The gleaming gold sun atop Celestia's grave towered over the three remaining alicorns. The two flanked the grieving sister as she mourned.
"Celestia knew alicorns weren't immortal," Luna admitted amidst the silence. "Merely very long-lived."
A gentle breeze blew across the graveyard.
"And she knew that my time on the moon meant that she would outlive me by a thousand years." She hesitated. "A thousand years she spent alone."
The eldest of the alicorns smiled to the others. "I shall forever be sad to have lost my sister, but I am just as eternally thankful that she ensured I would not spend my remaining millennium without companions."
Luna embraced the other two - her sister's final gift.
Sunset couldn't help but bow her head instinctively. "Thank you, Princess Celestia. But I'm not sure I understand your gift. It's a... pillow?"
The alicorn nodded with a knowing smile. "A pillow, my student. But with a very special inside. Philomena recently molted, leaving behind the feathers I used to fill the pillow."
Pressing her hand to it, Sunset's eyes went wide. Then she brought the pillow to her cheek. "It's... warm." A smile played over her lips. "Like it's been out in the summer sun."
Celestia leaned in to rest her head against her wayward student's. "The down of a phoenix to remind you of your teacher's sun. And a reminder that the homeland that sun shines upon will always welcome you back."
Dear Princess Twilight; Do you have some free time? I'd like to
Sunset crumpled up the sheet and threw it into the trash. That was terrible! Time to try again.
Hey Twilight! You wanna get together sometime and
She threw that one away, as well. Far too informal, and she'd almost certainly bring another friend, too.
Dear Twilight Sparkle; It's been a while since we got to sit down
Sunset tossed the crumpled paper, and it bounced off the now very full wastebasket.
Her eyes went over to the magical journal. If she wrote in there, the words would be transmitted - permanent. What was written couldn't be unwritten. Before they could go in there, they had to be perfect.
She turned back to the scratch paper and started again.
Pinkie Pie wobbled unsteadily in Twilight's hooves. "Waiter," she slurred, "There's some chaos in my soup..."
A loud clang drew everypony's attention away as Discord pulled his own magic from Grogar's Bell. Taking a moment to flex, he snapped a carnivorous pineapple into existence and beamed happily.
A moment later, Discord popped into existence with the Bell and rang it again to return the magic of the alicorns to Celestia and Luna.
This was a grave mistake.
While well-intentioned, Discord was and always had been a creature of chaos. And as he rang the Bell, chaos reared its head in the form of a tiny gust of wind that pushed to the left. Past Celestia and Luna... and to Starlight Glimmer.
With double alicorn power the three-horned, quad-winged Starlight cackled maniacally as she rose into the air above the tired creatures of Equestria.
Trixie skidded to a halt amidst the Tree's roots. The pit of her stomach dropped away and she knew in her heart that Starlight had lost.
Sunburst noticed her stop and grabbed the magician's leg. "Come on! We have to go!"
She looked back up the tunnel, back towards the library and lost love. "..No."
He tugged again. "There's no time!"
A sad smile crossed Trixie's lips. "Sunburst? I'm an egotist, a fraud and a coward. I wasn't even a good villain. But my..." She hesitated as her voice cracked. "Best friend just gave up everything to make sure those kids got away safe. I'm going to make sure it was worth it." Her violet eyes turned back towards Starlight's last stand. "Let me do the right thing for once in my life."
Sunburst hesitated. Nodded. Ran.
And Trixie watched up the tunnel, waiting for Chrysalis.
"Another Pie." Applejack chuckled. ""Didn't think you an' Cheese would be that quick but you've always been one for surprises, sugarcube."
Pinkie laughed quietly - she was exhausted. "I think I'll stick to baking buns from now on."
Craning her neck over the others, Twilight peered down at the tiny bundle of yellow and pink the party pony was holding. "Did you decide on a name yet?"
Slowly, Pinkie nodded. "Quesadilla Basalt Pie."
Twilight's eye twitched. "Q--Quesadilla?"
Pinkie locked gazes with the Princess in a way that wordlessly made clear she knew exactly what she was doing. "Yes. Quesadilla." She shifted a little and held out the swaddled bundle. "You should hold him, Twilight."
The alicorn hesitated.
