> Agape
>  by articunos bitch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Unconditional
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Orange Seed galloped faster than she ever had in her life before. Serene, her best friend of six years, even before Sombra had cursed their homeland, was hot on her heels, howling like the Undead, wielding a plank of wood in her mouth, waiting to smash Oranges’ head into tomato paste. Her eyes were an oil slick of shining black; her tongue has been cut in half lengthwise, when it healed it would be forked, not unlike a snakes’.
Orange had always been skilled at running through crowds when she was young, a skill that came to light again as she raced against the clock to reach home before a Smoke Cloud did. Weaving between ponies, sudden stops and even leaping over the body of a guard, Orange tried to lose Serene in the throng. She looked up at the Heart as she passed it and could not understand; it was powered by the love of the Crystal Ponies and kept the Empire safe from threats like Sombra, why was it not working now? The Courtyard around the Crystal Palace was lousy with panicked ponies, Crystal and otherwise, running helter-skelter; searching for loved ones, looking for Royal Guards, or fleeing the Clouds as Orange had called them. They arrived not five minutes ago and all Tartarus had broken loose.
She saw one of the first ones whizzing through the air, circled and envelope Serene's head, her cries for air and help quickly cut off suddenly when she fell to the ground, blood running from her mouth. The Cloud disappeared, seeping into her head, leaving behind a twisted, dark, acid attack nightmare of her face. Serene stood up on her four hooves again and gave her neck a sharp twist, breaking a vertebra in the process. Her eyes, now one solid color, fell on Orange who had watched the whole thing in a state of shock. Orange Seed took off, running for her life. If she could find her parents and three month old son, they could huddle together and endure this hell that descended so quickly and furiously onto the Crystal Empire.
The monster was behind her still when she leaped the steps to her home and kicked the door, praying it was unlocked. With it swinging open she jumped inside and slammed the door into Serene’s face, breaking what was left of her nose. Please, please be there to bitch at me for that later! That was when she heard the squishing noise coming from the den. Orange slowly poked her head around the corner and nearly lost her lunch at the sight of her parents.
Her father was gone; his head and legs intact, his barrel had been eviscerated. Her mother had smashed him upside the head with a vase, picked up a shard and stabbed him repeatedly. She was still puncturing him, despite dying long ago, her hoof covered in his blood, and her own running in rivers from her hoof to puddle on the floor. Orange forgot to breathe when she realized her mothers’ eyes were a solid black like Serene’s. Pulling her head back and praying her son was unharmed she snuck up the stairs.
Orange’s shock had worn when she reached the second floor and could now hear every jab of her mothers’ shard into her father’s chest. She expected a squishing sound, but it was more of a wet slap. Tasting bile, she opened her bedroom door to find her son sleeping peacefully. Wrapped in his favorite blanket, he let out a snore as she gently picked him up and closed the door. Pacing back and forth on three legs, she went over her options to escape this hell. Her parents were gone, Serene was gone, either waiting for the door to open or run off to murder someone else. She could hide the two of them here and wait for help, if any came, if it didn’t they would starve to death.
She could sneak out the window and make it to the train station. She doubted the train was still running but it was better than hiding here until someone came to kill them. Cracking open the window she heard the cries of the city again. Chaos ruled, but not Discord’s cotton candy clouds or asking for cod fish oil; this was Evil. Something was very wrong in the world, but it was not Orange’s concern, she had a child to shield from all this. Biting down on her son’s basket firmly, she slowly made her way down the fire escape and clopped her hooves onto the concrete alley floor.
Sticking to back alleys she trotted south, kicking her way through two fences and clambering over mountains of trash. She didn’t see anyone, a few Smoke Clouds had whizzed over her head but she and her baby were left alone. It took her a while but she was at the end of the alley, and it was only a fifty meter sprint from there to the train station. Thinking about it now, it made sense that was where anyone still alive would run to. If Cadance couldn’t keep the Smoke Clouds out of the kingdom, why would anyone go to the palace hoping to be kept safe? Biting her basket again, Orange steeled herself for the run of her life and reared onto her hinds, just as everything went black.
Orange blinked her eyes open. The world was blurry, screams echoed in her head, and she was being dragged by her tail. Turning around, there was a unicorn stallion pulling her, and he was smirking. Orange knew how to fight off rapists, if she was in good health and if-Her baby was gone! Orange kicked herself onto her belly and tried running back to the mouth of the alley where she saw him last. Before she even climbed to her hooves she was knocked upside the head again by the stallion.
“Keep still little pony. Maybe I’ll kill you afterwards. Do you want to carry MY child around too,” he taunted her. Orange didn’t hear him though, she saw a Black Cloud flying into the mouth of the alley, past her basket, her basket with her baby. He was on the sidewalk, as if waiting for someone to pick him up, just twenty meters from the train station maybe someone would see him…
The Cloud enveloped her head. Orange coughed, then tried to draw air back in, pulling it into her body. She felt control of her body ripped from her, but her senses worked as well as ever. Her body sharply twisted around, freeing itself from the unicorns’ magical grip. He light up his horn before Orange felt her hoof collide with it, hard. He fell on his face and more blows rained down on him, snapping his horn off after the fifth stomp. She felt her body controlled by the Cloud lift the alicorn off the ground and plunge it into his barrel.
Much later, Orange's body trotted out into the main road to see The Crystal Empire had been reduced to an orgy of violence and mindless bloodshed. There were bodies lying on the sidewalks, presumably they had jumped from rooftops, a couple knelled down and held each other waiting for their inevitable end, and a blue bubble had formed around the palace. And her son was still on his own, and she could do absolutely nothing about any of it.


** ** **


Dipping her quill into the inkwell, Princess Celestia tried to think of a more appropriate way to address the Charon of the Minotaur League when a pink cloud of dust and letter swam into existence out of nothing before her. A letter in a pink cloud of smoke could only have come from Princess Cadance, and could not wait. Urgently flipping it around, noting it was not sealed or even addressed, Celestia read words that turned her veins to ice.

Demons from Tatarus attacking Many dead Send help

Celestia teleported to Princess Luna’s bed chamber, rousing her with a shout. “Sister, awaken. I have grave news!”
She waited for Luna to sit up straight and wipe the sleep crusted on her eyes. “Something terrible has happened. I need you to gather all the unicorns in the Guard, and from my school, then teleport them to the Crystal Empire at once. And Twilight if you can find her.” She turned around to open the glass doors to the balcony before turning around to continue. “I am going to the Gates of Tatarus. Demons have escapes and I need to see what’s wrong.”
Not giving her sister a chance to argue, Celestia stepped outdoors, spread her wings and took into the skies. Flapping her wings several times, Celestia cast a spell allowing her to accelerate faster. Turning north, she flapped her wings harder and felt herself rocketing forward, soon she was flying hundreds of kilometers an hour and still going faster. The Gates were protected by many ancient and strong magic’s, including a spell preventing anyone from teleporting around them, unless they were members of Clan Kreelah.
Celestia grimaced at the thought of Kreelah. A few years ago when Cerberus left the gates and wound up in Ponyville she was fortunate that no demons had escaped. She did not even realize it had happened until two days later, and by then Twilight Sparkle had already returned him. She spoke to the Clan leader about casting spells that would warn her if he “jumped the fence” again, but Fallen Star said flat out he would not allow it. Now with demons escaping and killing ponies in her realm, she would need to speak to him one-on-one again.
Soaring over the permafrost line, Celestia dipped lower to the ground to search for the Gates. Impossible to plot on a map, she still knew where the cave entrance was. Setting her hooves into the snow, she peered through the light snowfall to a mound rising up to end in a cliff. Trotting around, she looked at the cave mouth. It wasn’t much to look at; three meters tall, five wide, and a few steps in the floor fell into a sharp decline before ending abruptly in a wall with a single door, just large enough for a child. The small door always seemed appropriate to her, anything as dangerous and frightening as a demon could only be small. Disease killed and maimed far more than any war did.
Spinning around to look for Cerberus, Celestia cast out one of the few spells she could to locate Cerberus. As a three headed dog with three collars she roped a magic repellant dog tag around one of them. Being a unique blend of copper it was the only object in the world her spell would detect, and her tag was in a pile of snow nearby. Flapping on top of the pile she cast her spell again only to see her tag right under her hooves. Levitating it out, Celestia saw it was still attached to the collar, which was buried deep in the pile. Melting the snow under herself, Celestia quickly recognized the tar black fur of Cerberus.
Lighting her horn she cast an Iron Dome spell over the cave mouth and sat in the snow. Celestia levitated an small orb the size of a marble she kept tucked into her breastplate and spoke into it. “Change of plans, come to the Gates of Tatarus at once!” With a flick of her horn the orb disappeared. She didn’t need to address it to anyone, or say who it was from; she and Luna each carried two orbs and could only be spoken to and heard by each other.
She waited for Luna to arrive. With Cerberus missing the demons would have known he was alive and would have been afraid to leave Tatarus knowing he would return. But being dead, it was obvious something had realized it would be safe to leave. As freighting as Cerberus was to mortals, he was far worse to the Undead and spirits. What troubled her was why only some demons had escaped and not all of them. If more had broken free they would have attacked more than the Crystal Empire, or would have swarmed it so thoroughly Cadance would never have gotten a message to her. Maybe whatever killed Cerberus had wanted to draw attention here away from, somewhere else. If this was part of a coup it was effective.
Celestia went over every possible situation in her head while waiting for Luna and her band, hopefully army of unicorns to arrive. Luna had always been more skilled at flight and would be able to “tow” her entourage along so she would not be too long. Teleporting so many into the snow would be more dangerous than flight. She waited an hour keeping her eye on the cave, ensuring not so much as air got through her spell before she saw Luna in the distance.
She had brought sixty unicorns with her, all alight with her blue magic aura, and immediately cast an Iron Dome spell letting Celestia lower hers. Several unicorns braced and cast their own spells around the cave while others cast barriers to protect against the winds and cold. The two Princesses stepped away towards Cerberus’s body so Luna could maintain her spell and they could talk in private.
Celestia melted the snow on and around Cerberus’s corpse before inspecting what she could. His body was intact, no cuts, he was frozen but her magic showed residual heat still deep inside his torso, so he was not dead for too long, maybe a day, a day and a half at the most. She noted to Luna his skin was burned but the hairs untouched in some places, only a certain branch of unicorn magic could do that. “Pony magic,” Luna pointed out. “It might not have been a unicorn though. Some artifacts could have cast the spell. I guess any hoof prints would have been buried by now.”
Celestia knew where she would have to go next, but if she found anything to point to the beasts’ killer she could make it a less miserable trip. She looked for the other two collars around his heads, and reflexively snapped her wings shut. Both collars had been cut and where he had fallen and were bare. Pulling them up to her face she confirmed it to herself and Luna.
When they were children, they heard the legend of the Rainbow of Light, and the Rainbow of Darkness. Two artifacts, each could give the wieldier the power to change the world. The Rainbow of Darkness corrupted, the Rainbow of Light healed. Despite their names and legends, both were incredible tools for either Good or Evil, it depended entirely on whoever held them. And no known soul could have wielded both, not even their mother.
Being adventuress little souls, they searched for both Rainbows, their efforts turning up nothing. All fun and games, until after they received their crowns and their adventuring for the sake of amusement ended. Many years later, an evil king across the East Sea began a campaign to seize the Throne of Equestria. He claimed to wield both Rainbows set into his Sword and Staff. Celestia and Luna hatched a plan to steal the one Rainbow he did possess and find the other to kill him once and for all.
In the end, the king was dead and each Princess held a world changing artifact, the very items from which Discord himself drew his power, but they doubted he even knew that. One was a Heart shaped locket, and the other was a cow leather coin purse. There was little doubt they needed to hide both Rainbow’s where they would never be found, all references that they might exist had to be destroyed, and should one of them die, the other would make sure another trustworthy pony would know. Heaven knows they might prove to be of use one day. By the time they ended their journey back to Equestria and touched down in the Everfree Castle, they knew Cerberus would be able to keep them safe and out of reach of any who might abuse them. Only they and Fallen Star knew where the Rainbows were kept, until recently.
Celestia had no clue of what she would see, but she had a backup plan. Levitating the broken collar, Celestia looked at the spell markings of whoever cut it. She had a similar spell on the door that once protected the Elements of Harmony, if anyone broke through the door they would leave their unique magical frequency, giving Celestia everything she would need to find them. She even hired several of the best thieves in Equestria to break in and steal their commission, after dropping most protection to the door of course. When she cast her Print spell she saw in her minds’ eye flashes of the pony’s face, their cutie mark, and where they came from up to days before they interacted with whatever object she enchanted.
Casting her spell, Celestia saw a purple wing tucked into a mares barrel just over a Cutie Mark with one dominant star surrounded by six smaller ones. Purple iris’s set in unusually large eyes. Pink highlights in a purple mane, and most telling of all to Celestia, perky, purple, floppable ears flanking an unusually short alicorn horn. Dropping the first collar she turned to the other and saw the same exact pony, only this time she was wearing a golden heart shaped locket around her neck when she severed the collar.
Blinking away the vision, she turned to her sister who looked worried.
“Sister, has the moon reached its Mirror phase yet?”
Luna was intrigued by the question but answered. “Yes, the portal in the Crystal Empire was activated last night at about three AM. Why do you need to know?”
“I have work to do. Princess Twilight betrayed us. Everypony. Everyone the demons could hurt. I am going to tell Fallen Star about Cerberus, then I am going to kill Twilight Sparkle.”


