Return of a Prince

View Online

Part 1
The spotlights were on and the crowd was wildly cheering. The Wonderbolts were performing their routine for the Grand Galloping Gala! The group landed and Spike’s voice rang out,
“Everypony, please give it up for the WONDERBOLTS!” The crowd cheered and screamed and stomped as the Wonderbolts took a bow, just as Spike’s voice rang out once more, “And now, all the way from Ponyville, home of Princess Twilight Sparkle, put your hooves on the floor for RAINBOW DASH!” Once again the crowd went wild. Rainbow Dash flew into the arena, grinning and waving, ever the show off. She took off into flight, loop the looping and corkscrewing, and then she grabbed a cloud and flew around it so as to shape the words “Grand Galloping Gala.” She then flew close to the ground, before flying straight upward. In her ascent she produced a sonic rainboom, “Huh,” she muttered to herself, “that happened faster than expected.” However she carried on with her routine and when she reached the height of her ascent she looped around and started flying straight down. Soon enough jet streams, like what one gets before a sonic rainboom, started forming behind her. As the ground came into view a red boom exploded behind her. Then an orange one, the yellow, then green, then blue, then purple. It was like a sonic rainboom for each colour of the rainbow.

Deep underground in a Canterlot dungeon, a crystal as old as Equestria cracked.

Above ground, Rainbow Dash was quite near it, so she slowed and landed, and then looked up at what she did. “Whoa” was all she could say. The crowd wasn’t cheering, just looking in awe and wonder at the rings of colour that could now be seen all over Equestria. Just then a young colt started stomping and cheering wildly. One by one the rest of the crowd joined in, until the noise was almost deafening. The rest of the main six ran out to where Rainbow Dash was, and the cheering got even louder as a princess of Equestria had graced the crowed with her presence. The main ponies all have a group hug and when they pull away Twilight asked,
“What was that?” To which Rainbow Dash replies,
“I don’t know, but it was frigging awesome!”
“You got that right!” Pinkie chimed in, “hey, you were the first one to do that, right? So does that mean you get to name it?” They all pondered this for a second before Rarity said,
“I think it does!” Fluttershy got the courage to speak, despite the circumstance,
“So, what are you going to name it?” Rainbow Dash looks at her newfound creation and simply said,
“Rainbow Rings.”

Immediately after this was said a gigantic boom (louder than all the Rainbow Rings booms combined) rang out and a golden mushroom cloud the width of Canterlot and the height of the highest cloud that seemed to be coming from underground. A ring formed around the stalk of the mushroom, then blasted out and temporarily covered all of Equestria in a golden glow. Then somewhere, deep underground in the frozen north, a pair of red and green eyes opened.

Part 2
“WHAT IN THE NAME OF SWEET CELESTIA IS GOING ON?” Twilight’s voice screamed through the terrified ponies running everywhere and swirling golden mist.
“I HAVE NO IDEA, BUT I’M SORRY!” Cried Rainbow, just as Celestia’s voice echoes out of the speakers,
“Everypony get inside, I repeat, everypony get inside.” Then, inside the Canterlot throne room Celestia turned to Luna,
“Do you think it’s him?” To which Luna replied,
“I hope.”

After the golden mushroom cloud faded away Celestia’s voice took over the speakers once more,
“I’m sorry to inform everypony that this year’s Grand Galloping Gala has been cut short due to mysterious golden explosions. If everypony could kindly vacate the building.” Just as Celestia finished broadcasting the main cast ran into the throne room.
“What in Equestria was that?” Exclaimed Twilight, but before Celestia could answer Rainbow leapt at her hooves sobbing,
“I’m so sorry!” Gently, the princess pushed her off and said,
“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, it wasn’t you.”
“So… What was it?” Twilight asked again.
“I have some sort of idea” Celestia said, “but for now you go home and go to bed.”
“No!” Twilight argued, “I want to help!”
Celestia looked at her sternly, “you can’t help here, so just go and see if Ponyville’s alright.”
“No!” Twilight said again, “I’m also royalty now! We’re equal, and I want to help!”
Suddenly, Celestia turned angry, “Look, the fate of all of Equestria hangs in the balance here, this problem needs to be solved with brains, not the Elements of Harmony, so just do as I say!”
Twilight and the main six recoiled in shock; after all, they’d never seen Celestia like this before.
“W-well… if you insist…” Twilight stuttered as she and the main six slowly backed away. Celestia sighs and mouths a “sorry” to Twilight before she turned to Luna and said,
“Take some of your guards and check the dungeon, you know which one.” Luna nodded and teleported away using magic. Then Celestia whispers to no one in particular, “Please be alive.”

“Attention!” Luna shouted to her royal guards, who then stood to attention, “Six of you will follow me into a dungeon where it is believed that source of that golden cloud can be found. This could be dangerous, so those of you willing shall step forth.” All the guards stood forward. “Erg” Luna sighed and rolled her eyes, “You, you, you, you, you and you follow me, the rest of you guard the palace. Go!” Guards scattered of in every direction while Luna and the six guards ran towards the dungeon.

As they approached a small wooden door that was nearly falling off its hinges Luna looked around,
“You two,” Luna nodded towards two of her guards who were holding torches, “Guard the door, the rest of you follow me in.” Luna slowly opened the door, which creaked loudly upon movement, and beckoned, for her guards to go in first. They ran in and stood in position, Luna following and standing in the centre of the trapezium shape the guards were in. The room was huge, but dark and dank, with moss growing in the corners. There were no windows and no torches, but in the centre was an enormous crystal with a huge crack in it. There were shards of broken crystal all over the floor, but the thing that made the room exciting wasn’t the crystal, or the fact that it was broken. What made it exciting was what lay betwixt the shards.

Celestia was writing letters furiously when Luna walked in; all that were needed to change the fate of Equestria forever was two simple words from Princess Luna, “He lives.”

Part 3
“Wasn’t my commentating at the gala great?” Said Spike excitedly as the main cast got off the train at Ponyville, “The Wonderbolts landed and I was just like- *BURP*” A fiery green flame that morphed into a letter floated out of Spike’s mouth. The rest of the main cast giggled while Spike opened the letter angrily, “Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I know you’ve probably just got of the train from Canterlot, but I really need you and your friends back at the palace immediately.
Signed, Princess Celestia. Huh, do you think that she’s found what caused that awesome explosion?” Twilight looked at Spike uncertainly,
“Judging by how desperate she seemed to find out what it was, I’d say so.” Then she rolled her eyes, “I suppose we may as well of not got off the train then, come on.”

The main cast walked through the door of the throne room to find Celestia and Luna deep in conversation with their royal guards forming a line behind them.
“We came as quickly as we could,” Said twilight, brightly.
“I’m sorry I shouted at you.” Celestia replied.
“Oh, that’s quite alright. So my guess is you called us here for a reason.”
“Yes!” Exclaimed Celestia happily, “Luna found the source of that mushroom cloud that rudely interrupted the Grand Galloping Gala!”
“Oh gosh,” Rainbow Dash panicked, “Please don’t say it was me.”
“It was partially you,” Princess Celestia admitted,
“I’M SO SORRY!” Cried Rainbow Dash, to which Princess Luna replied,
“Don’t be, young one, all you did was cause the thing that caused the golden cloud. In fact what you did is a most glorious thing!”
“Wha- what did I do?” Asked Rainbow Dash, her voice quivering.
“It would seem,” chirped Celestia, “That when you made those… err… what are you calling that thing that Rainbow Dash did at the Gala?”
“Rainbow Rings.” Rarity chimed in.
“Yes! Lovely. When you made those rainbow rings it crack open a crystal that is two thousand years old.”
“My goodness!” Said Fluttershy, “But why did that make such a big explosion?”
“The crystal didn’t,” replied Celestia, “But what fell out of it did.”
“Well, what fell out of it?” Asked Pinkie Pie.
“A pony older than all of time.” Answered Celestia.
“How in the hey can a pony be older than time?” Applejack sated loudly, not angrily, but not exactly kindly either.
“I don’t know” Celestia said simply.
“What?” Twilight seemed astounded, “how can you not know?” Celestia blushed and looked at the floor, smiling,
“Nopony knows everything, Twilight, although the pony that caused the explosion is probably the closest anypony has ever come.” Twilight seemed amazed. A pony that knows more than princess Celestia? That cannot be right, but if it is then that is one wise pony.
“How long has he- err? He or she?” Asked Twilight.
“He.” Said Celestia
“Right, so how long has he been in that crystal?” Enquired Twilight. After all, that must have been a huge loss for Equestria.
“A thousand years.” Celestia answered. A thousand years seems to be a running theme with the disappearing of things connected to Celestia, Twilight thought.
“A thousand and sixty seven years.” Luna corrected.
“If you want to be pedantic, yes a thousand and sixty seven years.” Celestia smirked.
“But why haven’t I ever heard of him before?” Asked Twilight.
Celestia blushed, “When he get trapped in the crystal, Luna and I were heartbroken. Luna especially, she and he were very close, in fact it was a factor that led her to becoming Nightmare Moon. But I digress; we were so heartbroken that we wished he had never existed, so we wouldn’t feel our pain. So I deleted him from history.” Twilight’s jaw dropped in shock, “I deleted him from every pony’s memory, and wherever his name was written, I replaced it with some other pony’s name.”
“ Wow…But, how did he find himself in the crystal?”
“That,” said Celestia, “is a brilliant question, with a brilliant story,” the main cast smiled eagerly, “ a brilliant story for another time. For now I would like you to meet our brother, Prince Vitam.”

Part 4
“Brother!?”
“Prince!?”
“So many questions!” Is all Twilight Sparkle could say. They were all staring down at the unconscious alicorn that lay before them, which was hidden by the guards at first. He had white fur, with a limp blue mane that was lined in purple. His horn was long and pointed at the end and his inner wing was slightly darker than the rest of his body. Hs cutie mark was the symbol of Equestria: Two alicorns, one white and one black, touching horn to tail with a golden light radiating from the middle of the circle they formed. He was wearing golden armour: The helmet covered most of the head, but not the end of the snout or his closed eyes. It also had five points, the biggest being the one in the middle, right behind his horn, that had a rhombus black crystal in it, and the smallest being the spikes protecting each ear. The helmet covers up the top of the neckpiece, which covers the sides and back. The bottom of the neckpiece is covered by the chest plate, which wraps around the bottom of the back of his neck. At the front of the chest plate it the same black crystal that was on the helmet. The boots were tall and pointed with smaller points reaching out of the main spire. In the centre of each is the black crystal again. However, the thing that made him recognisable wasn’t the mane or the armour or the wings. No, what made him recognisable was his size. He was huge. Taller than Celestia, he wasn’t very muscled. He was He was clearly strong, but just as clearly no body builder. A tall, slender white alicorn wearing shining golden armour.
“Wow” Is all Applejack could say
“What kind of gem stone is that?” Rarity asked curiously, “I’ve never seen it before.”
“Again, I don’t know.” Sighed Celestia, “That’s the first thing you’ll learn about him. There are so many questions that they’re not worth asking and it’s best to settle with I don’t know.”
“Okay… But what do you want with us?” Twilight questioned. It seemed like Celestia was just telling them all this without any real motivations.
“ I want you to bring him back to Equestria. Nurse him back to health, then slowly ease him back into modern life.”
“Wow…” Twilight whispered, before saying a bit louder, “What an honour, but why me?”
“Not just you,” Celestia giggled, “All of you: You and all of your friends. And I want you to do it because of your elements of harmony. I think that with kindness, honesty, loyalty, generosity, laughter and magic you can restore my brother to his former glory.” Twilight grinned,
“You can count on us.”

