Stars Relit

by Rocinante

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Luna
Length: 30680

150 years after the passing of her best friends, Twilight refuses to let go of her last promise to them all, "I will find you again."

150 years after the passing of her best friends, Twilight refuses to let go of her last promise to them all, "I will find you again."

Editing provided by Ersmiller

Published 2013-06-02 04:00:05 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-27 14:57:18 UTC

Alone in a Crowd

The column of Ouroboro, the dragons believe the rock formation is the center of the world, the place where their god first bit his tail. Whether or not that was true, she could find out later. What mattered now was the unique flow of magic around its flat peak.

Above her the stars murmured their endless chant of gibberish in the blackness of the new-moon night. She could always hear the droning of her stars, but on this site it was almost deafening. Rumor of this place had brought her to Dracona a hundred and twenty years ago. During that time, she had studied its secrets and learned the ways of dragon magic. All the theory, all her research had finally come down to this.

“Spike, are the stones in place?” Twilight’s voice was a low rolling growl. Draconic was an unfitting sound for the pony throat, but she had mastered the language decades ago.

“Yes,” Spike replied, the grumbling sounds of the dragon tongue sounding more natural and friendly coming from his mouth. “They are in place,” he added as he removed himself from the ritual circle.

Stepping into the focal point of the circle, Twilight checked its composition once more before looking up to the other dragon on the mountain with them.

“Lord Uktena, if I may have your blessing,” Twilight said, spreading her wings and taking a solid stance before lighting her horn.

“Of course, my Goddess,” he said with the slightest nod. The wyrm’s crystal horn burst into a spray of colors. The lines and stones surrounding Twilight absorbed the wyrm’s magic with a greedy appetite.

Closing her eyes, she stretched out her magic, mixing it with the ritual that surrounded her. Seconds later, her spell and the ritual's magic blended together in perfect harmony. Reaching out to the stars, Twilight took hold of them as only she could.

Twilight’s body fell away from her senses as she became only thought; her mind flung into the night sky. The roar of the stars became louder every second until it threatened to break her concentration. Focusing on the magic still surrounding her body far below, she pulled it forth and forced its energy onto her heavens.

The white noise shattered. No longer one murmur, thousands of voices separated into their own sound, she could pick out individual words for the first time. But, still too many at once to make sense of any conversation. “I need help finding my friends,” she asked her stars.

///

Spike watched Twilight go rigid as her eyes glossed over in a phosphor glow. Once terrifying, her trance state had become routine.

“She dabbles in the forbidden,” Lord Uktena grumbled.

“I know,” Spike replied, “but it is a death oath.”

Lord Uktena shifted his coils, bringing his head closer to Spike’s level. “And that is why I humor her.”

A grunt from Twilight brought both dragons' attention back to her. Foam fell from her clenched mouth as her wings and legs began to quiver.

“She’s in trouble!” Spike shouted.

Homecoming

“The stars don’t twinkle anymore,” Celestia mused, leaning over the balcony.

“No sister, they haven’t in awhile." Luna stared at her moon, absently studying its all to familiar surface. "The stars have not been mine for more than two centuries, but I still feel them; they are not the same.”

“Twilight wrote me the other day,” Celestia said as her horn lit with pale light.

Luna turned her head to watch a scroll levitate out of the bedroom behind them. “Really? What are those two up to?” she asked just at the scroll reached Celestia’s hooves.

“They’re coming home.” Celestia smiled, unrolling the paper. “She said they should be back for the Summer Sun.”

Fine lines and bent edges marked where the parchment had been read and reread. “They are still in Dracona, correct?” Luna asked.

Celestia nodded absently as she read the letter. “Mmhm, Spike and her didn’t find what they were looking for. She says her research is faltering... She needs to come back and start fresh.”

“So, she plans on staying?”

Rolling the scroll up again, Celestia’s magic carried it back into the room. “I think so.”

“I fear for her, sister.”

“Me too, Luna. Me too.”

Reaching out with her divine magic, Luna felt the stars; they were dim tonight. “Where are you, Twilight,” she asked them. Once, they would have spoken back, but no more. They were no longer hers, they belonged to Twilight.

Reports of Twilight and Spike flying towards the castle had come in that afternoon. Celestia sat vigil for the two until the moon hit its zenith. Only then going to bed reluctantly. “Wake me when she’s in the castle,” she had said.

Even at a lazy pace, the two should almost be here; the scouts had reported them well within the border. Turning about, Luna scanned the horizon again, a faint green light flashed in the distance. It was Spike, a dragon’s fire as is unique as a signature, and few dragons could even try to mimic those green rolling flames.

///

“That’s good. She saw us,” Twilight said.

Spike cut off the green plume with a nod. “It’s good to be home,” his baritone voice rumbled. He was speaking Equestrian again. It had been a long time since Twilight had heard or spoken anything but Draconic. She liked the dragons' language better anyway, it was precise and efficient.

“I hope so,” Twilight grumbled in Draconic, not yet willing to let pony words on her tongue. Hope was what had dragged her to Dracona, but that hope had been shattered. Now she was limping home to start the process again. She knew the secrets of the stars, yet she couldn’t answer the biggest question of them all.

Her old tower at the castle sprang to life as she approached, banners and torches making a carnival of the place. The balcony to her old room lit up, revealing Luna at its edge. "I'll fly ahead," Twilight said leaping from Spike. "Take your time," she said before flying ahead. "Hopefully they didn't wake the honor guard for our arrival."

A few moments of streaking speed brought Twilight to her old balcony. Thankfully Luna was the only pony there.

“Welcome home,” Luna greeted her. “Celestia will join us in a few moments, I’m sure.”

Before Twilight could respond, Spike landed behind her, wasting no time in sliding off the massive saddlebags from his back. He had grown since she last saw him; larger than a manticore now, and starting to get the serpentine neck of the older dragons.

Twilight growled something Luna did not catch. She knew the words were Draconic, but was too out of practice to catch their meaning.

“Sure thing, Twilight,” Spike answered in familiar language. His voice was now a deep rumble, but it still held the same bright cheer that it had so long ago. “Hi, Princess,” he greeted her with a smile as he took the luggage into the bedroom. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m going to catch a nap now...”

Twilight paused for a moment, thinking over her words, eventually asking, “Are the elements still in my room?” The first pony words she had spoken in decades.

“Yes,” Luna answered. “As far as I know, you were the last to touch them. Are you hungry?”

“Food would be wonderful, thank you, Luna.”

Celestia trotted through the halls until she reached the dining hall. Luna’s voice murmured within. When a familiar laugh punctuated the mumbling, Celestia’s smile spread ear to ear. It had been too long since she had heard Twilight’s laugh. It was a good sign. In the years before Twilight left she had heard it less and less.

The predawn hour found the dining hall empty, save for the alicorns and a few ponies from Luna’s watch. Celestia resisted the urge to run up and rub necks. Though they had reconciled through letters, the two had not parted on the best terms. “Twilight,” she greeted, entering the room, “It’s good to see you again.”

Twilight stood as she approached, holding out a hoof and stretching her neck. Celestia stepped forward faster than she had intended and embraced her; she was home again.

The two held for a moment before Twilight pulled back. “Join our breakfast?” Twilight said, gesturing to the table.

“Of course,” Celestia said sitting down next to her. “You look well, Twilight. So tell me, what is this research that has finally brought you home?”

Twilight picked at her mint jelly and toast for a moment. Taking a bite and chewing slowly before answering, “I’m trying to find them in the stars.”

Luna and Celestia both sank in their place at the answer, an awkward silence filling the air.

“You know,” Celestia said. “Even we do not know what happens after a-”

“I do,” Twilight interrupted her.

Luna laid her fork down. “Twilight, I held the stars for-”

“You merely held them. You were never truly bound to them.”

“I...” Celestia paused at a loss for words.

“We do not wish to see you hurt again. That is all.” Luna finished her sister’s thought.

Twilight nodded with a smile, picking her toast back up. “I understand, and I appreciate your concern. But, this is just something I have to do. No matter how much it hurts...”

Twilight returned to her room in the late hours of the morning. It had been good to catch up with her old mentors. Making her way up to her bed, she froze at a large glass case. Five stone balls sat on velvet seats. She could still remember the gem-set gold collars they had once been, let alone the necks that had borne them. Her friends, her fellow elements, bound to the magic until the day they died, and upon their death the gold had vanished and the stone returned.

“I know you’re out there, girls.”

The light

Twilight awoke at dusk. Her habits were not as nocturnal as Luna’s, but the difference was not that significant. Then again, even before the whole alicorn thing, she had never been a morning pony. Sliding out of bed, she saw that Spike had already woken up and left. “I bet he went to visit Ponyville.”

Cradling a cup of coffee, Twilight again found herself staring at the elements. She knew what no other could know. The ultimate question, “Where do we go when we die?” The answer was the stars. Her stars were an ocean of pony souls. She could hear their voices, feel their mood. But they were an untamed mass. She could no more pick out a single voice in the heavens than she could pour a cup of water into the ocean and hope to scoop the same water back out.

Opening the glass case, Twilight leaned over the stones. “I thought I could find you ... I hoped you’d find me,” she sighed, caressing the elements with a hoof. "This isn't getting me anywhere," she chided herself, closing the case again. "Now, what I need to be doing-"

Twilight's words faltered as a force washed over her. She yelped, reeling from the pure white light that poured in from every window.

Forcing her eyes to adjust, Twilight rushed to her balcony. A column of white fire streamed up from her courtyard, casting everything into a white shadow. Magic rippled from the fire with an intensity that numbed her senses.

Fearing the worst Twilight leaped from her balcony and flew to the base of the anomaly. Thoughts of an other escape from Tartarus or perhaps come rogue elder power churned her guy, but what she found was no monster or corrupt god. Rather, two filly unicorns locked in a trance, their magic intertwined and resonating. It was an amusingly familiar scene: wild magic transmuting ponies and landscape into whatever forms it found convenient. Discord would find it all knee-slappingly funny; she was sure.

The same spell that had brought her out of her magic trance three hundred years ago would also bring these two out of theirs. Shaping the spell she let it wash over them. Their magic rippled and popped before winking out, dropping the entranced fillies back to the ground. The two canary-yellow unicorns were identical, save one had a mane and tail of magenta and the other royal blue.

Oblivious to both Twilight and the havoc they had caused, they each leveled a hoof at the other and shouted, “I told you!” with one voice, giving each other a glare that could have rivaled Fluttershy. Lost in their own conflict, the bickering escalated until it descended into wrestling, each determined to get the other to admit to some wrong.

Twilight had thought to stand there until they noticed her, but at the rate they were going, it would be midnight first. Finally, she lit her horn and pulled the two apart, inciting a yelp from them as she did.

“And may I ask what you two were trying to do?” Twilight said.

Finally noticing the alicorn’s presence, the two gasped with wide-eyed glee, throwing themselves into a bow the moment she placed them back on the ground. “We were trying to cast Starswirl’s evocation of light for you.”

“For me? That’s a really big spell for your age.” And they had more than pulled it off. The spell had runaway on them, but they had done more than many unicorns ever would.

“Mmmhmm,” the blue one answered. “But she couldn’t hold the spell pattern.”

“Me! You weren’t pushing enough power through the-”

“Girls!” Twilight interrupted, causing the two to slump in defeat. She chuckled to herself; these two could be just what she needed. A few months playing tutor to these two would let her mind reset, allow her to return to her work from a new angle. Her old theories had to be thrown out, anyway.

“I think you need a different teacher. Report to the royal library tomorrow evening at seven. You will be studying with me for a while.” She thought the two were about to faint.

‘Yes, six months. A working vacation. This will be good for me.’

Commanding her magic, she summoned her small saddle bag from her room and pulled out her writing supplies. “What are your names?”

“Morning Belle,” said the one with blue mane.

“Evening Belle,” said the other.

“Sisters?” Twilight asked, jotted the names down, making mental note to see if they were related to Rarity.

“Twins,” they replied with a toothy grin.

“And your cutie mark?” she asked, looking to their flanks.

“We don’t have one yet...” they groaned in chorus.

“Have you checked in the past five minutes, because I can see that you do.”

Snapping their heads to first their own flanks then the other's, the sisters squealed, grasping each other, jumping and spinning with glee. Twilight smiled and shook her head. Not interrupting the celebration she made a quick note of their mark since she could see them now. They had a matched pair of lavender and white magic streaks, surrounded by five small stars. Morning having lavender on top, and Evening having white on top.

Rolling up the scroll, Twilight affixed her seal to it and levitated it over to them. “Here, this will get you admitted to my study, don’t lose it,” she said as Morning took the scroll into her own magic. “Now tell your parents I said you are to stay up all night reading, and sleep in until at least noon.”

“Oh, mom’s going to hate that,” Morning said with a coy smile.

“Awesome,” Evening added.

The two turned to bolt back home, but stopped themselves to bow one more time. “Thank you!” they said before vanishing in a burst of youthful energy.

Twilight browsed the old library stacks. “I’m not sure where I should start.”

“You loved this one,” Spike said, pulling out a book whose spine was so broken most of the pages were threatening to fall out.

“Oh my.” Twilight cradled the book in her magic. Softly turning the pages, she looked them over like they were a family album. “I remember this,” she laughed, “I had this book checked out for three years straight.” Her magic crackled around the book, pages tucked back in and cracks vanished; moments later the hard-loved book looked new again. “There you go, old friend.”

Two voices murmured from a few racks away. “They said she was in the east wing,” one of them whispered.

“I’m over here,” Twilight called in a mild voice.

The twins appeared moments later. First smiling at having found the princess, then skittering backwards at having found a dragon.

“It’s ok, girls, this is Spike,” Twilight called. Though the two were too concerned with finding cover to be consoled so easily.

Rolling his eyes with a light chuckle, Spike grumbled under his breath. The words taking physical shape as they rumbled out his throat. Threads of magic intertwined around his body till an emerald fog encased him. A moment later his voice went silent and the fog lifted, revealing a purple stallion with a green mane. “Better?” he asked the two fillies half hidden under a desk.

Curiosity over ran fear in the fillies, clambering out from their shelter they approached the Princess and the green pony. “How’d you do that?” Evening asked.

“Dragons have magic, too,” Spike answered with his chest held out.

“But, that’s a lesson for another day. Today we’re starting with elementary magic theory,” Twilight said, holding out the book. Looking at the two, she considered the book for a moment before zapping the book again. This time resulting in three books where one had been earlier, the original getting placed back on the shelf, the copies hoofed over to the young apprentices.

“Take this and read the first chapter, then we will go outside and do some drills,” Twilight said. With toothy grins the two each took their new book into their magic and scurried to the nearest reading desk.

“So what drills do you want to start with?” Spike asked once the twins had settled in to read.

“I think we’ll start with the sun and moon drill. They need to work on their control.”

“Ouch,” Spike winced.

“Excuse me, Princess,” Spike said catching up to Celestia in the hall.

“Yes, can I help- Oh, sorry Spike, almost didn’t recognize you. How was ponyville?”

“Just like I remember it. Got to catch up with family.”

Celestia smiled. “Good. Lavender carries her mother’s legacy very well. All these years and she’s still keeping Canterlot on its hooves.”

“Yep! That’s my girl,” Spike boasted. “I’ll be moving back to ponyville for a few years here soon.”

Celestia nodded with a smile. “I’m glad to hear it.”

"Oh! forgot.” Spike laughed. “Twilight sent me to ask you if she could borrow the sun and moon spheres from you.”

“Why would she need those old teaching orbs?” Celestia asked.

“She’s decided to take two unicorns as apprentices. She thinks it will help clear her mind,” Spike said with a bemused grin.

“Has she now?” Celestia’s face lit up at the news. “I’ll go get them for you.”

Struggles

Luna looked down over the royal gardens, watching Twilight’s students practice.

They were lathered in sweat, trading the gold, and silver balls back and forth in turn. The mind torturing exercise in control and concentration was strange, most unicorns would never need to synchronize that deeply with one another. For these two though, it was their special talent. They could blend their magic and cast a spell like they were one unicorn, a trick few could do.

For weeks now Twilight filled the breakfast conversation with stories of her apprentices. An hour reading, an hour of lecture and two hours of practice every night for the past month. Twilight told them to take the weekends to rest, but they refused. When she realized they were studying on their own, she decided to have class every day.