** ** **


Flying further north didn’t give Celestia much time to think. Where she was heading there wasn’t much more north to go, nor much of an east or west. Her history with Clan Kreelah was tense and cold. She first met Fallen Star when his armies crawled out of the newly formed Gate of Tatarus millennia ago, before the wicked king in the east. She and Luna were deeply suspicious of him and gave one chance for him to prove he came to Equestria in peace.
Fallen Star explained how he was at war with other clans seeking to invade and conquer their world, and afterward he did intend to settle his own clan on unclaimed land and live in peace. Celestia never liked to think about that war, how close she and her sister came to death, how close Fallen Star came to revealing himself to Equestria, or how he threatened to cut out Celestia’s tongue when she called him king. That was the first rule she ever learned about Clan Kreelah; the word King is forbidden, punishable by death. She did not want to know why.
He had found unclaimed land north of the Gate, in a valley dominated by the extinct volcanoes. Kreelah mages rebirthed the volcanoes and spread ash over every millimeter of land they owned. They melted the ice and snow, and cooled their lava flows, using them as foundation for their planned city. Kreelah built their own version of markets, blacksmiths, taverns and libraries. Celestia was haunted by a sense of both how foreign and familiar everything seemed the few occasions she came to Kreelah. To prevent any random spirits from escaping Tatarus, Fallen Star even stationed his most powerful war beast, Cerberus, to guard the Gate, after an enlargement spell. She and Luna kept its existence a secret, nopony needed to know about it, but they would answer any questions asked. Ponies quickly forgot the rumors of an army far north and the sisters kept another secret to themselves.
Celestia saw the ground, white snow started to mix with pale ash, and she dropped her altitude to avoid plumes of acrid smoke. The city gate came into view; five meters high, made of simple stone. She was capable of flying over it, but she was not welcome into Kreelah, so she would have to speak to the Guardmaster on duty. Landing far enough away to not threaten anyone, she galloped to the gate and called “I am Princess Celestia of Equestria. I have urgent news for Fallen Star. Please let me in.”
“No-one enters Kreelah without the Gaurdmaters consent!” an imp atop the wall shouted back at her.
“Let me speak to him! Now!”
A voice spoke back to her, deep and foreboding, he could easily be heard without raising his volume and Celestia sincerely hoped he did not. She knew how loud he could be, she meet him during the war; Xeron, Chief of Devils and Arms commanded every manner of Kreelah’s martial actions, answering only to Fallen Star himself. “And what is so important it couldn’t wait for another century or two.”
“It is for his ears only Xeron. Let me in!”
“No! Go back to your grass fields and leave us alone!” Xeron still had not looked over the edge of the wall, shouting at the sky, and she grew impatient.
“I demand you put your Honor on the Line for me!”
Xeron chose this moment to look at her; they always found each other’s appearance to be disgusting. He was shaped like a man, in that the chest, head, and limbs and proper sizes of each. He had no visible hair, his red, leathery skin stretched tight over tendons, bone and muscles. The tar black horns protruding from his forehead, curved around to taper off at the back of his head.
Despite her words, Celestia just placed her own life in his hands. If Fallen Star approved of what Celestia said, to the extent that he should have been interrupted whatever he was doing to listen to her, Xeron would be honored by interrupting him. If Fallen Star did not approve, it was Xeron’s right to kill her, or at least try. Celestia could escape but she would never be allowed in Kreelah again. Xeron growled and disappeared from view, Celestia knowing he would be waiting for her once the gates opened.
The gate did open in thirty seconds and Celestia trotted in to stand next to him. His intimidating two and a half meter stature was not lost on Celestia, but she would not show it. “Grab ahold of my wing and teleport us to his palace.”
He stared at her.
“Lives are at stake.”
Reluctantly, he gripped her outstretched wing roughly with his right hand, bowed his head and threw his left hand to his side in a gesture of servitude. A cloud of orange and black smoke sprang up from his feet, growing up in a mushroom formation, enveloping both of them in the smell of sulfur. Celestia heard the BAMF sound she never heard while ponies teleported, blinked the soot out of eyes and saw the doors of Forsaken Palace. Xeron let go of her as if he were afraid of catching her disease. Without a word he strode through the front door, down a short corridor and into Fallen Star’s throne room.
His voice boomed in the claustrophobic confines of a room slightly bigger than two broom closets in her own castle. “Sir, Princess Celestia wishes to speak to you.”
Xeron looked like a human devil, from his deep voice, flowing red and gold trimmed cape, red skin and horns to the powerful strides he took in lieu of running, except on the battlefield. He was intimidating, but Fallen Star haunted her dreams day and night. He was a dangerous predator, and she had on many occasions feared he wanted something from her; she knew she would let him have anything the moment he asked, and he would ask. He was certainly not a thief. Fallen Star did look like a man; not quite two meters tall, he looked in good shape. His smooth, soft skin was layered over taut muscles and under sandy, golden locks of hair. His blue eyes reflected every desire Celestia had, his voice whispered to her after he spoke. His confident smile never wavered. Fallen Star set his hookah pipe down and nodded for Celestia to have her say.
She took a deep breath. “Cerberus is dead. I found his body where he should have been standing guard. I have a team of unicorns and my sister standing guard at the Gates of Tatarus but they won’t be able to hold it closed forever.”
He shot to his feet and turned to Xeron, “Raise the your troops! Get them to the Gate in five minutes!”
Xeron BAMFed elsewhere leaving Celestia and Fallen Star alone, he looked to her knowing she had more to say. His pressed suit looked similar to the dress code socialite's in Canterlot tried to stick to, but Fallen Star looked as if the fashion was designed to fit him. She looked from his vest to his face and continued.
“Cerberus was killed by unicorn magic. I am familiar with the killer and will set off to find her once I leave here. In the meantime a number of spirits did indeed escape before we knew anything was wrong. My sister and her team will move to the Crystal Empire, or what’s left of it when you relieve them.”
Fallen Star swallowed. “Anything else?”
“Yes. Both Rainbows have been stolen. I can only presume they were what the thief was after in the first place.”
He stared at her for a moment before turning away and clasping his hands behind his head. “Anything else I should know,” growing impatient with the stream of ever worsening news, his eyes wandering across the floor.
“Nothing else of consequence. Is there anything I should know?”
He motioned for her to follow him when he stepped into the hall and brought her deeper into the Palace. “I will be arriving at the Gates with Cerberus’s replacements, and you will not like them. Do you remember Gog and Magog?”
Celestia froze in shock. “The Giants? The ]Niphilim Giants? I thought you caged them and left them to die!”
“That was the plan. They are weak and we are their only source of food.” Fallen Star did not stop for Celestia and she trotted to catch him. “They will obey me, and they will not wander form the Gates. And I will not put them into place until things have calmed down. You can relax. They will not harm a living soul.”
Celestia walked beside him after they descended a stair case leading to the basement. and tried to look him in the eye, emphasizing her every word. “They. Are. Giants. Everything about them is terrible, every drop of blood in their descendants is dangerous.”
Fallen Star did not look to her as he arrived at the dungeon door. “They are the last of their kind. They are brothers, they will never have descendants. And if they wish to eat they will listen to me. Now, is our business concluded so you might go find my pets’ killer?”
Celestia kept her wings tucked close to her side and took several deep breaths, the two of them staring each other down. 
“No. I will see myself out, and I demanded Xeron put his honor on the line for me. Remember him. We will talk when this is over.”
With a flash of yellow magic she left Kreelah.