Part 5
Prince Vitam’s unconscious body lay limp in the middle of Twilight’s library, with the main cast surrounding him.
“Alright everypony,” Twilight grinned, “Celestia has entrusted us with a very important task. We can’t fail her!”
“It won’t be an easy job, you know.” Rarity warned, “He hasn’t been woken by quite a lot already!”
“Quit you negativity Rarity!” Applejack chuckled, cuffing her front leg, “We can do it, since when have we as a group ever failed?”
“Besides,” Rainbow Dash added, “Princess Celestia set us a task. Not just any task, the task to bring back her brother! We cannot fail!”
“Rarity has a point,” Fluttershy articulated, “Falling out of a crystal, setting of a huge bang, the grand galloping gala, being walked in on while sleeping, being carried and being shoved on a train didn’t wake him. What else can we do?”
“We can throw cakes at him.” Suggested Pinkie Pie, only half joking.
“We’re not going to throw cakes at him.” Laughed Twilight, “But what are we going to do?”
“We should give him a nice comfy bed.” Rarity smiled.
“We can’t do that!” Rainbow Dash gasped, “ If we do that he’ll sleep better!”
“So we’re just going to leave him on the floor?” Rarity seemed aghast.
“With a blanket.” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“I suppose that falling out of bed didn’t wake him,” Rarity sighed, “So not giving him one can’t do to much harm.”
“So what else can we do?” Twilight wondered aloud…

Part 6
“And then I did a sonic rainboom but kept going, did a loop and then it was all like BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!! And that crystal was like, Oh snap, guess it’s crackin’ time. Heh heh… Yep, I’m just that awesome.” Spike looked blankly at the wall. It was the dead of night and he’d been listening to Rainbow Dash getting excited about her own life story for 5 hours. He had had to do this for every night for 3 weeks, and it wasn’t as though spike wished he had Trixie’s magic so he could shut her mouth, but if he did he would, “Of course, you know that, you saw it. Then again, all of Equestria saw it!” Slowly Spike turned his head to face Rainbow Dash. A lot of things went through his head as he tried to think of cleaver and subtle ways to tell her to shut the hell up. In the end, he settled on something incredibly simple that was far from a lie
“You’re a really arrogant pony, you know that” Rainbow Dash recoiled in offence but before she could open her mouth a spluttering cough came from Prince Vitam. Spike and Rainbow Dash both gasped simultaneously. They both looked at each other before turning around and started shouting and running into the room where everyone slept had been sleeping, so when he does wake they’ll all be around to see it. Fortunately, none of them were out getting supplies when it did happen.
“Guys! Guys! It’s happening! He’s waking up!” Is something along the lines of what was being yelled by Rainbow Dash and Spike.
“Wha… What? It’s actually happening?” Twilight slurred, as she was only just waking up, in the middle of the night no less.

Everypony gathered round Prince Vitam.
“Just poke him” Whispered Pinkie Pie
“Why are you whispering?” Asked Rarity, “It’s not like we’re trying not to wake him up. On the contrary.”
“I’m glad you worked that one out.” Said Twilight, nonchalantly, before poking him in the face and saying,
“Wake up. It’s time to wake up now.”
“Nnrrggm” Was the first noise Prince Vitam made after a thousand year sleep. The second one was, “Where am I?”

Cheers. Cheers filled the room, as well as woohoos and even a few “we did it”s.
“I shall repeat. Where am I? And whom exactly are you?” Prince Vitam asked. He had opened his eyes now, and they were a purplish magenta. Twilight was about to answer but before she could he said, “You, princess, come here.” Twilight looked around, confused, but cooperated none the less. Prince Vitam touched the tip of his horn to the tip of Twilight’s. He closed his eyes and a blue glow started radiating from the base, slowly making it’s way up to the tip. When the blue glow reached Twilight’s horn sparks started shooting out from his horn. Then blue flickers, like fire started spinning round his horn. It was quite the spectacle. About twenty seconds later it started to die down and when the glow had dispersed entirely the prince said simply, “Okay we’re good. Cheers Twily.”
Twilight seemed a little confused, “What was that and- Wait… How do you know my name, and furthermore, how do you know some ponies shorten it to Twily?”
Prince Vitam smiled smugly and said, “Went through your memories. Then I gathered together all the things with a conscience and went through their memories; Then I did then same with all the things with a conscience in their memory. I continued this until I got bored. That’s why I’m speaking in modern lingo.” Twilight seemed shocked and impressed, but then grinned cheekily and said, “Can you prove that?”
A certain gleam lit up in Prince Vitam’s eye, so, very rapidly, he started listing of aspects the main cast, “Gladly. Your name is Twilight Sparkle, and you’re the princess of friendship: well done. You enjoyed studying from a young age and your parents enrolled you in princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. There you almost failed your test but then you entered god mode, hatching Spike and warranting Celestia herself to tutor you. You brother is married to Princess Cadence, princess of love and they live in the crystal empire. On the subject of Princess Cadence, guess who once styled her main: Rarity! Rarity’s mother is a unicorn but her father is an earth pony. Her parents are a little weird, with their eccentric fashion sense and their accents. Rarity’s special talent is making fabulous dresses so she’s always been a little ashamed of her parents. She’s also a little ashamed and annoyed by her little sister Sweetie Belle, who’s in a group called the cutie mark crusaders which has a grand member total of four, one of which is Apple Bloom who is little sister of Applejack. Applejack also has a big brother called Big Macintosh, or just Big Mac, and a granny called Granny Smith. They all work an apple orchard. Do you wish for me to continue?” Prince Vitam was panting.
“No thanks, I get the point.” Twilight spluttered after finding her voice through all her amazement.
“Well that’s too bad, because I was only catching my breath,” Prince Vitam laughed, “Also in the cutie mark crusaders is Babs Seed, but she’s not important, so let’s skip to Scootaloo! Scoots is being mentored by Rainbow Dash who is the fastest Pegasus in the world at the moment and has been trying all her life to become a Wonderbolt, but can’t for some reason. She is also how I got out of my crystal. Thanks R-D. And then there’s Fluttershy, who is very good at looking after animals, but not so great at flying, which is why she mainly remains grounded. Last but not least, Pinkie Pie. Pinkemena Diane Pie used to work on a rock farm, but then she found out that fun is fun, so she moved to Ponyville, which is where we are now. Yay.”

Twilight was dumbfounded. When she Finally found her voice all she asked,“So you know about every pony that ever existed deepest darkest secrets?”
“In the words of Applejack’s brother,” Prince Vitam said Prince Vitam in a tone where you knew he was showing off, “Eeyup.”
“Wow,” Twilight gasped, “You’re a really high level in magic.” Prince Vitam looked at her in a “Really? Because I hadn’t realised” kind of way, before making a dear stalker appear above her head. It fell on her head, covering her eyes. He then said, “You must be a detective.” Twilight was a bit confused, but as she took off the hat her face grew cross,
“You don’t have to be rude. Anyway how did you learn to do that?” Prince Vitam snorted,
“When one has been alive as long as I have. Before you bore me with another question, allow me to tell you the story Celestia told you were for another time. You see, I was fighting for the Crystal Empire, and then Celestia and Luna turned up. I saw them fly in and it distracted me, which gave King Sombra a chance to deliver the winning blow. It blasted me back into a crystal and he closed the crystal up on me. Celestia and Luna then felt so angry with Sombra that they used his own hatred and fear spell to banish him to the ice. They then took the crystal I got blasted into, and took it into the Canterlot Castle dungeons, and it remained there for one thousand and sixty seven years to the week. Until Rainbow here unleashed the final frontier of speed, releasing me.” The main six looked shocked, except Rainbow Dash, who looked proud as a cat, having just caught a bird.
“Any who,” continued Vitam, “I’m bored, let’s do something!”

Part 7
Celestia was pacing. Luna was reading. The royal guards had noticed that the two of them had been doing a lot of each as of late. However each of them stopped when Prince Vitam walk through the door. Only, he didn’t open the door and open it like a normal pony, he literally walk straight through the piece of wood. The others surrounded by prince Vitam’s blue magical glow followed suit.

Prince Vitam had taken off his armour by now. Also his mane was no longer limp. It now flowed not unlike Celestia or Luna’s, only his flowed like calm fire. It had drastic curves in it, and each curve ended in a flicker. However, after each flicker ended, it seemed to change its mind, and came back into the world, only now detached from the rest of the mane, so it only survived for a second or two.

Celestia and Luna’s faces lit up. Their beloved brother had returned after one thousand years in crystal imprisonment. They seemed dumbfounded, so Vitam spoke first. What he said was only a little unexpected for the two royal sisters,
“Hey hey every pon-eigh!”
“Brother!” Celestia and Luna squealed, almost childishly. They ran up to each other and tightly hugged each other.
“I’ve missed you so much!” Celestia squeaked, holding back tears of joy, “It’s been lonely without you.”
“I missed you too.” Prince Vitam smiled back, before looking to Luna. Luna had no words; she just pulled him into another hug as a single tear rolled down her face,
“Don’t ever leave me again.” She whispered.
“I won’t.” He whispered back. Celestia joined in and the three of them just stood there, hugging, trying not to cry.

Part 8

The train chugged along the tracks. It was an average train journey from Canterlot to Ponyville. Only inside cart 4 excitement levels were at maximum.
“Ohhhh,” Pinkie Pie squealed, “He is so cool!”
“He’s huge is what he is.” Applejack added.
“What I want to know,” Rarity stated, “Is how he did that flicker thing with his mane.” Suddenly, Prince Vitam’s voice rang out of nowhere, “It’s a spell that can be found on the two hundred and eleventh page of, “Magical Mane Spells” by Maneth Combsheart” Everypony jumped. They weren’t exactly panicking, but they were unsettled, and were all generally saying, “Whoa, what was that?”
“Of course, fare Rarity,” The voice continued, “You wouldn’t want the spell I used, you would want the infinity curl spell. It curls the mane around in a spiral infinitely. Of course it’s very advanced magic.” Prince Vitam shimmered into visibility, smugly grinning.
“Please,” Twilight gasped, “Don’t ever do that again. The last time anypony did that it was Discord.”
“Discord isn’t a pony.” Prince Vitam corrected, “He’s a”-
“Draconaquus, I do know that.” Twilight sighed
“Of course,” Prince Vitam chuckled, “So where are we headed?”
“We’re going to Ponyville!” Twilight says, conveniently just as the doors opened. Prince Vitam looked out over the Equestria he’s been absent from for a thousand years. He didn’t feel bad that he hadn’t been there, just as though he’d missed out on a whole lot of fun. Like missing out on a party to visit grandma.
“Well then,” Prince Vitam turned to Twilight, “You gonna give me a tour?”
“Oh,” Twilight seemed a little confused, “Well I err…”
“C’mon Twily,” Prince Vitam urged, “You know all about this town, you even sang a song about it. Then you became a princess. That was a productive day weren’t it?” Twilight sighed, but agreed to give him the tour.

At the front door to Twilight’s library is where the tour ended. They’d been pretty much everywhere in Ponyville: To Sugar Cube Corner, Carousel Boutique, Sofas and Quills, etc.
“Well,” Twilight exhaled, “I’ll see you guys later.” All but Twilight, Spike and Prince Vitam left.
“They’re nice.” Prince Vitam commented, after they were all out of earshot.
“Oh,” Twilight stuttered, “Aren’t you going to go back to Canterlot?”
“What?” Prince Vitam seemed a little confused, but then he worked it out, smiled and said, “No. No, I’m going to live in the Crystal Empire, but my palace hasn’t been built yet. Meantime, I’ll live here, with you.”
“What?” It was Twilights turn to be confused, “I don’t have any room. And how did you organize a palace to be built, you’ve never left my sight since you woke up.”
“Oh yeah.” Prince Vitam laughed, before teleporting away. Twilight and Spike looked at each other. Spike almost managed to say “The heck?” But then Prince Vitam came back.
“Now my palace will be in the Crystal Empire. Also, to answer your question about no room, I won’t be a problem, just trust me.” On that, he quite happily trotted into the house. Twilight and Spike looked at each other again. This time Twilight asked a question,
“Is that rude?” Before Spike could reply Prince Vitam interrupted again,
“Why do you own an owl?” He call from inside. Twilight and Spike walked in to find Owlowiscious perched on Prince Vitam’s back.
“You already own a dragon,” He continued, “What more could you want?”
“He just kind of happened.” Twilight responded.
“Anyway,” Prince Vitam suddenly seemed focused again, “I need about ten minutes in a corridor.” He wondered half way up the stairs, and then announced, “Here’s good.” Then he started using his magic. For a bit Twilight and Spike watched him, but after two minutes they got bored.

After another eight minutes Twilight was reading and Spike was cooking, and from the area Prince Vitam was his voice cried, “Success!” Twilight and Spike rushed over to find Prince Vitam standing in a room that wasn’t there before. It had a king sized bed, with a TV and a Ponystation 3. The theme of the room fitted with the rest of the house, except for the light system that could change colour.
“Wow,” Spike exclaimed, “I gotta check outside!” He ran out of the room.
“What is outside?” Twilight asked.
“No difference.” Prince Vitam said, indifferently, “Bigger on the inside magic. A friend of mine taught me that.
“Wow,” Twilight gasped, “You’ve got to teach me all of your magic.”
“It’ll take some time.” Prince Vitam speculated.
“How long?” Twilight asked shuffling a little closer to Prince Vitam.
“Very long.” Prince Vitam replied, now looking directly into Twilight’s eyes.
“How long is very long?” Twilight enquired, looking directly back into Prince Vitam’s eyes. Her pulse quickened and she felt a strange sensation in her stomach.
“How does the rest of your life sound?” Prince Vitam’s voice had lowered. He felt a similar sensation deep inside of him.
“If I get to spend it with you.” Twilight replied, almost seductively. Their faces were mere inches from each other and getting closer, but then Spike appeared in the door,
“There’s no difference outside! Err… What’s going on?”
Prince Vitam snapped out of it first,
“Nothing! So err… Am I going to get re-coroneted, or what?”
“Yes!” Twilight shook her head and appeared to regain focus, “I think you will.” She looked at Spike and Spike looked at her in a king of, “Were you doing what I think you were doing?” look. She then looked back at Vitam and said quite simply, “Well Prince Vitam, welcome back to Equestria.”

