frowns were on every face, and Luna had the feeling that if she had not been the princess, they would have been outright glaring at her.

Barrel strode forward to join Pinkie Pie and Sunlit Rooms. He and Sunlit Rooms also had grown and Luna had, for perhaps the first time in her life, the curious experience of looking straight into the eyes of every one of her conversational partners.

“Is Sombra gone then, princess?” Barrel asked.

“He is.” A wave of relief spread through the gathered ponies and there was a lessening, though not a vanishing, of the frowns.

Barrel bowed his head. “That’s good. Now that he’s gone you can take this connection back from us. It’s past time we went back to the real world.”

With a sinking feeling, Luna looked from one hopeful face to the next. Only in Sunlit Rooms’ downcast eyes did Luna see a trace of understanding.

“I thought you understood,” Luna said. “In giving you the mantle of the moon it split and grew. I can no more take it back than I could raise the moon with my bare hooves.”

“Besides, why would you want to go back?” Pinkie gestured widely and songbirds popped singing into existence with every swing of her hooves. “This is a wonderful place!”

“Be that as it may, most of us have family in the real world. I want to see my daughters again.” Barrel’s voice was desperate. “Please princess, take this from us.”

Luna shook her head. “It can’t be done.”

The silence that followed this pronouncement was like that of a hospital room after a doctor has been by to deliver the bad news. Nopony moved or spoke; they could not believe that they would have to live apart from all they had ever known.

Luna felt their need like a physical weight upon her skin. She was still the princess and these ponies more than any other still had need of her. Luna cast her mind about, trying to find some way to alleviate the burden she had placed on those who had trusted her. An idea struck her, a connection that she really should have made earlier. She turned to Sunlit Rooms.

“You all raised the moon right? I felt you.” She had, and though she had expected it, it had hurt nonetheless. Luna felt no connection to the moon anymore, and she had known it was risen only when she saw it take its place in the sky. The full impact of that bereavement still hadn’t hit her, and she suspected it would take a long time to fully pass. Still, the moon-blessed needed the moon more than she did.

“We had to,” Sunlit Rooms said. “We all felt it call to us at what must have been the end of the day in the real world. I’m sorry, princess.”
Luna shook her head. “I did not ask to condemn you. It is yours now to raise. But I think I know why. Please, try again to build a portal to the real world.”

“It’ll hurt us real bad if this is some kind of trick,” Barrel said, looking out over the pinched and trapped faces of the moon-blessed soldiers. “I don’t think we need more bad news right now.”

“I can’t know that this will work,” Luna said. “But I have a hunch. Trust me one more time.”

With another assessing look at the ponies, Barrel nodded. “As you command, princess.”

It was a curious thing to see the portal being built from the outside. Luna could sense the energy flowing between the other ponies, building stability foreign to that world. She could feel Pinkie Pie, Sunlit Rooms and Barrel serving as the focal points of the spell, taking responsibility for manifesting the portal itself.

Luna felt, too, a curious echo, as if there were 108 portals being made and layered on top of one another. The group was unnecessary, she realized. Each of pony had the capacity to make their own portals, or they would once they believed that they could. It made sense. For all that those three were special, everypony present was numbered among the moon-blessed.

Except her anyway.

Luna pushed that thought away as the dark swirl of the portal took shape. There would be plenty of time for maudlin self-reflection later, right now her ponies needed her.

“Portal’s made,” Barrel said. “What now, princess?”

“Sunlit Rooms first,” Luna said, “stick a hoof through the portal, just to confirm.”

“We know she can go through,” Barrel griped.

“Humor me for a moment. Go ahead Sunlit.”

Without hesitation, Sunlit Rooms trotted to the portal and pressed her hoof to and then through the inky swirling surface. She pulled it out and nodded. “I can still go through.”

“Barrel, now you try,” Luna directed.

Moving slowly, the old quartermaster approached the edge of the portal as the other ponies watched with bated breath. His hoof inched closer and closer to the surface, seeming to slow down as it progressed. At last it made contact, and then sank right through.

The moon-blessed erupted into cheers. Dark furred ponies showed off sharp incisors and leathery wings as the laughed and hugged one another.