** ** **


Slamming the doors shut, Flash Sentry of the Crystal royal Guard gulped his first breath of fresh air in half an hour, sweet oxygen rushed into his lungs and he collapsed. Climbing into a more dignified sitting position on his haunches, Flash tried to shake the images from the last home he visited from his mind. He walked in on a stallion beating a colt and tossing him out the window. Throwing his hind legs into the stallions face he looked out to see the colts head twisted at an unnatural angle, driving him to impale the stallion with a nearby furniture leg where he lay. He knew he should not have done that, he should have brought him to the Palace for evacuation, reporting him as a criminal element, but…
Flash thought he did the right thing, despite going against his orders. Not that anyone saw him, Memorial Tankard, his partner for that trip was killed by a Possessed just after they got out sight of the Palace. He would mourn Tankard, he was a good friend, and could drink anyone on the Guard under the table on a good day, he just wanted to see something today that would not haunt him for years.
Still gasping for breath he slowly walked towards Princess Cadance and took a seat next to her. She did not look up. Her head bowed, she focused on her magic. He was impressed that she could look so calm and peaceful, perhaps it was just what she needed to be. Her husband had been one of the first ponies engulfed by a demon, Possessed as she called it. She tried to cage him after he broke her nose, but the only way to stop him was his own death. She had immediately cast her Iron Dome Spell and called everyone in it to her to work out an evacuation plan.
Flash Sentry had volunteered to look for survivors outside the Dome, with a lesser, Tin Bubble spell. Tin Bubble would keep demons from possessing him, and it did expand to cover any ponies he found alive, but air couldn’t circulate in or out, trapping him with the same air as long as he was outside Cadances Dome. And the larger the Bubble the more taxing it was on the unicorn casting it, what few unicorns could cast it of the survivors. Fifty-nine ponies were in Cadances Dome when the demons attacked. Out of a city of eight thousand, it looked like fifty-nine lucky ponies and two survivors pulled in from patrols like Flash’s were safe. For now.
He looked out the windows to see smoke trails curling up from all around the Crystal Empire, all fourteen square kilometers of it. Flash had lived here for years. He had a home, friends, a girl, now it was gone. None of them might survive until sunset, and even if they did live through this, what could possibly be salvaged from the wreckage he saw now?
The door slammed open to allow several Crystal ponies to stumble in, one who he recognized as the mare, Desert Rose, on patrol with his commander. Dashing to her side, he laid her on the floor and tried to patch up the lacerations she got from fighting one of the Possessed. He asked where her partner was.
“He’s gone Shining. He didn’t die trying to be a hero or nothing foolish. A gas leak doesn’t care who you are. I see your partner’s gone too.”
“We were on the other side of town. I-I didn’t get anyone back though.” He said, ashamed of himself while disinfecting her wound.
“Got more bad news for you, with him gone, that makes you Captain of the Guard,” she half joked.
He tried to ignore the slight blush in his cheeks at such a big responsibility. “Doesn’t matter. He set down the plan with the Princess, it’s in her hooves now. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.”
Desert winced when he applied rubbing alcohol to her cuts. “Well, it will matter once we get to Canterlot. Maybe we can escape after all.”
Flash finished bandaging up his comrade when a flash of yellow light filled the Throne Room. Princess Celestia stood tall and smelling of sulfur. She didn’t acknowledge the ponies bowing to her, or the looks of fear falling from their faces as she made her way to Princess Cadance.
“Where is the mirror?” she asked urgently.
Cadance raised her head and tried blinking away the images of her beloved’s last breaths. “I…I moved it to…uhh..”
“Cadance!” Celestia threw out her hooves to catch her before she hit the floor, casting her own Iron Dome Spell around hers. “Cadance! Can you hear me?”
Flash and some others took a few tentative steps closer, afraid to cause their Princesses any more stress.
Celestia turned to address them, “Where’s Shining Armor?” When no-one answered her ears drooped and she looked back at 
Cadance. “Just hold on…Luna is on her way shortly.”
Cadances eyes fluttered open as her magic failed. “Celestia…I moved the mirror to,” she sighed heavily, and spoke with more strength than before. “To a warehouse on the south side of the empire. There is a box labeled Carnegie Steel in the southeast corner of H+H Tool. It’s on the bottom of a stack of empty boxes, lying flat. Only an alicorn’s magic can open it.”
Celestia helped her back to a sitting position. “Thank you Cadance. I am going to need to go the other world now, so you will need to keep the Dome up. Just hang on, Luna will be on her way shortly.”
“Why,” Cadance asked as Celestia trotted away. “What took so long? What are you…”
“Just tell Luna where I’ve gone.” Celestia didn’t look back at her as she left and called out a final instruction. “And set up our ace in the hole before you leave.”
Flash looked to Cadance and saluted her. “Princess, I was informed Blueberry was Killed in Action. That would make me the commanding officer, and I await your instructions.”
She sighed. “Okay Flash Sentry. Just wait here until Luna arrives. I can’t imagine why they didn’t arrive at the same time.”
“I’ll be here when you need me.” Flash Sentry stood at his Princesses side and tried to drown out the silence of a hoofull of survivors waiting for an inevitable end.


** ** **


It was funny how something so unique had found its way into a dusty warehouse, light spilling onto it through the grimy windows. The yellow aura of magic ripped the top of the box off and tossed against the wall, before levitating the most mysterious object in Equestria before her. From what Twilight had described, it led to a world surprisingly similar to their own. They had different magic, different foods, different bodies, but friendship was just as powerful there as she’s ever known it to be. All her friends were there, they were exactly the same. She knew she would have all the time in the world to be with them, and no time at all. They were not the friends she knew and loved, and at the same time…
Celestia listened to Twilight’s every word, giggle and tear about her trip to Canterlot High. She asked many questions about her old student and she answered truthfully. She made Celestia proud of her she handled herself, and how she directed her friends to include Sunset Shimmer into their clique. She had hoped Twilight would convince Sunset to return, but decided it was for the best. Sunset made her choice, hopefully she would not make the same one again. Celestia could not do this alone, and what better wild-card than a pony Twilight’s equal in magic who she never would have seen again?
Levitating a bent nail she tried to leave a scratch on the reflective surface, only to see it ripple. Satisfied, Celestia took several deep breaths. Her magic would be useless, she would need to learn how to walk on her hinds pretty fast, and she should keep her clothes on. And the trip to the other side would be a bit nauseating.
Taking a few more breaths Celestia turned back to the mirror and leapt through it without giving her a chance to back out.


** ** **


A familiar sound from her past was the first indication that Fallen Star’s army had arrived. Devils could teleport themselves with a BAMF, and large armies with a bit of salt pita and sulfur on the ground, with the same sound. Luna turned to see Pit Fiends walk through her Iron Dome and approaching the Gates. They, like many from Kreelah looked like men; two meters tall, covered in burn scars, hairless, with horns growing out from atop their heads to curl around their backs and sporting sackcloth around their loins. Luna thought of them as hired muscle; slow, brutishly strong and silent. However she had seen many praying or reciting poetry of sorts before and after combat centuries ago. What bothered her most of all were their whips; in addition to stitching lumps of lead and glass in the leather strips as the cruelest of slave masters do, they were also imbedded with magic from Tartarus. Like Cerberus, spirits had far more to fear from them then common mortals did.
Princess Luna lost track as zounds of Pit Fiends strolled casually between her band of unicorns, followed by Effreet. Their bodies, arms, and heads also resembled men with deep, fire red skin. Their legs were replaced by a whirlwind of gold and red fire, giving them eerie shadows higher on their bodies and faces. Familiars, red, biped fairy-like beings with crippled-looking useless wings and spiked tails brought up the end of Fallen Stars’ army. Devils, all resembling small, less muscular versions of Xeron were scattered with every regiment.
Neither Luna or Celestia were comfortable being around any member of Clan Kreelah, but Luna could see their own version of beauty in them. As far as she knew they had no interest in beauty, that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. Shaken from her thoughts by a deep rumble, Luna fell to her haunches and her jaw dropped to the ground.
A man, eleven meters tall stood over her. Standing up straight, the top of her head did not even brush the bottom of his knee. Pale, sickly skin was stretched over a muscular but malnourished body. His straw colored hair still looked thick and healthy, and covered his head, face, body. He wore a simple cloth around his loins similar to the Pit Fiends, but it did nothing for Luna whom he stepped right over. His eyes would haunt Luna’s dreams for days to come; they looked so alive and full of live she could have guessed he was as innocent as a child, though she knew nothing was father from the truth. He could crush her like a bug with one step, rock sturdy buildings with that same step, and eat every living being in Equestria in a matter of days. The only two worse things were he wanted to, and he was not alone.
Gog stepped around the Kreelah armies to stand on the north side of the Gates while his brother Magog took his place at the south side. Both of them held spears Luna knew were also built with magic to destroy demons.
Princess Luna was again knocked out of her train of thought by an actual voice behind her. “We have this covered.”
“I-I’m sorry, what?” It was not Xeron but one of his inferior devils.
“We can watch the Gates now. I am telling you and your unicorns to leave.” Despite the bluntness of his words his was rather nervous to speak to Luna.
“Yes, right away.” She turned away to her own army. “Listen up everypony! Iron Dome Sheilds down. Everyone keeping an environment spell up, stay in formation and walk east. We have a bit of a ways to go before we can teleport to the Crystal Empire. Cadance needs us. Move!”
As one, every unicorn turned around and took each step in uniform away from the Gates of Tartarus, away from the unholy army at their backs. Still, their troubles were far from over.


** ** **


Celestia was first away of how gritty the ground was. She felt pebbles digging into her new digits and knees, and her whole body was weighing her down. Trying to rear herself up on her legs like her new body was supposed to, Celestia’s knees ached more until she set her behind onto her ankles. Bringing her hands up, Celestia was shocked to see how hairless the inside of her palms were. She had four new digits set next to each other and another off to the side on each hand, and one of them was bleeding, maybe a sharp pebble cut through her now delicate skin.
Using the statue base behind her to stand straight up and looking downwards she saw her dress; white as snow with gold trimming, gold colored stiletto’s, and her breastplate, complete with its signature purple gem was now a necklace above her breasts, which were significantly bigger but still fit well high up on her chest. Her dress was held up by straps tied around the back of her neck and waist. Around her wrists were gold bracelets bearing her Cutie Mark. Her hair had retained its unique rainbow of color but lost its effect of flowing as if in a breeze at most times.
Letting go of the statue, Celestia took a set of attentive steps around getting used to her new sense of balance. A pleasant breeze blew her hair into her face, making her pause and look around where the Mirror spit her out. It was a park of sorts, a road running all around, a few carriages honked their way past, fortunately no people were around to watch her struggle to walk.
Seeing the building directly in front of her labeled Canterlot High School, Celestia tried putting on foot in front of the other again and stumbled her way to the only landmark Twilight had mentioned about her own visit. The sun was high in the sky, so if it was a school day the door would be unlocked. Walking upright proved more difficult with high heels, she held out her arms for balance and took her time making it to the front door without falling flat on her face.
Griping the handle, she pulled it open and stared into the silent, dim hallway. The walls not acting as trophy cases were empty bulletin boards, cleared of tacks, panels of cork announcing nothing at all. Maybe it’s summer, she thought. Seeing ‘Main Office’ written on a door, Celestia knocked and waited for someone to find her. The door opened seconds later to reveal someone very familiar to her.
“Luna! What are you doing here! I thought you were…you’re not my sister are you?” Celestia flushed at her mistaken identity.
The woman had light blue skin and two different shades of blue in her hair. Her voice was Luna’s but not her own Luna. Her eyes bugged out when she noticed what had happened. “Celestia? It is Celestia isn’t it?”
The pony Princess turned human nodded.
“Goodness me, come on in and have a seat.” She held the door open and directed her to a set of chairs in the corner. When they both sat down, “You are not my sister. You come from the world of Equestria, the same world Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle came from. Right?”
“Y-Yes. I am. And I know Sunset and her feud with Twilight caused you no small amount of trouble but that is not why I am here. I am simply here to take Sunset Shimmer home and you will never hear from us again. Please, I miss her.” Celestia did not break eye contact.
Vice Principle Luna folded her arms. “Given what I have heard from her, you had a falling out. She’s frightened of you and may not want to return.”
“Please, just let me talk to her. It’s important. I did not come here to punish her. But I do need to see her soon.”
Luna sighed and pulled out her cell phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she ushered Celestia back into the hall. Leaning against the wall, the Princess let out a sigh herself. She really did miss Sunset Shimmer. She wondered what she looked like in this world. Maybe she would have a gown like her own, hopefully she would have more sensible shoes. Giggling, she wondered what she had done with her life since leaving the castle. From what Twilight had said she had become a student here and ruled the school, somehow without any friends and the help of only two hapless idiots.
Perhaps she would tell Celestia much more about this world. It’s past, its culture, species unique to it. Twilight had mentioned some of their machines worked like magic, and she learned they harnessed electricity too-
“Celestia!”
Shaking her head, she realized Luna was waving her hand in front of her face. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I said Sunset Shimmer will talk to you. There are benches out by the statue where you should wait for her. She said she will be there in five minutes. And I will tell you right now, she is scared out of her mind.”
“I am too. Thank you Luna. I do hope this is the last time we meet.” They shook hands and departed for their separate worlds.