The Redemption

View Online

Part 1
[6 months later]
“Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy was paying her monthly visit to Discord. It was a sunny day in Canterlot. Prince Vitam’s re-coronation was being arranged and all was well. However Prince Vitam had ordered not to tell Discord of his return.
“Hey Discord.” Fluttershy trotted briskly towards him, smiling. Discord beamed.
“You ready to go?” Fluttershy asked.
“Just let me get my things.” Discord replied, before clicking his talons and a small rucksack appeared. Discord put his arms and wings through the straps, “Ok I’m ready, let’s go!”

Discord thoroughly enjoyed his day with Fluttershy. They played in a field, went to a funfair, ate lunch in a café and even bumped into Gilda. Well, it wasn't really bumping into her, it was more seeing her from a distance, Fluttershy whispering to Discord that she once screamed at her, and then Discord telling Fluttershy to walk into her, resulting in her getting angry, and then Discord creeping up behind her, and then… well… The result was Gilda running home, screaming and crying.
“Just a moment, Fluttershy.” Discord said as the day drew to a close and Fluttershy was walking with Discord back to his quarters in the palace. He slipped into the stallion’s room, and Fluttershy politely waited, leaning against a wall. Then Prince Vitam walked around the Corner.
“Oh, hey Fluttershy.” He said, happily surprised.
“Oh, hi Prince Vitam, you need to go, Discord is” But before Fluttershy could finish Discord walked out of the stallion’s room.

Discord saw Vitam. Vitam saw Discord. Prince Vitam’s eye’s narrowed. Immediately he tensed up, and, entering attack position, his horn started glowing. However, when Discord saw Prince Vitam he nearly fainted. All the memories of the time before stone came flooding back. He remembered Vitam banishing him to stone, laughing while he did it. He remembered accepting his fate, and screaming in rage while he felt the concrete slither up his legs. He remembered looking into Prince Vitam’s eyes and seeing a hero, but then looking deeper and seeing a monster.

Part 2

Fluttershy could tell that there was an ancient feud between these two. She tried to lower the tenseness in the room,
“Shall we?” She whispered, even though she was trying to sound loud and confident. Despite the fact the question was aimed at Discord, Vitam responded,
“We shall.” On that Discord and Prince Vitam walked towards the throne room together. Fluttershy stood around awkwardly. As they walked away together she just mumbled,
“I’ll… Just… Go.” And she dashed off to her animals without another word.

Celestia was writing a letter, but then she heard a loud banging noise and looked up.
“Uh oh.” Is what she said when she saw Prince Vitam and Discord walking together, not talking, but watching each other.
“It’s been a while.” Prince Vitam said, passive aggressively.
“Too long.” Discord replied in the same tone of voice.
“Given up chaos then?” Vitam interrogated.
“I’ve just started again.” Discord grinned, menacingly.
“Since when?” Vitam seemed almost surprised at this new development.
“Since now.” Now Discord was really starting to sound evil. At this point however, Luna walked in.
“Brother, are you ready for the- oh gosh.” She sighed at the sight of Vitam and Discord.
“Really?” Prince Vitam asked in response to Discord, “Only, I can’t help but notice that you’re being remarkably un-chaotic.” He smiled meanly at Discord, almost like a playground bully.
“You want me to start?” Discord threatened.
“No!” Celestia and Luna cried at the same time, however Prince Vitam just smiled even wider and whispered,
“Be my guest.” Discord cracked a laugh and then smashed Vitam round the side of the head. Prince Vitam stumbled and span. Slowly, he looked round at Discord and growled, “Oh no you did just not…”

Rearing on his hind legs, he Discord square in the face. Discord grabbed Vitam by the horn, and tried to snap it, but couldn’t and he punched him in the chest, winding him. He then turned around and kicked Discord with his back legs, which sent him stumbling into the wall. Quickly, he got up as Vitam ran at him full speed. Discord got into a defensive position, but as they were about to collide Discord jumped out of the way. However, Vitam was ready for this and ran up the wall before jumping sideways so that he landed just in front of where Discord was standing, which happened to be in front of the window depicting how he was defeated by the Elements of Harmony. This surprised Discord and this gave Vitam the opportunity to pick Discord up using his magic and throw him at the window. Unfortunately, it sent Discord through the window, smashing it and raining shards of glass into the street. Discord looked up angrily before disappearing in a white flash.

Part 3

“Are you alright?” Celestia and Luna ran over to their beloved brother.
“I’m fine, I won.” He laughed, somewhat nervously.
“Brother!” Luna cried, “We have to be in Ponyville in twenty minutes!” She seemed less worried for Vitam than Celestia did, but Celestia knew why Luna was moving on so quickly, and understood.
“I know Lunee,” He smiled, “Just relax. Everything’s in place.” Kindly, he offered her a wing and she snuggled underneath it. Celestia welled up with pride looking at them both,
“Break a leg you two.” She beamed. They smiled back at her, before Prince Vitam teleported them to Ponyville.

“You guys ready?” Prince Vitam was pacing in front of a group of ponies. They were underneath a grand stage, but Prince Vitam had to lower his head a bit. Luna was up in the sky for her grand entrance. Nightmare Night was a big deal for her, after all. “Let’s just go through it once more.” The group groaned, “Shh! Right. Octavia, you start out on the piano. Then Tombstone and Vinyl and I join in on the track. Next it’s Mic the Microphone on the… Well, Microphone and Glaze on the chorus. Luna knows her queue. We got this?” The group mumbled a general yes and Vitam said, “Good, because we’re on now.”

A soft piano started playing on the stage and through the speakers. Everypony looked round to see the curtain of the stage drawing to reveal Octavia playing the soft melody. After a two bars Vinyl and The Living Tombstone appeared in the D-J booth in a swirling ball of blue magic. They switched on the wubs and the bass and they even had a pre-recorded choir on the track. Around forty seconds into the song Mic walked on with a Microphone he was holding with magic.

“Yeah, whatchu know ‘bout Nightmare Night son?
Welcome fillies and gentlecolts
No reason to scream
Your favourite princess in back…” At this point Princess Luna had swooped in on a chariot pulled by her guards.
“…She’s walking up on the scene
She has been stuck on the moon
But that’s no reason to fret
She’s not a nightmare no more
So buckle down and get set

She’s coming; gracing her subjects
She ain’t leaving no choice
She’s gonna blow you all back
With her Equestrian voice
So cover all of your fears
And stow away all your freight
The Lunar princess is back
To Bring the Nightmares tonight”

By now Glaze had flown in and had grabbed a microphone from Vinyl. For the chorus, in her robotic voice, Glaze sang,

“She’s living in the past
So you won’t last
Without the proper care
With a royal farewell
And an animate spell
You won’t have long to prepare.”

The lights swivelled round to the D-Js who were showing off various noises. All the while Princess Luna was scaring everypony. Eventually the second verse came,

“Now little fillies this is Nightmare Night
Your ruler Nightmare Moon is back
To come and fill you with freight
So hurry

Now get your goodies
And fill up all your bags
And go and leave a candy
Offering for that big ol’ hag
Get running

And pray above that she’s not coming back
To come and take away your soul
And eat you up for a snack
So run away and go hide
Just keep you head out of sight
The darkness is rising again
Cause this is Nightmare Night.”

Glaze sang the chorus once more, but before the song could end a white light appeared in the sky. It grew and grew and curled and swirled down to earth. On impact it caused a large crater in the ground to emerge through the smoke and lying, seething at the bottom of it was Discord.

Part 4

Discord was bigger: a lot bigger. Everything about him was bigger, but his wings especially. They looked like they were designed for actually flying, unlike his previous wings. They looked like they belonged on a deformed angel.

Everypony thought this was all part of the act. After all, they’d been told that Discord was reformed now. They were all running around, laughing.
“This isn’t part of the act everypony!” Luna tried to warn the crowd, but they all thought that saying it wasn’t part of the act was part of the act.
“This is the best Nightmare Night ever!” One colt cried in joy. Unfortunately Discord heard him and, with a click of his fingers, made his legs disappear. Then he looked around and destroyed the stage, with Princess Luna and the performers on it. This was when everypony started to realize it was more than a performance and started to panic. Discord then targeted a house; pointed on of his talons at it and suddenly, the house caught fire. Prince Vitam looked around at the chaos. He knew there was only one thing to do.

He stood in large field, surrounded in dead grass. Using magic, he teleported the main six in front of him. They all seemed dazed and confused,
“Whoa,” Twilight speculated, “How did you…”
“Is that top priority? Right now?” Prince Vitam seemed almost shocked that this was the first question that came to her mind. Twilight looked a little embarrassed. “Right,” He continued, “Unless you’ve been under a rock you’ll know that Discord has been terrorising Nightmare Night. Now, that may or may not be my fault, point is, we need to get Discord the heck out. Fluttershy, your in charge of getting the animals safe, Rarity and Rainbow Dash you make sure everypony gets somewhere safe, A-J and Pinkie, you gather up a load of food for those left homeless, and Twilight, you make sure all goes to plan. I’ll go fight him.” They all seemed to understand their task, except Twilight,
“No!” She started, but Vitam cut her off,
“Seriously, now is not the time for arguments. Go!” He ordered as he teleported them all away. Slowly he turned around, grumbling, “I knew my sarcasm would cause mass genocide one day.” before teleporting out of the field himself.

Part 5

Discord was swaggering down the ruined wreckage of the street, just as Vitam appeared behind him. He turned around, smiling with psychopathic glee, “Hello old friend!” He chuckled, with the same fake cheerfulness.
“You’re no friend of mine.” Vitam growled. Discord pulled an exaggerated frown,
“Oh don’t be like that,” He mocked, “Remember the good old days? You gave me all of Equestria to rule! We were friends!”
“And you screwed it all up!” Vitam shouted. He was trying to contain his rage, at Discord and at himself for sparking all this, but he was not doing a very good job of it. “You took your power,” He continued, “And you ruined everything. You took the promise you made to me, and spat on it and ripped it into a million pieces and threw the pieces into the dirt. So I turned you into the freak of nature you are now, and took away your name. I left it in a good light, and you should thank me for that!”
“Thank you?” Discord laughed, “Thank you?” He said more seriously, “Those I loved saw what you turned me into, and rejected me. I didn’t choose a life of Chaos, you forced it onto me!” Discord was now very angry, but wasn’t shouting. Prince Vitam on the other hand, was,
“What?” He yelled, “It’s your fault you are what you are! It’s your fault I refuse to call you your real name! You are a mere shred of the shadow of my friend!” Discord seemed a little taken aback by this, and Vitam saw this and decided to pull out the big guns.

“You were the one you let me down in my time of need! I let you rule for 10 years, while I was teaching the most powerful princesses there are today, and in that time you let Equestria crumble! Everything I’d worked on, succeeded on, failed on for the past three thousand years, gone! I had to institute my sisters as official rulers, because of you!” This definitely struck something deep inside Discord. He stumbled backwards and almost fell over. He looked around, before turning to Vitam,
“I’ll be back.” He spat with such loathing, and such hate that Vitam almost wanted to whisper sorry, but he didn’t because that would be stupid and would kill the mood, and Vitam didn’t want that to happen because he knew what Discord was about to do. Sure enough, he disappeared in a white flash.