Barrel just stared wonderingly at his hoof. “So we can go home.”

“You can visit,” Luna said, her voice cutting through the celebrations. “But only so long as my – as your moon is in the sky. You will have to make your home here. And with such capable leadership, I think you’ll be alright,” she added, looking to the three ponies that stood taller than the rest.

“Us?” Sunlit Rooms asked. “That can’t be right. We’re not alicorns. We’re not meant to lead like you are. I especially shouldn’t…” she trailed off.

Luna placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “You are not alicorns, that is true. But you have become something more than you were, and something different than who you especially used to be. This place is not mine anymore. I can’t even get here by myself or in the flesh.”

Sunlit Rooms still hesitated. She looked down at her hooves then back at the wing-shaped glowing light that still graced her back. “I’m not sure.”

“Can’t you feel the beginning of something new?” Luna asked, her voice low and urgent. “Barrel to lead, you to administer, and Pinkie to add that sparkling element of unpredictability. You moon-blessed are going to become something wonderful, and I can’t wait to see what you choose to be.”

“Come on Sunlit!” Pinkie said. “Don’t you want to go exploring?”

“With the portal open I’m not as worried as I was,” Barrel said. “So long as we don’t lose touch with the real world, I say we make a stab at this new thing Princess Luna is talking about. What do you say, Sunlit Rooms? Want to give it a try with us?”

Other soldiers joined in, shouting encouragement to the little pegasus, not so little anymore. They had all known her from the camp in which they’d spent the past six months, and they recognized in her the capabilities she was slow to see herself.

“You always looked after us Sunlit!”

“Don’t leave us now!”

“Your wings are so pretty!”

Sunlit was choked up, but she laughed through it. “Alright, alright everypony. Now that we know that we can all at least visit home, let’s see what we can make of the Dreaming.”

Cheers broke out again and this time they didn’t stop. The moon-blessed ponies chatted eagerly to one another, excitedly planning what they might do to make the Dreaming theirs. With all the chatter, focus was lost and the portal faded away, but nopony really seemed to mind. It would be back when it was needed.

“You’ll help though, right?” Sunlit Rooms asked Luna in an undertone. “You know the Dreaming better than anypony.”

The wide smile across Luna’s face came like the breaking of dawn. “I do and I will. I know something too about the dreams of ponies beyond the edges of the Dreaming, and you will need to set free those of your compatriots that still slumber there. I’d love to show you all the tricks of the Dreaming, so you can learn to love it as much as I do.”

***

Luna spent much of the next three days asleep, sharing what she knew with the moon-blessed ponies. They were eager to learn, though some had already gone haring off into the Dreaming, wanting to see what they could discover for themselves. Others had visited the train or other locations in the real world during the night.

Pinkie had even been coaxed back into the real world to spend time with her friends and let them know that she was alright. Her self outside the Dreaming was still fragile, but she now carried at least part of the Dreaming with her always. Though she wasn’t as strong or as confident as in the Dreaming, her real world self was still firmer than it had been. She could bear to visit the world now that Sombra was gone. Whether she would ever enjoy it was another question entirely.

Luna had enjoyed spending her time this way, but in truth she was also avoiding Twilight. They both knew they needed to have a serious conversation, and Luna was frankly not looking forward to it. Considering how little effort Twilight had made to find her, Luna suspected that the other pony wasn’t thrilled by the prospect either. Still, it couldn’t be put off forever.

So, when they were an hour out from Canterlot, Twilight finally did track Luna down and offered the most ominous of phrases.

“Luna, we need to talk,” Twilight said. She had found Luna in a sleeper car near the back of the train. Luna had been using it as an out of the way spot for her extended sleeping time. It was a large and luxurious space which had once been a first class car. There was no pony to begrudge her taking it for herself, the train wasn’t crowded after all. Luna and Twilight both took seats on an adjacent pair of nearby plush purple train seats.

“You want to talk now?” Luna asked. “You’ve practically been avoiding me since the battle, though to be fair I suppose I have been as well.”