** ** **


Celestia crossed tapped her fingers on her knees waiting, she did not know whether it was her nerves or if Sunset was very late. She looked to her left, ahead, right and left again, searching for a head of fire yellow and red hair. Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe she could rally the other Elements and defeat Twilight the same way she did to other threats before. That idea, and many others like it died in their infancy. The first lesson about the Elements of Harmony was they would only work together, with individuals who were all friends. Trixie, Spell Nexus, Discord, anyone capable of wielding the Element of Magic would not have time to befriend all the others in time to defeat Twilight.
A crunching sound came from behind Celestia, she turned her head to see a beautiful, young woman in an orange skirt and black leather jacket. Her hair was exactly what Celestia imagined what it would be, she had her Cutie Mark stamped on the center of her shirt and knee-high boots. Sunset Shimmer sat on the bench, threatening to fall over the edge and avoided eye contact with her teacher. But she was here.
She cleared her throat and looked over the parks lawn. “It’s good to see you again.”
She was answered with silence. “I don’t have much time to spare. There is a threat to Equestria, and you are the only one who can help me end it.”
Sunset turned away, her back facing Celestia. “Why not Twilight Sparkle? She’s your student after all, even if she is a Princess.”
“Because Twilight Sparkle IS the threat. She is out of control; I can blame the deaths of eight thousand souls on her in two days. And I don’t want to know what she plans on doing next, but she’s just warming up now. I need to see her die. She betrayed everything I taught her, it’s my responsibility. But I can’t do it alone. I need you.” Celestia kept her voice steady but did not hide her pain.
“What’s more, you don’t belong here. This isn’t your world, you were never meant to be here, or leave your own world. You have ponies who love you, ponies who want to see you come back.”
Sunset kept looking away. “Who? Who could want me back? My parents are gone, I haven’t spoken to the rest of my family for years before I left, the only friends I have are here, who could want me to come back?”
“I do,” Celestia said simply.
Sunset whipped around and glared at her teacher. “Why? You said I was an impatient, immature child! You came down on me like a hammer whenever I so much as slept in. And then I broke through your enchantments and used the mirror to get here, showing I AM capable of magic you said I was not, and then I got myself trapped here, showing I was not as capable as I thought. After all I did why would you ever want me back, Princess?” Her voice grew in pitch until she threw herself at Celestia’s chest and buried her head into her shoulder, tears running a race down the smooth skin.
Celestia pat her back and held her tight. Sunset Shimmer always knew when she was beat, and she had a way of crumbling once she had lost. She would have enjoyed their first company together in years if not for the groundskeeper revving up his lawnmower behind them. Both women jumped hearing it roar to life and took a moment to compose themselves.
“They do that. Startle you, but it keep the grass short. And, I know a lot of people say they like the smell of freshly mowed grass, but I used to eat it so it, brings up different memories for me.” Sunset’s eyes glazed over as she recalled The Bamboo Stalk, her favorite fast food joint in Whinieghpeg. She showed it to Celestia the day she agreed to take her on as her student. Royal affairs hosted by staff never served fresh hay, so often Sunset smuggled it in herself  at Celestia’s suggestion. The Princess once complained about the Grand Galloping Gala being boring every year, so one time Shimmer attended with the most “in” crowd she could find and took each piece of her attire off throughout the night, resulting in a public scolding from her teacher who took every word back once they were behind closed doors and praised her for being so clever.
A dozen thoughts ran through her head until she looked Celestia in the eye again.
“I want you to come back because I love you Sunset Shimmer. And nothing you do will ever change that. You thought you knew better than me about so many things, you did act like a child. I did not say those things to brand you, but convict you. You were being impatient, and I tried to teach you to wait. You were immature, so I assigned you tasks to help you grow. I only wanted what was best for you, and often the first step is knowing what is wrong in the first place. I showed you I loved you all along, I now know I should have been more clear.
“And when you left it broke my heart. I never wanted to drive you away. By the time I found out where you went, it was too late. The mirror shut, and I had no other way to get to you. I cried Sunset. Every day for a long, long time. Sometimes my new student would spot me and try to comfort me, but she never wanted to know what was wrong. You were not the first pony I drove away, nor were you first to break my heart, but, you didn’t deserve what happened. You deserve to be held close and reminded that I love you and I am willing to take forever to make you the best student I ever had.
Sunset shuffled closer. “So, nothing can change that?”
“This is an open ended invitation. It’s yours only as long as you choose to take it. You can abandon it at any moment, but I can not allow myself to abandon you. Sunset 
Shimmer, will you come with me back to Equestria?” She held her arms open.
Sunset returned the hug hesitantly at first, soon it was in full force. Neither of them moved for the next five minutes, content to hold each other and smell the grass. They had to in the end, their home depended on them. Celestia took a moment to smooth the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress as Sunset sent a text to her friends explaining she needed to go. Leaving her purse unattended on the bench, she led Celestia to the statue base and stepped through before she could change her mind.
Celestia looked around the world that had been so full of wonder and mystery once, then pained her heart since losing Sunset Shimmer to it. I hope I never see it again. Her dress catching a breeze, she spun around and leaped back into her world.
> Love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A pounding at the door echoed through the throne room, casting out fears and despair; Princess Luna had arrived with dozens of the best trained unicorns in Equestria on a rescue mission. She made a show of casting her own Iron Dome spell relieving Cadance of hers, who promptly collapsed into a pile in front of her throne. Flash Sentry holds out a hoof to lift her, before manhandling her into a sitting position. She breathed a sigh of relief as Luna bounded in front of her to keep her head up.
“Princess Cadance, speak to me.”
“Cel-“ She yawned. “Celestia told me to set up the AMP before we leave.”
“Solider, do you know where the AMP is?” The Moon Princess turned to Flash, who shook his head in confusion. 
“I do. I will need to speak with your Commanding officer before triggering it. Where is he?”
Flash answered without hesitation. “I am Commanding officer now, and I have no idea what it is.”
“You will have to come with me then,” turning back to Cadance, “What is your escape plan?”
Cadance climbed to a more dignified standing position before, “The Friendship Express is still sitting in station. Some survivors and guards have been injured and will need to be carried on someone’s back, or with magic. We are going to walk every survivor there under an Iron Dome, we have a Fireman to work the engine, which is blessedly diesel since four days ago, uncouple any cars we don’t need and leave south as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you and Flash Sentry arm the AMP, under your own Iron Dome and fly to the station to wait for us.
“There may still be survivors, but we can’t risk sending volunteers under Tin Bubbles to look in buildings on our route, we have lost too many already. If we see survivors directly we will allow them under the Dome until we make it to the station. We will pack up now and leave when the last of our search and rescue teams get back, or are declared dead. Right now, we are waiting on two more.”
“Flash Sentry,” Luna turned to him. “You are here by relieved of your duties, all Crystal Palace guards will report to Headmaster Willow. When are your teams expected back?”
Flash looked to the clock, the hands lied to him. He must have standing hours by Cadance in the stifling twenty minutes before Luna appeared. “Their allotted time has already passed. Unless we see them again they are KIA.”
“Then we must move now!” She addressed both of them. “Willow and two others will keep the shield up and set the pace for their march to the train station. You Cad,ance will need to rest, but stay on your own hooves. No-one needs you collapsing half way to the station. And keep the Fireman in the front of the herd. Willow!” She shouted over her shoulder, “Move out in five minutes!”
The Headmaster clicked off a salute before Luna dashed away, Flash Sentry on her heels. Through the throne room doors, out into the courtyard and to the edge of the Iron Dome Shield, the Princess cast her own ten meter Shield over the two of them and spread her wings. “Keep pace young guard, and keep close,” she called pushing off the ground.
Flash Sentry had flown around the Crystal Empire many times before, often he took his break sitting atop one of the Palaces spires, and never had he been afraid to look around. Haw scared this time. Scared to see plumes of smoke from a ice cream shop he knew, scared to see the library crumbling, scared to see demons flying through the air looking for their next victim. Luna did not guide him far; on the ledge just above the ornate design on the south most leg, was a box, the same color as the castle. The same size as his leg, Flash kept a revered silence as Luna cast a new spell, opening the cover to show two rows of marble-sized Everstones; eight in each column, a thread of copper wound around each, connecting them to a pocket watch and dynamo sitting on the inside cover, and finally one more Everstone on each long side.
“Flash Sentry, touch your hoof the stone on your side on three,” her hoof hovered over her own stone. “One, two, three!” Orange and blue lay on each Everstone in the same instant, dynamo jumping to life, and all sixteen stones lighting up, glowing grey. Princess Luna twisted a dial on the watch to the number Twelve, clicking all the way, as the seconds started ticking.
Snapping the lid shut, “And that, is that. Come, we have a train to catch.” Spreading their wings, they took to the sky again. Flash tried talking to distract himself and Princess Luna from seeing the carnage below them. Crystal bodies lay everywhere, shards from a shattered diamond.
“Princess Luna, what did we just do?” Flash asked keeping his tone reverent.
Keeping a relatively slow pace, Luna explained during their flight, she was also eager to have another subject to discuss. “All-inclusive Magical Purge. Every living thing in a two-and a half kilometer radius that uses magic will be affected. Pulling all magic from the affected ponies, demons, griffons, anything really, it then returns it, overcharging their bodies. Nothing can survive that much power being pulled then returned to them by force so quickly, not even King Sombra, or demons for that matter. The AMP was built as a ‘parting gift’ for Sombra if Cadance and Shining Armor’s settlement was not successful, and it will only affect the Crystal Empire. It can only be fired by an Equestrian Princess and a Captain of the Guard.”
Flash knew he should remain silent, but Luna did not seem to mind his questions, and he needed to keep his mind off earlier events. “Will… infrastructure by affected?”
“As a matter of fact, no. Only life forms will be destroyed. After the AMP fires, the Crystal Empire will be safe for habitation again. Although I doubt anyone will want to settle here. The Crystal Heart keeps the Crystal Ponies safe, but that is a secondary feature of it’s magic. It’s primary purpose is to keep an ideal climate for the inhabitants of the Crystal Empire, we believe it was built by Sombra himself, although we don’t know why it considered him a threat a few years ago and not millennia. The AMP was designed and built before the Empire returned, and all Celestia and I needed to do was adjust the affected radius before handing it off to Cadance as she left.” Luna explained with the tone of the workings of a clock over tea.
Flash Sentry kept his silence until he turned around and realized the ponies from the Throne Room had already left the castle and marched to the train station under their own Iron Dome. “Princess, how long did you set the timer?”
“We have an hour to leave the blast radius. Everypony will have time to make it outside the blast, including Celestia.”
The train station was mostly devoid of bodies, all of them far down the train from the engine. Touching down on the platform, Luna took a seat and redoubled her Iron Dome. “Now, we wait.”