Part 6

Discord paced around the cave he had renovated to suit holding him. This is it. This day. I will rule. Forever. Whatever remnant of the previous Discord was be dashed today. He was going to deal with Prince Vitam, and then the ponies, and then he would be crown God-King of Equestria. He shut his eyes, and when he opened a new level of the chaotic flame danced behind them,

“Nothing will prepare you for
The chaos I will bring upon you
You can try to run and hide
But you can't escape the things that I'll do
Don't even try to run away
It's my world you live in now
Now watch everything you know fade
As I turn your life upside-down

I'm the spirit of chaos
The image of evil, don't deny
I'm gonna turn your world around and then I'll watch you cry
Don't fight it
Just look at the chaos rising everywhere
Game over
I'm plunging your world into everlasting despair

I'm building my empire today
On the land you all once called home
I'll strike fear in all of your hearts
As I watch cities burn from my throne
Looking back will only
Remind you of the order you once knew
Get used to the way things are now
Your world is under my rule

It's all over now
Don't try to put me down
It's better off this way
Chaos is rising and
You and your little friends
Won't stop me today
Don't resist me 'cuz
You're not strong enough
To break me down
Don't try
To deny
I'm the king from here on out

Part 7

Twilight Sparkle paced. She was taking a break from visiting the victims of the Discord attack. Suddenly Prince Vitam appeared behind her, running at full speed and hitting a wall.
“Where is my room?” He mumbled, as he stumbled backwards,
“Where it’s been since you put it there… Why?” Twilight was very confused, and wondering why in Equestria Vitam would forget where his room was,
“What?” He looked at Twilight, and almost wondered what she was talking about, but then he came to his senses, “Oh. No, I mean my old one that I used when I was staying in Canterlot, back in the day.”
“How should I know?” Twilight asked, annoyed, as it seemed like an unreasonable question. Vitam looked at Twilight like she should know,
“Well, you were Celestia’s star pupil. When you were a filly, were there any rooms in the castle she didn’t let you go in?” He asked. Twilight was confused,
“Don’t you know?” She wondered, “Didn’t you read the memories of everypony (presumably including Celestia or Luna) as soon as you returned?”
“She’s moved it.” Vitam grumbled, disgruntled, before continuing, “When I returned Celestia saw no nostalgic merit in preserving a room that could be used for more important things. So she moved all my stuff.” This made Twilight even more annoyed,
“Well there was one room I was forbidden to go into, but if it’s been moved how should I know where it is?”
“I dunno!” Prince Vitam complained, “I thought maybe she’d told you or something.” With that he teleported to where Celestia was, leaving Twilight annoyed and confused.

“Sister!” He called to Celestia,
“What is it my brother?” She asked politely,
“Where’d you put my stuff?” He demanded, not as politely.
“Oh,” Celestia was a little surprised, “I put them second floor, third block, twenty second… You know what, I’ll just take you there.” She sighed, before she grew curious, “Why?”
“Discord is a thing.” He replied simply, yet Celestia knew what he was talking about, and started jogging towards the room where Vitam’s things from his past life were being kept.

Their destination was a small room, with boxes piled around on the floor. Prince Vitam made noise of complaint before using his magic to pick out a small greyish crystal from a small box in the corner. He clasped it in his hoof before turning to Celestia. Not taking his eyes off the crystal he muttered to Celestia,
“Fortify Canterlot.”

Part 8

The royal guards lined Canterlot. Flash Century was put in charge of the patrols, and Celestia and Luna sat each side of him, in the humble Canterlot military base. A message had been sent to Shining Armour and Princess Cadence, but so far they had not showed up to offer their support, or even replied. Nopony went out of their way for leisure. Canterlot was on lockdown.

A grey Earth Pony walked out of his home and set of towards Canterlot Castle. Then a grey Unicorn joined him; then a grey Pegasus. One by one grey ponies started walking towards the palace. Even the royal guards left their position. Celestia had noticed that when Flash Century came into work that day he appeared a little bit less saturated than normal. She knew as soon as he left his post without a word something was wrong. She and Luna rushed to the window to see every pony in Canterlot walking towards the palace. They looked at each other and gulped. Discord was making an army out of civilians.

Prince Vitam woke up in Twilight’s library in the room he’d crafted for himself. The lighting system had turned red. Something was wrong. He grabbed he’d retrieved the day before and ran into Twilight’s room. She was already awake and reading,
“It’s called knocking.” She said, not looking up from her book. Vitam’s mouth fell open in shock,
“Discord.” He spluttered, “Canterlot. Get out of bed!” Twilight recoiled in shock, but then came to her senses, grabbed Spike and got under Vitam’s wing.

Celestia and Luna turned round to see Vitam, Twilight and Spike.
“Have you got the Crystal?” Luna asked, and Vitam nodded, before asking his own question,
“How do you get Discord to show his face?” They all looked at each other. None of them knew what to do, but then Celestia turned around and left. Everypony’s heart’s dropped, but then she came back in and said,
“Don’t worry, I’m not discorded.”

She simply stood there, in the middle of the mob. Not moving, just standing. Eventually a white bolt of lightning dropped from the sky and Discord landed with a thud. As soon as Vitam clapped eyes on Discord he silently teleported behind him. They both looked at Celestia, but Celestia’s eyes remained fixated on Discord, as she knew he was not aware of the presence of Vitam.
“So,” Discord began in a low, menacing voice, “Where’s that beloved brother of yours?” Celestia grinned,
“Closer than you might realize.” She purred in response. This did not impress Discord,
“I’ll take it you mean that metaphorically.” He snarled. Celestia simply smiled.
“You know,” She started, “Ever since I turned you away, you seemed…” She paused, “Watered down. However, ever since the return of my brother, you have hardened up. More like a God of Chaos, while before you were a king of chaos.” This made Discord smile perversely, but what Celestia said next wiped the grin right off his face, “It’s disgusting.” Discord was taken aback at first, but then pulled himself together, and roared,
“You think I care? I have an entire army! You have nothing!” He then called to his army of the possessed, “Destroy the castle.”

Everypony started marching forward. They were silent: not talking, not giving any expressions at all. Discord turned around to see Vitam. He was hiding the crystal. Discord smiled, almost pleased,
“So she wasn’t lying…” He speculated, but then he turned angry again, “You can’t stop this! There’s too many of them!” He yelled. Prince Vitam snorted,
“Trust me I could stop all of them right now. However, I’m not going to.” He smiled. Discord almost lost it,
“You won’t change me back!” He screamed, “I like this me! He has God like powers!”
“You speak of yourself,” Vitam was keeping his cool very well, “In the third person. It’s like you know what is about to happen.” He was grinning like a little boy on Christmas now. It was like he was excited about permanently altering the fate of Equestria.
“Except you won’t,” Discord lowered his voice suddenly, like he was plotting something, “I’m your villain. You need me, we’re opposites.” Discord was now the one grinning wildly,
“No, no, no,” Vitam corrected, “I’m the Prince of Life, and you’re the God of Chaos. The opposite of life is death, and I’ve got that covered.” Discord seemed confused, “That’s right old friend,” He continued, “I can raise the dead.” Discord gasped, but Vitam just laughed, “Oh, I never told you that did I? I can also make ponies immortal, like I did with Celestia and Luna, and will do with Twily and Cadence.” The main six gasped in shock. Vitam continued, “But I digress. The opposite of life is death, but the opposite of chaos. Do you want to know what that is?”
“What?” Discord spat. Vitam lowered his head, but didn’t take his eyes off Discord. His horn started glowing blue; the bluest blue there could ever be. He whispered, quite simply, “Harmony.”

Part 9

Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity appeared in the air above Vitam. Their Element’s of Harmony appeared round their necks and Twilight’s crown on her head. They all knew what they had to do, but as they were about to turn him into stone, Vitam threw up the greyish crystal into the middle of them. It floated in the air, and rainbows pulsated threw it, abolishing the grey. The rainbow shot into the air, and arched back down again. The rainbow wrapped itself around Discord and as he slowly turned into stone, another body started crawling out of Discord. Slowly, the rainbow faded away and the grander body of Discord stood in stone, screaming, his lion paw grabbing his chest and one of his talons pointing at Vitam.

Lying in front of Discord was a brownish Alicorn. He was the height of Luna, and about as stocky too. His mane was white and hung down at the side and back of his head and neck. His tale was also white, and it was proportionately as long as his mane. A great long wispy beard protruded out of his chin. His cutie mark was a black star, surrounded in a swirl of all the colours of the rainbow.
“Who is that?” Twilight gasped in astonishment. Everypony gathered round the corpse.
“A chance to show off.” Vitam grinned in response. Luna looked at him curiously,
“And why, exactly, is that?” She enquired.
“He is not currently joining us in the living world,” He started, “I’m going to make him.”

With that, a blue glow started forming around his horn. The glow reached beyond his horn and it began to slither and snake it’s way towards the body. Slowly, it coiled itself around and around, like a boa constrictor. Suddenly, sparks started flying out from the glow, which had now almost completely cocooned the body. Then more colours joined the blue; red, green, yellow, etc until the entire rainbow was swirling around the body. Slowly, it detached itself from Vitam’s horn and started to lift into the air. It was dazzling. The swirl persisted with constant lurches and jerks. Suddenly, it all stopped, and out dropped the same brown Alicorn, only this time he was alive.

Part 10

The pony that dropped out of the resurrection swirl was taller than the one that entered it. Also, he was more slender and his wings had changed; they were longer, but thinner, like Nightmare Moon’s, only brown. His eyes opened, they were gold. Gold as the sun is.
“Hello old friend.” Vitam said, nearly welling up. He embraced his friend that used to be Discord, and they hugged for a very long while. Celestia and Luna recoiled and pure and absolute shock. Simultaneously, they gasped,
“Star Swirl the Bearded?”

This seemed to trigger a chain reaction with Twilight, who almost couldn’t believe it,
“Star Swirl the Bearded?” Star Swirl looked around, rather dazed. He then turned around and saw the stone Discord,
“That’s me,” He replied, not taking his eyes off the statue, “And that’s him…” He added. Celestia went up to join him. She knew this situation had to be handled delicately, but was just too curious,
“Do you remember?” She asked softly, “Being… Him, that is.” Star Swirl gazed at Celestia, with longing in his eyes,
“Yes,” He whispered, “Every second.” Luna and Vitam went to join him. They all had a group hug for a few seconds, before Prince Vitam cleared his throat and announce,
“I here by declare you, Prince Star Swirl the Bearded.”

Epilogue

Twilight Sparkle, Spike and Prince Vitam all collapsed on the floor of Twilight’s library. Twilight looked into the eyes of the Prince and thought of all the things they’d seen. All the many years they’d been working, and all the many years they hadn’t. However, one thing was eating away at her,
“So you can raise the dead?” She breathed heavily. It had been a long day, after all. Vitam gestured towards his cutie mark,
“Life is my talent,” He replied, “It’s what I do. If I can’t bring life, it’s like, what’s the point?” Twilight wondered whether that meant he’d raised the dead many times, or whether it meant he’d made new life, as opposed to bringing back new life. The likelihood was that he hadn’t, as he never mentioned any kind of offspring, and if he had, surely he would of made them immortal. She wondered how powerful the foal of she and Vitam would be, but quickly purged those thoughts from her mind.

Quickly, she changed the subject,
“So that entire time Discord was Star Swirl the Bearded?” She asked. Vitam looked at her and nodded, as he was too tired to talk. Raising the dead was very tiresome. Twilight looked at the Star Swirl the Bearded Nightmare Night costume, “I dressed up as him.” She muttered, before coming to her senses, “Wait, you knew that entire time?” She squawked. Vitam looked at her smugly,
“You know,” He sniggered, “I’m surprised you didn’t realise. You saw some of the magic he was using. Most magical unicorn that’s not you… Somehow being Celestia’s pupil, yet being the teacher of clover the Clever who was around before Celestia… By the way, both Star Swirl the bearded and Clover the Clever were my pupils (just saying)…”
“Yeah, okay, I get it, there’s a bunch of hole in the history of Equestria, blah blah, it all sucks without you.” Twilight snapped irritably. Vitam barked a smug laugh.
“You know what’s been eating at me?” Spike cut in, “Why Princess Cadence and Shining Armour didn’t even reply to the letter we sent them, let alone come down to protect Equestria.” They both looked at Spike. Vitam, who had taken a big liking to Spike, replied,
“I’m heading up to the Crystal Empire in a few weeks time to check on the castle building, how about I ask them then, seeing as I haven’t met either of them yet.” Twilight was befuddled; this hadn’t crossed her mind,
“You do that.” She said firmly, as she was now rather peeved at her brother. Prince Vitam sensed this,
“Hey,” He said softly, “I’m sure your brother and Cadence had plenty of reason to not show up. Hey! I could even bring our new Prince of Wisdom, Star Swirl!”
Twilight smiled. Vitam was right, she shouldn’t have been angry without hearing both sides of the story. Vitam sighed and said,
“And so the prophecy is a sixth fulfilled.” Twilight looked at Vitam inquisitively. Knowing Twilight didn’t know what he was talking about, he explained, “The prophecy is that one day, 10 princes and princess will rule over Equestria. That prophecy has now been a sixth fulfilled.” Twilight nodded and smiled, too tired to be amazed and intrigued by this new information. She looked around; at he library, at her crown, at the pictures of all her friends. She thought of all there was left to see, all there was left to accomplish. Four more were to join the ranks she had been honoured to be a part of. She thought about life. Life was good.