"Hold Quesadilla," Pinkie said more firmly.
Twilight swallowed roughly, then took the foal in her magic. The little one floated to her sweaty hooves and she put on her best nervous smile. "So... Cheesy."
The last silk scarf in the string was wrapped around the stem of a rose. Jack Pot winked, finishing his slight-of-hoof by passing the flower over. "For the most beautiful filly in Equestira."
Trixie clapped her hooves with joy.
With the final good-night magic trick done, Jack Pot pulled the blanket up and finished tucking Trixie into bed. "Now remember, Daddy is going off on tour. He's not going to see his best assistant for a while, so what do you say?"
"Break a leg!" Trixie beamed, her smile missing a tooth.
"Atta girl," he said with a smile right back. Leaning close, Jack Pot kissed his daughter's forehead before shutting off the light and heading out of the room.
At the door, he paused and looked back. "I love you, Trixie."
"Love you too daddy."
Then he closed the door and Trixie never saw him again.
"One-a These Days! Bang! Zoom! To the Lulamoon, Alice!"
Again, Starlight hesitated. "This is a really bad idea, Trixie."
The magician looked down from the cannon's barrel. "Star~light, this is my destiny! To be the first non-alicorn on the moon! Now light the fuse!" Lightly pouting, she bit her lip. "Please?"
Starlight sighed heavily, and lit the fuse with the tip of her horn.
"You're the best, Starlight." And that's all Trixie said before she slid back down into her cannon.
Fifteen seconds later, it boomed and the unicorn rocketed into the starry night sky.
Equestria flew past in a blur as Trixie soared, moving at speeds she couldn't comprehend. But she didn't need to - all she needed was to keep her eyes on the pale disc of the moon.
Trixie smiled. This was her birthright - her destiny. Tonight? She owned the sky and the stars.
"I'm offering you anything you could ever want," reiterated the confused demon.
The pegasus shook her head. "I've got everything I want. A steady job, good friends and a loving family."
"You could have jewels! A harem! Unlimited power!" The demon gritted its teeth. "Do you dream so little, mortal?"
Ditzy tilted her head to the side. "If you think having love is small, I pity you."
Inside the binding circle, the demon thrashed. "I will not see my powers used for such.. such frivolity!" With the sound of a thousand damned voices howling, it shrank back into the amulet amidst a choking cloud of brimstone.
Twilight Sparkle came out from behind the bookcase she'd sheltered behind. "Well, that's not how I expected the exorcism to go."
Silence hung over the balcony just as it hung over the Canterlot castle gardens.
Celestia lifted the pot and filled Tempest's teacup. "So," she ventured with painful neutrality, "Twilight's chosen to forgive you."
The complete lack of tone made Tempest wince. "Yes m'am."
Taking a slow sip, Celestia let the tension hang between them. She waited for Tempest to start uneasily fidgeting before she pushed her further off-balance with a question. "Do you know why she did?"
The slight lilt in Celestia's voice should have been a tip-off, but Tempest was too busy cringing at the pressure. "I... she said because everypony deserves a second chance. And because she thinks I'm worth it. That all of us are."
Silence loomed again before Celestia responded. "That," she noted with a soft smile, "is the right answer, my little pony."
"It was certainly unexpected." Fluttershy hadn't seen Rainbow's choice of pet coming, that was for sure. "I'm sorry that it didn't work out."
The falcon shrugged helplessly - it was a competition fairly lost, after all.
Nodding, Fluttershy understood. "You did your best. Oh, don't worry though! I'm sure we'll find somepony who will adopt you!"
For a moment, the falcon hesitated. Then it reluctantly nodded, letting out a quiet chrup.
"It's discouraging, I know. Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?"
Again, there was a pause. The falcon's reply was both hesitant and hopeful.
Fluttershy giggled. "Why, whatever would make you think I brought you something to cheer you up?" She still pulled the package out from behind her back. "This was going to be a celebratory meal for you, but I guess it works just as well as a pick-me-up too."
Twilight called the ship by some ridiculous technical designation, but Rainbow named it Two Wings And A Prayer.