** ** **


Princess Twilight Sparkle was grinning like a shark. The Rainbow of Darkness rest around her neck, it’s contents a revolving mass of black and purple smoke charged with static energy clinging to the leather. In her saddlebags lay a golden, heart shaped locket.
The lavender alicorn waited patiently beneath her invisibility spell, waiting for her prey to return, then spring her trap just when she thought victory inevitable. Twilight Sparkle waited inside H+H Tools since she arrived at the Empire, confident Celestia would head for the wild card on the other side of the mirror, which was exactly what Twilight needed too, a joker capable of turning the tables. It was hard to resist the temptation to attack when Celestia first showed up, but this would be worth it, the look of betrayal on her face, Twilight would cherish it forever. Her greatest victory, achieved not through magic, but cunning. Ironic, seeing as that was how Celestia fought threats herself.
Twilight’s studies of the mirror had shown time to pass far faster in the other world when the door was open, but slow to a relative speed to Equis when it was sealed. If the mirror closed before Celestia returned, Twilight could simply live out her scheme alone. But Celestia would come back, with her prodigal student. And she would not have to wait long.
She heard the cries and panicked hooves of the Crystal Ponies a while ago, that racket ended soon after. She expected the demons to howl or wail, but no. They looked like puffs of smoke, and glided with absolute silence. Twilight was reminded of how Nightmare Moon turned into a column of smoke to move stealthfully. While Nightmare Moon wanted to stop the Elements of Harmony from being found and used, the demons only wanted to kill, crush and destroy.
The mirrors surface rippled, gave off a bright flash, and an unicorn Twilight had seen only once leaped through. Orange fur, mane with yellow highlights, and an ornate sun on her flanks took her first steps back into Equestria, Sunset Shimmer had come home.
The mirror continued rippling until a snowy white alicorn stepped through, and Twilight’s tail flicked in anticipation. Very soon, she would make her move.
Sunset looked to Celestia, “What now?”
“Now, we leave the Crystal Empire and wait. No more need to be here today, and Twilight soon will come to us.” Celestia explained.
Twilight gave off a flash of brilliant light to cover her invisibility spell dropping. “There’s no need to be anywhere else, as both of you have come to me, thank you very much.” Twilight looked very much like she did the last time Celestia saw her; wings relaxed at her side, mane and tail brushed into OCD driven edges, the same innocent purple eyes of the filly that turned her parents into potted plants and calmed at the touch of her hoof. The pieces of leather wrapped around her neck spoke not of the loss of her innocence, but her abandonment of everything Celestia had taught her since the age of nine.
A smirk touched her muzzle as Celestia and Sunset placed their hooves apart and lowered their heads. “Oh, there’s no need for that. Is this what you want? Take it.” The Rainbow of Light levitated out of her pack in a purple aura of magic and gently settled around Sunset’s neck, to the shock of Princess and student. “I have no need for it.”
Sunset knew little of the Rainbows, but struggled to remove it from herself while Celestia asked her first question. “Twilight, do you have any idea what you’ve done?” The judge asked her suspect accused of treason.
“Princess, I have been planning this since Cerberus first stomped into Ponyville. I spent that whole night studying the Rainbows. He didn’t seem to mind and no-one bothered locking them up. He knew me so it was easy to get close to him again for more research, about the Rainbow’s and the Gate. I can have, and DO, whatever I want, Princess, with the Rainbow of Darkness. And Sunset is the final piece I need. If she has the Rainbow of Light, who could possibly stand against me?”
Twilight let the question hang between them, waiting for an answer. Sunset Shimmer looked questionably at the Rainbow of Darkness at her hooves, asking herself why Twilight ever thought she would not stand against her. Celestia’s voice boomed beside her again. “Twilight Sparkle, thousands have died because of your actions. You will surrender the remaining Rainbow and kneel to receive your Judgement!”
The young alicorn giggled. “No, I don’t think so. Sunset,” she turned her attention. “Stop playing with the Rainbow of Light, it won’t come off you quiet yet. Stand by my side, and have whatever you want. The Rainbow can change the world, and you will have no-one to answer to. Ever again.”
Sunset resolved herself and stared her down. “And why would I ever stand beside you Twilight? Celestia has accepted me back, why would I waver from her again.”
Twilight opened the leather pouch, releasing a terrible, swirling, blue cloud around the warehouse. The cloud broke into three separate swirls around the each of them, howling like hurricane winds. Celestia was powerless against the Rainbow of Darkness, it could negate her magic in an instant. Sunset Shimmer fell to her belly and tried to cover her ears, but she heard Twilight’s voice in her head. “Celestia just accepted you back, but the damage is done. You abandoned her, and she sought you out again. What gall you have to stand next to her so soon, as if you never left her side. But you did, and neither of you will forget that.” Sunset crushed her ears to her head, her eyes welled up, and she curled in on herself. “She will always look down on you, the student who left and lived prodigally. Not her failure, but yours. You are weak, you always will be, and she will always remind you of that. Is that what you want? Her shadow showing how weak and small you will always be? I can change that Sunset Shimmer.”
“You have the Rainbow of Light. You can stop me, or you can stop Celestia. Seal her where she is now, and leave your pain, guilt, and shame behind.” Shaking her head, Sunset found no comforting gaze from Celestia. The cloud around her was to reminiscent of her journey through the Mirror, but the winds howling reminded her of a storm from her childhood. She was in bed, without a nightlight, and no-one to hold her. That night she realized just how big the world was, if everyone else disappeared at once, how long until she figured it out? If she disappeared, who would realize? Would anyone care? Sunset cried herself to sleep that night, more alone than she had ever been.
“She forgave you, and she would do it again. And again. But for how long? When will enough be enough Sunset Shimmer? Will she trust you again? Are you sure you’re not just in a prison of your own consent? You are now her pet, an attack dog obeying her Mistress because she doesn’t want to be left out in the rain. Is this your destiny? Is that your Cutie Mark?”
Sunset’s sopping eyelids, and jaw opened, soft sobs still struggling their way out of her throat. Swallowing hard, she turned fully around, as if in a trance. The swirling blue smoke around herself and Twilight evaporated in a puff. Confusion etched onto her face, she looked between the Rainbow of Light around her neck and Twilight Sparkle. Her jaw slack and head drooped, she looked to Celestia hooves exposed beneath the smoke still covering her.
Her stare was interrupted by blinks and a few twitches of her ears. Sunset’s horn grew alight with teal magic as Celestia’s back hooves seemingly sank into the concrete floor. First her golden slippers, then her fetlocks were half buried, followed by her front legs slipping into the floor the same depth. She did not shout out, or struggle, or acknowledge she was in danger from Sunset’s point of view. She turned away in disgust before the blue smoke dissipated. Princess Celestia, as stunned as she was of Twilight betrayal, was utterly flabbergasted by Sunset. She did not ask any questions, her mouth was agape as Sunset’s, Twilight giggled at the shared silence.
“Come Best Friend Forever! Let’s go start your new life!” Twilight wrapped a wing around the shamed unicorn and walked her out into the sunlight. Celestia snapped out of her stupor and went to work freeing herself. Thanks to the AMP, the demons of Tartarus would die here, in less than an hour, and she had no intention of joining their fate. But she had worse problems walking away from her now.

** ** **

Flash Sentry paced along the train platform, uneasy about being in Princess Luna’s presence. He always admired her; he was a delinquent himself, and one of his hijinks ended with him sitting in a sadistic police chiefs interrogation room. He was given the choice of serving in the guard, a labor camp or prison. The day he was sworn in was the day of Princess Luna’s return, giving him an affinity for her. They both shaped up their acts since then, he was current Captain and she was a role model for all who had fallen 	into darkness.
“Captain, stand still.” She barked
“Yes, your Highness.” He snapped to attention where he stood.
Luna let her voice calm, “No, not because I said it. You are displaying your nervousness, and it would be a bad example for anyone under your command. If you wish to make yourself useful, unhook the cars we will not need and lighten the engines load.”
“Yes ma’am.” Trotting to the coupling between Cars four and five, he pulled aside the stiff curtain holding the cars together, jumped to the rails and tried to work out how else they were attached to each other. A thick steel spike holding the couplings together, the curtain on the other side, above and below, the pneumatic brake system, some chains he was unfamiliar with…
With a series of clacks and screeches, the cars were full separated. Wiping sweat from his brow, a proud smile on his muzzle, he leapt back to the platform and saw Luna smiling at him.
“Finished. Princess, how close is the Evacuation team?”
“One hundred meters out.” She paused. “Do you wish to join them?”
His stare and silence was his answer. She cast a Tin Bubble spell over him before he looked to her in confusion. A bob of her head and he was gone.

** ** **

Sunset Shimmer kept her head bowed low, her mouth shut and her eyes half closed. She blindly followed Twilight outdoors after she cast a shielding spell over them, it was a ugly, brown mist before dissipating, but the demons flying around them could not get through. They remained silent, a reverse echo of Sunset Shimmer’s heart.
Twilight’s chipper voice filled her ears. “Don’t be so down. You’re free now! Your life is yours once again! Now, if you could do anything in the Crystal Empire, no, the world, what would you want to do?”
Sunset kept quiet.
“I know, tough choice.” She gasped. “I got it! Let’s go to the Royal Library and rearrange everything! Doesn’t that sound fun?” A nudge of Sunset’s shoulder got no reaction.
“Okay. How about the royal kitchens and make us some lunch? It’s getting late for that, but we can have a very early dinner instead.” They walked without direction, without a named purpose, stepping over the curbside and bodies alike. If either had been paying attention to their surroundings, they would have noticed the brook before tripping and splashing into it.
Twilight rightened herself and giggled. Sunset kept her head down, nostrils just above the waves splashing against her. “Hey, I’ve never been out here before. This far north, its just grass from here to the environmental barrier isn’t it? Hungry? It’s not like anyone going to stop us from eating this, right? Heh, I have not eaten public grass since I was in diapers.” Twilight flapped her wings, splashing Sunset more as she soared into the sky and landed on the embankment. Reaching down to take a bite, Sunset lifted her head and sat on her haunches in the brook.
“Mmm. Thisss brin’s back memo’es doneth’t it?” Twilight struggled with her mouth full of food. “Come on! Try some!”
“Twilight Sparkle, shut up.” Sunset said softly.
“Excuse me?” Her mouth centimeters from another bite.
“I said ‘Shut up,’ and now I’m saying ‘Leave me alone’. I’m done.” She stayed where she was, the current cutting a path around her.
“Done? But, what do you mean? Done what?” Genuine concern in her voice.
“I don’t know. Just…leave me here.” She bowed her head again, tears welling in her eyes again.
“What’s wrong? Am I talking too much? It’s a big day! We’re free of Celestia! Even if she comes at us, we have the Rainbows, we can do anything to her, the limits are our imagination. We could kill her with a whisper. And you want to sulk and –“
“Don’t Twilight. Just, don’t.” Sunset slowly made her way out of the brook and kept walking north, away from the city. Tears dropped next to her hoof prints.
“Sunset, where are you going? What’s wrong?” Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder only to have her snap around to look at her again, tears flowing freely down her face.
“What’s ‘wrong’ is I just left imprisoned the only friend I have left! I did it, I can’t believe I did it. I believed you Twilight Sparkle. You said I could leave it all behind, and everything is just doubling down. Only this time I’m more aware of it, and no-one will ever help me carry this burden again.” She touched her nose against Twilight’s. “You said I could leave it behind, but now I’ve picked it up again, and Celestia will never accept me back now. And I have no-one to blame but myself. So, leave me to writhe in agony alone!”
She flicked her tail as painfully as she could manage across Twilight’s face and stormed off in another aimless direction, looking for a soft spot to lay down and fall asleep, forever.
Twilight’s hind hooves collided with Sunset’s side, hard, knocking her to the ground. Looking up at her partner in crime, she shook her head in disbelief and acceptance.