The Fall

View Online

Part 1
[3 weeks later]

Prince Vitam walked around the castle gardens with Luna. It was a sunny day across all of Equestria, hot enough to be pleasant, but not too hot. Everything was perfectly tranquil and perfectly… Nice.
Prince Stars Swirl and Princess Celestia had gotten very close indeed, which would be big news, but at that point the fact that Star Swirl was around at all was more amazing than the fact that he may or may not be getting down and dirty with the princess.
“What are they like?” Prince Vitam was talking to his sister about the crystal empire, Cadence, Shining Armour, and generally what it’s all been like since the fall of Sombra.
“I’ve only met them a few times,” Luna replied with a sigh, “and either when it was formal or a disaster.” Prince Vitam looked at Luna inquisitively,
“Are disasters a common occurrence?” He enquired.
“Only since Twilight Sparkle,” Luna chuckled, but then her face grew serious, “why is that?” She wondered aloud.
“You tell me, you saw it happen.” Vitam snorted. Luna rolled her eyes and sighed,
“You’d better get back to Twilight Sparkle.” She said.
“I’ve got ages,” Prince Vitam brushed off, but Luna remained adamant,
“Do you?” She asked. Prince Vitam looked at her strangely, but then checked the time,
“Nope.” He replied, slightly panicked, “Bye.” Luna rolled her eyes and replied,
“Goodbye, brother.” With that, Prince Vitam teleported off, using magic.

Luna looked at the spot he had just been in. She thought about how much she’d missed him when he was gone, but couldn’t share it with anypony. As Nightmare Moon she’d almost forgotten that his absence was part of the reason for her change of form.

It was strange, remembering being Nightmare Moon. It was almost like remembering an old acquaintance, that she preferred not to talk about, as this old acquaintance was a joy to be with at the time, but looking back on her, wasn’t particularly pleasant. Yet, for some reason, a primal instinct deep in her brain gave her the oddest feeling she would soon be meeting this old acquaintance once more.

Part 2
Twilight was sat in her room reading a book. She checked the time. Applejack would be arriving shortly to help her tidy up the library. She wanted it to look nice for when Prince Vitam returned from the Crystal Empire with Shining Armour and Princess Cadence. It was then when Spike entered,
“Twilight, I was looking for the mop, have you seen it?” He asked, spying the book she was reading, “How to make ponies think that you are organised… How fitting.” He remarked.
“Yes,” Prince Vitam agreed, sneaking up behind Twilight without either she or Spike noticing, “I’ll remember that, so when I come back I’ll know that it is not as tidy as it seems.”

Twilight and Spike jump in shock,
“Where did you come from?” They both gasped at the same time. Prince Vitam rolled his eyes and swaggered across the room,
“How do you think?” He catechized, as he left strutted towards his own room and got his bag. Twilight peered into Vitam’s room,
“You’re not getting your assistants to carry them for you?” She enquired.
“Nope,” Prince Vitam happily replied, “Teleporting there. Don’t need them.” As he said this he slung the bag over his back, “See ya.”
“Have a nice time.” Twilight smiled, as Prince Vitam teleported off to the Crystal Empire. Twilight turned to Spike, “Applejack should be here soon,” She told him, “So be ready to” But she was cut off at the sudden return of Price Vitam, who look around at Twilight and uttered two simple words,
“He’s back.”
Part 3

Twilight, the girls and Spike were standing in a line, with Prince Vitam pacing in front of them,
“You all got your elements?” He barked. They all nodded. “You all know what’s at stake?” Again they all nodded. “Good. Celestia, Luna and Star Swirl shall not be joining us in the Crystal Empire, but they will be helping out from Canterlot.” Once more, they all nodded.
“Get under my wing” Prince Vitam commanded, and they all did so. Prince Vitam’s horn glowed blue, before teleporting off to the Crystal Empire.

It was as if a dragon burnt the city to the ground and then it was elected to be ran by the most vile, evil, twisted dictator the world has ever seen. The skies were black, the ground was black; everything was either grey or black.

The crystal ponies walked with chains wrapped around their necks. They were all either crying or on the verge of crying. Every house had been ransacked and the inhabitants had been thrown out onto the street. Only the very rich got to keep a house, but they had to share it with the rest of the very rich. Not even Pinkie Pie could see any fun in this. The Crystal Empire had completely lost all of it’s magic.

Twilight looked around at the devastation. She knew that she had to make it right; all she needed to do was find Cadence and Shining. She started to approach one of the slaves, but Vitam stopped her,
“Don’t,” He warned, “You’ll only get them punished, and then you’ll be forced to join them.” She nodded silently.

That was when she saw it. She stood there frozen. Her heart stopped. The once great Crystal Palace was now black and twisted, but that wasn’t the true horror. Tied up to the legs, strung up like meat left to dry, were Princess Cadence and Shining Armour.

Part 4

Twilight couldn’t help herself, she ran towards her brother, gazing up at him with tears in her eyes. His eyes were closed, as were Cadence’s, and he was moving. She was going to ask the obvious question, but Prince Vitam answered before she could,
“They’re alive.” He said, “Barely.” He added, before walking towards a door, “Come on,” He addressed the group, “Let’s put a stop to this.”

They entered the Throne room with no opposition on the way, and saw King Sombra sitting on his throne looking like one maliciously happy bunny. Sombra was different to how Twilight had remembered him. He was taller, and more slender, but not skinny. He seemed to darken the room around him. But most importantly: He now had wings. Wings that looked like they belonged on a oversized bat. They were long, and slim, like Star Swirl’s, only they were black and leathery. On his armour he now bore a back crystal on the main chest piece. He was the single most menacing thing Twilight had ever seen.

“Good day to you, subjects.” He said in his low, gravely voice, “So nice of you to visit.”
“Seems like not a day has passed since we both got banished, doesn’t it?” Prince Vitam growled, but Twilight wasn’t about to be passive aggressive,
“Let my brother go!” She shouted, and Spike and the rest of the ponies nodded shouted words of agreement. King Sombra turned his gaze away from Vitam,
“Ah, Twilight Sparkle, the one that brought me down when I first retuned,” He said with ironic pleasure, but then his voice grew more serious, “Only it wasn’t you. It was your baby dragon!” He shouted in rage. Spike had always been terrified that Sombra would return for this very reason. He hid behind Prince Vitam’s massive leg. The top of his head barely reached Prince Vitam’s thigh.
“Yes,” Sombra continued, “I will release Princess Cadence and your brother,” He said, in dark yet matter-of-factly tone of voice. All except Vitam breathed a sigh of relief, who remained serious; he knew King Sombra, and he knew it wouldn’t be that simple. He was right, “That is of course,” He grinned manically, “If my Queen also let’s you.”

Now Vitam was confused. Sombra works alone. He always has. He never accepts any help from anypony. It wouldn’t make sense for him to have a queen. Unless…

Muffled voices could be heard from around the corner. Twilight definitely recognised Sombra’s, and the other voice she thought she recognised. It was the voice of one who had once before caused Cadence and Shining pain.

Sombra swaggered back into the room, with a serious look on his face,
“We have decided that we no longer require the presence of what you mortals call royalty.” Sombra said in a low, rumbling voice.
“Yeah, no,” Prince Vitam cut in, “I’m like, the exact opposite of mortal. In fact-…” But before he could finish Applejack punched him in the leg. Vitam got the point; he didn’t want to change Sombra’s mind. He looked at Vitam menacingly, but continued,
“Ponies, meet my Queen: Chrysalis.”

Part 5

“This is bad. This is really bad. On a scale of one to bad, this is bad.” Vitam paced up and down the room, trying to formulate a plan with Celestia, Luna and Star Swirl, but failing, as he can’t fully comprehend what he saw in the Crystal Empire. Star Swirl grew annoyed and eventually he demanded an explanation. Vitam grunted, “Ugh. Basically, Sombra wants to own all of Equestria, and he always saw the Crystal Empire as a good place to start. However, he was always defeated, either by me using all the love from the crystal ponies, or by the crystal ponies themselves. This is where it gets bad. He now has Changelings on his side, so we don’t know who is on our side, and who is evil.”
“Right,” Star Swirl sighed, “So, what’s our plan of attack.” Vitam looked at Star Swirl, bemused,
“Calm down, cowboy,” He laughed nervously, “Let’s just wait for Cadence and Shining Armour to get better before we have an orgasm.” Star Swirl groaned, but Celestia just rolled her eyes.

Twilight waited at their bedside, urging them to wake up. She loved her old foal sitter, but she had to love her brother more, so she waited by him. “I’ve been here before.” She said to herself, thinking of Vitam. Only then she had her friends to keep her company, and not some of Vitam’s overly serious guards. Funny, Vitam can be joking and sarcastic in the gravest of situations, yet his guards refuse a conversation. She thought about Prince Vitam, and how there wouldn’t be a Ponyville anymore without him. Celestia had always heralded him as the most powerful being ever to have lived and ever to live, but Twilight had never really questioned beyond that. She knew that he had the power to raise the dead and make the true royalty immortal- and that was when it hit her. She would outlive her friends. She would be living a thousand years after her friends were long gone. She knew that now. She thought of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie… Even Spike. She would be forced to watch them all go. The thought destroyed her.

“It won’t do to dwell on things to come.” A voice said behind her. She jumped and turned round; Star Swirl was standing in the doorway. How had she not heard him?
“Star Swirl,” She gasped. She quickly came to her senses, “What do you mean?”
“When I was first transformed into…” He paused, and to a big gulp, “The old me.” He said with haste, which Twilight understood. It must be hard for him remembering his time as Discord, “I thought about how my life was going to be destroyed. My rights taken away, Celestia would never love me… I was a wreck. That was when I decided to live in the moment, enjoy things as they come, and forget them when the pass. Unfortunately, that lead me to chaos, but you can be good in that state of mind.” Twilight nodded. She was going to ask how he knew what she was thinking, but then remembered that his levels of magic are almost unprecedented, “Come,” He continued, “Your presence is required upstairs.”

Celestia, Luna, Vitam, Star Swirl and Twilight all stood in a broad circle in the Canterlot castle throne room.
“Our number one concern should be ridding the Crystal Empire of Sombra.” Luna started, but immediately, Vitam contradicted her,
“No, our number one concern should be making sure he doesn’t expand his borders.”
“Which won’t happen if he’s destroyed now!” Star Swirl explained patronizingly. Vitam laughed,
“Don’t talk to me like that, that’s my point exactly. However, he can’t just yet because he’s too far north.”
“So, if being in the crystal empire is slowing him down, why is he there?” Twilight asked.
“Because once he’s sucked all the love and tolerance out of every single one of the crystal ponies, he can spread that anti-magic to all of Equestria using the Crystal palace, making all of Equestria a lot easier to conquer.” Celestia replied, remarkably calmly.
“So let’s do that now!” Star Swirl said impatiently through gritted teeth.
“We can’t” Luna replied, sounding somewhat annoyed, “Now that there are changelings in the Crystal Empire they need to feed off the love, while Sombra is sucking it out. This gives us a perfect opportunity to wipe out changelings forever.”
“Indeed it does,” Vitam confirmed, “You see, my young padawan, if the changelings are running too low on the love they feed off, when exposed to darkness they turn to dust,” Twilight gasped, “Yes. If we wish to carry this out, however, it would mean putting the entirety of the Crystal Empire an inch away from permanent depression and fear.”
“Which is why we need Cadence’s permission before doing so.” Twilight finished.
“We can’t afford to wait very long!” Star Swirl persisted,
“Slow reaction times could cost lives!” Twilight thought of how many walls Pinkie Pie had walked into, and thought about how Star Swirl doesn’t even know slow reaction time.
“I’m sorry, but we’re waiting for Cadence.” Vitam insisted, before adding, “This conversation has been terminated.” And swiftly left the room.

Part 6

“Yeah, take that you motherfu”-
“Prince Vitam!” Twilight Sparkle walked into Prince Vitam’s temporary room where she found him playing on his ponystation 3, “What are you doing!?” She demanded.
“I’m doing research.” He said defensively.
“How is that research!?”
“I’m playing Attack Of The Changelings.”
“That is not research!”
“What are you doing then?”
“Reading books, doing ACTUAL research.”
“Mean.”
“It’s the truth!”
“Ugh,” Prince Vitam grunted, tired of this argument and unwilling for it to go on, “Do you wanna go check on your brother?” Twilight thought about it for a second,
“Well… I don’t think I can with all the new spells I’ve been learning for the fight…”
“Ok, what spells?” Prince Vitam asked impatiently,
“I am currently reading a book of illusion spells”- Before she could finish Prince Vitam interrupted,
“Yeah, those are useless. Let’s go check on your brother.”