Also their inclination to try the biggest spells they could find was a bit dangerous to leave unsupervised.

“They refuse to be outdone by each other,” Twilight had said. “Any hint that one is getting better at something drives the other to try twice as hard.”

“They’re going to burn themselves out,” Celestia had warned.

“I can’t believe they haven’t already,” Twilight agreed, “You can’t tell them their limits! They’ll have to find it on their own. I’ll just have to patch them up when they do, and hope it doesn't kill their love of the art.”

Celestia had snickered at that exasperated rant. “Sounds familiar,” she told Twilight, poking her with a hoof.

A faint crackle perked Luna’s ears, she could see Twilight ready herself for something. As the two again traded the spheres, their rhythm halted, the crackling redoubled, then silenced as the orbs and unicorns both fell to the ground. Twilight caught the orbs to keep them from hitting her fainted students.

Luna stepped off her perch and glided down to the garden. “Magic fatigue to blackout, impressive,” Luna said landing next to the three. “Need help?”

“I’ve been expecting this. Lets get them to the infirmary.”

Consciousness slowly crept back into Evening. She was stretched out on something cool and soft. Cracking her eyes open, pain racked her head. “Ack,” she yelped, throwing a foreleg over her eyes, only to let out a groan of regret for both the outburst and the sudden movement.

There was a rustle of movement, even through her covered eyes she could sense the room darken. “There, sorry, I forgot how much light hurts,” a voice whispered. “Drinking too much apple brandy feels about the same, just so you know.”

Opening her eyes again, she found the windows covered and the lamps turned off. Just enough light seeped through the blinds to let her see Princess Twilight at the foot of her bed. She was in a hospital room and her sister was in a bed next to her, still asleep. ‘Score, I woke up first.’

“Thanks, Princess,” Evening rasped. “What happened?”

“Your bodies couldn’t keep up with your magic use, you both blacked out.”

“Oh,” Evening sighed.

“It’s not a bad thing. I’m impressed you held out so long.”

“I bet you never passed out...”

“They called me Twilight Coma in here,” Twilight said, obviously trying not to laugh.

“Really?”

“Yeah. By the way,” Twilight said, taking a seat next to the bed. “I’ve been wondering. You never did tell me why you wanted to cast the evocation of light for me.”

“We wanted you to see us.”

“So, you were hoping I would take you in?” Twilight asked.

“No!” Evening protested, instantly regretting her outburst. “Ow...” she lied back down, rubbing her temples. “We just wanted you to see us. The moment we heard you came back, it was all we could think about.”

“Why me, though? You two could have easily gotten into Celestia’s school. Luna even has a program now.”

Evening fidgeted in her bed. “We just wanted to do something special for you. You’ve been gone so long.”

With a slow deliberate motion, Morning rolled over to face Twilight and her sister. “Twi... Princess Twilight, You’ve been our hero since we were yearlings, our first book was about you. But, we didn’t know if we’d ever get to see you.”

“Mmmhmm,” Morning nodded. “We thought if we impressed you, you’d talk to us.”

“Well,” Twilight sighed. “It worked. You impressed me.”

The twins glowed under the praise. “So you’ll keep teaching us?” Morning asked.

“Of course I will. I told you six months, and I don’t go back on my word. Applejack and Dash both would have words with me if I broke a promise. Though, you two are on anti-magics for a few days, so no casting. But, we can still study. After you get a day's rest.”

“How long are we going to have to be here?” Evening asked.

Pacing over to her saddlebag, Twilight placed the book she had been reading back into it. “Two, maybe three days,” she answered. “I’ll bring you some books tomorrow. I’ve already sent a message to your parents.”

“Would you tell us a story about your friends?” Morning asked. “Please.”

Twilight looked back at the two, her gut turned at the request. She had been asked to play storyteller many times, and every time she had replied no.

“I...” Twilight mumbled before finding her voice. “Have you girls ever heard of the running of the leaves?”

The two shook their heads at the question.

“Well,” Twilight continued, turning back to face the two. “There is an old tradition in Ponyville. I think they still do it...”

“Those two are getting to her,” Celestia said, looking through the window in the door.

“I do not believe I have heard her speak of her friends since the last one passed,” Luna added. “It is good for her to talk of them. It will help her heal.”

With gentle steps, the two alicorns walked away from the door. Celestia nodded to her sister’s words. “I was worried she would use them to continue her search, but perhaps they will be what heals her.”

“You should invite them up to Cloudsdale for the Summer Sun.”

“That is a wonderful idea, Sister.”

“So I came cantering across the finish line, beating them both,” Twilight chuckled. “They ended up tying for last place. But, they got their argument out of their system. After that, Dash was probably Applejack’s closest friend.” A sad look crept over Twilight the story ending in abrupt silence.

Sudden raps on the door jolted Twilight from her melancholy. “Come in,” she answered.

A rose-coated earth pony with a blond mane eased the door open, a nurse's hat perched idly on her head. “How’s everypony doing in here?” she asked before stepping into the room.

“I’m fine,” Evening said.

“I’ll live,” Morning added.

The uniform that half covered her cutie mark, a white lotus on blue water, marked her as a nurse in training. Twilight guessed her about a year older than the twins.

“That’s the spirit,” the nurse said, it was an uplifting cheer, despite being said in a cool even tone. Turning around, she grabbed a cart in the hall and rolled it into the room. “I have food and presents,” she sang, bringing the cart to the foot of the beds. “My name is Tranquility, I’ll be your attendant. If you need anything, you just tell me,” she said, positioning little tables over the beds.

Humming a tune, Tranquility pulled dinner from her cart and laid it out for the two. Looking up from her task, she met Twilight’s eyes. “Would you like me to bring you something from the lunchroom?” she asked.

Twilight blinked, realizing the filly had ignored her up to that very moment. It was... refreshing. “No thank you. I was just about to leave.”

“Okay,” Tranquility smiled, cleaning up her cart. “But first I have something for you.” Pulling three identical boxes from her cart, she laid one beside Morning and Evening before handing the third to Twilight.

“Um, thanks?” Twilight said, taking the package in hoof from the nurse.

Tranquility cocked her head and smiled. “It’s not from me, but you’re welcome.”

Examining the gift she found the royal crest on the corner. This was from Celestia and Luna. “Oh, sorry. Still, thank-” Twilight cut herself off, realizing Tranquility had already left the room.

Looking back to the twins, Twilight giggled. They were eating with deliberate intent, trying to ignore the boxes next to them, all the while watching her with the corner of their eye. “You don’t have to wait for me,” she said, slowly removing the ribbon from the box.

The two wasted no time in reaching for their gifts: Evening tore into her box like a starved animal, while Morning took care to preserve the ribbon and seal.

A blue and yellow scarf, and two pieces of paper emerged from each box as they were opened. Taking up the scarf, Twilight found it to be heavy wool with the Wonderbolt’s logo embroidered into one end.

“Box seats to Cloudsdale’s Summer Sun Celebration, midnight to sunrise...” Evening said, blinking in disbelief.

“And a spell?” Morning said, holding up the other piece of paper, trying to make sense of the formula without the aid of her magic.

“It’s a cloud walking spell,” Twilight answered. ”I’ll teach it to you as soon as the doctors clear you.”

“You got a ticket, too. You're coming, right?” Evening asked.

“No... I haven’t been to a Wonderbolts since Dash...” Twilight faltered under the quivering stare of her students. Something in Evening’s eyes particularly stirred her.

“It’s... I... Okay, I’ll go.”

Author's Note

Next chapter will be up next Friday (28).

Chance

“So, yesterday we took it easy with that cloud walking spell. How are you feeling?” Twilight asked.

Evening fidgeted, not trying to conceal her boredom. “We’re fine.”

“What are we practicing tonight?” Morning asked. “That was some pretty strange stuff you had us reading.”

“Well, so far I have only seen you cast spells by-the-book,” Twilight said laying her saddlebag down. “You need to learn to take a spell, and make it your own.”

The veil of boredom fell away from Evening, her ears perking up. “You alter spell patterns?”

“Not all of them, but yes, I make adjustments that work better for me. My teleport spell is a great example.” Twilight vanished in a flash of light, reappearing behind the two. “I’m going to teach you the standard teleportation spell, then mine, then I want you two to make your own version.”

The twins grinned ear to ear as Twilight levitated a paper to each of them. “Take a few moments and memorize this pattern.”

PAMPF

The twins appeared in a burst of light and sound in front of her.

“Very good!” Twilight cheered, shielding her eyes from the glare of dawn; their two-hour session had stretched into the early morning hours. The two had mastered the spell in one night. While she had figured the spell out by merely watching Celestia, it was still a notable accomplishment.

“So, are we going to learn your version now?” Evening asked.

“I think it’s too late for any more practice,” Twilight said, eliciting an “Aww,” from the two. "But I’ll go ahead and give you the formula to study.” Two scrolls appeared in front of the twins. “On the condition that you promise not to try it without my supervision.”

Taking the scrolls into their own levitation, they willed them to move, but found them held sound by Twilight.

“Promise me,” Twilight said, looking more serious than normal.

Glancing at each other they shrugged before sitting on their haunches and raising a foreleg. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” they sang, their hooves going through the ritual motions.

Twilight dropped the scrolls, “Who— Where did you learn that?”

Evening cocked her head at the question. “Learn what?”

“Pinky's promise...”

“The cupcake promise?” Evening asked.

Twilight nodded.

“We’ve always done that,” Morning said. Evening nodded in agreement with her twin.

Twilight chuckled, breaking the awkward moment. "You heard your grandmother say that,” she said, waving a hoof in dismissal. “Pinkie foal sat her for Sweetie Belle. Careful with that promise, it's pretty serious."

“Okay...” the two echoed, picking up the scrolls, and floating them over to a pair of saddlebags under a tree. "I guess we'll see you tonight then. We'll study your spell before class."

A low hollow whine drew Twilight and Morning's attention to Evening, who held a hoof to her stomach with an embarrassed grin. "Sorry. Hungry," Evening said.

Twilight laughed. "Come on, let's get some breakfast."

Again the twins traded confused looks as their princess began walking towards the castle. With a mutual shrug they slung their packs on and hurried to catch up.

Idly bantering about how she had checked their genealogy after their first meeting, Twilight led them through the garden and into the castle proper, past guards and through arches.

In wide-eyed awe they followed their Princess through the private halls and courtyards of the castle, till they finally stopped at a simple wooden door.

“Hmm, smells good,” Twilight said sniffing the air.

The two guards flanking the door shifted their eyes between the Princess and the two students. “They’re with me,” Twilight answered the silent question as she pushed the door open.

Evening and Morning followed close on Twilight’s flanks past the guards and into the room.

“I brought guests,” Twilight called out.

“Oh?” an unseen pony chimed.

The twins peered around opposite sides of Twilight to see who had spoken.

Celestia and Luna sat at a dining table that could have seated ten, Luna chewed politely while Celestia sat a cup down. Neither wore their regalia, it was a bizarre mix of casually homeyness and luxury.

FLOMP

The two unicorns threw themselves to the ground, bowing to the goddesses.

“Twilight, you should warn ponies before you do that to them,” Luna said. With a few graceful strides she approached the prostrate ponies. “Rise and relax, you need not bow as such. Peers of the crown need only curtsy in public and nothing is expected in private.”

“Peers of the crown?” Morning asked looking to Twilight as her and Evening eased back to their hooves.

“Oh, well yea, you’re my apprentices. I gave you a title, so you’re part of the high court now." Twilight paused for a moment, then added, "Sorry.” as an oddly genuine apology.

Celestia cleared her throat with a stern look. “Alright you two,” she said looking between Luna and Twilight. “You know the first rule of breakfast.”

Luna and Twilight rolled their eyes in unison. “No talking about court,” they chanted.

Smiling at the answer Celestia looked at the twins. “Now, I would love to finally met the two I have heard so much about. Please have a seat and help yourselves.”

Morning watched her sister talk with Luna; it amazed her how quickly she could become comfortable with ponies. Celestia and Luna were nice enough, but she could never imagine being so casual with them. Sure she could with Twilight, she had even slipped and called her “Twi” in the hospital. She was just glad Twilight had either not heard her, or chalked it up to delirium.

“Everything ok there Morning?” Celestia asked, jolting her out of the trance.

“Yes, Princess. I think so.”

“Any homework from Twilight today?”

Morning perked up at the reminder of the scroll in her bag. “Oh, yes! She gave us her teleport spell to learn.”

Celestia facehoofed. “Ugh, Twilight. You are not to have them practice that anywhere near the castle.”

Twilight looked up from her plate. “What? it’s not that bad.”

“There is still a chunk of wall missing from my drawing room from the first time you cast that.”

“Huh?” Morning asked.

“I never taught her the teleport spell. She saw me cast it a few times and just invented a spell that looked the same. The early versions had a tendency to take anything near her along for the ride. She removed parts of the castle with it more than once.” Celestia said, giving Twilight a mischievous grin.

Twilight looked down at her plate and stabbed at her meal with a fork. “I fixed that and you know it.”

“So what are we going to do for our spell?” Evening asked her sister. Walking through the bustling morning streets, normally their walk home was in the quiet pre-dawn hours. Celestia had offered them a carriage ride home, but they had refused it. Their home was close enough that it seemed silly to bother other ponies with carrying them there.

Morning let out a slow yawn. “I’m ready for some sleep.” Opening her eyes from the yawn, a pony caught her eyes. Pointing to the rosy earthpony sitting at a street side diner, “Isn’t that Tranquility?” she asked.

Evening strained her eyes on the pony, looking for her cutie mark. “It is!” Evening cheered, seeing the lotus cutie mark.

Tranquility looked up from her coffee just in time to see her former wards rush up to her table. “Oh, I’m glad to see you’re feeling better. What in the world are you two doing out so early?”

“Class ran late, then we stayed for breakfast,” Evening answered.

“Well, I hope you two aren’t overdoing it again.”

“We’re not,” Morning said. “We’re even taking one day a week off from now on. Are you about to go to work?”

“MmHmm,” Tranquility nodded.

“We really appreciate all you did for us. Could we treat you to lunch next week? ”Evening asked. “The day after Summer Sun maybe.”

“You don’t have to do that. It’s my job.”

Morning waved a hoof, dismissing the excuse. “You’re a good pony Tranquility, we’d like to get to know you better, be friends.”

Looking down into her coffee, Tranquility blushed at the compliment. “I do have that day off...”

“Great!” Evening cheered. “Lets meet here at noon then.”

Moments

Spike adjusted his bag; he was going to have to get used the strange chafing of saddlebags on hair again. But Ponyville had gone a long time without a dragon living in it and he wanted let them acclimate to the idea slowley. Of course his daughter had been living here longer than any pony alive. Her unique appearance was accepted without question, so it shouldn’t take the town long to go from being comfortable with a half dragon, to a full one. Even then he knew he would spend a lot of time as his pony self since his dragon self had become a bit hard to move around in houses designed for ponies.

His visit last week had been novel, but now that he was making his first motion to move back, nostalgia washed over him at every corner. It had been a year after getting his wings that he learned to cast the polymorph spell. Most dragons didn’t cast their first spell until well into their first century, but he had two things they didn’t: living his entire life with a magical prodigy had steeped him in the art, and more importantly, a dream; a dream named Rarity.

The transfiguring spell had recreated him as a young stallion with a glistening ruby heart for a cutie mark. In the guise of his alter ego, Gem Heart, Spike had introduced himself to Rarity. The chemistry between them was palpable immediately, and it almost destroyed him when he could not get her to go on a date with him as Gem Heart. It was only when he pressed her on the subject that he got the answer he never expected.

“You're handsome, Gem Heart, and really nice, but I love someone else. I just haven’t sorted out how it would ever work.”

“Someone?” he had asked

She nodded with a teary smile “Indeed, you have the same colors. I guess that’s why I felt so comfortable with you, you remind me of him. Sorry.”

The next one hundred and three years were the best years of his life. If it hadn’t been for his daughter...

“Papa!” a voice called, snapping him from his memories. Before he could turn toward the voice, a pair of arms wrapped around his neck in a tackle of a hug.

“I thought I’d get to surprise you at the shop,” Spike said, returning his daughter’s hug,

“We were just going to the morning market.”