** ** **

Carving through concrete was rather simple with magic, doing it blind was more difficult. Celestia never shared with anyone that she was afraid of the dark, afraid of not knowing, and if she missed in this situation she might cleave her hoof off. Nothing that would kill her, but she really did not need to think about that right now. Using her yellow aura magic, she sheared a cylinder around each hoof, taking care to give herself room for her legs’ build. But a cut around her leg was not enough, she would need to free the bottom of herself as well. Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she made a razor thin “Aura Razor” as one of her teachers has called it and sliced well under where her right front hoof sat. With a tug and struggle to find the right path she cut, her leg came free, though still encased in concrete. Repeating the process with her other legs, she would finally be able to move freely without carrying the buildings’ foundation with her.
Stretching her wings and casting a small Iron Dome spell around her, Celestia light her horn and let a burst of magic through the ceiling, blowing a hole large enough for herself and another to fly though. One flap later and she was soaring outside, eyes locked on the ground, looking for her captors. There, north, in the park! With another burst of magic, she teleported herself directly above both unicorn and alicorn, her voice was not amplified by magic, but boomed with authority.
“TWILIGHT SPRAKLE! SURRENDER YOURSELF NOW, OR DIE!”
Sunset buried her head in the grass and covered her ears, drowning out Celestia’s righteous fury, certain she would be next. Twilight opened the Rainbow of Darkness around her neck and gave her former teacher a smirk. Celestia was familiar with the Rainbow’s workings, and knew a direct approach would never work. Her magic enveloped the ground beneath Twilight and vanished, tripping the alicorn into the pit. She looked up to see nine cubic meters in a circle of undisturbed dirt and grass collapse onto her head. It looked as if the fight would be very one sided if the collapsing ground wasn’t enveloped into a mass of smoke and disappeared.
Celestia meanwhile created two Aura Razors behind Twilight and prepared to bring them down through her back. Twilight took to the skies on her own wings and shot a purple beam from her horn. Celestia anticipated the less than speed of light shot and pulled to her left to dodge it and circle around to Twilight’s side. Sending her Aura Razor’s right at Twilight, she hoped to end this before Twilight came up with another idea, but it was too late.
Twilight built up another magical charge in her horn, only this time threw it ahead of Celestia, where she would be in two seconds. Bringing up a shield in time, she mostly protected herself from the magical grenade blast, but did not anticipate the shards cutting through her force field. One grazed the tip her nose and another struck her new concrete horse shoes, but a third ripped into her left wing. Celestia fell, her Aura Razors falling from her magical grasp.
Flapping her injured wing, halfway to the ground she regained her balance, but it was precarious. She could not fly and fight without making herself a stationary target. Celestia turned to see Twilight zooming at her, hooves outstretched. She reared her right front hoof back and gave a few good flaps with her good wing trying to meet her. They both had the idea of giving a brilliant flash before impact, but Twilight did not expect Celestia to swing her concrete encased hoof into her jaw. Nor did Celestia do anything to prevent Twilight’s spiked hooves from leaving deep lacerations on her breast, followed by much of her left wing. Their momentum carried them past each other, Twilight heading straight for the ground, Celestia further into the sky on an injured wing. Turning to watch Twilight’s descent, she was impressed to see she had already regained her balance and landed softly, given the circumstances. Keeping herself in the air, Celestia shot a quick series of blasts at Twilight, none hit their mark, but they did send her scrambling around until she unleashed her own Aura Laser.
Celestia zigzagged through the sky; while most magical blasts did not travel at the speed of light and were short bursts, the Aura Laser was a continuous current of magic that was as fast as light. Stretching her front hooves out and rearing her back ones in, Celestia teleported right next to Twilight on the ground and delivered a powerful double buck into her barrel with her concrete laced back hooves. Twilight Sparkle flew through the air again, coming to collapse on the soft grass. To ensure her job was done, Celestia gave a great leap towards her opponent with her left front leg out stretched, waiting to deliver a final concrete blow. Twilight rolled over and opened the Rainbow of Darkness again, tossing nine cubic meters of dirt at the Princess before burying her.
Celestia struggled out from her shallow grave and snarled at Twilight, who looked worn but ready for more. Bleeding from her jaw, she spit a tooth out. Celestia took her chance to speak, casting a spell over her horn to keep it dim in the early afternoon light. “Twilight,” she gasped. ”You have shown no remorse for your crimes, and if I do not stop you, someone else, far more terrible than I will. You have no clue what has come out of Tartarus before, if you did you never would have hurt Cerberus. You cannot win. You will die here, just surrender and make it easy on all of us.” Her magic struggled to move undetected through the air.
Twilight gave the cocky grin that Celestia always thought was adorable when she was innocent. Now it just looked cruel. Her tail gave a quick swish as she opened her mouth to answer. Her tail moved against something on her right side. She turned just in time to see an Aura Razor, about to slip its blade against her neck, either to cut her throat or the Rainbow free. A blast of purple magic and it was gone, but she saw more coming at her from three directions behind her.
In an act of desperation, she teleported near the only spectator, Sunset Shimmer, and fired more blasts, knocking Celestia’s Razors from their levitation fields. Celestia levitated herself from the ground and flew at her again, ignoring the pain in her left wing, concrete hooves outstretched again. Twilight’s face twisted into a wicked smile as she directed her next spell at Sunset. It was another magical grenade blast, Celestia was sure of it, and leaped to stand in front of their audience without time to erect a force field. It did would not have done much good anyway, it was not the same blast as before.
Napalm erupted from the orb, splashing over Celestia and Sunset, catching fire. Both ponies cried out in surprise and pain as burning droplets of gasoline rained down on them. Sunset rolled around trying to put out what had landed on her front hooves, while Celestia howled in agony she threw her own grenades at Twilight. Putting her own shield up to protect herself from forces and matter, she did not anticipate the smell and sting of pepper spray. Turning to run she kept her shield up and tried looking for a way out of the trio of grey smoke plumes Celestia tossed.
Galloping out of the offending gas, Twilight saw Sunset climbing to her hoofs next to Celestia who was applying a healing spell to her face, without protection. Lighting her horn, she craned her neck back and reared onto her hinds.
Sunset’s mind was reeling: after what she did, Celestia still saved her. Why? She had abandoned her, twice! The second time after a matter of minutes. She should have been right to strike her down the moment she broke free, but then took a bullet for her. She could not understand why. She opened her eyes at the right moment to see Twilight lean back. Celestia had her eyes closed in concentration, well the one that wasn’t swelling over from it’s recent burn. She blinked, and tackled her teacher to the ground as her side exploded.
Sunset Shimmer spasmed off Celestia, shrieking at the top of her voice until long after the energy bolt touched her.  She rocked into and out of a fetal position, her hooves shaking, eyes rolling up into her head. Celestia ripped the Rainbow of Light of her neck and snapped open the locket. A two centimeter long rainbow flew out, rippled through the air, twisted and danced around. It hardly looked threatening, but Celestia knew it would grow. Regardless of its size, it was more powerful than the Elements of Harmony, and would overpower Twilight’s Rainbow soon enough.
Standing up straight, Celestia watched as the tiny rainbow continued its dance to Twilight, who was mesmerized by it. The Princess took her chance and zapped her with a jolt of electricity, enough to kill a full grown stallion, but Twilight must had taken precautions earlier. The jolt caused her to spasm as Sunset Shimmer, collapsing to the ground, but still very much alive. Struggling to her hooves again, the tiny rainbow buzzed around her head and slid down her neck, right into the leather pouch she wore.
Staring at the rainbow’s progress, Twilight did not notice Celestia leap into the air again, nor did she see her hoof pull back. Twilight Sparkle did not even notice when ninety kilograms of concrete crashed onto her and flattened her head like a pancake. Pulling the Rainbow of Darkness off the corpse, she could look Fallen Star in the eye and say their world was safe again.
Spinning around, Celestia walked as fast as she could with her clunky footwear back towards Sunset Shimmer. Leaning down, she was heartbroken. The mare had suffered electrocution, burns, and her sides looked like they were beginning to bruise. Celestia nudged her and got a weak reaction. The girl had suffered enough pain for one day, and with sudden realization she looked up to the Crystal Palace. She had told Cadance to set off the AMP, and the clock was ticking. Picking Sunset into her hooves, Celestia sat back on her haunches and teleported the two of them out of the Crystal Empire.


** ** **


Flash Sentry bowed his head on the way back to the train station. It was almost over. He could remember the first time he lay eyes on this city; it had been called a picture of hope and peace, but for him the train was running late and he was seconds away from being AWOL at the palace. He saw glimpses of peace, but it seemed more obliviousness than anything. Nothing ever seemed to bother the Crystal Ponies, and it could get eerie. It reminded him of his few visits to Ponyville, especially Princess Twilight’s castle.
Crossing the final road to the station, he wondered what he would do now, what any of them would do. His home would be spared, or what was left of it. The mare he chatted with on his way to work wasn’t part of the surviving herd, the only family member he had didn’t want to know him, what-what was that?
He saw something out of the corner of his eye halfway across the street. Spinning around, he blinked, trying to get a better view. Where was it? It was…orange? Yellow? Crossing the Iron Dome barrier he trotted away from the herd, eyes crisscrossing the street. He saw it-
Snapping his head to left to an alley, Flash saw a basket with something thrashing around in it. Approaching carefully, he readied himself and pulled away a blanket sitting atop the basket. It was a foal, a very young, maybe not a year old, Crystal Pony foal. He, Flash thought he looked like a he, was pumpkin orange, teething, sported an unruly blue mane, and he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Flash looked around, trying to find someone, something to help him identify the baby, the only hint was the body of a stallion deeper into the alley. His orders were to aid survivors on the way to the train, so Flash Sentry bit on the baskets handle, letting his Tin Bubble wash over it and carried the baby back to the Iron Dome.
The fireman, already in Luna’s Dome, dashed to the engine and was working on firing it up. The rest of the survivors, Princess Cadance, and Luna’s entourage were taking their places on the few trains cars Flash left intact. Clambering onto the first car, he took a seat and sighed, letting his body sink into the plush fabric. The baby sat between his front legs, following him to sleep.
“Captain of the Guard! What do you have there?” Princess Luna’s voice snapped at him. His eyes shot open to see her standing in front of him.
“A child ma’am,” he stuttered trying to stand at attention, made more difficult by the car jumping forward on the tracks.
“Good work solider.” She took the seat next to him, her larger than average frame invading his seat, not that he had any complaints. “What the foals’ name?”
“I don’t know. I doubt his parents are here either.” Sitting up straight, he held the basket to his side and tried to fall asleep again. Maybe something good did come out of this day.