“And why are you so eager?” Twilight asked, curious, as family of people that aren't his own is usually a non-issue to him,
“Because I am SERIOUSLY starved of any male interaction.” He whined, “I’ve been talking to you and your group of musketeers, had a few conversations with people in Canterlot, which frankly is unbearable, and met up with Doctor Whooves a few times, but he’s usually with Big Mac, and seeing as I haven’t seen him in a thousand years he’s changed a lot!” Twilight nodded before registering the entire rant. Suddenly she realized,
“Wait, you knew Doctor Whooves before you were trapped in that crystal? How is that possible?” This made Prince Vitam realize what he’d said, and he shifted uncomfortably he sat in front of his T.V,
“Well, I err… Well… I may have done some unofficial immortalizations in my time.”
“What?” Twilight exclaimed,
“Don’t be angry, I’ll erase that from your memory if you even think about telling anypony.”
“I’m not angry! This is wonderful!” She squealed in her excitement, but Vitam’s confusion,
“Why?” He asked.
“Because, you can make all my friends immortal when you make me immortal!” Twilight practically sang. Vitam shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t know how to reply, as he definitely wasn’t going to, but didn’t quite want to burst her bubble. Instead he just put his wing over an ecstatic Twilight Sparkle and they teleported off to Canterlot.

Part 7

When they appeared in the room where Cadence and Shining were, they found that they weren’t there anymore, so they ventured up to the throne room and found that they had awoken, and already agreed to risk putting her empire in danger.
“Twilight!”
“Cadence!”
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake!” Once they’d finished their hoof shake Vitam just looked at them,
“That,” He stated, “Was absolutely disgusting, do they do that every time they meet?”
“Unfortunately.” Shining Armour sighed. Vitam looked at Twilight,
“I’m so judging you.” He said, with only a hint of sarcasm, “Well then,” Prince Vitam continued, “Let’s get to it.”
“Hold it!” Shining Armour interpreted, “I want you to guarantee my empires safety.” Vitam looked around, bemused,
“Shining Armour?” He chuckled, “Twilight Sparkle’s brother? Good day to you sir, I don’t believe we’ve met before.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Shining confirmed, “So how are you going to ensure my empires safety?” Vitam barked a laugh,
“I can’t. That’s why I needed your permission.” He explained, “and believe me if there was another way I would do it, but, I mean, this is a chance to completely wipe out one of the most vile species known to us, and we can’t just skip out on this opportunity.” Shining Armour nodded,
“Just tell me one thing,” He breathed, “If you do fail, what will my empire be like?”
“Everpony will be depressed. Permanently. And so will their foals, and their Foals. Forever.” Vitam replied, only now turning serious.
“Won’t that kind of negate the entire reason I was given Princess-hood there?” Cadence cut in.
“No!” Vitam replied, “Well… Yes, but it’s whatever, I think Manehatten is open.”
“What he means to say,” Celestia sighed, “Is that we will find somewhere else for you to rule to rule, it just won’t be as fitting as the Crystal Empire.” Cadence and Shining gulped and nodded, knowing that it was for the greater good of Equestria to take the risk. However, that didn’t take away the fact that inside they were both very uncomfortable with the idea.

“Twilight!” Vitam barked, “Go back to Ponyville, and find your annoying friends, then gather them at your weird tree house and wait, I’ll be there when I’ll be there.”
“Why what’s going on?” Twilight asked, ignoring the offensive remarks he made.
“Battle plan.” Vitam put simply, “As an Element of Harmony, you do different things than the rest of us. I’ll stay here and talk about the tactics with the rest of the royalty, and you go home, get Pinkie to make a cake, and wait, then I’ll discus Elements of Harmony tactics. Capiche?”
“I still don’t”-
“Bye!” And with that, Vitam teleported Twilight back to Ponyville.

Part 8

“We’re going to destroy King Sombra.”

Twilight had gathered up all her friends and Spike, just as Vitam had asked. They now all sat in a line and had been waiting for Vitam for a few hours, and when he finally turned he seemed angry, and smelled suspiciously of booze. He was being stubborn and incoherent as he explained what they each had to do, but it sounded enough as though he knew what he was talking about.

“So,” Twilight sighed, agitatedly, “You want each of us to use our element against Sombra, at individual intervals throughout the Crystal Palace, while you lead him around mental maze, lowering his moral so he’ll be easier to destroy, all the while getting the Crystal Ponies to wage war on the Changelings, and very possibly themselves, just long enough for Sombra to have sucked nearly all the love out of them, then Celestia will lower the sun and Luna will put up her darkest moon yet, turning the Changelings and Chrysalis to dust. Finally, we all come together and Element of Harmony the heck out of Sombra?”
“Exactly,” Vitam replied with complete drunken conviction, and an overly pleased smile on his face, “I’ll fill you in on details tomorrow, I think I’m the slightest bit tipsy at the moment.”
“The slightest bit?” Applejack questioned.
“Let’s just get him to bed.” Rarity suggested. This did not go down well with Vitam,
“Hey, you can shut up Rare-Bear, I’m five thousand eight hundred and forty two years older than you.”

But eventually, a drunken Vitam was laid in his king sized bed with six mares and a baby dragon looking down on him, all knowing they would see just how ridiculous this whole situation was.
“You know,” Rarity said, “He’s really not that bad looking.”
“Well I don’t know about that,” Rainbow Dash said, “But he sure is great to have around. He is pretty fun.”
“And he’s important.” Fluttershy added,
“And big and strong.” Applejack offered, as Vitam had spent quite a few days helping at Sweet Apple Acres,
“And he is superly smart!” Pinkie squealed.
“You know,” Rarity said to Twilight in a oddly sly tone of voice, “You should go for it.”
“What?” Twilight blushed, but Rarity simply looked at her, “No! I mean… I can’t, but… I want to. Wait! No, That’s not what I… I’m going to bed!” And with that she stormed off, blushing.
“Somepony has a crush on the prince.” Pinkie Pie sang

Part 9

“So, we all know our positions?” The day had finally come. Giving the pre-teleportation prep talk, and everypony knew what they had to do. Still, that didn’t stop them from being nervous as hell. Twilight was the first to speak up,
“How can you be sure that he won’t be able to attack us?”
“I’ve cast a protective ward spell on all of you, you will be immune.”
“And why will the crystal ponies want to fight?”
“I can be very inspirational.”
“But you’ll be busy leading around walking with Sombra.”
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve.” Prince Vitam said, smugly. Twilight was going to protest, but in all her time she’d spent with him, she’d learned to apply the “It’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it” rule to him.
“So, when you get to where you I get you, just stay there and wait for me, you’ll hear me coming.”

All of a sudden, Twilight got the feeling that she may never see her friends again, she turned to them, and started to say “I love you” But she was at the summit of the crystal palace, before she could. She wanted to cry, and didn’t know why. She wanted to go back, to see her friends again, and tell them how much they meant to her. Too late for that now, she told herself, you have an empire to save.

Part 10

Prince Vitam went to just outside Ponyville where he met up with Doctor Whooves.
“’Sup, bro?” He said to greet the Doctor.
“The TARDIS is right here, and all yours.” Sighed the Doctor, rather sadly. Vitam looked at his old friend,
“What’s wrong, my brony?” Once again the Doctor sighed. Then he took a deep breath, ran atop the hill they were standing on, gazed out and sang,

“I've traveled in time and I'm lost
In trouble without a cause, no reason at all
Now I'm a pony who can't help anyone anymore
And no one would ever believe me
even if I told the truth it'll go against me
So I'll shut up and wish my secret life
Will be back to as it was before
So,

I wish that I could go
on adventures again,
Back to the TARDIS, Fighting the Daleks, Right in time Again,
Wishing that I'd have a partner to friend with,
Being together and having fun,

I wish that I could go
on adventures again,
Back to the TARDIS, Fighting the Daleks, Right in time Again,
Wishing that everypony will know my name,
and call me Doctor Whooves

Some ponies will say that dreams don't last long
I'll prove them wrong, I am a time lord
I will travel back and forth in time
My name is Doctor Whooves [X2]

Wishing and waiting is all I ever done
So now I am going and leaving to show I am the one
How can I come back to what I was before
and I hope to find a friend that show will me the door
So,

I wish that I could go
on adventures again,
Back to the TARDIS, Fighting the Daleks, Right in time Again,
Wishing that I'd have a partner to friend with,
Being together and having fun,

I wish that I could go
on adventures again,
Back to the TARDIS, Fighting the Daleks, Right in time Again,
Wishing that everypony will know my name,
and call me Doctor Whooves

Some ponies will say that dreams don't last long
I'll prove them wrong, I am a time lord
I will travel back and forth in time
My name is Doctor Whooves [X2]”

By the end of this Vitam felt solemn. The Doctor had told him of his past lives. He knew that he missed them. However, he’d never truly voiced his feelings like this.
“Hey,” he said, “Do you even know how big of a part you have got in eliminating two of the biggest evils of Equestria? You will be the hero you once were. Doctor Whooves, who vanquished the Weeping Angels, destroyed the Cybermen, destroyed the Daleks, and brought the Master to his knees. You survived the time war, felt the full might of the TARDIS, have died fifteen times, and as far as I can see your still standing. His next great victory, aiding in the destruction of King Sombra and the Changelings.” This seemed to make the Doctor feel a little better.
“Alright,” He said eventually, “Lets go kick some flank.”

Part 11

Chyrsalis and Sombra sat in the throne room, when a massive noise was heard outside, and she felt a big disturbance in the Changelings. It was apparent that Sombra felt it too, because he shifted uncomfortably.
“I’ll go check,” She said, “If what just happened is what I think is what just happened, I can’t risk any of our subjects.” Sombra nodded in agreement. Just as she left the room, Prince Vitam appeared in front of him,
“Aaaarrrrggggg,” He roared, “Why can’t you just go away?”
“Because we need to talk.” Vitam replied, coolly. Sombra roared and fired a killing bolt of magic, but Vitam just held up his hoof and an invisible protective ward, that simply adsorbed it, no harm done.
“Come on, let’s walk and talk.” Vitam said, unfazed. Sombra knew that there was no point in disagreeing. So the King and the Prince walked together, side by side, into the palace of all love, to vanquish all evil.

Applejack

“So what’s your plan anyway?”
Applejack heard Prince Vitam and Sombra coming and got into position. There was a long pause in the conversation, before Sombra replied, “Why should I tell you?”
“You know,” Vitam sighed, with mock anguish, “You really should be more honest.” This was when Applejack knew she had to act a lot more confidante than she felt,
“I quite agree.” She said in the best mock “disappointed mother” voice she could. Sombra growled,
“Step aside, little pony.”
“Well now, hold on,” Vitam interjected, “I think we should listen to what this fine mare has to say.”
“Thank ya kindly, Prince. Well I think that you should be more honest, Sombra,” She thought back to the apple grove in the Canterlot maze. She decided to use the words of Discord, “I know that it’s easier to lie, but if you were a good King you’d be honest with yourself. Unless, of course, you can’t take the truth.” Sombra stared daggers into her,
“And the truth is?” He rumbled. Applejack’s heart skipped a beat. She wanted to cower, and cry, but instead she grinned smugly,
“The truth,” She purred, “Is that you can’t win. And you know you can’t win.”

Apparently Sombra didn’t appreciate cold honesty. He backed up and his horn started glowing,
“No point, King.” Vitam reminded him. Sombra grunted, and instead cast a more neutral looking green spell. Applejack was perplexed, but chose not to question what it was. As an earth pony, she’d never really understood any of that fancy unicorn magic. Vitam didn’t seem to know what this spell did either, but the plan seemed to work. Sombra did appear less sure of himself than he did before,
“Let us continue.” Vitam whispered in Sombra’s ear in that queer way that he did sometimes.

Rarity

Rarity paced around. She wasn’t sure how she felt. On the one hoof, she knew she couldn’t be hurt, but on the other hoof, she didn’t particularly feel like talking face to face with the king of all evil himself.
“No, Rarity, you can do this. You may be a lady, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hold your own in a fight. Even though you won’t be fighting, just lowering moral”… She continued talking to herself like this until she heard the sound of hooves and Vitam and Sombra’s voices.

“… And then all Equestria will be mine!” Sombra decided to go ahead and tell Vitam his plan; or, most of it. Vitam was being annoying and patronizing, as ever,
“You’re not going to share it with Anypony? Oh, that brings me onto my next point!” Just as he said this, they rounded the corner where they found Rarity,
“You will won’t you?” She asked faking tears in her eyes. She quickly snapped back to seriousness, “You know I really hate it when ponies aren’t as generous as they should be.” Sombra barked a laugh,
“And why should I care what you think?”
“Because, I am the Element of Generosity. I am a sixth of what will destroy you.” She replied snidely. Sombra was taken aback for about half a second, but then he just threw his head back and burst out laughing,
“Your arrogance will be the end of you!”
“Didn’t for me.” Vitam chuckled. So unfortunately correct, Rarity thought to herself.