“We?” Spike asked, pulling back to look around. “Do I finally get to meet my son-in-law and granddaughter?”

Just then, something tapped him in top of his head. Looking up, a pair of crystal-blue eyes set against gray stared down at him, inches from his face.

“Boo!” chirped the spritely voice.

“Gaa!” Spike jumped, sending the bat-winged filly above him rolling to the ground in laughter.

Chuckling through the adrenaline surge, he was glad he wasn’t his regular self, a yelp backed by green fire would have been bad.

“Surprise got her cutie mark while she was staying with Silver Moon’s parents,” Lavender said like she was sharing a juicy bit of gossip, prompting the little one to turn and show her grandpa the bright-orange jack o'lantern on her flank.

“Apparently her special talent is scaring ponies...” Lavender sighed just loud enough for her father to hear.

Nudging her daughter to her hooves, Lavender bent down to her level. “This is your grandpa, Spike.”

Surprise looked between Spike and her mother with a sceptical air. “That’s not a dragon,” she informed her mother.

Spike and Lavender broke into rolling laughter. “It’s a spell dear,” Lavender said, ruffling Surprise’s mane. “You’ve seen the picture on the mantle.”

Pausing a moment to rifle through her memory, Surprise perked up with an “Oh!” recalling the picture of her mother, the white unicorn, and the green stallion. “Ooo! Can we go flying later?” she asked.

“Sure thing, kiddo,” Spike said with a smile. “But for now, lets go to the market with your mom.” Gesturing for Lavender to lead the way, he turned towards the market and followed her. “So where’s Silver Moon?”

“They asked him to work the Summer Sun Celebration, so his shift extended a few more days,” Lavender said

“Dad protects Princess Luna,” Surprise chimed in.

“He gets three weeks off, after the Celebration,” Lavender continued. “I’ll point him out if you come with us to Cloudsdale. He got us really good tickets to Summer Sun Celebration; it’ll be her first time seeing Princess Celestia.”

Walking towards the market, Spike watched his granddaughter. Skipping beside her mother, she occasionally fluttered into the air to look at something as they passed; a blissful smile on her face the whole time. She looked very much like any other young bat-winged pony. Her round, blue eyes were the only thing that most would notice as different, but he could see dragon in her teeth and wings.

“Sounds fun, I’ll go,” Spike said, watching Surprise spring into the air again to coo at a kitten in a second story window.

As she glided back down, Spike moved under her. When her hooves landed on Spike’s back, she startled. “Sorry!” she said, thinking she had landed on somepony by accident, but her grandfather’s big smile told her he had planned it.

“Yay! Pony back ride.”

Twilight’s spell was... strange, elegant, and brutally efficient. Calling it no-frills was a dangerous understatement. It took one read through to understand why Twilight had insisted on her supervision, killing yourself with this spell would be only a matter of one misstep.

Evening shivered as Twilight’s magic combed through the spell she was holding. Twilight’s horn was a beacon in the field on this new-moon night. Evening could see a lavender shimmer around her sister, and assumed a similar one was around her. She wanted to feel out the spell the princess had blanketed over them, but the temptation alone was more of a distraction than she could afford.

“You both have the spell pattern. Now focus on a point a little above the ground and release the spell,” Twilight instructed.

A flash of light next to Evening signaled her sister’s spell. Relaxing the grip on her own spell’s energy, she unleashed it to do its work.

Morning snapped back into existence atop the hill she had focused on. A chill washed over her as she turned to look for her sister. She could not see Evening, but she didn’t need to see her sister; she felt her magic reaching for her.

Morning's magic sprang to life by reflex.

They had been accused of being telepathic since they were yearlings, but they were not. Telepathy shared words, maybe images. What they shared was magic.

Twilight yelled something, but Morning didn’t hear.

///

Twilight’s magic fell away from her students as they released their spells. They had the correct pattern, the rest was up to them. Twilight smiled when Morning appeared on the hill top near a shrub, but frowned when Evening did not.

Looking around, a flash of light among her stars made her sick. Evening had somehow teleported into the clouds; she had no choice but to catch her. Flaring her wings, she began to push off, but faltered.

A magenta aura replaced the wink of light in the sky. The magic fell with its pony for a moment, before becoming a bolt that raced down to earth like lightning; the bolt danced with frantic energy, searching for something.

Morning’s blue magic answered her sister’s call. Reaching into the sky, it grabbed the chaotic bolt. The two lights met, mingled and solidified into a purple cord. Then Twilight felt a spell begin to weave.

“No! Don’t-” Twilight shouted.

She was too late, Evening appeared next to her sister in a nova of magic. Twilight winced, covering her eyes from the gruesome spectacle she expected. Teleport preserves the target’s kinetic energy, she would still be moving at near terminal when she appeared.

There was no thud, no scream, there was... laughing? Looking up, the two held each other, shaking from the near death experience, but laughing out of relief.

Flying up the hill, Twilight landed next to the two. “Are you two okay?

The two nodded to Twilight with faint smiles, too breathless to speak and unwilling to let go of each other just yet.

“How did you bleed off her inertia?” Twilight asked .

Evening pointed to the ground around them. It was then Twilight realized they stood in a small crater: dirt, rock, and plants all pushed aside or thrown clear.

“Energy can neither be created or destroyed,” Morning said.

“Only converted or redirected,” Evening finished.

“You dual cast my spell, and converted it on the fly to turn her inertia into a shock wave?” Twilight asked, sitting on her haunches to think about the spell they had created.

“Yea, I guess,” Morning answered.

The twins sat leaning against each other, Twilight could tell their stunt had taken a lot out of them, but they were safe. Wrapping them in a group hug, Twilight laughed. “I think this covers making your own version. Now, let's get you home.”

There was a magic between those twins that she might never understand, and that was okay.

Author's Note

This chapter is really two short vignettes. I know that chapters have all been short, but the meat of the story really starts in chapter 8. Ch7 is shaping up to be 2.7K words, and I feel that will be the bench mark from here on out.

Also, if you want to see where I am pulling my mental Image of Lavender it's here: http://carniscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/dracony

Falling

‘Just tell them you can’t go,’ Twilight thought. “Something came up, you’ll have to go without me.”

“Hi, Princess,” Morning said. “You okay?”

“Ugh, yea, I just-”

“Ready to go?” Evening asked, nodding her head.

“Sure,” Twilight said, sympathetically mimicking Evening's nod.

“Awesome!” Evening cheered.

‘Well so much for that,’ Twilight sighed to herself.

Cloudsdale stadium grew steadily larger as the three approached in the chariot. Twilight consciously suppressed the memory of her last visit. The cloud structure looked different than it had back then, that helped. Her students also helped, buzzing with anticipation as they approached; it was hard to not get caught in their excitement. The all-night party leading to Celestia’s rising of the sun would be starting soon.

Landing near the stadium, Spike's voice surprised her. “Hay, Twilight,” he called from just behind them, his daughter on his back and a bat-winged filly flying close by.

“Lavender!” Twilight called, cantering over to her as she slid off her father’s back. The two pressed necks before exchanging a quick hug. “So, this must be the filly that Spike keeps telling me about,” she said, looking down at Surprise: an energetic filly a bit younger than the twins.

“Say hello to your aunt, Twilight,” Lavender said to her daughter.

Bouncing up to Twilight, she stopped a foreleg’s reach away. Looking up at the alicorn, she gave a toothy smile before making a slight bow. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you. You knew Mom when she was little?”

Twilight nodded. “I was there the day she was born.”

Surprise fluttered into the air with a, “WOW.”

Ruffling the filly’s mane, Twilight turned to the group. “We better get going. The show starts at midnight.”

“What’s our seat number?” Spike asked Lavender as they all started towards the entrance.”

“Box three,” Lavender replied.

“Ours too!” Evening said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, that wasn’t planned at all.”

Twilight settled into her place in the private platform. She was glad to see the twins had gotten over their fear of Spike's natural form. He was currently regaling them and Surprise with the story of Rarity’s misadventure with wings, and Rainbow Dash’s rainboom rescue. She tried to tune it out, but Spike’s animated gestures and baritone voice made him hard to ignore.

Just as the story ended, the moon’s light suddenly redoubled.

“Our loyal ponies and distinguished guests,” Luna’s voice echoed. “Tonight we pay homage to the day. In five hours and twenty minutes, my sister will raise the sun for the longest day of the year. Until then, we celebrate!”

The stadium erupted in cheers as Luna flew down to the seat of honor, giving way to a sky full of fireworks. Moments later, the Wonderbolts took the stage for the first of their many acts for the night. Twilight had been to a hundred of these events—they all went about the same—it was the company that made the evening interesting. And she had to admit, looking over at her students and Spike’s family as they cheered the acrobatic show, they were good company for tonight.

The Wonderbolts topped each hour with a show, and other various spectacles filled the rest of each hour. Food and drink vendors roamed the stands, but in their platform they only had to ask for something and it was brought to them.

“I’m going to be sick tomorrow,” Evening moaned.

“You were the one that got into a hot-mushroom eating contest with a dragon,” Lavender said, taking a sip from a wine glass.

“What’s the next act?” Evening asked.

Spike covered his mouth, muffling a flicker of green fire that accompanied a belch. “Geez, you can eat a lot for a pony.” Picking up an event guide, Spike glanced over the schedule. “After this act, lets see... The Wonderbolts perform the famous death-sphere routine. Then the Best-of Cloudsdale's best young fliers. Freestyle acrobatics from this year’s top five young fliers,” Spike mechanically recited the program.

Sitting next to Twilight, Morning half listened to the conversation. The show being put on by two very talented unicorns apparently interested her more than the others. One’s magic filled the stadium with illusions of fanciful figures acting out equestrian mythology while the other unicorn supplied music. The duet wrapped up with a tribute to the Elements of Harmony.

Morning thought to ask Twilight if that was how really they looked as six larger than life ponies ran across the stadium. “Did they-” Looking up to ask her question she fell silent.

Twilight sat rigid and red eyed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Morning forgot everything that separated her and the princess, she was a friend and she was hurting.

She had been doing so well tonight too, and now she had cracked in front of her students, over a silly light show. With a nuzzle and a hoof, Evening offered her a shoulder to cry on. She resisted the temptation at first, but as a phantom Applejack galloped into the sky and disappeared, she buried her face in Morning's neck.

Morning cooed something soft and ran a hoof down her side, encouraging her to lay down. Twilight laugh at herself as she tucked her legs under her. Three hundred and fifteen, the element of Magic, princess of the stars, and she was crying like a filly on her poor student.

“I’m sorry.” Twilight said, not lifting her head.

“It’s okay,” Morning whispered.

A roar of applause woke Twilight. The Wonderbolts were flying off the field as she lifted her head from Morning’s withers. Somehow she had nodded off.

“How long was I out?” she asked Morning.

“Maybe twenty minutes. You missed the death-sphere. Feel better?”

“Yea, lots actually. Thanks... and sorry again,” Twilight said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

As she sat back up, the others all gave her warm smiles. “You going to be okay, dear?” Lavender asked.

“Just too much at once. I’ll be fine now. Got it out of my system,” Twilight said as she rejoined the others in watching the show.

Once the stage crew had the obstacle course of pylons and hoops in place, the first of the young fliers took to the air. Twilight watched politely as the young pegasus showed off their best routines. They were all good, but Twilight knew the difference between good and great. This one was fast, that one was graceful, the next acrobatic, and the forth could look reckless while maintaining control: he was heading to the wonderbolts if he kept his game up.

The fifth flyer started her show with a slow lap of the field. An unimpressive start compared the the first four, but Twilight saw what she was doing; she was courting the audience. The pegasus was beautiful by any standard: her coat, mane and feathers all various shades of iridescent indigo, with lean muscle over an elegant frame. Her cutie mark looked to be flower petals blown in the wind.

Evening contemplated the mare as she passed just a few meters from their platform. Something about this pegasus had grabbed the attention of both Twilight and Spike, who grumbled something she was sure wasn’t in Equestrian. Twilight and Lavender simultaneously hitting him was all the translation she needed.

“Oww,” Spike whined.

“Too young for you doesn't even start to cover it,” Twilight said, trying to look angry, but laughing despite herself.

Spike started to protest, but their attention returned to the pegasus when she made a snap turn towards the center of the arena. Into the obstacle course, she gained speed as she approached the pylons. When she made her first maneuver between the columns, she had Evening’s full attention.

The mare’s slow grace became snap precision; the others had maneuvered faster through the course, but none with such control. Her every movement was a blur that stopped on its mark like the movement of a watch. Evening could almost hear a metronome's beat as she made a half roll between each pylon. This mare wasn’t flying out there, she was performing surgery.

Twilight studied every movement of the performer. Here was another flyer destined for the Wonderbolts; precision like that was rare. She would need to get faster, but the control was already better than most. She also understood how to work an audience. Her first lap showed off her control in slow flight, as well as letting her flirt with the crowd. Now she was slowly adding elements to her act, getting them in a state of anticipation. Twilight knew this pacing; it was an effective formula. If the mare knew what she was doing, there would be a grand-finale soon.

Twilight’s thoughts seemed prophetic as the pegasus began a spiral up out of the stadium.

‘A speed trick,’ Twilight thought. The act had been all control and agility so far, she needed something fast to round out her set, and gravity would give her the speed her wings didn’t.

Up she spiraled into the night sky. The stadium lighting following her ascent until she allowed herself to stall, and slip into a dive. Once nose down, her whole posture changed and a sudden burst of speed surprised Twilight.

“Clever,” Twilight muttered with a grin. Leaning forward, she waited to see what the flyer would do now that she had poured all her strength into speed.

The answer came as the pegasus darted back towards the stadium. It had been a long time, but she knew what the mare was trying; the glowing envelope of air was the hallmark of a rainboom attempt. Twilight readied herself to save the foolish mare from the inevitable backlash; her horn glowing, she prepared to grab her in a telekinetic grip.

The pegasus shot through the stadium in a purple blur, the air crackling in front of her. Everypony in the stadium leaned over their perch to watch her descent to the ground. Twilight cursed quietly to herself, even she only had so much reach; if she got too far away, there would be nothing she could do in time. Twilight reached out with her magic and began to wrap it around the pegasus. Just as the spell took hold, a blow of energy shattered it like glass.

Twilight reeled, falling over from the jolt. “She just-” Thunder drowned Twilight’s words as rainbow light turned the night to day. The roar of the crowd echoed the boom, one cacophony blending into another.

Righting herself, Twilight joined the others in looking over the cloud; down the pegasus streaked, straight as an arrow, she rushed to the ground. Something was off, she had seen Dash do this enough times; there was something wrong. Twilight closed her eyes and summoned her divine gift. She could not see the young mare form this distance, but her stars could.

Evening watched in awe as the chromatic shock wave rippled into the distance, then looked to the rainbow contrail that hid the pegasus she had just been watching. “Why isn’t she pulling up?” she asked.

A few voices answered, “I don’t know,” but Twilight was silent. Turning to princess Twilight, she found her with her eyes closed, her horn lit in a aura she had never seen.

“Princess?” Evening asked.

Twilight spoke, though her mouth didn’t move. “She’s not strong enough to control it, she’s stuck in the dive.”

Twilight’s horn extinguished, she slumped and looked towards Evening and Morning. “You can’t just stop a rainboom. She’s going to crash.”

The words echoed through Evening’s mind. That sort of impact was not survivable. She looked to her sister, their eyes met and with a mutual nod, so did their magic. The cloud walking spell they both wore was cast aside, and they plummeted through the clouds.

“It’s okay,” Twilight answered the gasps of Spike and his family, resting a hoof on Spike and Surprise to stop them from chasing after the two falling unicorns. “I have faith in them,” she continued.

Surprise giggled as the shock faded from her face. “Good one!” she said with a smile before pulling back from Twilight’s hoof and rolling over the side of the cloud in a cannonball dive.

Lavender watched her daughter disappear into the night with a slight frown. “Father, dear. Would you see to it she does not get lost.” With a nod, Spike's leathery wings launched him into the air.

Surprise fell through the night air. It was a good night for flying; the moon gave enough light to see the ground, but it was still dark enough to let your imagination fill in the shadows.

Below her, a rainbow made its trek to the earth followed by the two unicorns with their horns glowing: one pink, the other blue. In a flash of light, one vanished, a second flash at the head of the charging rainbow told her she had teleported to the plummeting pegasus.