** ** **

Celestia lay still on her bed in Serpent and Eagle General Hospital. Her hooves were free of their recent concrete prison, and as much as she wanted to experience this freedom again, she had no energy. Her face, severely burned during her fight with Twilight would heal in time. She almost lost an eye, and had lesser burns over her muzzle and body, but nothing permanent. She would need to stay off her left wing for a few days, but she had no plans to leave the hospital any time soon. After the train arrived from the Crystal Empire she had given both Rainbows to Luna to personally deliver to Fallen Star right away, with her assurance that Cerberus’s slayer was dead. The rest of the survivors had no bodily harm done, but still were displaced and needed shelter for the time being. Willow and Flash Sentry could handle that and other issues that were bound to arise in the meantime. But what rested on her mind the most was Sunset Shimmer.
Even though they were the best ER in Equestria the staff was not used to royals, or ponies teleporting right inside the ER with a nearly dead mare in her hooves. After some foul words were exchanged the unicorn was rushed into surgery and Celestia was escorted to a bed of her own. She lay on her belly, head pressed into a pillow, praying that Sunset would walk out of this hospital one day. Thinking back, she should have known Twilight would set a trap of like that. She was looking for a fight, and knew where the only unicorn who could, and would stand up to her resided. She might have even watched her enter the Mirror.
Celestia felt hot tears running down her face. Where had she gone wrong? What happened to Twilight Sparkle? She used to be so innocent thinking, she could do this, it was insane. She had problems bug bombing a nest of spiders, but the death of thousands was an ends to a means now? What changed? Why did she do this? What was she really after?
A knock at the open door broke her from the treadmill of answerless questions. The Chief of Emergency Operations, Doctor Brine stood in the door frame, sweating and looking exhausted. “Princess, your Jane Doe is in rough shape but stable now. It took us hours, and is one for the record books, but she’s breathing on her own now, and her heart is beating a calm pace now.”
“Please Doctor, I would like to see her,” Celestia asked without thought.
“Princess,” he worked up the courage to reject her. “You are not her family. So until they show up-“
“I am her family, I’m all she has left. No-one else is coming for her.” She climbed off her bed.
Doctor Brine sighed. “Very well. If you are assuming responsibility for any…difficult decisions that may need to be made, she’s not out of the woods yet, follow me this way. Will you expect to be staying past visiting hours?” He asked leading her into the hallway and down to Sunset’s room.
“Yes. I know it is your hospital, but she needs to know I am nearby. She’s in a dark part of her life now. I will not be a burden to your staff, and will take responsibility for the bill as well. What can you tell me of her injuries?”
Stopping outside her door, Doctor Brine plucked the medical charts from a bin on the door and winced. “Her nerves are damaged, she will need therapy later, and we need more extensive tests looking for spinal damage. Her eardrums have burst, least of her problems. She had an irregular heartbeat for a while, and her respiratory system took a beating too. You mentioned electrocution, we could have figured that out easily, the entry point was right in her side. Bandaged her up tight there, and her hind right hoof, the exit wound. Deep burns across her front hooves, similar to yours,” he let out a heavy sigh. “Like I said, one for the record books. She’s not running marathons any time soon. Do you want to see her now?”
Nodding, she stepped into the private room and shut the door behind her. Sunset Shimmer lay on her belly, three IV’s flowing into her left foreleg along with a wrap hooking to a heart monitor, smothered by bandages like its right counterpart. Heavy bandages wrapped around her torso where Twilight’s energy bolt struck her. Her mouth partly open and eyes tightly shut, Celestia thought she looked like she was still in great pain.
Pulling a cushion next to the bed, the Princess tried taking a bandaged hoof into her own before remembering the burns she was covered in. Looking for a brush or comb, she had nothing to tidy her former students mane with. Celestia ran a hoof across Sunset’s neck before realizing she might have spinal damage too. Sighing in defeat, she settled for just talking. “I’m here Sunset. I know you may not hear me, or understand me now, but I won’t leave you.
“I said earlier that I could never abandon you, and I hope I proved it now. You mean so much to me, I don’t want to lose you again. Please, stay with me Sunset Shimmer, I’ve lost so many…Things will never be the same with Luna, even if I am a better sister now, we always have that dark cloud hanging above us, reminding us to be on our best behavior. Cadance lost her husband today. Twilight, I don’t even know what happened.
“I need to see you again. You’re not perfect, neither am I, and I would never expect us to be, but you are all I have left. Please, let me be…Give me a chance to mean as much to you as you do to me.”
Princess Celestia began to sing,

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.

I'll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same.
But if you leave me and love another,
You'll regret it all some day:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between.
But now you've left me and love another;
You have shattered all of my dreams:

In all my dreams dear, you seem to leave me.
When I awake my poor heart pains.
So when you come back, and make me happy,
I’ll forgive you, I’ll forget all the blame.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are grey.
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you,
Please don’t take my sunshine away.

Now you've returned, and I'm so happy.
More joyful than you could know.
I want to hold you, keep you close forever,
Please don't ever make me let you go.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are grey.
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you,
Please don’t take my sunshine away…

Dragging out the last syllable, she lay her head on Sunset’s bed and closed her eyes.


** ** **


Sunset Shimmer was lost, wandering in a fog thicker than pea soup. The floor, or ground, was ordinary stone pieced together tightly without mortar or concrete, her shoes clicked with every step. There wasn’t much to see, she had wandered aimlessly looking for a landmark of any kind, convinced she was going in circles. She didn’t even remember where she was before, trying to think back only brought pain and guilt without knowing why. So she walked.
After a while she snapped her head up, she was not tired at all. Walking for who knows how long and she did not feel a thing. With a closer look at her surroundings, she thought the ground looked familiar, it reminded her of a happier time, back when, when, when something was right.
Foot falls sounded off behind her. Spinning around, Sunset was face to face with a man. Just under two meters tall, soft smooth skin, sandy golden hair, blue eyes all came into focus, and she had no clue who he was. “Are you lost little pony? Do you need direction?” His soft, strong voice echoed between her ears as she took a tentative step back. “Little pony, where are you going,” he asked.
She turned her tail towards him and ran off in another direction. “I can help!” he called out to her repeatedly as he faded into the fog. Her eyes turned to the ground again, she would have run right into someone else if they had not yelped and leaped out of her way.
She crashed to the ground and looked behind her, to someone she did recognize this time. It was a deer, a buck she knew from her time at Celestia’s school, despite the name “Gifted Unicorns” everyone, pony or otherwise with enough academic aptitude was accepted. She could not remember his name, but she tutored him for several weeks in her second year, but he flunked out anyway. He gave her a heartfelt thank you and goodbye with the hope they would see each other again someday.
“Sunset Shimmer! I did not expect to see you here. What have you been up to?” His voice was as genuine and joyful as she remembered, his eyes glittered with innocence, she always thought he had a crush on her, which made seeing him that much worse. She clambered up and took off again.
“Sunset?” He tried again.
She ran. She ran like the devil was chasing her. She still could not see five steps ahead of her and ran straight into a pony’s tail this time, again tumbling over. Pulling herself free, she looked to her newest victim, a larger than life Princess Celestia beamed down on her. Twice and a half times her normal size, she looked more intimidating and more gentle than the day they first meet. “Sunset Shimmer! I knew you would find your way back to me, and I have waited patiently. Please, come with me, I can show you the way back home.” Celestia’s giant hoof raised in an inviting gesture, beckoning her to her side. Sunset sat frozen. “Is there a problem my student?” Sunset stood up to bolt again, but could not look away, she took a step backwards. “Where are you going? That’s not the way.”
Step by step she moved out of her view of Celestia until she was utterly lost again. The word Lost’s meaning finally stuck her. She had taken wrong turns in unfamiliar cities before, both in Equestria and the human world(she WAS there before, but something happened there. what was it?) but she was good at backtracking. It might take her all day but she could find her way home. Not now. She was some place very familiar, someplace she haunted, but was truly lost. She had no idea where she really was, or how to get back, she did know even know where back was. It wasn’t the human world was it? No, not quite, she was…somewhere else too.
Looking down again, she saw her hooves wear fully healed. What was more strange was the question why? Where they hurt in the first place? ...Yes, they were. And…Her belly fell away in guilt from an unknown source. She needed to stop thinking about things that make her heart ache.
Walking in another aimless direction, she heard the scratching of pen on paper. Looking around showed her nothing, but the more she walked the louder it got, almost as if it was right next to her. Snapping her head around gave her a jump, Principle and Vice Principle Celestia and Luna were sitting at their desks, signing papers. Luna looked up, 	“Hello Sunset Shimmer. How may we help you?”
“I-I don’t need help!”
“Clearly you do. You would not intrude on us  after school unless you needed something. We can make time for you but both of us are busy, so if this is a prank I’m going to ask you not waste our time.”
“I…can see myself out,” she whispered, trotting away.
She walked for hours this time, taking turns in random directions at random points. She did not run into anyone else for a while, until…
“Hey! New kid! Where ya headed?”
She recognized that voice too. Looking up, she was face to neck with Brain Tomite, a medical student who mercilessly picked on her in her first year at Celestia
s School. She never stood up to him, knowing he would leave her alone if she did not take the bait, and he would be gone next year anyway. He trotted up to her flashing a smile. “New kid, some of us are gonna head up to Rainbow Falls this long weekend. You should join us! Cinema says he’s got some Joke to pass around. It’s gonna be RAGE!”
“Leave me alone!” Sunset bellowed, galloping away from him. “Just let me find my own way!”
He tried calling after her too, Sunset drowned it out in her sobs. She just wanted to go home, but no-one would show her the- No-one she was comfortable around would show her the way. Why couldn’t-
“Sunset Shimmer? Will you come back with me to Equestria?”
Princess Celestia, in her human form, beautiful gown and high heels was standing in front of her, arms wide enough to hold the world. She was not a giant like the last Princess she saw, but she was still Celestia.
“No! I don’t wanna go with you!” Barreling past her, Sunset got her gown caught in her horn and tripped again. Freeing herself, she shot off like a bat out of hell through the fog, tears running a river down her face.
Turning around again, she remembered this floor she was running on! It was the Carnival Grounds at Emerald Shores, at the end of Route Fifty-Two. She and her parents went there every year for Thanksgiving; she saved her allowance for months to gorge herself on candy the morning they left for home again. She and her father would run out into the ocean to leap over the biggest waves they could find. She and her mother stayed up half the night baking desert for lunch on Thursday. All three of them would nap together and stay up late, talking about everything.
Her father showed her how to run through crowds if she was in a hurry. Mother taught her to never apply too much makeup, if you needed it at all; if a boy saw too much once, he would never forget it. She learned so much, she loved them both more than she could express. They were stunned when they learned she would be the Princesses’ personal student.
Then, one day late in her first year of schooling, Celestia sat her down and told her they had passed away. She missed the details trying to not cry. “Sunset?” All it took was one word to open the floodgates, she cried her heart and soul out onto Celestia’s coat that night. Her breast, under her wing, her back, she must have been drenched. Celestia held her close all night, and whispered words of encouragement.
“Sunset, I know you’re hurting now, and I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but I’m here with you.”
She curled up into a fetal position on the hard ground of Emerald Shores, her tears still trailing off her muzzle. She didn’t want to stay here, but she couldn’t find her way out.
“Sunset?”
Looking up, she saw Princess Celestia as a pony again, as beautiful, strong and caring as she had been that night. She had remembered her parents, but looked up to Celestia as an adoptive mother, and even without saying the words Mother, Adopt, Daughter, Family, that’s what she had been. Taken in a poor, broken, lost pony and guided her through life. And I threw it away. That’s where all that pain and guilt was from, both times she betrayed her mother. She didn’t deserve to know Celestia, but she had nowhere else to turn anymore.
Burying her face in her teachers hooves, her sobs calmed as she accepted whatever fate would befall her. She felt Celestia’s feathers raise her chin upwards to her ever smiling face. She was battered and wounded, but capable as ever. Standing herself up, Sunset trotted after her when she walked off in what seemed like any other direction. 	She heard a steady beeping, followed by the smell of antiseptic, and everything went blurry as she opened her eyes.