“Yes, I was avoiding you,” Twilight acknowledged. “I realize you didn’t mind, but that still wasn’t fair of me and I’m sorry. I was — not looking forward this conversation.”

The apology took Luna by surprise. Twilight never seemed the type to admit to error, possibly because she had historically made so few of them. “Alright, I can understand avoiding a difficult conversation. Admittedly, that’s why I never forced the issue either. But you’re right, we need to have this conversation. Shall I send for some tea as we talk? It seems traditional at this point.”

Twilight winced. “No tea, please, I don’t think I could take it yet. You’ll understand why soon.” And with that she jumped into her story. How she had traveled to Hvergelmir and chosen to jump in, bypassing Sombra’s barrier. How she had nearly been taken by spirits from the Crystal Empire, and how she had met Celestia. How she had believed Celestia would work with her and how she had been betrayed.

Oh she didn’t say it quite so baldly as that, but Luna knew the truth and the truth stung as it was wont to do.

The words tumbled one after the other as Twilight continued her telling. Luna rather got the feeling that the other pony had desperately needed to tell share the full story with somepony who would actually have some understanding of what it had been like for her. Her friends, as much as she loved them, just didn’t have the perspective on millennia of memories the way Luna did.

Twilight explained how she had struggled with Celestia and how she won. How Celestia had had the last laugh, or last gift. Finally, Twilight told of how she had ascended to alicornhood and the way she had struck back against Sombra, finishing him at last with the mantle of the sun.

When the tale was done and they sat in silence, Luna could not have said how she felt. It was inconceivable that her sister was no more. Celestia had always been there, looming over her, yes, but keeping her safe and looking after the world for her. What was Luna supposed to do with a dead sister whose every memory resided in the pony before her?

“Thank you for telling me,” Luna finally said. A poor answer but all she could offer at the moment.

“I know it can’t be easy,” Twilight said and in her compassion Luna heard echoes of Celestia, though who could say if it was really there? “Sometimes, when facing a painful loss, there is a desire to suppress-“

“Don’t.” Now Luna could hear her sister clearly in Twilight’s voice. “Don’t try to be her. I will not permit it.” Twilight’s story had wound Luna tight, and the other pony’s attempt at compassion had set her buzzing off key.

“I just wanted to offer what comfort I could,” Twilight said.

“Be quiet, please. Give me a few moments.” Twilight nodded and Luna let the silence between them linger. It was a hard thing, to face her sister’s murderer. No matter that the other pony didn’t view it that way. Worse, to see that pony, to see Twilight wearing her sister’s mannerisms. Not just those she had come by honestly as Celestia’s student, but those that had been hidden in Celestia’s private moments over her long life.

The compassion had been pure Celestia, and in speaking it Twilight revealed that, even at the end Celestia hadn’t really understood Luna at all. She had never comprehended that it was that compassion, earnest, well-meant, and utterly impersonal, that had driven Luna away. How can you gain respect from someone who viewed your pain as a problem to soothe away, utterly the same in distance and kind as the problem of poverty among Canterlot’s poor?

“Twilight,” Luna said, breaking the silence, “you are an alicorn now and have a myriad of memories to bring wisdom with your power. I acknowledge you as my equal and will treat you as such. I think we might even manage to be friends. However, I am telling you now. If you ever mimic Celestia in front of me again, then one of us will not leave that place alive.”

Twilight hesitated and then the solicitousness dropped from her face. There was still concern there, yes, but not the precise brand of compassion so characteristic of Celestia. “She thought – I thought that it would help you. Obviously not. She is a part of me now and it is hard to separate out who I am from all the memories of other ponies. I will try to not present her face to you.”

“Thank you. That’s all I can ask.” Luna forced a false but well intentioned smile to her face and placed a hoof on the smaller alicorn. “I meant what I said about friendship. We have eternity to spend with one another, and I’d hate to spend that fighting.”

Luna pretended not to see Celestia’s happiness flare in Twilight’s answering smile. “I’d like that as well. I wanted to have this talk with you before Canterlot, because I suspect it’s a very different city that waits for us.”

“How so?” Luna asked. Before Twilight could answer a bell rang out, signaling their imminent arrival.