The first part was relevant as the craft soared higher than any pegasus could - splitting the difference between sky and space. Skimming along the verge of orbit, it carried Rainbow Dash higher than anypony had ever gone before. The final step before following Luna's hoofsteps to the moon. Into a place where the chill of space dug into your bones and where - importantly - the air was too thin to breathe without the ship's oxygen reserves.
The second part was relevant because Dash was praying through her panic for her port window to hold as the emergency sealant hardened over the hairline crack in the glass.
Six ex-students sat around their table at Sugarcube Corner.
Four years. Six diplomas. One graduation.
Two destinations.
Five were staying in Ponyville. One had a letter of acceptance to the Royal Officer's Academy.
None of them had spoken for half an hour. Every time one of them opened their mouth, the words faded away before being uttered. They had been inseparable for years - saved the world together.
Now they would be separated again.
Gallus opened his beak again to try and say something - but SIlverstream cut him off. Not to speak, but to raise her voice in a Seaquestrian hymn.
"Will the circle be unbroken By and by, by and by? Is a better home awaiting In the sky, in the sky?"
Her voice died away again to uneasy, morose silence.
"Depends," Gallus finally asked with a wry smile. "Will all of you be there waiting for me?"
The rainbow came crashing down on Nightmare Moon. Another banishment - another painful wait.
But it was different this time. Luna, the ungrateful cur fought back. As much as Nightmare hated to admit it, she couldn't fight both Luna and the Elements at once.
Rainbow power eroded her grip, tore her stranglehold... and threw her away, leaving Luna behind. But in that moment where the Elements remained focused on the Mare of the Moon, the Nightmare grabbed outwards. It needed a host body to anchor to the world - any would do. And any was found.
As the hateful sun rose, the Nightmare unsteadily stood. "I shall... I shall have my revenge," she vowed. "I shall regain my strength, strike down Celestia and..." She looked at her hoof - no, her white paw. Then at the rest of herself. And that was when the panic set in. "Why am I a rabbit?!"
"Okay," Twilight said as she tried to rub away the migraine building in her temples, "Let's start over. You're Rainbow Dash."
"Duh," replied Rainbow.
An annoyed glare - then Twilight continued. "And you're human now."
Rainbow wiggled her fingers at Twilight to confirm it.
"Because you went really fast."
Rainbow's nod confirmed it. "Basically."
Twilight's migraine was getting worse. "That's incredibly stupid."
"Nah, makes perfect sense." Dash dismissed Twilight's disbelief with infuriating ease. "You told me yourself how Einswine's theories say that the faster you go, the more time dilates. I just accelerated enough to skip a few million years of evolution ahead."
Twilight's eye twitched. "And you're saying that humans evolved from ponies."
The human shrugged. "Seems like I'm proof."
That shrug sent Twilight off on another ranting bender.
Outside the window, the pegasus Rainbow winked at her teenage human double before ducking away to giggle more.
A blindfold, two pairs of hoofcuffs and enough rope to satisfy Applejack fell away, leaving Trixie entirely free.
Starlight had to bite her lip to keep from screaming in frustration.
For her part, Trixie at least looked apologetic. "Trixie is trying," she insisted. "She simply is so capable an escape artist that she cannot help but get out. It's a reflex!"
Rubbing her forehead, Starlight took a deep breath and counted to ten. "Alright. We'll try one more time but that's it." As she picked up the ropes to try again, she muttered to herself. "Spice things up my flank. That's the last time I take bedroom advice from Sunset."
"The body is a temple - and you have defiled yours!" Bulk Biceps switched to a side chest pose, his massive muscles flexing like cabled steel.
Across the green, Tirek twisted around into a rear lat spread. Oil and sweat gleamed in the sun. "Weak excuses for a weak form! A true bodybuilder would never let such trivial concerns stand in their way!"
Bulk shifted, gathering all his muscular mass forward into a looming front double biceps. "That body isn't your own! It's stolen and artificially enhanced - there's nothing in it to be proud of!" His namesake biceps bulged. "YEAH!"
Twilight gagged - hard. "Dear Celestia, I can smell the testosterone. How long have they been at it?"
"Three and a half hours." Applejack paused to loudly sip her drink. "Heavy casualties. Six mares an' two stallions fainted. One nosebleed. An' Big Mac snapped his back tryin' to copy them."