With a flap of her wings, Surprise hurried her fall to catch up with the remaining unicorn. Landing on the unicorn’s back, she got a satisfactory yelp as she wrapped Morning in her legs. “Where to, lady?” Surprise asked.

Morning blinked in disbelief, craning her neck to look Spike’s granddaughter. “Slow us down all you can. Stopped is good, too,” she answered.

Surprise nodded and squeezed her pasagener tight before flapping with all her might. Morning’s horn lit a dim blue, then bright purple. The glow of magic blinded her, but she concentrated on getting them into the slowest glide her strength would allow.

/ / /

Iris clenched her teeth, straining every fiber of her being to move her wings. She had done the math, she knew her flight performances, breaking the critical speed had been just a matter of skill and conviction. The first pony to rainboom since the legendary Rainbow Dash, but exhilaration had turned to confusion after the initial shock wave rolled over her.

Flight was flight, the same motions had the same effect at any speed. The only change being the faster you went, the less actual movement was required, or so she thought. The slipstream of magic she had punched her way into was like nothing she had experienced. Forces she had no name for plastered her wings to her side, rendering them useless.

Iris panicked at her loss of control, but with her wings no longer adding thrust, she assumed wind resistance would bring her back to normal flight. Again, she was wrong. Her plummet showed no sign of slowing, whatever propelled her did not need her wings for power. Looking down at the oncoming ground, her mortality became very real. Throwing her all into breaking free, she was on the verge of tears when a flash of light delivered a unicorn directly in her path. The unicorn reached up to her as she barrelled down. Reflexively, Iris held out her forelegs to meet the falling filly. She winced as they met, expecting the collision to knock the wind out of her, but it came off as more of a scoop than a hit.

They clung to each other for a moment, recovering from the impact. Iris felt like she had slowed a bit. She opened her mouth to ask where the unicorn had come from, but a flash of light around them stunned her silent.

/ / /

Spike casually followed after the group of fillies. If Twilight had faith in them, he knew better than to get in the way. That didn’t mean he let his guard down; he had survived too many crazy adventures with Twilight to make that mistake.

One of them teleported away, while Suprise helped the other. Suddenly, the purple string of the new teleport spell, that Twilight had been a twitter over, linked the head of the rainbow to the filly his granddaughter held.

“Converts inertia into raw energy...” The memory of Twilight’s voice echoed through his mind.

“Horseapples,” Spike whimpered.

/ / /

Evening clung to the pegasus, and reached out to her sister with magic. Finding her was simple, her sister already had her half of the spell prepared. The magic built its pattern, and together they let it go to do its work.

A crystal sphere of magic formed in the air, its chromatic surface shimmered with its own internal light; four young ponies hung suspended in the matrix of solidified magic. It held in the sky for a long moment, neither time or gravity willing to impose on it. With a shrill sound, the orb’s surface cracked into a spider-web pattern. The solidified magic burst from its seams, becoming light and energy that spread with typhoon force. The entombed ponies, falling free of their prison, again began to fall.

Surprise came to as Morning slipped from her grip. With a frantic motion, she reclaimed her passenger, the unicorn limp as a ragdoll in her hooves. The other unicorn and the pegasus tumbled in freefall beside her as she attempted to correct her flight; they too looked unconscious. Lashing out with her tail, she swatted the pegasus’ nose.

Iris reeled from the eye-watering sting to her nose. The dream she had been having became reality as her eyes found their focus. “Catch her!” cried a voice next to her.

The voice came from a bat-winged pony holding a limp unicorn. Turning her head, she saw the unicorn from earlier, eyes closed, and tumbling in the air. Pain shot through her as she flapped to move towards the filly. Groaning, she forced her body to obey her efforts to reach the unicorn.

With the filly in hooves, Iris gritted her teeth, and forced her wings to work. “I don’t know if I can make it to the ground,” Iris said.

“I got it,” Spike said from above them, catching Iris off guard. Looking up, she saw the dragon that had been sitting with the Princess swoop past them.

Spike slowed to a hover a little ways in front of the four. Sucking in a deep breath, he willed the magic in his throat and exhaled. Thick green smoke rolled out of him, forming a cloud that grew till it was large enough for the five of them.

Landing on his green cloud, Spike motioned for them to land. “Don’t worry, they can’t fall through this.”

The two landed on the smoke cloud with their unconscious passengers. Surprise released her ward and bounded over to her grandfather, hugging his neck. “Grandpa! Neat cloud!”

“Ooo, careful there. Grandpa went for a wild ride,” Spike said, resting a hand on Surprise’s shoulder, half embracing her, half easing her off his bruised neck.

“Grandpa?” Iris looked up at the dragon. Blood trickled from his nose, and black scorches littered his green scales. “My goodness, are you alright?” she asked, forgetting her own aches for a moment.

Spike looked at the young mare; she was exhausted, her vibrant purple wings hung limp at her side, muscles tremored with fatigue. Proud eyes burned through weariness, not allowing her physical state to diminish her pride.

“I’ll be fine,” the dragon answered, looking away from her. Digging his claws into the cloud, he flapped his wings, moving the whole construct with his strength.

“Lets get back to Cloudsdale,” Spike mumbled.

Seasons

“Look at that!” Celestia pointed past her sister at the night sky. “I can see the Winter Fox.”

“Tis fall sister,” Luna said turning towards the familiar constellation; not quite sure why her sister seemed surprised.

Then it dawned on her, she could see the dim little stars that made up the fox shape. “I think your little ploy with the foals worked, I have not seen those stars since before she left.”

“It wasn’t a ploy. I merely introduced her to some new ponies.” Celestia said searching the night sky for other emergent constellations.

“I didn't have time during the Summer Sun celebration to meet them,” Luna said flatly.

"Me ether," Celestia said.

"We should fix that."

Celestia looked back, Luna had a smile that meant mischief.

The end of another night’s lesson. Twilight smiled at her two students. Six months ago she had found them in their trance, since then she had fed them knowledge and skills as fast as their hungry minds would take it.

She would miss the nights of teaching; and learning. But, a season to all things; as Luna would say.

She had a promise to keep.

“Well girls, it's been a good six months,” Twilight said. A look of dejection on the two made her choke up. “This isn’t goodbye okay. It’s never goodbye.”

The two watched with curiosity as Twilight presented each of them a letter with the royal seal on it. They had been uncertain about this day. Just how much would change after tonight?

“You are welcome in my study any time. Even though I won’t have time for proper lessons, you’re still my apprentices, and always will be.” Twilight’s words were rewarded with smiles.

Opening their letters, Morning found a page made of gold, and Evening one of silver. They were acceptance letters to the royal schools for gifted unicorns, albeit separate ones.

Twilight preempted their question. “As good as you are at working together, you need to work on your personal strengths. Morning, you’re better a solar magic. Evening, you’re better at lunar. It’s not like you two won’t take every opportunity to teach each other anyway.”

“Princess,” Morning said. “We were wondering if you...”

“With everypony going off to secondary school,” Evening continued. “The girls are going to meet every other Sunday for dinner, so we can stay in touch. We would like it if you join us. When you could.”

Morning nodded. “We would like it if we could just hang out, like friends.”

‘The girls’, Twilight thought, the familiar phrase sparked deja vu. It had been bittersweet watching them make friends with Surprise, Iris, and Tranquility. The five fillies took to each other like lost sisters.

“I, I would like that,” Twilight said. She had learned Celestia and Luna’s pain over the years. The stature of alicorn ment ponies feared you, or sought you for their own means. Honest friends came few and far between.

“Awesome!” Evening cheered.

Twilight leaned over the Elements. Long ago she had assumed they would be the easy answer to finding her friends. Long ago she had abandoned them as ever being useful, but perhaps she had missed something. There was magic here that had touched her friends' souls: there had to be a connection she could exploit. Wild ideas and questions, gathered from her renewed effort, littered her notes; tonight she would start weeding out the laundry list of hypotheses.

Opening up the case she paused, hovering a hoof over one of the stone orbs; she felt like she was forgetting something. Looking over to her calendar Twilight winced; it was Sunday, the twins' dinner was in an hour. Her new work tempted her to send a guard with an apology, but looking back at the elements, the stone orb of laughter glared at her.

“Ok, fine Pinkie. I’ll go.”

Twilight made a few notes before leaving her work station and walking out into her balcony. She flared her wings for flight, but paused. “No, no. This won’t work at all” she mumbled.

Lighting up her horn she began to weave an old spell. Her magic crawled around her body, reshaping it bit by bit; wings dissolved into starlight, and her body shrank.

“There,” Twilight said, content with the spell’s effect. Gone was the alicorn Twilight Sparkle, in its place was her alter ego Galaxy, the simple unicorn. Stretching her legs, she familiarized herself with the smaller body. “Been a while,” she mused.

Lighting up her horn, she vanished in a puff of smoke.

The twins and Tranquility sat at the largest table in the diner. Big enough to sit eight, it made the three look like lost yearlings. Three drinks and one large basket of hay-fries marked them as paying customers.

Tranquility eyed the pile of catsup packets near the basket. Carefully sliding them off the table, she bundled them in a napkin and placed them on the seat beside her.

“What are you doing?” Evening asked.

“Iris and Surprise just landed outside. No need to tempt her. I got enough fake blood on me this week at school.”

Morning and Evening giggled at the memory of Surprise's use of condiments as makeshift blood squibs. “What did they have you doing?” Morning asked.

“Compression and tourniquet use to stop bleeding.” Tranquility answered. She shook her head with a little grimace. “They have us work on these dummies. But they're so real; you can forget they're not alive.”

“Ooo that sounds creepy,” Surprise said sliding into the booth. “Think I could borrow one for our fall production?”

“Oh? Did you all finally settle on what the fall play will be?” Iris asked, taking a place opposite Surprise.

“Iris, why do you smell like Ozone?” Morning asked.

Iris laughed at the question, waving her wings a bit, in an effort to wave the smell off her. “Well, I actually just came back from my aptitude exam at Equestria Central Weather.”

“How’d you do?” Evening asked leaning forward to hear the news.

“I scored high enough on lightning and severe weather, that I’m getting sent to school for storm training. I’ll be a severe weather manager if I do well!”

“Congratulations!” a familiar voice cheered. The five young mares stared blankly at a lavender unicorn they had never seen.

“Thank you?” Iris said, confused by the familiar tone of the stranger. But no, she looked strikingly familiar...

Morning blinked a few times. “Pr-”

“Shhh!” Twilight interrupted. “It’s a disguise. Call me Galaxy.” Taking a seat next to Iris, Twilight sniffed the air, then looked at Iris as if searching for something. “No burns, good job.”

“Huh?” Iris managed to say, her mind still catching up to what was happening. She knew the invitation had been extended to the princess, but sitting next to her in a burger hop, was a little more than she could absorb all at once.

“When Dash took that test, she caught a lightning bolt to the muzzle. Couldn’t taste anything for weeks.” Twilight reached over to steal a hay fry. “That’s when she developed her taste for hot sauce,” She said in a tone that implied she just figured that out.

“But she was a storm manager, before the Wonderbolts?” Iris said looking confused. Getting hit by more than mild static was normally enough to get you disqualified from the test.

“Yea, they gave her the job because she finished the test after taking the hit.” Twilight said before popping the fry in her mouth.

“Oh,” Iris said. “Surprise, what play did your class settle on doing?”

“Cabin of Heads,” Surprise said with a grin.

Tranquility winced. “That’s a horrible play. Ponies getting killed, and all those heads on the wall.”

“Yea! isn’t it great!?” Surprise said.

“A head by dawn, a head by dawn,” Morning and Evening chanted in giggles.

Iris face hoofed at the outburst. “That play is so campy.”

Twilight laughed. She knew the play, it was an old favorite for Nightmare Night. While bloody, it was too silly to be called scary by most. “That’s right, you’re going to Canter-Art, for stage production,” Twilight said.

“MmHmm,” Surprise nodded. “They need a few of the ponies in production to be heads on the wall. So I volunteered. You should totally come see the play!”

“Okay, I think I could manage that,” Twilight said. She was about to wave the waitress over when two lost looking ponies entered the diner.

Twilight moaned and rubbed at her temples. Iris started to ask if she was okay, but held her question as two mares approached the table. A dark blue earth pony, and a white pegasus trotted up to Twilight with eagerness that seemed out of place.

“Hi Galaxy” the earth pony said.

“Mind if we join you?” the pegasus asked, already taking a seat next to Twilight.

Twilight motioned for the blue pony to sit next to Surprise. “Everypony, this is Moonbeam.” Then she pointed the the pegasus besides her. “And this is Sunny Skies.”

The two each dragged a menu in front of them and gave it a once over. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a dazy burger!” Sunny said.

“What are chilly cheese fries?” Moonbeam asked.

“Only the best thing ever!” Surprise chimed.

Iris traded glances with Morning and Evening before looking to Sunny. “So you two are...” she pointed to Twilight. “Galaxy’s coworkers?”

Moonbeam looked up from the menu that Surprise was explaining to her. “Yes, but please, we do hate talking about work during meals.”

"Iris took the aptitude test at the weather factory today,” Twilight said in an effort to generate some mundane small talk. “She's going to do storm training.”

"Really?” Celestia said. “I thought you had made the Wonderbolts recruiting list.”

“Well...” Iris said. “I did, but I withdrew my name.”

Every head at the table turned to face Iris. “Why would you do that?” Evening asked.

“Well, they only had room for one more. And it was going to be between Tumble Wing and I,” Iris said. “Getting into the Wonderbolts is his life’s dream. I couldn’t take that from him. So, I told them I wanted to wait a year or two before I enlisted. The old find myself routine,” she said waving a hoof.

“Are you ready to order?” A chipper waitress asked, interrupting the moment.

“Yes,” Luna said. “I would like the chilly cheese fries and an espresso milkshake.”

“By the time I get to Ponyville, the entire town is under her want-it need-it spell.” Celestia said, absently fishing the fruit out of her desert.

“All that over a late report?” Evening snickered.

Twilight laughed a little. “And of all things, Applejack’s brother ended up with Smarty Pants.”

“What did he want her for after the spell was broken?” Morning asked.

Twilight sipped her drink for a moment before answering. “My attention. Trading that doll became a bit of a game between the two of us that summer.” An impish grin curled around her face.

“Galaxy!” Luna said in mock offense. “I never knew.”

Twilight shrugged. “It was just a fling.”

“How’s your new research going?” Morning asked, trying to derail the current line of conversation.

“What are you working on anyway? You’ve never mentioned what your big research project is.” Evening said.

“Is it a secret?” Surprise asked, leaning closer over the table.

“No,” Twilight said. “It’s not a secret.”

Luna cleared her throat. “Being immortal has many burdens. Watching friends pass away is among the heaviest. Twilight believes that ponies' souls rest in the stars. But as one collective consciousness.”

Twilight nodded, it was a good explanation. Luna had always been a bit more sympathetic to her search than Celestia. "I’m trying to separate out their voices from the crowd. So I can talk to my friends again.”

“Your friends?” Iris asked

“The Elements of Harmony,” Celestia answered.

“All this time and you still think of them as friends.” Evening said wistfully. A look of admiration turned sad as she thought about the implications of living so long.

“You should go visit them in their dreams,” Surprise chimed.

Twilight opened her mouth to explain how that wouldn’t work, but the words didn’t come. She couldn’t think why that wouldn’t work. Slack jawed she turned to Luna. An unvoiced question passed between them; Luna shrugged.

The world faded from Twilight as her mind spun around this new idea. Dreams were Luna’s specialty, but she had learned the art over the years; a perk of their overlapping domains.

A sudden squeal form Celestia snapped Twilight back to the table. Surprise and Luna leaned against each other laughing, as a rubber spider in front of Celestia was picked up with a wing and bounced off Luna’s head; sending the rest of the table into giggles. Twilight joined in laughing at the silliness, but in the back of her mind she was already forming new ideas.

Twilight entered her chambers with an exhausted sigh. Unraveling her disguise, she plopped down at her writing desk. The evening had been surprisingly fun, and going to bed sounded wonderful. But, she was eager to work on the new theory. Taking out a fresh parchment, she began scribbling out her thoughts—but her eyes protested the strain, by the second paragraph they refused to focus altogether. Forcing herself to jot down a few last ideas, for fear of forgetting them, she laid down her quill and shuffled off to her bed.