Grimacing, Twilight said, “Apparently we won’t have time after all. Just be ready to accept change. I’m going to go get the others ready to disembark.”

Ignoring Twilight’s ominous warning, Luna followed along behind. “I’ll help too.”

***

A few minutes’ walk up along the train brought them back to their cluster of friends and the center of command for the train trip. Twilight was already giving orders to pass along to the quiescent victims of Sombra. Like an overturned beehive activity bustled out from their perch. Luna allowed herself to be caught up in it to avoid dwelling on what they might find in Canterlot.

Barely five minutes later, the train screeched to a halt. Ponies steadily walked through the sliding doors and out into the city with an eerie synchronicity, and none of the pushing or shoving that usually would mark the arrival of train to Equestria’s capital city.

Luna was one of the last to leave, lingering in obedience to misgivings she couldn’t name. At last, she could find no further justification to delay. She took her place in the line and made her way through the sliding train doors. Scarcely had she passed through when she looked up and stopped dead, stunned by what she saw.

Once Celestia’s citadel had stood tall and proud over Canterlot. Now, a crumbled ruin was all that remained. A gap yawned in the heart of the city. It was an aching void that left the city feeling as though a central piece had been torn from its heart. Dimly, she felt Twilight come to stand beside her, but she couldn’t tear herself away from the destruction of her sister’s home. It hurt to see. As if she had come to Celestia’s resting place, only to find the tomb opened and the flowers of remembrance left scattered on the dusty floor.

“It was her demesne,” Twilight said quietly. “I had hoped that by taking Celestia into myself it would have been preserved, but I guess not.”

A choked sob compelled Luna to look down. Belatedly, the tears barely held back in Twilight’s mortal eye reminded her that the castle had been Twilight’s home, and that Celestia had been like a mother to her.

Awkwardly, Luna draped a wing across Twilight’s back. “You miss her too. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have spoken so harshly to you.”

Twilight shook her head, brushing the tear away. “I understood. Even with our long memories there are no precedent’s for what we’re going through now. As you said, we have a long time to learn to get along, and I think we might need it. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have the time to spend on that right now.” She nodded to the station entrance where a dignified figure, flanked by soldiers in golden armor waited for them. “We seem to have a welcoming committee.”

“Trouble Twilight?” Applejack asked, looking ready to square off. Rainbow Dash said nothing but she slipped her ebonite gloves from her bag and began to put them on. Seeing that, Gilda’s claws started making their way to her wingblades and armor as Thraxus stepped up to guard their backs.

“Not yet, I hope,” Luna answered. “Stay here please, my friends, but be ready if we need you.”

“We’re always ready,” Spike answered firmly.

Buoyed by their friends behind them, the two alicorns made their way across the station to the waiting figures.

“Duke Fancypants,” Luna greeted. “Thank you for coming to meet us here at the station. I look forward to your full report on everything that has transpired in the past few months.”

“Luna. Twilight, congratulations on your ascension.” The lack of titles and the stony expression on Fancypants’ face were worrying. A worry that was borne out immediately. “You are not welcome in this city,” he said.

“Excuse me? How are we to govern if not from the capital city?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“You will not govern. Equestria no longer recognizes your right to rule.” At his words the soldiers to either side clanged their spears on the ground. The clang sounded to Luna like the final crash at the closing of a casket. A final pronouncement of doom. Nevertheless, she felt the need to argue, suspecting all the while that it was futile.

“And I suppose you see yourself as the new ruler of Equestria?” She asked scornfully. “We just finished deposing one tyrant, another will not be hard.”

For the first time an expression crossed Fancypants’ face, a faint hint of surprise. “You don’t understand, do you? Neither of you understand what you did in defeating Sombra. And if you don’t understand then neither do they.” He raised his voice and called to where their friends were waiting, weapons at the ready. “Approach, all of you. You should understand the new shape of the world. Especially you, Shining Armor.”

Cautiously, they came forward. Wary eyes watched for tricks in all directions and looked upon the gathered ponies with suspicion. They had come too far to trust easily and it showed in their guarded postures. Still, they came forward. Even Pinkie, whose trembling had returned and who looked as if she dearly wished she could go to sleep, would not let her friends walk into danger without her.