** ** **


Waking up with an eye full of pillow was not Sunset Shimmer’s usual morning. Seeing the shadows cast by the sun was, she supposed it was already be nine, a little early for her normal wake time. Picking her head up slowly, she looked to her right and saw Princess Celestia asleep, breathing onto her bandaged hoof. It hurt to grin, and she loved it. Nudging her awake, “Princess, wake up. Princess?” Her voice was weak and strained.
Celestia snorted shook her head around, flopping her ears against her chin and top of her head, her mane becoming unruly too. With a yawn she managed to say “Uuuuneeee- How did you sleep? How do you feel now? Any pain?”
Shifting around, she winced. “Actually, yeah. A lot. What happened to Twilight Sparkle?”
“She’s dead. You never have to worry about her again.”
“Oh. I guess we’re in a hospital, did you teleport us here?”
“Yes, Serpent and Eagle. You, were in bad shape. But it looks like you’re going to pull through. I’m glad. Like many disasters, this one has a good deal to clean up, mostly buring the dead. Families need to be informed loved ones won’t make it back home, and I believe sealing the Crystal Empire off for a several decades will keep vandals and curious explorers away.”
Sunset winced trying to move onto her side. “How…how bad was I? When you brought me here?”
Celestia took a deep breath, “You were electrocuted. Struck right in the side of your barrel with what the doctors called a lightning bolt. It was actually a charged magical blast from Twilight; it nearly killed you many different ways. You still might have spinal injuries, but they did some reflex tests just before you woke up, so you are not paralyzed. You also have grease burns on your front hooves. Grease, oil, same difference as far as I know.”
Sunset sat up straight while staying on her belly. “You…saved me. Why?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Why did you save me? I stood against you, just after you accepted me back, then Twilight could have killed me and you jumped in her way. I…Why did you do it?” She implored, straining her voice, needing an answer like a desert wanderer needed a drink from a well.
In the tone of a mother explaining why children needed to eat their vegetables, she spoke, “I told you before, I love you, simple as that. I could have let you die but I thought it would show you my love by saving you. Also, I selfishly, simply did not want you to die. You could return my love better if you were alive. Does that answer you?”
“But…even when I…I don’t get it. Why Princess?”
She sighed but retained her smile. “Do you think stabbing me in the back is going to change me? What you did was terrible, but I had no choice. I had to believe that you could change. You’re here now, clearly not my enemy, I had to take the chance that you could change into something like this. Maybe you would not have, but I have too much love invested in you to abandon you. I thought maybe you could return that love, and you are doing that right now, and I am so happy.”
Fidgeting with her hooves, she tried finding a flaw in her teachers’ argument. “But…what if you saved me and I still wanted to hurt you?”
“I would still think you would change one day.” She leaned in closer. “Sunset, I think you are going to try turning away again in the future, and I still think you will turn back to me again. And seeing you accept me is worth much more than all the pain you could ever cause me. Sunset,” Taking her head in her hooves and pulling her chest closer to her head, “I will NEVER abandon you, no matter what you do. It’s called love. Unconditional love to be exact”
Shame washed over Sunset again. “What about Twilight? Did you love her?”
Celestia looked away, “Yes, very much. Sunset, she showed no pity or remorse for her actions. Even with the Rainbow of Darkness disabled she was still powerful and would have kept fighting if I did not end things right then and there. She did not want to change, but you did. Do you see the difference; I wanted her to stop what she was doing, but you already did.”
They sat motionless where they were, content to hold each other. “I…think I understand Princess. You could never abandon me, so you never will abandon me. No matter what?”
Celestia pulled herself away and looked down at her student. “No. Matter. What. I will always love you. I hope you can trust me when I say that.”
Sunset lifted a bandaged hoof to dry an eye, “I’ve seen you in action, I do trust you. I love you too!” Throwing herself back at Celestia she nearly tumbled out of bed.  Something caught her eye, looking down Princess Celestia thought she saw a brief light fading from under Sunset’s bandages, or maybe it was the sun reflecting off the metallic clips tying her together.
Sunset Shimmer suddenly hissed. “Ow. I…think I just realized how tightly I’m wrapped up.” She giggled.
“My most faithful student, I must leave you now. I knew you would need to speak to me when you awoke, but others will need to see me. I’m leaving but won’t be gone forever. I will be back when they dismiss you.” She kissed Sunset on the head and teleported away, leaving Sunset feeling like a great load rolled off her back. She was loved.

** ** **

The jingling of keys in the lock echoed throughout the Canterlot apartment, light flooded in from the hallway for the first time in months. Flash Sentry snapped the single electric light on and quietly closed the door, setting the key on the counter top. Looking around, he sighed and tried to bury the memories of the last time he stood here. He tried to forget about it since he walked out. It was just him and his father, some argument about his late mother, he needed to get to work, never saw the old stallion again. 	Flash wasn’t even sure when he died, last year? More than that? He got some sort of notification that he inherited the apartment(paid in full) and a trust fund, but he never looked it over. His cousin Arnold effectively disowned from the family himself years ago, and they had nothing to say to each other in their last letters.
Setting his guest on the living room floor he turned the radio on with a flick of his wing.

Yes I’ve got heartache by the numbers,
Heartache by the score.
Each day you love me less,
And each day I love you more.

“Alright buddy. Here’s your book, and your keys, and your bell. I’m going to go find the crib mom kept hidden you just stay here and keep out of trouble. Okay?” The Crystal Pony foal ignored him as Flash pulled each toy from a shopping bag before he started ringing his bell, very loudly for how late it was, but they would both be asleep soon.
What Flash had called a crib was what most ponies would call a playpen, along with a couch pillow and a single thick blanket setup in the master bedroom next to where he was planning on sleeping after he got some more diner in their bellies.
After arriving on the train, Flash quickly confirmed no-one knew who the baby was, and he would probably have to be put into the local orphanage in Canterlot. It was not a prospect he looked forward to, but he could not care for the child for long, he didn’t know if he even had a job anymore, his workplace being "Purged" like that. He had brought the two of them to see the orphanage earlier that night; it was set in a slum. He could not be too surprised, many orphanages were set in poor neighborhoods, and like many this one was run by a strict, fair administrator and a band of nuns. Nuns teach you to be creative, an ex-girlfriend once told him, sometimes he wondered if it was intentional or they simply did not care.
Riffling through the kitchen cabinets, he noticed someone was kind enough to leave him just enough canned food until he could go grocery shopping. “Come on fella, are you still hungry? I got some carrots you are just going to love!” Pulling the opener from the drawer he always found it before his father died, Flash snapped open the nearly expired can and set the lid aside. The foal trotted over to him at the prospect of food and sat on his haunches. He tried not to think about this baby not having a name, Flash did not want to get attached, and it was not his place.
“Open up, the ships coming into port!”
He knew they would part ways tomorrow, but tonight he could pretend his life had taken a “more normal, happier” route. They both could.


** ** **


“Just wait, I know she’ll come.” Sunset Shimmer sat with her hinds hanging off the end of the bed while a nearsighted nurse stood nearby, tapping her hoof impatiently.
“I can’t really do much until the doctor gets here anyways. I thought you would be eager to have them removed.” She looked out the doorway into the hall, waiting for Sunset’s doctor and Princess Celestia. Sunset yawned, reflecting her new, relaxed attitude about her new situation.
“She said she would be here, don’t worry. If you have other patients that need you-“ She was interrupted by the doorway being filled with a white jacket.
“Okay! Sunset Shimmer,” Doctor Brine walked into her room and closed the door behind him. “We’re going to remove the bandages now and dismiss you. You have suffered no spinal damage, we have healed what larger injuries you have sustained and will need to partake in physical therapy for a few weeks to gauge the nerves in your legs. Let’s start with your hooves first, if I may.”
Brine stepped to her right removed the clips keeping her bandages taut and gently unraveled them, rolling them back up while the nurse worked on her left.
Brine droned on. “The fur will regrow over your scars, but they will remain sensitive for a few days. Don’t baby yourself, you still need to walk, and only the skin is hurt as best as we can guess. If you would sit up straight, I will remove your torso wrappings.”
The door rang with two knocks before opening again. Princess Celestia stepped over to Sunset Shimmer, grinning, trying to keep a joke in her mouth.
Brine stopped for her, but continued with a nod of her head. The clips came off and he gently raveled the bandages up, one by one. Pass by pass he loosened Sunset’s barrel, but Celestia’s facial expressions left him feeling like he was missing something. She moved nervously, and he noticed a deviation in her fur. Doing a double take, he registered exactly what it was, not her coat changing color, not a burn or some distortion caused by it, but the most unexpected thing of his career. Another look to Celestia showed her grinning more broadly and her nod to continue. With a deep breath he unraveled more gauze, not taking time to wrap it again, but just to see what lay hidden.
A confused Sunset felt a strange sensation around her body. “Wha-What’s that? Princess?” She followed Celestia’s gaze to her side and felt her voice catch in her throat. It didn’t make any sense at all.
The last wraps fell away from her body as all eyes stared at her barrel. Trying to repeat the new sensation, Sunset pushed her new muscles and slapped Doctor Brine in the face with her left wing. He staggered back in surprise and Sunset leapt into the air in shock, helped in no small part to her wings, she slammed into the ceiling tiles.
"I don't understand!" Doctor Brine exclaimed, his nurse stared as if Sunset has risen from the dead.
Celestia giggled softly. “You don’t need to, but I think it’s simple, Sunset Shimmer has become a Princess, a true Princess. I should have said something before but I did not want to interfere with her healing if I was wrong. As it stands, she was healed by the time I noticed anyway. That is why  you decided to have her dismissed early, right?”
He looked between Celestia, his nurse who was still staring and the very confused new alicorn on the floor. “Uhh, yes. I…I think you two need some privacy.” He grabbed his nurses hoof and bolted out the door.
Princess Sunset Shimmer was speechless. There were no words in her vocabulary to express her shock, wonder, excitement and fear. Instead she just sat where she was looking up to Celestia, who used her own wing to motion her to stand.
“Sunset, you have done something I have known could happen, but never did. You have achieved immortality, you have become a true alicorn! I hoped every student of mine would do such a thing, but you succeed! I am so proud of you!” She threw herself at Sunset, wrapping her front legs around her tight, ruffling her new wings.
“But-Princess Celestia, I don’t understand! You…what do you mean by true alicorn? Cadance is an alicorn. Twilight became an alicorn, what about them?” Sunset stammered.
“Yes, Twilight gained wings, and Cadence gained a horn. But both times I needed to cast a spell to unlock it for them. You see, they knew their magics very well, they had filled certain requirements, but just could not take the final step alone. They were not the first ones either, I can name many ponies who have become Princes and Princesses through my help. But that’s it, I helped them, and that was their downfall.
“If you have ever seen a moth breaking from its cocoon, you know it’s a long, hard process. And you might be inclined to help it along, maybe take a knife and open the shell for the moth. But that does more harm than good, the moth needs time for its wings to dry. It needs to build strength in its legs, it needs to do the whole process on its own. I have seen ponies reach that point and let them be, and they never achieved immortality. Weather I helped, or didn’t, none of them did it by themselves.
“Giving these ponies horns, or wings, or both in many, many cases robbed them of the true magic they could have had. But not you. You did this without me, almost without me knowing, and you have the same mysterious magic as a pony born an alicorn. Luna and myself were the only two in this world, and you have joined us.
“I said many did this with my help, and they all died. Becoming an alicorn does not add one moment to your life. Few ponies understand this, and some even deny it, saying their new Prince is not dead, but left us for a new nation. One of my students was called a traitor because someone spread that exact rumor about him, while his body decayed on display for all Equestria to see. But what you have done is different. You are a moth that escaped her cocoon by herself. And now you are immortal.”
Sunset Shimmer continued to stare in fascination. She didn’t know what to say. So many thoughts raced in her head, until she picked one to speak. “Will I live forever?”
The elder Princess cocked her head. “Not quite,” she answered uncomfortably. “You are immortal, not invincible. You can die, but it would take a lot to kill you. You may not want to hear this, but if you do die, it will not be peacefully in bed. Luna and I have both been close to death, and it not pleasant. We can die, but do not have to. Being Princess means you may have to put your life in situations that test your immortality, it comes with the territory.”
“Oh. Does, this mean you and I can, are you going to let me be your student until the end?” She looked up expectedly.
“Yes Sunset Shimmer. I may not be your teacher like in the past, but we can be together forever.”
Both Princesses embraced.