She found herself standing among her stars before she even realized she had gone to sleep. Twilight could remember when sleep meant a blissful nothingness, but only barely. For far longer it had meant exile from her body into her divine planescape. She had taken up dream walking as a hobby for the countless hours she was trapped in this other existence. How Celestia just meditated during her sleep was a mystery to both her and Luna.

“Well, I guess there’s no time like the present,” she mused aloud. “Now, how would I find their dreams?”

While Luna browsed dreams like books on a shelf, Twilight needed some point of reference to find the dreamer: their name, cutie mark, where they were sleeping. Something to let her get close enough to feel the dream. This was not enough to find her friends though; the Crone had stricken those things from the list of creation.

“The elements,” she thought. “Maybe that’s the answer.”

Reaching into herself she awakened the Element of Magic, letting it twinkle in her heart for a moment before taking it in her magic. Commanding it to find the other elements she felt it reach out and look for its counterparts. But there were no elements here on the astral plane. This is where it had always ended before. A search for something that was not there. Again she commanded the Element, but this time she did so while reaching out for a dream. She would use her own element as a reference to find a dreamer.

Again the element found nothing to connect with, but she felt several dreams bubble up to her perception, only to fade away just as fast. With desperate abandoned she dropped every thought and magic to grab onto one of the dreams. The other dreams faded from her senses, but she had purchase on one.

Gathering her magic, she calmed herself and focused on the dream. After a moment she began to merge with it, and entered the dreamer's realm.

A fog parted and Twilight found herself standing between a row of trees. The thump of apple bucking rang out in irregular intervals. Twilight forced herself to keep her composure; she couldn’t let herself get her hopes up just yet. Walking through the rows of trees she followed the sound till falling apples caught her attention.

Rushing closer she stopped in confusion as the apple-bucking pony came within sight; it was Morning. She watched as Morning moved the baskets to another tree and gave it a solid buck. Their eyes met just as Morning’s hooves hit the ground.

“Twi!” Applejack’s thick voice called out. “It’s been ages! Where you been?”

“A-Applejack?” Twilight stammered.

Morning trotted over to her. “Don’t act like you don’t know me.” She said in Applejack's voice, as she pressed into a hug.

Twilight held her friend for a moment; it felt like Applejack. Then her friend pulled away, gone was the young unicorn and in its place was her old friend, but she had a confused, lost expression.

“Princess, why are we in an orchard?” Morning’s voice asked.

The Element of Magic stirred within Twilight. She tried to quiet it, but the magic had already taken action. A spark of white magic jumped between them, sending Applejack to her knees. She clutched her head for a moment and groaned. Morning’s voice twisted till it again became Applejack’s.

“Are you okay!?” Twilight asked, helping her friend to her hooves.

Applejack just sat there, blinking at her from a moment. “Wow,” she finally said. “Twilight? why are we in Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Applejack?” Twilight asked again.

“Yea, I suppose,” she answered, scratching her head. Again she looked confused and she patted her forehead. “Where’s ma horn go?”

“What?”

“Ma horn. Make a lousy unicorn without it.” Applejack's form blurred, a moment later Morning sat where Applejack had been. “That’s better,” Morning said, the voice and body matching.

“I don’t understand...” Twilight said, confusion and fear edging into her voice.

“Well, Dash and I got bored waiting for you, so we decided to come back and find you.”

It was Twilight’s turn to sit and blink. “Where’s Dash then?”

Morning looked around. “I don’t know where sis went off to. Where are we anyway?”

“This is a dream, your dream,” Twilight said.

Morning smiled. “Oh. Well, I guess that explains it. Wonder where the other girls ended up?”

“You only know where Dash is...” Twilight asked, her ears sinking.

“Well ya. We went together, thought it be fun to be sisters. And I was always a bit jealous of unicorns. As for the others. Well, Rarity was the first, she didn’t like not having a body. Then Shy went, she missed being able to help ponies. Pinkie was holding out for you when we left.”

“Iris, Tranquility, and Surprise,” Twilight blurted.

Morning nodded her head. “You know, I bet you’re right. Rarity kept rambling about how she want to be a pegasus.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t find you up there,” Twilight said.

“An’t your fault.” Applejack's voice crept back into Morning body, the form slowly shifting with the accent. “Besides, we found you.”

The world blinked and the trees began to fade away. “You're waking up,” Twilight said.

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll see ya around.” Applejack said, waving goodbye and the world faded bit by bit.

As the dream crumbled around her, Twilight watched her friend fade away. She wanted to laugh. Everything seemed so ridiculous now. All her magic, unicorn and divine, hadn't found her friends. She’d been talking to Applejack and Dash for six months now; as a break from looking for them. Twilight chuckled and waved at Applejack as the last of the dream unraveled.

“Oh no!” Twilight blurted, the thought of Morning waking up and remembering this dream dawning on her.

She had no idea how this would affect her. Having an entire past life crammed into your memories over night didn’t sound healthy. She had waited this long, she couldn’t risk her friend's well being. With a flair of her horn, Twilight bound the dream and Morning’s mind in a forget-me spell; sealing the dream deep within Morning's subconscious.

The spell took hold and the dream collapsed, sending Twilight back to her stars. Their murmur sounded different to her now. Five voices were missing from it, they had been for a dozen years.

Unspoken

/ / / Unspoken / / /

Luna wasn’t familiar with this colt, or his problems, but the dream had caught her attention. Now inside it, she found herself mesmerized with the creativity of his self torment. Trapped on an angry sea, the colt battled sea monsters from the deck of a floundering ship. He fought with everything he had, but his own dream fouled him at every turn.

Hidden among the storm clouds, Luna nudged the dream. The ocean calmed, and the ship floated higher. Bit by bit the monsters fought with less fury and the colt’s luck turned. With the playing field leveled, the little colt defeated one monster, then another. She could have sundered them, but she felt these were monsters the little one need to slay himself. Content with her work, Luna turned and stepped out of the dream.

The dream parted like fog, letting her step back into the space between. As the mist of the dream vanished, Luna expected to find the glittering expanse of the moon and stars. What she found, was a haggard and twitchy Twilight Sparkle.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked.

“Yes! Not really,” Twilight answered.

Stepping clear of the dream, Luna let it drift away. “Do you want to talk about it here, or in creation?” she asked. It had been a long time since she had seen Twilight this shaken, even longer since she had come to her for help.

Twilight didn’t speak, instead she turned away from her and began to weave a spell. It was one Luna herself had taught Twilight: her dream finding spell. As a dream bubbled forth, Twilight opened her mouth, but whatever words she had in mind refused to come out. Again she began to speak, but only a groan came out. Stamping her hooves, Twilight resigned her efforts to talk and just pointed at the dream.

Walking up next to Twilight, Luna felt the dream Twilight had summoned. It was the quiet, peaceful dream of a young mare. “Who is this?” she asked.

Twilight’s magic rippled over the dream, holding it in place, but careful not to alter it. “Evening, this is my friend Evening’s dream,” Twilight chanted.

“Okay...” Luna said. Twilight worried her when she got like this. Her divine gift had a few quirks that neither Celestia or hers had. They had figured out long ago it was best to just let her show them, over trying to explain anything. “Do you want to go into the dream?” Luna asked.

“Yes,” Twilight said in a sigh of relief. The stars’ geis was an infuriating shackle—showing Luna the old memories within Evening was her only option. Not waiting for Luna, she stepped into the dream. Lush grass greeted Twilight’s hooves as she waded into the dreamer’s world. Breathing in the dream's serenity, Twilight let it calm her frustrations.

A smaller-than-real Evening sat in a boundless field. In the skies, a Wonderbolts performance played out for the sole spectator. Looking back Twilight watched Luna manifest and blend with the dream, her form shifting from alicorn to spangled pegasus. She started to allow the dream to define her form too, but decided against it. She wanted Dash... Evening to recognize her. Hopefully she could show Luna what she couldn’t tell her.

Evening didn’t notice her sit in the grass beside her; joining in watching the show. The host of fliers danced in the air above their heads. Their wings making every movement properly, the stunts in proper form. Dreams were normally stylized, details often omitted for the sake of expression. Fine details were reserved for things of special importance.

“Do you want to fly with them?” Twilight asked, leaning closer to the filly.

Evening jolted to the sudden presence of her mentor, then grinned. “You’d let me ride on your back?”

Twilight smiled, shaking her head slightly. Dash’s love for flight burned within Evening: she was amazed she hadn’t already taken to the air under the power of her own dreams. Perhaps the logical side of her brain was holding her to the false gravity. “There’s a spell that will let you fly.” Twilight said, dragging a hoof across the turf, she tore away the grass and exposed fresh soil. Altering the dream as little as she could, Twilight formed incomprehensible signs and scribbles in the exposed dirt. It was nothing more that a ink blot, but it was enough for the unicorn to assume what she wanted it to be. And that’s all that mattered in dreams.

Looking over the stylized formula, Evening’s horn flared. Its light scouring her sides, erupting feathers from her coat. Pink magic and yellow feathers, became orange wings that glowed like burning embers. The filly’s face beamed in ecstasy as she used her construct wings to power off into the sky.

Luna couldn’t help but smile at the foal-like joy radiating from Evening as she soared into the sky. Flying dreams were always emotionally powerful: it was strange to Luna that Evening had needed a sort of permission to indulge in the fantasy. “Is that what you wanted to show me?” Luna asked skeptically.

The two watched in silence as Evening flew among the Wonderbolts. “No,” Twilight finally said. Reaching into her magic, Twilight again stirred her element, she would awaken Dash like she had Applejack. But her element would not answer her. She reached deeper, but she found only herself.

Luna jumped back, the space around Twilight crackled and hazed black. Panic and fear laced Twilight’s magic as it scoured blindly for something. The dream absorbed the taint, the grass wilted and the skies darkened; the foal’s dream would soon be a night terror. Luna shattered the dream.

Evening jolted out of her sleep, cold silence and mid-morning sun greeted her as she reoriented herself. She didn’t know what had woken her, but she was undoubtedly awake.

“You ok?” her roommate asked from her writing desk. “You were sleeping kinda restless.”

“Yea,” Evening said, rubbing at her withers. She could still feel the phantom wings. “Really strange dream.” Checking the clock, her first lecture of the day wasn’t for a few hours yet. “I’m going to the library,” Evening said blandly. Sliding out of her bed she left the dorms and headed across the lunar campus.

The space between dreams rushed in to fill the void. Luna’s senses reeled at the shock, but she righted herself in a thought. Inky smoke still clung to Twilight. Lunging forward, Luna threw her hooves around Twilight, and flared her own magic.

“Easy girl,” Luna cooed into her ear.

Love and concern pressed against Twilight’s panic. Where was her Element? “Where is it!?” Twilight asked.

“Shh...” Luna stroked Twilight’s neck. “Focus on me. I’m here.”

Luna’s words and magic dragged her out of her panic, just enough that she found the smoke her aura was creating. Dark magic, on accident: this wasn’t good. Celestia’s oldest lesson echoed in her memories, see your own magic first.

Twilight relaxed in Luna’s grip. In steady steps, the aether around them returned to its normal state. Letting go of Twilight, Luna waited for her to speak. But Twilight’s magic winked out all together, and her form dissolved from the space between. With a frown Luna followed suit.

Awake and in her bed, Twilight kept her eyes closed. She wanted to cast a spell, any spell, just to see that she could. Equally she wanted to find her Element of Magic, to hold its physical form, to see that it was still bound to her. But she held still.

The crack of hooves on her balcony told her somepony had landed. When their hoofsteps entered her chamber, she knew who it was without looking; Luna’s gait was unmistakable.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked.

It was a question that made Twilight’s stomach knot. Unwilling to speak, she nodded. Luna shuffled at the answer: she was relaxing. Luna hadn’t been sure. “Is my tiara on its stand?” Twilight asked, afraid to look herself.

“It is,” Luna answered.

“I tried to use the Element of Magic, but it wouldn’t answer me.” Letting her inner magic stir, Twilight felt ever so lightly for the Element’s power. It was there, right where it always was. But where had it gone?

“Why,” Luna sounded insulted.

“I need to show... you something. That you know I can not speak freely about.”

“And so you were going to use your friend?” Luna asked. Twilight winced at her words. Luna hated to see Twilight like this, but she could not let her follow that path. Stepping closer, she laid on the bed next to the quietly sobbing Twilight. “Shh...” she whispered, placing a wing across her. Twilight jerked away from the touch, but then relaxed into it “I know. I know,” Luna said, wiping away a tear from Twilight’s cheek.

Evening slid another book off the shelf and scanned its pages. Finding the desired passage, she sat it next to the book that had referenced it; which in turn laid next to the book that had reference that one, and the dozen other books it had referenced. The family tree, by way of bibliography, stretched the span of several bookshelves within the archives. Tracing the branches or referential material for a previous passage, something nagged at her senses: she was being watched.

Crouched and weary, Evening looked to find Princess Twilight watching her from the edge of the sprawling mass of books. She should have found relief in that, but something in her mentor’s expression worried her.

“Princess?” she asked. One word, but many questions.

“I’m sorry,” Princess Twilight answered. She was smiling, but her eyes were wet.

“For what?” Evening asked, walking towards the Princess, careful not to temple the books.

“I tried to use you. I did use you. And my element rebuked me for it.”

“I don’t understand. Your element? Are you okay?”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile at Evening's concern for her. “Yes, I’m fine. It was temporary. Are you okay though?”

“Yea. Why wouldn’t I be. Is this about your friends?”

“I owe you an explanation. Or as much of one as I am allowed to. Do you know what happens when a pony dies?” Twilight asked, her voice shaky.

“You said they were in the stars. Like the old legends say, the dead go to live in the stars, shooting stars mean a loved one is watching.”

Twilight nodded. “That is all ponies are meant to know. Something older than knowledge made it so. Not even I can break that law.”

“You know more don’t you?” Evening asked.

Twilight only looked at Evening for a moment before speaking, "I used you in an attempt to get around that. It was a breach of our friendship at the deepest level.”

“That was actually you in my dream, wasn’t it?”

Again Twilight answered with a long silence before she spoke, “Can you forgive me?”

“Of course,” Evening said leaning forward to press necks, but halting as she remembered the Princess’s status. Twilight frowned at her hesitation; reaching forward, she pulled the filly into a hug. A soft smile returned to her face as she felt Evening relax into the embrace and return the hug in earnest.

What time is it anyway?” Evening asked.

“Almost eight o'clock,” Twilight answered, glad for a change of topic.

“Horseapples, I missed my lecture.”

“Which one?” Twilight asked.

“All of them.”

Twilight laughed. The stacks were easy to lose yourself in. She had missed her fare share of lectures after getting engrossed in the solar archives. “So what are you researching?” she asked. Looking to the sprawling collection of books, she recognized the pattern, it was a trick she had used many times.

“Well, I started looking up spells that would give me wings.”

“Those don’t work like you hope they do,” Twilight interjected.

“Yea, I remember Spike’s story about Rarity. And all the ones I found look pretty much the same, all evocation school. So, I started looking up transmutation, to see if I could make my own spell, and that lead me to fate manipulation—cause what if I could trick creation into thinking I had been born a pegasus.”

Twilight winced at Evening train of thought. She knew where she was going and it wasn’t pretty. Rewriting fate, even temporarily, was second only to time travel in its complexity.

“-that’s when I found this,” Evening said, bringing Twilight back to the present, as she hefted a book in front of her.

Twilight took the book into her magic, and turned it to see its spine Visions in the Dark by Dream Weaver . “I knew this author. But I don’t remember her writing this,” Twilight mused.

“You knew Dream Weaver?” Evening’s voice pulled her from the page.

“Yea, she was just a little younger than me.” Twilight answered, opening the book to examine its contents. “How do you know about her?” she asked, snapping back to the present.

Evening shrugged. “There’s a whole chapter about her in our book on the dangers of magical obsession.”

“There’s a textbook on that?” Twilight asked, forgetting the book she was holding for the moment.

“There’s a class on that. Mandatory for all incoming students.” Evening's tone made it clear she found the class a waste of her time.