Sombra seemed to ponder something for a moment,
“I suppose Queen Chyrsalis did help out a lot in the cause. I may give her a section of Equestria.” Prince Vitam mutually breathed an internal sigh of relief.
“Shall we continue?” Vitam took a few steps forward and looked back at Sombra and acted as though Rarity was no longer there, which Rarity greatly appreciated. Sombra joined Vitam’s side, and they set off into the castle.

Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash had a massively wide grin across her face. She was assigned the easiest and best task, in her opinion at least. She hovered in place, awaiting the sound of hooves on crystal carpet. Soon enough they came.

“You’ve learned a few lessons today, haven’t you?” She heard Prince Vitam’s memorable voice far closer than she anticipated. No matter, she thought, this is good.
“Don’t patronize me, creator.” Sombra grumbled,
“Hah!” Vitam laughed. He seemed pleasantly surprised, “Been a while since somepony called me that.” He said just as they passed Rainbow Dash. This wasn’t the queue, but it was the moment, she knew it. She put on her serious face, flew out in front of Sombra and bucked him right in the face.
“Arrrrggghhh! Who the hell are you?” He roared. Her stomach dropped. Sombra was threatening enough at a distance, but Rainbow Dash kept on acting confidant, even if she was beginning to wonder if this was the best approach. The attack seemed to even surprise Vitam, which was an achievement, seeing as he is over five thousand years old.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WOULD ABANDON YOUR SUBJECTS LIKE THAT IN A TIME OF NEED!” She yelled with conviction that surprised even her.
“I’ve got Chrysalis handling it.” Sombra grumbled, rubbing his snout, which was starting to bleed slightly.
“Ugh, a real king would stay loyal to his kingdom.” She said, faking disgust,
“Let me guess, element of Loyalty.” He growled,
“That’s right, Rainbow Dash’s the name.”
“How fitting.”
“So you gonna go out and help your friends?”
“They are not friends, they are mere subjects. And I will! Creator, how many more of these have we got to go?”
“Three.” Vitam replied, concisely.
“May as well finish the tour.” Sombra groaned, rolling his eyes.
“You gonna help out your team after?” Rainbow Dash scolded.
“We’re on opposing teams- you know what? Never mind. Yes I will be loyal.”
“You sure!”
“Yes!” And with that Sombra trotted off. Vitam shrugged at Rainbow Dash, mouthed good job, and trotted off after Sombra.

Pinkie Pie

Pinkie Pie sat on the floor. She was bored. And pretty far into the castle, so she must have been one of the last ones. Erg, where were they? They were taking forever! What, had they transformed into snails? Actually, that was the kind of thing Vitam would do… Still, bored bored bored! All she had to do was teach Sombra a lesson in laughter, which seemed easy enough, I mean, she’d done that with every pony she’d ever met. Except for that donkey. But, whatever, that was a belated lesson in laughter, and it took another donkey to do, who was a pain to retrieve, by the way-

Hoofsteps; right around the corner. She got into position.
“… All these mortals are enraging me!” Sombra’s deep, rumbling voice rung out. Perfect queue, Pinkie thought.
“You know, you really should lighten up.” She giggled at Sombra, weirdly not nervous. Sombra took a deep breath in,
“What now?!” He thundered.
“Calm it, mate.” Vitam said, from behind Sombra,
“Erg, who is this one?” Sombra groaned. Pinkie Pie was now in her element, and not of harmony,
“My name’s Pinkie Pie, and you should really learn to have a laugh. I mean, the black coat, the green eyes, the purple smoky mascara? You just scream “I’m a big bad guy!” You know, you’re the only evil person I’ve ever met that never laughs.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t need to laugh.” Sombra replied, agitatedly,
“Of course, Master Wayne.” Vitam cut in, with a slight smirk on his face.
“Come on,” Pinkie pleaded, “There must be something that makes you laugh.”
“No, nothing, and I’m getting sick and tired of being annoyed by these stupid ponies!” And with that, Sombra stormed out. Oh no, Pinkie thought, I failed. As though he’d read her mind (which he had) Vitam told her, “Part of the plan: Sombra is grumpy, no love, Changelings lose.” Huh, she thought, that’s actually pretty smart.

Fluttershy

Oh dear, she thought, this is awful. She should of never of agreed to this. She should be feeding Angel Bunny. She did have hire Roseluck to feed him, but he hates getting fed by strangers. Oh, and what if the gardener over water her flowers again? And what about the hummingbird song that was planned for today? Fluttershy just wanted to hide away and not have anything to do with it. Then again, she always wanted to hide away and not have anything to do with it. Oh, why did SHE have to be an Element of Harmony? All it means is you sometimes have to go out on big scary quests to fight evil. The only pro was you get a stained glass window in Canterlot, and she didn’t even live in Canterlot, so she never got to see it! And people still treat her like a walkover! If it weren’t for her all Equestria would be shrouded in night, or ruled by Discord, or Changelings, or Sombra! The Wonderbolts got more respect than her, and all they can do is fly!

But in all the terror Fluttershy was feeling inside she forgot how much time had passed and the only thing that snapped her back to her senses was the sound of hooves. Vitam and Sombra weren’t talking, and when they first saw Fluttershy Sombra didn’t need a prompt to start talking,
“Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh! Another one?” Oh dear. That was awful, why would he get so angry so fast? Fortunately, Vitam stepped in,
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down, she only wants to talk.” No I don’t, she thought, the last thing I want to do is talk. But she talked anyway,
“Oh, I, erm, just wanted to say that, err, you really should be a little less, err, powerful.” She managed to stutter.
“What?” Sombra asked, incredulously.
“Oh, I, err, just meant to say, err, if you want to be king, you should treat your people better.”
“THEY ARE SLAVES.” Sombra thundered, loud enough for all of Equestria to hear.
“Yes but, I mean, even slaves need to be shown a little kindness, right? I mean, if they receive no kindness, they’ll not give any, and that could lead to a rebellion.” Sombra seemed to consider this for a moment, and then, in a more reasonable tone, he said,
“You think wisely, mortal. I shall pretend to care for my kingdom, just so we don’t have an uprising.”
“You can’t fake kindness,” Fluttershy found herself saying, to her own and Sombra’s surprise, “It’s a powerful thing, and has to be real. It can’t be faked like faking liking food or music. Kindness is mutual. If you want somepony to feel like you are being kind to them, you have to feel like you are being kind to them.” Sombra pondered this once more. He then threw his head back and trotted off without any hint of emotion.
“You plan that?” Vitam asked in Fluttershy’s ear.
“It just kind of tumbled out.” Fluttershy replied. I know something else that just tumbles out, Vitam thought to himself, as he gave Fluttershy an approving nod and followed Sombra.

After that Fluttershy felt very proud. She stood up to King Sombra and she didn’t need to pretend to be somepony else. She then realized that she didn’t need to be anything more than she was. And that was a great thing. She listened to what they said as they walked away,
“Oh look!” Vitam said to Sombra, “It’s your favourite thing! Stairs!”

Twilight Sparkle

At the top of the crystal palace Twilight’s mane flicked around uncontrollably. She knew she must be the last, and would have to wait longer than everypony else. She still just wanted to see them again. She looked down at the crystal empire, and war was being waged. The enslaved crystal ponies had risen up and started fighting the changelings. And they were out there with them. How was that possible? She could see herself, and all her friends, but how? It wasn’t a changeling, why would it be? There was reason enough for her – being a princess and all – but why her friends. No that was her, fighting… Somehow… She just watched Queen Chrsyalis let off a massive magical blast, but turned away before she saw what happened because she heard Prince Vitam and King Sombra coming up the stairs behind her.
“Why’d you put those there, dude?” Vitam panted.
“To keep people from getting the crystal heart.” Sombra replied, irritated, as that plan did not work.
“What?” Vitam asked, “That is the worst plan I’ve ever heard. Why not just destroy the portal that brought you up here? And if it’s because so you could get back up, why not just teleport? You are silly, no wonder you’ve never expanded beyond the Crystal Empire.” But before Sombra could get angry they reached the top of the stairs and saw Twilight. Sombra grimaced,
“Twilight Sparkle. Save me your lessons in friendship. I’ve had five too many of them today.”
“I don’t know what your planning,” Twilight shouted at him, “but I’m gonna make sure you can’t. No matter what, I know we can stop you with the power of friendship.” With that, Vitam teleported Twilights friends to the top of the crystal palace, elements of harmony attached,
“Eat friendship, bitch!”

The elements ignited, and shot the rainbow at Sombra. It entombed him. They thought they had won, but when the rainbow died away, Sombra was still there, unharmed, smiling.

Part 12

Vitam’s jaw dropped. His eyes widened and he whispered to himself, “No. Not you. Not you.” But before anyone could react, Sombra disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.
“Get downstairs, now!” He yelled at them, as a took a few steps to the edge,
“Where are you going?” Twilight demanded,
“To about half an hour ago.” Vitam replied as he jumped over the edge.

As Prince Vitam landed in the TARDIS Doctor Whooves looked at him disapprovingly,
“Do you always have to show off?” He asked,
“You know me,” Vitam grimaced, “Now, you know when to take us.”
“Yes, and it breaks all kinds of Time Lord rules.” He said, in a rather peeved tone of voice,
“Oh who’s gonna know?” Vitam laughed, “Now let’s go!” So the Doctor grabbed and yanked and pushed the controls of the TARDIS, which had been renovated to suite an equine, and they lurched into the space-time drift.

When they stepped out of the TARDIS it was the same scene as when they first saw the new King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis rules crystal empire. Everypony had stopped to gaze at the TARDIS coming into view, even the Changelings. Vitam stopped one hoof on the ground, which sent a shockwave that knocked all the changelings off their feet and broke all the chains. Everypony looked around, somewhat confused,

“You are free!” Prince Vitam shouted to all the oppressed and enslaved, “But you have to fight,” This seemed to cause a stir, whispers flickered across the Crystal Empire, “Rise up! I have broken your physical chains, but the chains of King Sombra have never truly left your shoulders! Today is the day to do so!” A few “Yeah!”s Came from the crowd, “You are the heart of Equestria, we cannot let you be ruled by hate! So rebel! Kick the Changelings! Show no mercy!” The citizens shouted angry words of agreement, “This is the start of a new era! War will be waged on this day, but only the true children of Equestria will come out on top, unharmed!” A few changelings started to try and contain the mob, but it was no use. They were starting to get beaten on now, “We may find ourselves on a cross country sprint through the underworld today, but we will only sprint faster when we do! And if we have to lose a few good lives today so be it, for it will those that do die today that will live forever in the history books. Some may not have beds to sleep on at the moment, but tonight, ignite the flames of bravery, and sleep on beds of fire!”

That was it. In one speech Prince Vitam had sparked a full on rebellion. When Queen Chrysalis came out and saw the havoc, Vitam quickly turned to Doctor Whooves, and said to him, “Go catch me.” The Doctor curtly nodded and hopped back into the TARDIS, as Prince Vitam spread his wings, and flew over the battle to Chrysalis,
“What have you done?” She screamed at him,
“Started to bring you down,” He grinned, “Enjoy!” He said merrily as he threw he into the battle, and then jumped in after her. She picked herself up, and round to face him. Her horn glowed green, and Vitam’s gold. She fired her magical blast first, and Vitam released his milliseconds after, they duelled for a while,
“I over powered Celestia!” She screeched at him,
“Oh please,” He laughed, “You have no idea of my true power. I created this new land after the people of the land through the mirror destroyed it. I was a result of their fall out. I, and only I, have seen things your small mind couldn’t even begin to comprehend! Celestia is no more powerful than any other pony, I just taught her how to access her full potential! You want to brag about overpowering her? A kick to the face would have sufficed!”
“So what’s your true power?” Chrysalis asked, her confidence faltering, “I thought all you could do was raise the dead.”
“Oh you will see my true power today,” Vitam assured her, “But now, I will give you a taste.” And with that he let down his magic, and just took the blast Chrysalis was shooting at him, with a smile on his face and laughter in his eyes. It was then he saw King Sombra appear in a swirling cloud of black smoke. He turned to a shocked Chrysalis, “I’ll leave you to a pony who has a small score to settle with you. Oh, and that pony’s awesome friends.” As he finished he transported Twilight and her friends through time and space to right in front of Chrysalis. Twilight looked confused for a second, but then her eyes locked onto Chrysalis, and she remembered what she’d done to her brother and sister in-law.