“Why me?” Shining Armor asked. “What is it so important that I understand?”

Fancypants ignored him, all his focus still on Luna and Twilight. Behind the duke gathered the ponies Sombra had taken as hostages.

“Applebloom? Granny Smith and Big Mac? What’s going on?” Applejack asked.

Applebloom answered, speaking just as she had under Sombra’s control. “You tried to save us, big sis, and you did. Kind of.”

“Sure, you kicked Sombra right out of our heads.” That was Scootaloo, chiming in without missing a beat.

“The thing is, when you used the mantle of the sun to get rid of him, you accidentally made those connections permanent.” Sweetie Bell offered a sunny smile. “It’s not so bad. Only it’s been pretty hard dealing with all these ponies in our heads. That’s why we were so quiet on the way home. Sorry Rarity.”

“That’s quite alright dear,” Rarity reassured her sister. “Does this mean you’re back to normal now?”

“There is no more normal.” Fancypants’ voice drew Luna’s attention back to him. But he was quick to pass off the lead to other ponies. “We are”

“all”

“connected”

“forever.”

“And”

“we”

“have”

“the”

“mantle”

“of”

“the”

“sun.”

“Enough!” Luna shouted, bringing the dizzying switching of speakers to a halt. “You’ve made your point. Speak from one pony.”

Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were staring at the crusaders as if they had never seen them before. Dash, predictably was the first to react. She snapped forward, holding a hoof crackling with electricity underneath Fancypants face. “Let them go. Now.”

“There’s nothing to let go!” Scootaloo called to her. “I’m still your number one fan Rainbow Dash!”

Dash flew over to the little orange pegasus. “Come on kid, you know this isn’t right.”

Scootaloo reached up and touched one hoof to Rainbow Dash’s cheek. “There is no right or wrong in this. It just is.” She looked over to Twilight. “Unless you have some way to undo all the connections?”

“Give me time,” Twilight pleaded. “I didn’t have a chance to study it in depth. Now that Sombra is gone I can give it the attention it deserves.”

“No. We don’t trust you anymore.” Fancypants spoke again, harshly. It was intentional, Luna realized. Fancypants had chosen to be the one to deliver the difficult words while the crusaders offered what kindness and amelioration they could. It was too well orchestrated for ponies who had never met to have planned this out. Only then did Luna truly begin to believe not only that the connection existed, but also that it could not be undone.

“I do not understand what I have done to earn my subjects distrust,” Luna said, speaking not as if to an individual, but as if she was speaking to every citizen at once.

“You collapsed a form of government that had been stable for centuries. You left me, an eminently unqualified pony, in charge of Equestria while you went haring off after a minor rebellion. You didn’t change strategies when that rebellion turned out to have at its heart a greater danger than believed. You spent six months avoiding your duties for reasons no pony fully understands.” Fancypants was breathing quickly and his words came faster and faster. Luna could hear in him the anger of all the citizens who had felt abandoned when she left. “You ignored increasingly panicked requests that you return to govern. Finally, the process by which you defeated Sombra left all your citizens forever damaged by his actions.”

“That last was my fault, actually,” Twilight put in. “I could think of nothing else that might defeat Sombra. And rest assured, if I had not done so the situation would be much worse.”

“We understand that better than you can imagine considering we were all Sombra’s slaves,” Fancypants said. “That is why you are being given the opportunity to quietly abdicate your throne.” Luna hesitated and the crusaders came forward to cluster around her hooves.

“We have the mantle of the sun to give us power.”

“We have the minds of every pony to give us wisdom.”

“We have the connections between us all to ensure our benevolence.”

Three sets of adorable eyes beseeched Luna and the crusaders spoke in unison.

“Please, just let us go. Let us rule ourselves.”

Unsure, Luna glanced over at Twilight. They shared a look by which Luna understood that, as the younger alicorn, Twilight would follow her lead.

Luna looked across their friends. She saw worry and confusion in all of their eyes, but there was no help to be had there.