“Huh,” Twilight said, making a mental note to audit the class next semester.

“I have no idea where that book belongs,” Evening said, wading back into her sea of books. “It was mis-cataloged. Had the number for Fate Forgotten. Still haven’t found that...” Evening said, glaring at a shelf Twilight assumed the book had come from.

Returning her attention to the book, she flipped through its pages. Twilight found her old colleague's familiar pattern of multi-chapter preambles, punctuated by the cryptic text of her visions. Dream Weaver died penning her thirty eighth vision; so she had thought. But here were four prophecies that were unknown to her. These were lost works.

The first vision rang true, as all her others had been: a warning that could have saved much heartache during the conflict between the deer and the griffins.

“I have a copy of Fate Forgotten in my personal library,” Twilight answered slowly.

Curiosity sent her to the final pages, in search of a prophecy not yet come.

“Awesome!” Evening cheered. Twilight didn’t hear her.

In the third century since the taming of chaos, harmony will ebb. The power of the dark ascends and the light retreats to security, so that the dark cannot encroach upon it. When the hearts of harmony fall from the stars, the transition from the old to the new time is already accomplished. For it is just when perfect equilibrium has been reached that any movement may cause order to revert to disorder.

New Hope

// A New Hope //

“GOOD MORNING!” Twilight sang, shoving open the diningroom door.

“Ack!” Celestia winced, reeling away from a grapefruit that had taken the distraction as an opportunity to attack. “You’re in a bright mood,” Celestia said wiping her eye with a napkin.

“Yes I am,” Twilight said, strolling to her place beside Luna. She paused a moment to plant a kiss on the unsuspecting alicorn’s cheek.

Looking to Twilight, Luna’s horn lit to a dim glow. Its energy washed over Twilight, electing a burst of giggles from her.

“Nope, not a changeling,” Luna said.

“Oh, come on,” Twilight said, placing some fruit on her plate. “Is it really that strange for me to be happy.”

“Yes,” Celestia and Luna answered as one.

“So what has you in such a mood?” Luna asked. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Twilight idly chewed at her toast, before answering. “There’s a storm planned for tonight.”

Celestia nodded dumbly at the comment. “Yes... a lighting storm, to start washing the snow off the mountain, and freshen the air up a bit.”

“And the storm team has a new member,” Twilight added.

“Oh yes,” Luna said. “Your friend Iris finished her training. This is her first storm as a team leader, isn’t it?”

“Yep. I’m going to go hang out with her after she gets off work.”

Twilight laid her quill down and looked out the window. The weather ponies were busy darkening the sky. The winter had been long, but good. Twilight had taken every opportunity to be there for her friends. She had organized more study groups in the past six months, than she had in the last sixty years. It was worth it though. Iris had made severe storm manager in the fast-track program. Morning and Evening were excelling in their classes. Tranquility’s score in anatomy had gotten her offers from several programs. Surprise hadn’t needed anything in the way of studying, but she had devoured every folklore, true crime, and horror book Twilight had given her.

While she had become the five mares' go-to for all things academic, she refused to be only a teacher: their weekend dinners were sacred in her schedule. In the guise of Galaxy, she laughed and ate with them as casually as one could, but therein was a certain problem. It was not that she was older than them; she was older than almost all ponies. It was that they were so very young.

She had watched them grow in mind and body this past year. But still, Surprise no older than Scootaloo was when she had gotten her mark; the twins only a year older than that. Taking the girls to the Hearth's Warming play had been fun, but other than that, she had found very little to do with them. They deserved a normal youth; to grow and experience everything for the first time. She could not rob them of that treasure. She had to simply watch and wait. Offer the role of mentor when they asked for it, be a friend when they needed it.

Tranquility was a little different; she offered an adult mind to talk and study with. Helping her with her exams had been a truly fun experience, learning as much herself as Tranquility. She was still in her youth though, and her classes would consume her life for the next year. Maybe more if Dr. Frost Hooves talked her into joining his gynecology program.

Twilight smiled at the indigo streak moving the black clouds into place. She kept an eye on Iris as the weather team darted about in a final safety check, before kicking the storm into action. Iris had spent almost every waking hour in Cloudsdale’s training centers since fall, but now she was free of classes, and an adult in every sense.

/ / /

With a relieved sigh Iris watched their storm lite up the dusky night. "Great job, everypony," Iris congratulated her team. The veteran team had taken to their new, young manager much better than she had feared. "Now let's go home."

The team of professionals melted into a collection of parting friends. Iris lingered with the group, both accepting and giving praise to the members as they peeled away one by one to head home. Once the last two flew off Iris called the day’s work done and she let herself relax. Iris breathed in the ozone tinged air and smiled. Her eye traced the edges of the thunder heads and smiled. Their dark mass hung perfectly around the white cliffs of Canterlot. The thunder growled deep and long, promising and evening light show before a long steady rain.

Nodding at a job well done, Iris flew off to her own new apartment.

At their last dinner, Twilight had mentioned visiting her after work, but seeing her waiting by her doorstep was still surprising. “Princess Twilight,” Iris said with a little bow. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“None of that court stuff here,” Twilight said waving a hoof. “I just wanted to give you a housewarming present, and see how you were.”

Iris smiled, opening the door and gesturing for Twilight to enter. “Well then, please come in. It’s about to rain.”

The apartment was small, but nice. It reminded Twilight of Pinkie’s place above Sugar Cube Corner. She missed that place. “Hope I’m not interrupting any plans.”

Iris laughed and turned on some more lights. “Not at all. I was merely going to drop off my work bag, then go to the gym,” Iris said, opening a door to the bedroom to drop off said bag.

Through the open door a red cape hanging on the wall like a trophy caught Twilight's attention. “Is that a Cutie Mark Crusader cape?”

“Sure is. Four year member before I got my mark." Iris looked to the cape with a smile. "I need to give back; volunteer with them now that I have free time. You actually knew Scootaloo, didn’t you?”

“Wait,” Twilight said, scrunching up her face. “You didn’t get your cutie mark till-”

“Last spring, right after you came back,” Iris proudly finished the sentence for her.

Twilight giggled. A grin of pure joy threatening to split her face. “How did you get your mark?”

“Well, that month’s homework for the Crusaders was, find what you want others to see in you. I think better when I’m flying, so I was gliding around Canterlot, doing a few tricks, when all of a sudden there was a beam of white light stretching from the castle to the stars. It was blinding, but beautiful. When I landed to get a better look at it, I noticed everypony coming out into the streets to marvel at it. Hundreds of ponies were stopping their lives to look at this, and they were all smiling. This little moment of beauty had made their day different, special. I wished I could affect ponies like that. The rest as they say, is history.”

“That light,” Twilight said. “Was Morning and Evening getting their cutie marks.”

“Really? That's funny, because that same night, Tranquility got her mark. A cart wrecked because of that light, and she helped a stallion get to the hospital.”

Twilight laughed. She’d bet good bits that Surprise had gotten her mark that night too. Fate, it seemed had a sense of humor, or maybe she just wasn’t very creative. Digging into her saddlebags, Twilight pulled out a colorful box. “Here’s a housewarming gift. I hope you like it.”

Opening the gift, Iris pulled out a jacket cut for a pegasus, its color between hers and Twilight’s. The material felt warm and soft, but looked like crystal. “What is this made of? And why do I feel like I should know this?” she asked, running her hooves over the cloth.

The coat was a gift from Rarity, after Twilight had gotten her wings, but before her growth spurt. She'd only been able to wear it for a year, but she could never bring herself to get rid of it. Iris didn’t need to know that: Rarity would appreciate the humor of the regift. “It’s crystal fabric. Don’t worry about being gentle with it. I’ve seen that stuff survive timberwolf claws and dragon fire.”

“Are... you sure?” Iris asked, slipping on the jacket to test its fit. “I mean, I didn’t know there was anything from the crystal empire left in Equestria. At least that’s not in a museum.

Twilight smiled. “You said you were going to the gym. Mind if I join you?”

Spike looked up from his book at the flash of lavender light. Setting the book down, he walked into the main room. It was rather odd for Twilight to teleport home, it normally meant an emergency. What he found was not a panicked Twilight reacting to bad news, but a Twilight walking towards the bathroom; very slowly. Her face contorted in concentration, and every step taken as though a wrong move would shatter her.

“Twilight, are you alright?” he asked.

“Everything hurts ... can’t lift my hooves.”

“Are you alright?” Spike repeated.

Twilight tried to laugh, but it hurt too much. “Went to the gym with Iris.”

“Ah, trying to keep up with the young ones. Surprise has already taught me better. Do you need help?”

“No, just need a hot bath. Actually, have the kitchen send up a cheese and tofu omelet. I need protein. How long are you all in town?” Twilight asked, using her magic to open the door to the bathroom. “I’m going to start going with her twice a week. You could come too.”

“We’re going back to Ponyville this weekend. But, why would I want to hurt myself like that.”

Turning to face Spike, Twilight cracked a smirk. “She thinks you’re handsome.”

Spike blinked at the comment. He opened his mouth to ask what she meant by that, but Twilight closed the door behind her before he could speak.

Old Flames

Spike craned his neck to take a sip of coffee; he liked watching his daughter work. It'd been almost three years since his return, but part of him felt like he'd never left.

He let his eyes wander around the familiar shop. The carousel boutique had been Rarity's creative epicenter for her clothing. Now it was Lavender’s for jewelry. One old ponyquin was all that remained of Rarity's shop, now used by her daughter as a display for larger works. The building was the same though, his mind’s eye could peel away time and its change at a whim. Racks of fabric where Lavender’s workbench sat, the hum of a sewing machine instead of the tap of a goldsmith's hammer, clothing racks where glass cases now display fine jewelry.

“You have that look again Father,” Lavender’s voice pulled him from his nostalgia.

“Just remembering,” he answered with a lazy smile. "Is Surprise still coming home this weekend?"

Lavender nodded, trading the hammer in her hand for a file. “Star Wing will be home tonight too.”

Spike’s teeth flashed a wicked grin.”Oh?”

“Father. I’m sorry you missed the chance to torment him when we started dating. But he’s my husband now. You’re going to send him to an early grave if you keep that up.”

Spike frowned. “Aww... But he’s fun, he doesn't back down from me.”

Lavender only answered him with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay,” Spike chuckled. “I’ll be good.”

“Or. You could be a darling, and run over to Lapus’s shop and pick up the gems he’s cutting for me.”

Spike shook his head with a grin. Setting his cup down, he rose to his feet. “I’ll bring back breakfast while I’m at it. How does something from Hearth and Bread sound?” he asked, moving away from the furniture before beginning his transformation spell.

Lavender’s ears perked up at the offer. “Oh! Get some gem dust from Lapus and we’ll mix it in the cream cheese!”

“Bagels it is then,” Spike said as his green smoke lifted from him. Throwing a saddlebag on his back, he opened the front door. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

The breakfast rush was in full swing when Spike arrived at the old Sugar Cube Corner building. Now Hearth and Bread, it carted to more savory pallets than sweet tooths. Picking up his order from the counter, he began the walk across town to Lapus’s. Looking up he smiled at the sight of Canterlot; the clouds framing the city looked like pure silver in the morning sun.

“Glad you like it.”

Spike jumped at the sudden voice beside him. Looking towards it, he found Iris looking back at him. “Um... Hi.”

The young mare had a horrible crush on him. Twilight had been playing wingmare for her ever since they had started working out together. He felt bad about it really. Not that he didn’t think she was pretty. Quite the opposite, he thought she was incredibly attractive, but looks only went so far. They had nothing in common, and he wasn't about to toy with her feelings: he could never forget the torment of half-given attention.

“What brings you into town?” Spike asked continuing his walk to the gem cutter.

Iris fell into step beside him. “Tranquility is graduating tonight. We're taking her out to celebrate after the ceremony. I was wondering if you would want to come too ... with me ... as a date.”

Spike stopped and blinked at Iris. She had finally come out and said it; a date. She’d been clever about it too. She knew he was going to the ceremony, with both Surprise and Twilight having asked him to come. “I...” Spike drawled. He was going to see her at the graduation ether way. Avoiding her would be more complicated than just rolling with it. Gathering his thoughts, Spike rubbed his nose with a hoof. “Iris, are you sure you want to ask me on a date?”

She nodded with a confident smile. “MmHmm.”

Spike sighed. He’d tried to date while he was in Draconia, but that hadn't gone very well. He was more pony than dragon it seemed. What did he have to lose? It would be a fun night out, with a pretty mare by his side. Iris would learn he was actually pretty boring, and his exotic appeal would fade.

“Okay, it’s a date.”

Iris grinned ear to ear. “See you tonight then,” Iris said before launching into the air.

Hoof steps sounded on the balcony behind Twilight. She didn't have to turn to know it was Luna. The brush of a wing from her flank to her neck confirmed the guess.

“Somepony’s hoovsey this evening,” Twilight said, turning to meet Luna’s impish grin.

”Not my fault you decided to become a gym bunny. Don’t look so good, if you don’t want my attention,” Luna said, before nipping at Twilight's neck, earning her a swat in the nose from Twilight.

Leveling her best insulted look, Twilight pulled away from Luna. “I knew it along, you only love me for my body.”

Luna put a hoof to her chest in mock indignation. “I never said otherwise.”

Twilight giggled, the contagious laughter breaking Luna’s act as they both took to laughing.

“Alright you two. Don’t make me get the hose ... again,” Celestia’s voice called from the balcony.

“How did you get a garden hose into the dinning room anyway?” Luna asked turning to face her sister.

“You have your secrets, I have mine dear sister. If we want to catch Tranquility's graduation, we need to be going.”

Twilight nodded, and headed for the window. They would be going in their alter egos today. Two years of hard work had set Tranquility at the top of her class. Within the week she would be working at Canterlot general as an apprentice nurse.

Taking to the air, the three alicorns glided down to the gardens below. Weaving their magic, they disguised themselves in their mundane persona.

“How are my apprentices doing?” Galaxy asked as they began to walk.

“Straight A’s, but we’re going to have to replace the alchemy lab,” Sunny said, “I’m taking that out of your budget buy the way.”

Moonbeam nodded. “Evening's last dissertation was excellent. I’ll be surprised if she isn’t done with her thesis by next year. Also you owe me a new carriage.”

“New carriage?” Galaxy asked.

“Self-flying carriage,” Moonbeam answered.

“Oh. Didn’t fly so well?” Galaxy asked. Morning had told her about the lab incident. Apparently it had already earned the title of, The Coffee Incident. The matter with the carriage was new to her though; unless it was what Evening had vaguely referred to as, the practical that didn’t go so well.

Moonbeam shrugged. “I’m told it flew like a demon ... straight into the side of the mountain. The wreckage was quite the chore to clean up.”

Turning a corner, the three looked up at the gray stone arch leading into the medical college. White garland strung from its lamps funneled the attending guests into the inner courtyard.

Sunny perked up as she remembered something. “I have a formal request from Surprise on my desk. She wants to use part of the castle this coming Nightmare Night. Something about a haunted castle tour. It’s for her final project at Canter Arts.”

Moonbeam let loose a malevolent giggle. “Oh please sister, approve that.”

“I was going to, but now I’m not sure...”

Warm Days, Cool Nights

Taking a sip of her warm cider, Celestia looked down at the bustle in the courtyard. The students from Canter Arts had been buzzing about since yesterday, transforming the old school tower into a haunted castle.

Retired from use by the school, the building had spent the past several hundred years known as the overflow building. It had never been the same after Spike tore the roof off, the day Twilight got her cutie mark.

“Think they will be ready by tonight?” Celestia asked. Nightmare Night was still four days away, but the tours through the castle were supposed to start tonight.

Luna nodded. “I snuck in a few hours ago. It is further along than it looks.”

“Is that Tranquility?” Celestia asked, pointing to a pony pulling a wagon into the corner of the courtyard. “What she doing over there?”

“A first-aid station is required for any event with more than one hundred ponies. She volunteered to run it.”

“Oh, that sounds lonely. We will have to go keep her company when we can.”

Picking up her own mug of hot cider, Luna breathed in the warm scent of the mulling spices. “Twilight said the same thing.”