Part 13

Sombra looked around him, at the chaos, at the uprising- that was still being waged- and let out a roar of rage. He started to suck the love out of the crystal ponies, but before he could do much at all he got knocked right of his hooves by a flying Prince Vitam. Before he could react Prince Vitam reared up, and stomped down; however, not onto his face, but onto his horn. He screamed in agony and anger, as the tip of his horn now lay idly on the ground next to him,
“Not yet.” Vitam growled, towering above him.
King Sombra let out a deep-throated scream, grabbed Vitam by the head and smashed it down onto the floor.
“I’m sick of you!” He yelled at Vitam. Vitam quickly recovered from the brief dizziness he felt after having his face make a dent in crystal concrete. Vitam kicked Sombra with his hind legs, which sent him flying several hundred meters backwards and through several buildings. Vitam then hovered in the air and golden flickers started swirling around him. Soon enough he was completely cocooned in them, but when they did die away he was wearing the same golden armour he was wearing when he first fell out of the crystal. It was then that Chrysalis came flying past him and to roughly the same location Sombra was. They got up at the same time and looked at each other, nodded and started running, full speed towards him. Sombra’s started to grow back as he was running, and he started to suck the love out of the crystal ponies. Vitam smiled, this was all going to plan,
“You wanted to see my full power.” Vitam yelled, “I’ll show you my full power!”

A whole load of things all happened in an instant. Sombra seemed to be almost finished with the spell, which was when Chrysalis fell down, as she no longer had anything to feed off. Sombra saw this and stopped casting the spell, but Vitam also saw this and cast a flying golden message spell that travelled all the way to Canterlot in a fraction of a second. Celestia and Luna saw this, and so Celestia lowered the sun, and Luna raised the moon. Star Swirl used magic to turn out all the lights and put out all the fires in the Crystal Empire.
Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings were mere dust in an instant.

Part 14

All the crystal ponies stared in shock. What they had just been fighting in broad daylight were now piles of dust under a full moon. Sombra stared in shock as well. He then turned to Vitam, his eyes burning with rage and hate,
“Go on then.” He growled, “SHOW ME YOUR FULL POWER!” He thundered so loud it shook the ground underneath their hooves. He then smiled, like he’d seen something behind Vitam, but he choose to ignore.

Vitam closed his eyes, and slowly started to float into the air. Golden flickers swirled around him again, but these were not the same as the previous ones. These seemed more… Aggressive. When he opened his eyes they were glowing golden and the swirls turned into what resembled small bolts of electricity. He spread his wings to their full extend (which nearly covered eight whole meters) and did what would be standing on his hind quarters, but he was in the air. It was then that all but Twilight ran out in front of Prince Vitam, just as he brought himself back down to earth. It sent a golden ripple through the very fractures in space. It instantly caused every living life form it touched to fall to the ground, forever motionless.

We’ve won, Twilight thought, we managed to destroy the Changelings, and King Sombra without permanently dooming the Crystal Empire to eternal depression. “At what cost though?” Was all Twilight could think, as she gazed at her friends. Her friends. The ones that would always be with her, that she had so many moments with. How many times had she forgotten to tell them how much they meant to her? She had no idea, but now she couldn’t. She knew that one day she would have to watch them all go, but not today. It was too soon. Everything in front of Vitam had fallen to the ground, never to get up again. And now, Twilight Sparkle gazed down at her friends. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They all lay on the cold ground now. And they would lie forever. She thought off all the things she would never get to say to them. For there they rested. Dead.

Part 15
The Fall

The whole world spun. She couldn’t accept it. She didn’t want to accept it. They can’t be gone. They would come up behind her, and tell her surprise. And Pinkie would have her party cannon. And Rarity would be wearing an overly elaborate dress. And Rainbow Dash would be laughing at how she actually fell for it, and Applejack would have apple cider, and Fluttershy would be hiding in a corner, and… and…

Prince Vitam put a wing on her, as she sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until she had no more tears, and then she sobbed up nothing. She shoved the Prince wing off her, and screamed at him, saying that was his fault, why did he have to do that spell, he was a murderer, they were her friends, they didn’t deserve it, they weren’t supposed to die, it wasn’t how it was meant to be, he may as well have killed her too…

But when she looked up she saw a hint of a tear in his eyes too. He looked into her eyes,
“You think it was on purpose? They were my friends too. I came back into society after a thousand years off being gone. All my friends were long gone. All but one, and he’d been through what I’d been through infinity more times than I had. I have him. I had had you. I had my sisters. And I had them. They as much a part of my life as much as they were yours.”

After this, Twilight realised that he had an emotional side too. She only just now realized, he’d made his sisters and Doctor Whooves immortal so he’d have a few constant friends. How many times had he been through what she was going through? Suddenly she felt very selfish. As though he knew what she was thinking (and he probably did) he put his wing around her again, and this time she did not force it off. She let him comfort her because he knew how hard it is, and he is a better person because of it. So she just lay there, for hours on end, with the prince’s wing over her, sobbing to her dead friends.

After a couple of minutes… Half and hour… A few hours… Twilight wasn’t paying attention to passing time; she found herself in Canterlot with Celestia, Luna, Cadence and her friend’s corp-… and her friends. They all looked as solemn as she did. She did not notice coming back her, so how they first reacted to seeing them, she did not know. She didn’t want to know. She had a multitude of questions to ask her fellow princesses,
“Where’re Vitam and Star Swirl?” She whispered first,
“They went back to the Crystal Empire to search the castle for any remnants of Sombra or the Changelings.” Celestia answered in a wavering voice. Twilight nodded. She guessed that they did it personally because it was a personal matter. Another few seconds, minutes, hours passed. Celestia suggested the she should go home, and tell Spike. Twilight nodded again. It was probably right that Spike is kept ignorant for as little time as possible.

Part 16

Spike jumped when Twilight opened the door, he was eating a jewel cake and hurriedly tried to hide it. Twilight couldn’t care less.
“Oh, hey, welcome back Twilight!” He said brightly. Twilight didn’t respond, “D’ya’ get them?” He asked. Once again Twilight didn’t respond, “Why so Sombra?” He giggled, but then his face grew pale, “You didn’t fail did you?” Twilight shook her head, “So what’s the problem?” He asked. Twilight looked up,
“Spike, sit down.” She choked.

Spike’s reaction was much the same as Vitam’s. He stood there for a while in shock, before collapsing and trying to keep back tears. However, Spike didn’t succeed in keeping tears at bay as well as Vitam did,
“Why did they have to go?” He blubbered. Twilight held him tight, and looked out the window. She saw normal ponies, leading normal lives. How? How could all be well in everypony else’s lives when hers had just been turned upside down, shook, abused and then stabbed? Soon enough all of Equestria would know, but for now, for them at least, ignorance was bliss. “The Princess of Friendship was never quite the same because of that fateful day” grandfathers would tell their grandfoals. Sure she would make new friends, but they would never quite be the same as those ones, especially since they may only be befriending her because she’s a princess.
“I don’t know.” She replied.

***

Star Swirl and Vitam wondered around the inner dungeons of the Crystal Palace, their horns casting a simple light spell. Hooves did not often touch these parts, as they are reserved for ponies that commit the worst crimes, which there are not many of in the Crystal Empire.
“I know how much they meant to you…” Star Swirl said to Vitam,
“We’re not here to talk about that, we’re here to find and smoke out any remaining Changelings.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it. Fluttershy was a dear friend of mine too, you know.”
“I know, but that was only because Celestia basically forces you two to be friends.” Vitam grumbled. Before Star Swirl could yell at him, he looked in a seemingly empty room, stopped and turned to Star Swirl, “In there.”
“What?”
“Changeling cocoons. Chrysalis could have been keeping some in there in case something like this happened.”
“Let’s get them open then.” Star Swirl said. If you cut open a Changeling cocoon while the Changeling was still in it the Changeling stays unconscious for a few hours. Star Swirl and Vitam rushed in and, using his magic, Star Swirl cut open one.

And out fell Pinkie Pie.

Part 17

“You’re gonna wanna see this!”

Twilight and Spike rushed to Canterlot as fast as possible. When she got there her highest hopes had been confirmed, they were alive! She ran up to them and couldn’t get enough hugs.
“So, who died?” Luna asked Vitam, as Twilight and her friends seem to be having a special moment and a hug war at the same time. Celestia and Cadence listened in as this question had crossed their minds too,
“I can only guess that the ones that died were Changelings, that had ran in, captured and taken the form of each one of them after Sombra and I had talked to them, feeding off of Twilight’s love. They meant to capture Twilight and I, and then with all the elements of harmony taken out they wanted to storm Canterlot. They must not of turned to dust because all the love Twilight had for them meant they could sustain a life in a different form for a just a little while longer.”
“Well I’m just glad I have my empire back.” Cadence said,
“Yeah, you’re welcome, by the way.”
“Oh, I, sorry”-
“Nah don’t mention it, I was mainly doing it so I could live there. Say hi to Shining armour for me.” Vitam laughed.
“I will,” Replied as she started walking to the door, “Bye, everypony!”

Vitam looked at his sister, and then at his group of overjoyed friends, who couldn’t seem to get enough hugs, then back at his sisters,
“I remember,” He said to them, “When I first found you two. Back in Prince Vitam’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Luna couldn’t crack the egg, and you got so upset that you accidentally raised the moon! Then I knew that these were the two sisters I was looking for. I asked Celestia to try and raise the sun again, and she did! I took you two under my wing, and from that day forth you were the first Princesses of Equestria. Do you remember?”
“It was an awfully long time ago…” Celestia admitted
“Where did the time go?” Luna asked, to nopony in particular.

Part 18

Vitam smiled. He covered them in his magical glow, and suddenly they were fillies again. Not Vitam, of course, he was never a foal, he had never grown, he just was that size, but Vitam just shrugged and suddenly, he was a normal sized pony, he looked to Celestia, then Luna, then they all trotted forward. They had gone back in time, of course. They were in a very different looking Equestria. Vitam had taken them back to when Celestia and Luna were actually fillies. Vitam smiled and to them,

“Take seat youngin'; Stay around for spell
I got a little story that I wanted to tell
Would ya
Please stick around, take a listen and see
Cause back in my day, things were always grand as can be

Now all the
Streets were paved gold and gems; Glimmerin'
Lightin' up the skies at noon; This town is shimmerin'
Waitin' on nobody cause we got stuff to do
Cause we through with the new
We're talking old school, kids, that's just what we do!

Back in the day, it was the prime of the time
Imagine all the greats singing together in rhymes
and listening together on old Gramaphones
and old Radios it was a hell of a time

Let me tell ya youngin', man the old days were grand
You could walk down to the beach and plant your hooves in the sand
You didn't have no worries
All was grand as can be
So everybody take a listen
Open your eyes and see

So trot with me through the autumn leaves
And keep close to stay warm
Soon you'll see how much you mean to me
Feelings I've never felt before

Skippi-do-bop was the name of the game
Swinging like crazy everyone goes insane
It's like a game except everyone wins
Why isn't music like that, anymore?

My god everything is such a bore now
Everything's the same thing over again
With all that hippin' and the hoppin'
and the bippen' and the boppen'
They dunno what the jazz is all about, you see

You'll look back at your days
I'm sure you'll experience it sometime
cause when you grow old
everything seems cold
and new generation will arrive

So trot with me through the autumn leaves
And keep close to stay warm
Soon you'll see how much you mean to me
Feelings I've never felt before.”

Epilouge
[Six months later]

Twilight sat in her library. Spike was in his bedroom, Prince Vitam’s former room. Prince Vitam now lived in a penthouse in the Crystal Empire. She remembered thinking “That is just so YOU” When she first found out a few months back. She also remembered when he first came into her life just over a year ago now. Did she kinda have a crush on him? Yeah. Was it completely childish? Yeah. Did she care? No. She knew that he was completely and totally unattainable. But maybe that’s what made him so attractive… Anyway, she wasn’t even going to try, and that was ok.

She remembered when she thought her friends were gone forever. The thought crippled her inside to this day, even though it was long behind her. Vitam was pretty much out of her life, as much as he could be, being one of- no, the most powerful prince, and the fact that he know met up with her brother and Cadence to discuss how the empire was run, even though these discussions bored him greatly and he often tried to fit in as many video game references as possible without them noticing. Twilight swore, if Vitam didn’t have a country to run and protect, all he would do was play video games. Even Spike doesn’t play as many video games as he did! She smiled. Life was almost back to normal now. She remembered back to her childhood, when she didn’t have all these responsibilities. Sure she missed them, but that didn’t mean she wasted them back. She was a hero, princess, element of magic, but at the end of the day it didn’t matter. She was still Twilight Sparkle, and it was still Equestria.

An Ancient Power

by Discordismysexslave

Return of a Prince

The Redemption

The Fall