"100% pure concentrated evil," Starlight repeated.
Twilight stared at the bottle with concern.
"I extracted it from Trixie," came the explanation.
Twilight made an uneasy but non-committal grumble.
"It's for science!"
The grumble became a sigh of resignation. "I guess. What kind of science?"
Starlight's smile got a lot less confident. "Still working on that! Which is why I need you to store this safely for a few days."
Twilight's lips pursed tightly, but she took the bottle anyway. "I'd say you should have figured that out first, but what's done is done. I'll keep it safe for you."
"Great!" Starlight beamed... for two seconds. "On a side note," she added, "Do you know a cheap foalsitter?"
Twilight's eyebrow spiked upwards with unspoken questions.
An embarrassed Starlight held up a giggling blue unicorn filly as explanation.
"Four foals and one adult for Timmy Topple's Fantastic Adventure, please." Twilight glanced behind herself. Three Crusaders and one dragon. Good.
The bland teen behind the window lazily dispensed the tickets.
Twilight floated them out to her charges. "One, two, three, fou--" Her brow wrinkled with confusion. "Four. Excuse me, there's only four tickets here. You forgot mine."
He shook his head. "Sorry, I can't let you in."
"But I'm their chaperone," insisted the purple princess. "I have to go in with them."
Again, the teen shook his head before tapping the sign. Beside the movie's bright logo was the rating: 18-. And seeing her still confused expression, the colt noted, "Eighteen minus. Young audiences only. You'll have to wait over there."
Twilight turned, spotting Princess Celestia reading a magazine on a bench. Before she could question it, Celestia looked up and stated simply: "Luna had a fake ID."
Octavia and Vinyl shared the breakfast table with the scent of coffee and the haunting memory of whiskey that made their heads ache. Both stared in silence at the CD between them, ominously labelled with the word 'KARAOKE' and the previous day's date.
Reluctantly, Octavia braced herself, put the CD into the player and started it.
YO I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I WANT WHAT I REALLY REALLY WANT
She cringed at her own voice. The Vinyl's broke in.
SO TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT WHAT YOU REALLY REALLY WANT
She slammed the NEXT button before it got worse.
What followed was no better. It was all there. Solos and duets, pop ballads and tween hits. Both of them. For two hours.
Octavia hit stop and they sat in silence for several more minutes.
Sludge returned to the Dragonlands quietly but with hope. Sure his attempt to hustle the whelp Spike hadn't worked out, but for a couple of days? He had lived the high life. The con worked. He just needed another opening.
But that was a problem for tomorrow Sludge. Now, he had to get some sleep with his fluffy new pillow from the castle.
And so Sludge faded off to sleep.
He awoke in the middle of the night to a strange sound: the quiet creaking of wood.
Turning over and turning on a light, he found the source: a rocking chair by his bedside with a pony in it. A pony with a baseball bat across her lap.
Twilight Velvet stopped rocking. She lifted the bat in her magic. She looked at Sludge - alone with her in the cave. And she said four icy words.
Every foal on the playground gawked at Scootaloo. They had all heard what she'd just said, but not a one could believe it.
Diamond Tiara, in fact, could only gibber nonsensically in response.
Applebloom, too, could only stand there stunned at the devastating lack of tact.
Of all the foals, only Silver Spoon managed a response. "Wh--what did you say?"
The evil grin grew wider on Scootaloo's face, not quite realizing how stunningly Too Far she had gone. "I said: Diamond Tiara's just jealous that Applebloom's parents are dead and they're still better than hers."
The cross-eyed gray girl was the perfect mark. Sure, she was more accurate than Flim and Flam had expected, but she still couldn't consistently hit the milk bottles nor could she muster enough force to knock them down. They'd only needed to activate the magnets to cheat once.
"Sorry little lady, better luck next time!"
She pouted.
They grinned.
She turned and waved her hand in the air. "Babe! Could you win me the plush muffin? Please?"
Flim and Flam looked up and knew they were about to give away a prize. 'Babe' was a white and gold man head taller than either of the brothers and massed as much as them combined. Confidently, he strolled over to the carnival booth, took the baseball in hand, and gave it a test squeeze. Then, with a grin, he looked at the milk bottles and replied to his girlfriend.