Tranquility closed the lid on her first-aid trunk. With luck she wouldn’t need to open it this week; not for more than a scraped knee anyway. Walking out of the tent, she check that everything was in order outside. She would spend the next several evenings here, no sense in not making it as comfortable as possible. She’d even set up the tent in the wind sheltered side of the courtyard. In plain sight to where ponies would be lining up for haunted castle tours, but far enough away to avoid the crowd.

The only thing she didn’t like was that she shared the corner with a horribly depressing statue. Looking up at the memorial, she frowned. The dead god Discord, and the tragic hero Fluttershy; victims of the Crystal Empire’s curse. The two friends' stony likenesses forever stuck mid-stride.

“I used to hate this monument,” a voice said from behind her. Turning around she found Princess Twilight looking up at statue with a warm smile.

“It must have been a very hard time for you,” Tranquility said.

Pressing necks with Tranquility, Twilight sighed. “It was a bad year, but that was a long time ago. How are the preparations for Surprise's show going?”

Pulling back from the embrace, Tranquility’s eyes wandered back to the stone figures. “Good. They finished setting up this morning. They're rehearsing now. First tour group goes in at sunset. Can I ask what actually happened?”

“The official story was pretty vague, wasn’t it.” Twilight paced over to the tent, and took a seat.

Following close behind, Tranquility opened up a box, revealing it to be a portable stove. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” Lighting the burner, she laid a tea kettle on to heat.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind telling you,” Twilight said, perking up at the promise of hot tea. “But please, this stays with us.”

When exactly she had become the Princess’s confidant, Tranquility couldn’t put her hoof on. The only thing she found strange about the relationship was how natural it felt. Leaving the water to boil, Tranquility gave Twilight her full attention.

“Black Heart had corrupted the crystal heart; with it she was going to strip love itself from Equestria. Fluttershy and Discord were in the castle. While the rest of us were outside, keeping ... Black Heart busy. We know they reached the Heart. They did something, we still don’t know what. Whatever it was stripped her of the heart’s power. But it also started freezing the whole city over with ice, trapping Black Heart inside—along with most the crystal ponies. The rest of us managed to outrun it.”

Tranquility blinked. “Where did Black Heart even come from?” That was the part that had always confused her.

“She didn’t kill Cadence, she was Cadance. When my brother was killed by that changeling, she snapped.”

“Crystal hearts never break, they shatter,” Tranquility quoted from some distant memory. Twilight gave her a puzzled look, before her expression faded to a smile.

Tranquility pushed the strange memory aside, returning on the idea of Cadence becoming Black Heart. “She changed, like Luna?”

“Which is why we never told anypony about that part.”

Tranquility nodded, two made a pattern. It was better if ponies didn’t know. “I understand.”

Surprise fluttered across the courtyard to Tranquility’s tent. “Hello!” she cheered landing just outside the tent.

“Ready for your first group?” Twilight asked, pouring a cup of tea, and floating it to Surprise.

“Oh, thank you!” Surprise said, cradling the cup in her hooves. The day had been warm enough, but as the sun had started getting low, it had turned rather chilly. “Sure am,” she said, before taking a sip of the warm tea.

“I wanted to say thank you again for helping me out.” Reaching into her mane, Surprise pulled out two cards and hoofed them over to her friends.

“Thank you!” Tranquility said, pulling several vouchers for free coffee and pastries from Pony Jo’s out of the card.

Twilight read her card, before looking to the gold-colored ticket tucked inside it. Opening night, group 01, it said.

“It would mean a lot to me you were at the opening,” Surprise said.

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

“Awesome! You seen Iris? I have a ticket for her too.” Surprise chuckled. “It was funny seeing her lead that group of Cutie Mark Crusaders around earlier.”

Tranquility stepped out from under her tent, scanning the sky for something unseen. “Spike came by to take her to dinner after the meeting. They’re probably out flying by now though.”

Surprise giggled. “I’ll leave them alone then, but if you see them, tell them I have free tickets for them.”

Sleep Perchance to Dream

Tranquility paused to stare out the hospital window. The Hearth's Warming decorations, glowing in the falling snow made her want to curl up with a book and a cup of coffee. Maybe she’d visit one of the girls after work.

Thankfully it was quiet in the hospital today. Walking back to her desk, she sat down to sort through the day’s paper work.

*POP*

Tranquility’s ears jumped at the strange sound reporting from the waiting room. Clamoring hooves and confused voices echoed around the corner.

“Somepony help her!” a tenor voice yelled.

Stampeding down the hall, Tranquility burst into the waiting room, only to slide to a halt. Her and a dozen other ponies stood gaping at the bizarre and macabre site. The creature stood tall enough that he had to stoop to not hit the ceiling, and no two parts of him matched. Tranquility knew she was looking at Discord. A very tattered looking Discord; but there was nothing else that it could be.

Discord was not what she or anypony else was looking at though. They were looking at what he was holding. She couldn’t even call it a corpse; a mummy maybe. A hide of yellow, stretched over desiccated flesh. Clumps of ice still clinging to its pink mane. The poor thing looked to be desperately clinging to something frozen around her hooves.

“Do something!” Discord said, thrusting the frozen body towards the shocked crowd.

One of the doctors rested a hoof on Discord’s paw. “There’s nothing to do. That pony has been dead for a long time.”

Discord clutched the lifeless thing to his chest, then screwed his face up with determination. “If you won’t, I will.” Holding the body at arm’s length, magic coalesced in the space between him and the frozen pony. Unworldly sounds echoed and crackled as a fog of blue ink grew around the two.

Long ago, Discord had made an enemy of The Weaver. That was the function of his immortality, to be the foil to the middle fate. Today, he would make an enemy of The Maiden and The Crone by his own free will. Those three formless sisters had conspired against him; forced his hand to kill his one true friend. Now he would shred their precious loom.

The ice resisted his will. The the crystal heart frozen to her hooves had died at his command that fateful day, but its dying gasp of magic still lingered in the ice it had made. Twisting his magic into the fabric of creation, he unzipped the ice from Fluttershy, sending the dead heart ringing against the floor.

The flesh was simple. Even as the crystal heart rang from hitting the floor, he found the threads of fate that had set her body to ruin. Plucking them from the loom, her body rippled. Cut free of fate, Discord’s whim returned her body to what it had once been.

Life … here Discord had never ventured. This was not his place. Animating the inanimate was just a trick of letting magic have a bit of free will. This was resurrection; forbidden even to gods.

Reaching into time, he touched the soul of his friend. This was not his chaos. His own magic rebelled at his actions, but his will held it to its course. That little spark of uniqueness that was Fluttershy danced in Discord’s paw. Every fiber of his being told him he had stepped past his authority. Pulling at the spark, he felt the cord of fate that tied it to the loom.

His magic traced the line through the loom. It was a long and thick line, not something he could break. Forcing his magic against its will, he found the thread’s end. It ended in this very room, attached to one of the mares watching him. It continued on into the future as well, but that was beyond his magic to follow.

Frustration turned to confusion as he pondered the connection from the Fluttershy in the past, and the mare in the room watching him. He pulled the thread of fate: she took an involuntary step forward, quivered, then fainted.

Twilight raced through the hospital halls. She had no time for memories.

“She’s over here,” A nurse called to her.

Following the mare, she bolted through the door. Inside, the beep and hum of medical equipment readied her for the worst.

“You didn’t have to come so fast,” Tranquility said. “I just fainted.”

Twilight smiled at Tranquility’s greeting. Almost laughing with relief. “What happened?”

“We need to talk.” Discord’s voice jolted Twilight. She hadn’t seen him sitting in the far corner. Her eyes went wide, and she could only muster a nod for a response.

Twilight’s eyes never left Discord, even as she walked over to Tranquility and gave her the best hug she could from the edge of the bed. “You’re alright?” Twilight asked, finally looking at Tranquility.

“Just an odd reaction to Discord’s attempt at healing magic. I’m fine. They’re just making sure I don’t have a secondary reaction.”

“Again, I apologize about that,” Discord said, raising from his seat. Striding across the room, he gave Tranquility an odd smile before leaving.

“He hasn’t been bothering you has he?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, no,” Tranquility said. “He seemed genuinely concerned about me.”

Twilight nodded, patting Tranquility’s foreleg with her own. “I’ll be right back,” Twilight said to Tranquility, before turning to follow Discord.

Catching up to Discord outside the room, Twilight’s head swam with questions. Before she could ask any of them, Discord snapped his fingers. It had been a long time since she had felt that magic.

As the light of his magic faded from her vision, Twilight found herself in a different room; the hospital's morgue. Discord walked over to one of the drawers, and rested his claw on it, but stopped short of opening it. “She told me to do it. I didn’t want to. She was right though, I had to.” Discord said. His voice held none of its old humor. “I really thought it would kill me too.”

Sliding the drawer open, Discord looked at the old Fluttershy. “Then I woke up and she was … So I came here, to get help. But she was gone already. I guess I knew that. I tried to bring her back anyway.”

Twilight couldn’t look away from her friend’s body. It made her want to go upstairs and hug Tranquility and never let go. “That’s when Tranquility fainted.”

“You know, don’t you?” Discord asked. “Why can’t I tell her? I tried, but something stops me.”

“It’s the Fates. Death is to be a mystery, they won’t let you talk about it.” Twilight paused for a moment, she had to test something. “Reincarnation is real, Tranquility is Fluttershy.”

Twilight and Discord stared at each other for a moment. “Tranquility is Fluttershy,” he repeated, looking a bit surprised at his own words. “It appears my discovery has made a loophole in the rules.”

Twilight smiled softly. “Leave it you,” she said shaking her head. “I can tell Celestia and Luna a bit more than I can mortal ponies, but I’ve never been able to say that much. I guess we can talk to each other about it, since we already know.” Looking back to the body, she frowned. “So what happened?”

Discord reached over to a table, and picked something up. As he removed a cloth wrapping, she recognized the Crystal heart. Its gleaming magic gone, and a crack running through it. “She held it in place, and told me to break it,” Discord said, laying it next to Fluttershy.

Twilight drifted into thought, playing the old memory over in her head with this new information. “The ice, it came out of the heart after your magic broke it?”

Discord nodded. “The instant it cracked.”

“How did you finally get out?”

“I just woke up, the room was mostly thawed.”

Twilight paced for a moment, then stopped to look at the body of her friend. “This is bad. Black Heart could be waking any day. We need to be ready.”

“Getting the band back together?” Discord asked, some of the old mischief creeping back into his voice.

“No! We can’t use the elements …. We’re going to have to fix the heart, and hope it can cure Cadence,” Twilight said, floating the crystal heart next to her.

Pushing the drawer shut, Discord shook his head. “Saving the world is your gig. Do what you want. I’m going to go spend time with Tranquility.”

“Celestia and Luna need to know what happened,” Twilight said, turning to leave. “Tell her I’ll be by later to visit. If she’s out by then, we’ll go get dinner.”

Do not go gentle into that good night,

In the third century since the taming of chaos, harmony will ebb. The power of the dark ascends and the light retreats to security, so that the dark cannot encroach upon it. When the hearts of harmony fall from the stars, the transition from the old to the new time is already accomplished. For it is just when perfect equilibrium has been reached that any movement may cause order to revert to disorder.

“The dark”, why hadn't she realized it was Black Heart? She had her friends back, but she couldn’t let them face this threat. The elements would probably erase her friends’ current personalities, or muddy the old and new beyond recognition. As much as she missed Rarity, she wouldn’t trade Iris for anything.

With the broken heart stuffed in her bag, Twilight looked down at the glass case full of inert elements. Pushing the lid open, she touched each stone in turn. Her touch dissolving the stone, leaving a luminescent gem in its place.

A thud on the balcony distracted her, before she could scoop the gems up.

“Don’t think you’re going alone, do you?” Spike asked.

Looking back to the case, Twilight floated the gems into her bag. “How’d you know?”

“You really think I wouldn’t hear about Discord showing up?”

“Not in less than an hour.”

“Gossip moves faster than sound. You forget who I was married to.”

Twilight laughed, letting a crooked smile hang on her face. “I’d rather you stay here. Watch after the girls. Watch after Iris.”

Spike mirrored Twilight’s smirk. “Yea … about that,” he said, looking over his shoulder.

Iris landed next to Spike, Surprise following close behind her.

Twilight frowned. “How did-” a burst of light cut her words short. When her vision cleared, Evening and Morning were standing in the middle of the room.

“I’m not-” again a flash of magic cut Twilight short; this time bringing Discord in a nurse’s uniform, pushing Tranquility in a wheelchair.

“We’re not late are we?” Discord asked, helping Tranquility to her hooves.

Twilight stomped her hoof, “No! This is not like last time. I’m not letting you risk yourselves!”

Discord scowled, while the others looked confused. “Twilight my dear, those elements in your bag aren’t going to make a rainbow by themselves. I should know, I’ve been on the pointy end of it.”

“So have I,” Luna’s voice echoed from the corner. “Twice actually,” she said stepping into the light of the room. “Twilight, I know your fear, but you need your friends for this.”

Now surrounded, Twilight shrank in on herself. “Celestia used them alone. I can too.”

Luna’s expression wilted from concern to hurt. “My sister did what she had to. She had neither the time or resources to do otherwise.”

Twilight’s heart sank at Luna’s implication. By herself, she could only banish Black Heart in a direct confrontation. With her friends, she could heal her. “I’m going to try and avoid confronting Black Heart. I’ll heal the heart, and use it to restore Cadance.”

Turning to Discord, she hoped to find an ally. “Do you really want to take Tranquility back into that room?”

Discord stiffened at the question. Resting his paw on Tranquility, he met the confused gaze of the other mares. “I think, I don’t have the right to stop her.”

Tranquility nodded. “You would be there for me. I’m going to be here for you.”

Iris wrinkled her nose in confusion. “Restore Cadance? Black Heart killed her,” she said, looking between Spike and Twilight for answers.

Twilight rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. Looking to Luna, she gave her a pleading look to answer that question for her.

“Black Heart is to Cadance, as Nightmare Moon was to myself.”

A murmur of mild shock echoed around the room as her friends commented on what Luna had just told them.

Pacing a circle in front of her friends, Twilight shook her head. “You don’t know what you’re getting into. Each of you already has the spark of harmony. Just being near the elements could cause them to bond to you!”

Evening raised a hoof. “How’s that a bad thing?”

“It’s complicated.” Twilight looked to the elements in her bag. “They come with a little baggage now. I’m scared they’ll change who you are.”

“But.” Twilight paused. Closing her eyes, she chewed over the words in her mind. What was her protest, really? Maybe the elements would erase their current personalities. She’d miss Tranquility as much as she missed Fluttershy, but the core of her friend would still be here. No matter what, Tranquility would one day be gone, and she would be searching for the next incarnation. Even if one of the girls died….

Twilight winced at her own thought; it made life sound cheap. Like a weed that grew back, no matter how many times you cut it. She was glad they didn’t know about their old lives right now, it would make the decision too easy. Steeling herself, Twilight vowed silently to treasure these, and every incarnation of her friends.

Still, it was their lives to spend as they wished. If they truly wanted to help her, help Cadance, she had no right to stop them.

Taking a breath, Twilight opened her eyes to speak, but the room had changed. Rather than her tower, she was in some formless place. Not unlike when her mind would shed its body, and walk among her stars. Yet this place was somewhere else.

“Over here child,” an ancient, but soothing voice called from the fog.

Half walking, half floating, Twilight moved towards the voice. The fog thinned, revealing a wizened hippogriff sitting in front of a massive loom. The creature looked ancient, but her talons moved deftly across her tapestry: wielding razor sharp scissors, she clipped threads to match some pattern only she could see. The severed threads did not fall from the loom though, rather they dissolved into so much dust, and floated up into the sky.

The dust… something about it pulled at Twilight.

The old hippogriff met Twilight’s eyes, then watched a puff of dust float away. “Yes dear, that’s yours. It’s star dust.”

Twilight jumped at the words, her mind and magic recognizing what she was seeing. “You’re…”

“The Crone,” the hippogriff finished her sentence. “I’ve been given many names, but The Crone is the one I prefer.”

Stepping closer to the loom, Twilight strained her senses to follow the origin of the tapestry.

“You’ll not see The Weaver today. She’s still sulking about Discord.”

Twilight turned back to watch The Crone’s work, only to wince as the hippogriff pulled up a whole tuft of material and cut it off. “Why does she care about Discord?” Twilight asked, reaching out her magic to the plume of star dust.