Luna looked back at Twilight, seeking another pony’s opinion. Twilight understood the request. She closed her mortal eye for a moment and when she opened it, Luna could see her own sister peeking through. Celestia’s love for Equestria shone through, but so too did her need for control. Luna could see Celestia’s unshakeable faith that she alone was what was best for Equestria. It was an answer, and it helped Luna make her own decision. She nodded once to Twilight and saw her sister recede from the other pony’s eyes.

“I am, manifestly, not my sister.” Luna said, to the confusion of all. “I know that means nothing to most of you, but it is an important fact for me to remember, and one that I have paid too much to learn to forget now.” She took a deep breath, sighed, and then faced Fancypants straight on.

“I, Princess Luna of Equestria, do hereby abdicate my throne to no pony and everypony.”

There was not cheering, though it felt like there should have been. Instead, a great sigh swept across the city, a deep relieved breath. Like a child that has given their all in challenging their parent and finally, through luck and cunning, achieved their hearts desire almost in spite of themselves.

It was done. Oh Luna suspected there would be forms and procedures needed to satisfy dusty bureaucrats rising lugubriously from the depths of some forgotten archive. But whatever they said and whatever Luna had to do later to make it official, she regarded that moment as the end of the Diarchy.

She should have been sad, Luna thought, and she was. But only in a far off distant way. It was sad to see the end of something her sister had held so dear. For her own part, well, she had never really believed in the Diarchy. She might have liked to preserve it as a legacy of her sister, but it also seemed fitting that it should pass from the world along with her. Like an ancient king, Celestia sailed into the afterlife not only with her possessions, but with the ship of state itself.

Still, for all her equanimity in the face of the death of the state, Luna had no desire to watch the celebration of its end. Without speaking, she turned to leave, not knowing exactly where she would go.

“Wait, please!” Fancypants called after her. “We have offers for you and yours.”

Luna turned back out of curiosity, if nothing else. “What could you possibly want to offer us now?”

“We’re all going home and it’s going to be normal!” This from the crusaders, bursting with enthusiasm as they bustled forward, their twelve tiny hooves clip-clopping on the on the train station’s cobblestone.

“In light of the fundamental changes to the vast majority of its subjects, this country is going to change dramatically in the years to come.” Fancypants clarified. “We have agreed to set Ponyville aside from all that. Everypony of us, the connected, who lives there will act as though the connection does not exist. They will still talk to one another verbally and pretend to ignorance of one another’s inner lives.”

“My home,” Twilight whispered.

Fancypants inclined his head to her. “Even so. We are not angry with you, not truly. We have simply been pushed in a new direction. We must change, but we wish to maintain a place of peace for those that choose not to join us.”

“And if we want to leave Ponyville?” Rarity asked, her long abandoned fashion boutique clearly in mind.

“Then leave,” Fancypants responded in surprise. “You’re not prisoners. We just thought you’d be more comfortable in a place where ponies act as you expect them to. Though if and when you do leave, you might find the world outside Ponyville to be different than you expect.”

“I just want to go home to my farm and my kin. You comin’ with Applebloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith?”

Her family walked forward to nuzzle Applejack. “Yer’ not gettin’ rid of us that easily,” Granny Smith said in her strident crackling voice.

“Eeyup,” added Big Mac.

“Sorry we couldn’t tell you before, big sis. There was just so much going on in mah head and we all agreed it’d be best to tell you everything at once.” The little filly hung her head and peeked up through her mane at Applejack. “You’re not mad are you?”

Applejack tousled her little sister’s mane fondly. “O’course not sugar cube. If you’re coming home with me, then as far as I can see the world’s right as rain.” She glanced up at Fancypants. “I’m mighty thankful for you letting them come home.”

He shook his head. “They chose this. That’s the hallmark of our new world: everypony gets to choose. Speaking of which, there is another choice you all can make.”

“What choice is that?” Luna asked. Seeing Applejack smiling with her family had helped to ease Luna’s heart. She felt better about what she had decided, though only time would tell if her decision had truly been correct.

“Ah, forgive me, this option is not for you two alicorns. For the rest of you, however, if you wish to join us, to be truly connected to everypony else, we can do that for you.” He smiled encouragingly. “Nothing would make us happier to welcome another to our number.”

“No!” Pinkie shrieked. She had watched the proceedings with silence characteristic of her new temperament, if not her old, but she could be silent no longer. “It’s awful, having another pony in your head, watching you always, controlling your every thought and feeling.” She shivered. “Never never never never again.”

“We understand your reluctance Pinkie,” Fancypants said gently. “Sombra possessed us too and it was awful beyond words. This is different. There is no control. It’s like having a friend always nearby to buoy you up when you’re feeling down.” They recoiled and expressions of horror crossed more than one face. He sighed. “I thought you might feel that way. But before all of you refuse, Shining Armor, there is somepony you should meet.”

Fancypants stood aside, revealing the entrance to the train station. There, beneath the high golden arch and just inside the broad sets of glass doors stood a pink pegasus mare. She was long-limbed, elegant, and she had a foal in a sling nestled against her chest.

“Cadance!” came Shining Armor’s desperate shout. In that cry Luna heard all the sleepless nights, all the worry he’d buried while he fought to make Equestria safe for his wife and foal.

It was the cry of a soldier coming home.

He moved, faster than even Rainbow Dash could have, it seemed, and then he was by her side. Nuzzling, they sank to their knees. Laughing, talking, crying, the words themselves didn’t matter as much as the feeling. You’re home. You’re safe. You’re loved.

We’re together.

In the mix of it all the foal woke up and added its delighted giggles to the mélange of joy surrounding the three of them. Luna glanced at the ponies beside her and found not a dry eye nor an unsmiling face. Fancypants was grinning unabashedly and the three crusaders were practically hopping with joy. Luna could see in their faces the joy of the couple reflected and she understood the offer Fancypants had for Shining Armor.

It took a long time for the bubbling happiness to subside. Each time one of the pair would attempt to calm down, the other would pull them closer and the laughing would start back up. Finally, they both regained their hooves and, blushing faintly, turned to face their audience.

“I, uh, I apologize for my lack of decorum, princess,” Shining Armor offered, though he couldn’t stop smiling as he did so.

“It is quite alright,” Luna said magnanimously. “And it seems I am no longer anypony’s princess. Make your offer, Fancypants. I think you will never have a better opportunity.”

“What offer? Wait.” Shining Armor slowly turned to his wife. “Sombra didn’t…” he trailed off, unable to voice it.

“He did,” Cadance confirmed. “As he told you, Sombra possessed me and, from the moment she was born, our foal.”

“She is the youngest of us,” Fancypants said into the stricken silence that followed. “We don’t know what it will mean to be raised from birth connected to so many other ponies. Whatever the case, she will have need of her father.”

“I don’t understand,” Shining Armor said, still reeling from revelations that he had suspected, but never faced head on. “What is it you want from me?”

“Join me,” Cadance pleaded. “Join us. We all still know how to cast the spell to join a new pony to the connection. I wanted you, Shiny, to be the first to join us without ever having been under Sombra’s sway.”

“I can’t,” he said, glancing at Luna uncertainly. “I have responsibilities.”

“Your position as Captain of the Royal Guard was dissolved along with the Diarchy,” Luna said. “If you need a pronouncement from me then you have it. Captain Armor, you are hereby honorably discharged. Thank you for your service.”

Stunned by the sudden loss of the position he’d spent his life trying to obtain Shining Armor stammered. “But I don’t, I can’t.”

“Shining Armor, you said you joined the army to find you little sister,” Twilight said. “You’ve succeeded. I can’t wait to meet the rest of our birth family. But right now the family of your choosing needs you.”

“I do not truly know if this is a good idea or not,” Luna said firmly, drawing his eyes back to her. “However, I saw clearly the love you two bear for one another. And I saw that love reflected in the eyes of the ponies gathered here who are among the connected. I cannot believe anything ill can come from the sharing of a love so pure.”

“Well I’m convinced,” said Sim, startling everypony. “I want to join the connection. Not because I love his wife,” it added, perhaps unnecessarily. “But I am interested in the connection itself. I have been many different types of dragons, and this will allow me to expand my study to other races entirely. Besides,” it continued with a significant glance to Twilight and Luna, “this will likely help on both of the personal projects I have mentioned to you. I can’t fall too far behind Twilight after all.”

Fancypants nodded slowly. “We would be pleased to have you join us,” he said at last. “However, we have agreed to respect Cadance’s wish that Shining Armor be the first to join us, if he wants to.”

“That’s fine,” Sim agreed easily. “I am in no hurry. What say you, former-Captain Shining Armor?”

Shining Armor still hesitated. He looked at Luna, whom he had served, Twilight, whom he had sought, and Cadance, whom he had married. Then he looked down at his foal, nestled safely in the sling against his wife’s chest.

Luna had never had foals, so she could not say she completely understood the emotions roiling in Shining Armor at that moment. She had, however, seen quite a lot of parents, and she was not surprised in the least when he made his decision.

“I’ll do it,” he said quietly. Then, he looked up and spoke more confidently, “I want to be with my wife.”

Fancypants clapped his hooves. “Excellent! We’re so glad to have you. Now if you could stand just a little apart from the others, please.”

“We’re doing it now?” Shining Armor asked. “I thought I’d have time to prepare, or say my goodbyes or something.”

Cadance laughed again, light and sweet. “It’s not as if you’re dying, Shiny. You’ll still be you, just a little more in touch with everypony else.”

“Um, right.” He gave one last look to his wife and then trotted slightly away. “Is this sufficient?”

“Perfect,” Fancypants said.

Without verbal direction, the other connected ponies took up positions surrounding Shining Armor in a circle. Cadance faced him head-on while Fancypants was directly behind him. A glow sprung up around Fancypants’ horn and it spread to encompass the other ponies. For pegasi the glow was concentrated around their wings, and for earth ponies it was around their hooves.

Not wanting to miss any part of the magic, Luna activated her mage sight, and she could tell by the sudden flare of the ember glowing in Twilight’s empty eye socket that she had done so as well.

To Luna’s eyes the connected ponies glowed with a warm amber light, the color of lazy summer afternoons. Where it fell ponies stood straighter, and their eyes were washed clean of the weight of any lingering burdens. The depth of its brightness embedded it in the fabric of the world. Luna had been afraid that she’d see some violence in it, reminiscent of the force Sombra had applied or the cruel beams of light on which he had hung. Neither were present.

Instead, the amber light ebbed and flowed in the circle of ponies around Shining Armor. Like waves in a storm it steadily built in intensity until at last it crested over. From Cadance that warm wave flowed down to embrace Shining Armor.

His face registered surprise when the wave first touched his chest, just over the heart. He met his wife’s eyes and relaxed into an easy smile. He closed his eyes and the amber light of the sun enveloped him completely.

There was a great flash of light, visible and blinding to everypony, as Shining Armor was annealed in the mantle of the sun.

Luna blinked rapidly, trying to clear the sunspots away from her vision. She could just make out the form of Shining Armor. He was kneeling in the center of the circle of ponies. Before she could react though, he surged to his hooves.

In tones of sheerest wonder he said, “I can feel Equestria.” Then his eyes focused and he looked down at his foal, cradled before his wife. “And I can feel my daughter.” He stepped forward to hold them both, leaving no pony watching to wonder which feeling he considered the greater joy.

Author's Note:

And now you know the last secret of this story. (Ok, there's one more little thing, but I promise, it's very small). Sombra may be gone, but his connection remains between everypony he possessed, and he possessed just about everypony in Equestria. If this brave new world leaves you feeling hopeful and somewhat unsettled then I've done my job.

There is still an epilogue to come. Truthfully I could have attached it to this, but I think it stands better on its own. However, since it is small, and endings are a time for changes, it will be released tomorrow. I will also put out two blog posts. The more interesting of the two is about the thematic elements of the story. The other is about my personal experience writing it, and that one is more for me than because I think anyone will find it interesting. Also, if there are any questions you have about the story (either now or if you happen to find this story in the future), please feel free to ask them there.

Thank you for reading and (for the last time) see you tomorrow!