Two dozen souls writhed and whimpered within the dust. She could feel their fear and pain. Something about it told her they weren't ponies. Looking into the cloud, like she would a dream, Twilight saw a group of diamond dogs in a collapsing tunnel. “Shhh…“ she whispered to the dust. “The worst is over, you’re somewhere else now, but safe.” A soft smile crept onto her face as she pushed the cloud a little faster up to the rest of her stars. “Go find your old loved ones, come back when you’re ready.”

The hippogriff continued her work, but a knowing smirk on her face brought Twilight’s attention back to her. “My sister is upset about Discord, because they are bound to each other, much like you and I. Except they have what you would call, an antagonistic relationship. My sister strives to put all of creation into a well ordered pattern. Discord is driven to keep her from doing that. But creation needs them both, or it would die.”

“How could too much harmony be a bad thing? What do you mean, you and I?”

The old crone clicked her tongue, “I expect better from you. You know that following the safe path for too long leads to stagnation.”

Twilight nodded to the old adage, even the prophecy had spoken of equilibrium.

“You and I are also bound, but more like how The Maiden is bound with Celestia and Luna. I’ve waited a long time for you, you know.”

Twilight fell to her haunches, staring at the hippogriff in disbelief. “Why are you just telling me this now? Why not three hundred years ago?”

“You weren’t ready. A year ago, you would have had me cut those foals from the loom, just so you could have their old forms back.”

Twilight hung her head in shame. She would have, without the slightest hesitation. “I still don’t understand. What am I supposed to do?”

The Crone’s gaze bored into Twilight. “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

The world around Twilight winked out. Her body jolted at the feel of cold stone beneath her hooves. Twilight willed her mind, body, and magic to exist in the same place, her senses to clear.

“You okay?” Spike asked from the other side of the green bubble that surrounded her. It’d been a long time since Spike had needed that spell. Based on her brother’s shield, but cast with dragon magic, and tuned specifically to her. Back before she had gotten her magic under full control, it had saved a number of ponies and buildings from harm.

“Yea, I’m back. Full trance? How long was I out?”

The green bubble flickered and faded, showing the host of worried faces on the other side. “Yep,” Spike said. “Glowing eyes and all. Not long though, maybe three minutes.”

Surprise stepped forward, the only one in the room really smiling. “What happened?”

“I … don’t really know.” Rubbing her temples, Twilight grasped at the memory of her strange encounter. Had it been real? It had to have been. “It doesn't matter anyway. Black Heart could be thawing out any time now. I need to be there before she’s recovered. If you all are set on risking your lives for this, we need to get going now.”

Knowing smiles spread among the young mares at Twilight’s words.

Luna nodded before heading to the door. “The train can get you most of the way there, I’ll have guards fly you the rest of the way by carriage. First, I need to tell my sister what is going on. She will want to start preparing for the worst.”

“Are you coming too?” Twilight asked Luna.

“I will wait at the train. I will be there with an escape plan … if needed.”

Twilight turned to face Spike again, and the host of ponies he’d brought into the room. “Alright, last chance to back out. Otherwise, follow me down to the train station. We’re taking the old Crystal line as far as it will take us.”

She didn’t look behind her as she left the room. Using the stairs, instead of the balcony was as much of an invitation as she could bring herself to make. Descending the steps, she didn’t have to look behind her to know the entire room had followed her. She held the awkward silence till Morning and Evening trotted up on either side of her. They both held a pensive expression, but neither seemed willing to speak first.

“Thank you,” Twilight mumbled.

Evening smiled, giving her sister a nod. “We couldn’t let you go alone.”

A sad smile creeped onto Twilight’s face as she looked from Evening to Morning. “Unless all of Equestria is on the line, promise me you won’t try to use the elements.”

Morning nodded. “Are they really that dangerous?”

“I don’t know.” Twilight looked over her shoulder to Spike and the others with a sigh. “That’s what scares me the most; I don’t know.”

The train station was an odd sort of busy. The steamer pulled aside for them only had a few cars attached to it. And the whole place was swarmed with solar and lunar guards.

“Princess Twilight,” a voice of smoke and honey said from behind her. “If you and your friends will follow me, I will take you to your cabin.”

“Daddy!” Surprise cheered, latching onto the Stallion’s neck.

Pulling back from the hug, Surprise looked up at her father. “You coming too?”

Pressing foreheads with his daughter’s, Star Wing smiled. In the little moment of silence, Surprise mirrored her father’s expression. “I go where Princess Luna goes,” he said, breaking the silence. Looking up, he glanced to Twilight, then Spike. “Ready?”

Spike gave him a nod. “Lead the way.”

Star held still for a second, as if waiting for Spike to add something to the statement. With nothing more said, he returned Spike’s nod, and turned to lead them to their car.

Discord followed the group a few steps, before looking back to Spike at the end of the procession. Scratching his chin, he took a step forward--but somehow moved backwards. Casually strolling the wrong direction, before stepped in pace next to Spike. “What was that about?” Discord whispered, resuming a normal forward walk.

Spike raised his head closer to Discord’s; being rather satisfied with himself that he came almost to eye level. “What was what?”

“That little,” Discord waved his paw, searching for the right word, “macho head nod exchange with the bat pony.”

“They call themselves nocturnes, and he’s my son in law.”

“And…”

“And I might have picked on him a bit more than I should have when I got back.”

“Ahh…” Discord cooed. Reaching into elsewhere, he pulled a wallet out. Opening it, a chain of pictures unfolded. “I bet he’d love to see pictures of you in that frilly apron you used wear.”

Spike blinked. Looking around, he made sure nopony as close enough to hear. “The one with the heart and pink lace?”

Looking closer at one of the pictures, Discord smirked. “Hay Mister Star Wing!”

“No no no no.” Spike scrambled to snatch away the wallet, but it was too late, Discord had vanished in a puff of smoke.

Wild ponies who caught and sang the sun in flight.

The train rattled beneath Twilight as she watched her friends settle in. Spike had taken his pony form before getting on the train. “To take up less space,” he had said, but she suspected it was so he could hide from Star Wing’s smirk.

“The guards tell me the line is not safe for more than a few miles past the Neighagra falls,” Luna said taking a seat next to Twilight.

Twilight nodded. “That’s close enough. A strong team can fly a chariot from there to the Crystal Empire. We’ll need to change flyers on the way back though.”

“We have wings to spare. Do not worry.” Luna laid a wing across Twilight’s back, and sat with her in silence for a moment. “You should rest. Go lie down, walk amongst your stars.”

“You’re probably right,” Twilight said, sliding out from Luna’s wing. Giving Luna a kiss on the nose, she turned towards the sleeping cabins in the rear of the car. “Come get me when we’re close. Bring coffee.”

Twilight only half closed the door behind her in the sleeping compartment. She wanted the illusion of privacy, but she didn’t want anypony to feel unwelcomed to disturb her either.

Lying down, she fumbled with the lumpy pillows till she had made a suitable nest. Once she let herself be still she was surprised how tired she actually was. With a sigh, she found herself standing among her stars. Their murmur rang shrill tonight.

The Crone had told her they were bound. The fate’s scissors loosed the souls to become stars, but what was her role? Twilight let herself drift in the current of the stars. Focusing inward, she simply existed. The sea of thought washed over and around her, seeping into her own consciousness. She couldn’t remember the last time she had done this—simply accepted her stars, not search or examine them.

So much fear.

So much regret.

Her stars were hurting.

“Twilight,” Luna’s voice called to her from the edge of her existence. “We have stopped. They are unloading the chariots.”

“It’s the end of the line.” Discord said, kicking the door open and snapping a ramp into existence: somewhere in the distance a brass band played, as banners strung themselves above the exit.

Striding down to the frozen ground, Discord paused to stare off into the north. Somewhere past the snow and hills, stood the crystal tower. The crunching of snow brought his mind back to the present. Tranquility was treading through the snow towards the chariots waiting for them. She had meticulously dressed with the winter gear the guards had given them, and seemed little phased by the cold... unlike the others.

Icy wind blasted Iris’s mane the moment she stepped off the train. The crystal coat Twilight had given her was suddenly the most precious thing she owned. Spike, beside her, shivered in his bare pony form.

“Nope. Not going to make it without dragonfire.” Green smoke hissed against the snow as Spike unraveled back into his dragon self. A low grumble sent smoke out his nose, as a satisfied smile curled his lips. “Oh yea, That’s the stuff.”

“Geez!” Evening groaned stepping into the snow. Her sister winced in silence, pulling the hood of her parka tight around her head.

Surprise however, seemed unaffected; fluttering ahead to join her father at the waiting chariots. Discord watched the young mare bounce around her father. She was a complete contrast to the calm of the night guard.

“You ready?” Twilight asked from behind him.

“No,” Discord answered, looking from Twilight to Luna. “But that’s no reason not to go.”

“I suppose not,” Twilight said. Giving Luna a parting hug, she walked down Discord’s ramp.

Spike flew high over the rest of the party. None of the guards had ever seen these hills, and he want to keep an eye on all three chariots. Through the fog, a glimmer caught his eye. A straight line where nature would not put one: the old Crystal Highway. They were close now, the Crystal Tower should be in sight.

Shifting his voice, Spike growled out in Draconic; its low tones carrying through the wind far better that Equestrian.

“I see the road. I will have them land us there.” Twilight’s voice grumbled back. He could hear Twilight’s voice switch back to Equestrian, but the words were lost to the distance between them.

The guards eased the chariots a little to one side, and began their descent. Without passengers, Spike had no need for gentle movements. A few strong flaps, and Spike was racing ahead of the others, diving towards the road below. He would land hard, with fire in his throat for anything that dared to have laid a trap. He didn’t expect anything, but it was a routine that had served them well in past adventures.

Only snow and fog greeted him when he landed with a thud upon the crystal road. Swallowing his fire, he looked around with more casual interest. He knew about where they were. The massive ice block that was the crystal city should be visible, but he could not find its outline through the fog.

Behind him, he could hear the chariots land, and roll to a stop. Old memories nagged his mind, as Twilight walked up to him.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

Discord shook his head with an uneasy expression “I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

Evening nodded. “Me too. I feel like there’s something I’m supposed to be doing.”

Twilight and Discord shared a glance. She could tell he was exploding on the inside, wanting to tell them, but unable to. “Last chance to turn back.” Twilight said, turning to face the group.

“Not getting rid of us that easily,” Morning said, hefting her saddlebag on. The others echoed her action, stepping away from the chariots.

With the guards left behind to set up a camp, the eight walked the Crystal Highway where they could and trudged through snow drifts where it was covered. Gradually, the outline of the Crystal Empire began to show through the fog, and crumbled black bodies began to show beneath the snow.

“What... are they?” Tranquility asked.

“Changelings,” Spike answered, looking down at a hollow chitin shell protruding from the snow.

Twilight kept her eyes forward, consciously not looking at the black husks. “Black Heart killed them all.”

Iris blinked. “She killed all the changelings that were in the attack?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, she killed all the changelings.”

“Xenocide,” Spike said.”With a thought.”

Twilight lowered her gaze, allowing herself to look at one of the bodies. “Cadance was their perfect enemy. They made a mistake in attacking her a second time. She stripped them of every ounce of love their hive mind had.” Twilight paused. Reaching out a hoof, she touched one of the hollow shells. A whole race sent to her stars in a breath. Had they been scared? Where they trapped in her stars, or had they found new lives?

“You okay?” Surprise asked.

“Hmm?” Looking up, Twilight found herself half surrounded by concerned faces. “Yea, just... thinking.”

Author's Note

Short choppy chapter. Next should have a bit more meat to it.

To die

Author's Note

This is the alternative ending. I'm just being weird, and posting it first.
The planned ending has me stumped, and I don't know how long it will take me to get over it.

To die

Rarity flipped the sign on the library from open to closed. She was so tired. The past year had been the most draining of her life. “Those books came, right?”

“Yea. It was a close thing, but Luna pulled some strings for us and got the last two books, for Applejack and Dash, sent royal priority.” Spike answered, shouldering a backpack and joining her at the door. “Are you ready for this?”

Rarity let out a dry chuckle. “By pulling strings, you mean screaming in their faces.”

“Probably.”

Opening the door, Rarity half stepped out into the evening sun, pausing to meet Spike’s lips with her own. Sometime during the aftermath, he had gone from friend to lover. She couldn’t say exactly when, but he had saved her sanity in the process. Even in the fitful dreams, he brought her comfort.

“Let’s go get Pinkie and Fluttershy,” Rarity said, locking the door behind her. The past year had changed them all, but those two the least. It had taken them both of them to keep Applejack, Dash, Spike, and herself from falling into a darkness that one does not return from.

“The dreams have gotten so real.” Spike mused as the walked.

The dreams… Rarity had to laugh at their mention; or she’d break down crying again. “You know, I’m going to be jealous of your wings when they finish coming in.” Lighting her horn, Rarity massaged the tender growth protruding from Spike’s back; earning her a little coo of pleasure as he leaned against her. His weight surprised her for a moment. She had to keep reminding herself that he was almost her height now. Applejack had said she would look into what had caused his sudden growth spurt; after tonight.

“Hey you two!” Pinkie greeted them as they neared Sugarcube Corner. Trotting up to the two, she gave them each a hug in turn. “So when do I get to plan your first foal shower?”

“Pinkie!” Spike tried to scowl, but the look Pinkie was giving him made it falter into a nervous laugh.

“Let us get through tonight, before we start looking towards the future,” Rarity said, a mischievous grin sneaking onto her muzzle. “Although, if we have reason to celebrate tonight, I am just starting my heat.”

Pinkie and Rarity both cackled at Spike’s stammering.

Sobering from the laughter, Pinkie turned towards Sweet Apple Acres, and motioned for the couple to follow her. “We better get going. Fluttershy is already over there, Dash needed Discord’s help with something.”

Rarity nodded. Fluttershy and Discord, the other odd couple to come out of this year. The dreams had been hard on Discord. Fluttershy had told them he would wake up screaming some nights. That had apparently gotten better over the last few weeks; but whatever he had seen, had placed Fluttershy in the center of his world. Some little nagging memory form the dreams told her she knew the answer to what that was, but it stayed out the the reach of her conscious mind.

Spike rested a claw on her as they followed Pinike into the orchard. She was glad for his touch. Soon this year would be over. They would succeed, or they could move on with what’s left of their lives.

Through the orchard, and out to the west field they walked. The old field was an alien landscape now. Applejack and Dash had transformed it into an arcane shrine that looked more belonging on the cover of a Daring Do book, than on an apple farm.

Stepping from the shade of the trees, and into the evening sun, Rarity could see Luna had already arrived.

“You get the last two books?” Dash asked.

Spike handed her the books wordlessly. The charms woven into her mane rattled and sang as she flipped through their pages. “Thanks, this is just what I was hoping for,” she said tucking the book beneath a wing. Rarity missed watching Rainbow Dash fly. The web of gold and gems entwined around her wings had left her flightless: a sacrifice made to access powers she had no claim to.

It had been a joyless task helping Dash bond those charms to herself, but at least they could be removed. The tattoos scrawled across half of Applejack’s hide would be with her for life. They were fine—when not in use. Rarity would even admit they gave Applejack a rather striking appearance when they were idle. It was how they moved when active that gave Rarity the shivers. The hours she had spent driving that enchanted ink into her friend would never fade from her memory.

Pink filled Rarity’s vision, snapping her from the ill memory. “Let’s go sit with Fluttershy and Luna while they get ready,” Pinkie said with a calm smile. Rarity couldn’t help but mirror it.

Luna gave her a nod of acknowledgement as they approached. Rarity returned the gesture as Fluttershy’s wings embraced both her and Spike. When had she stopped bowing to the princesses?

“How are you two feeling?” Fluttershy asked them. How strange that she had become their rock to cry on.

“Nervous. Feeling a bit useless at the moment,” Rarity answered.

“Nonsense,” Luna said. “Without you, your friends would not have been able to start this quest.”

“Giving them the means to dump half the forbidden section of the Royal Archives into their minds is not exactly my proudest accomplishment. The fact that since then, they have become more powerful mages than I’ll ever be, is also rather humbling.”

Luna shifted her weight, watching Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Discord study the new books. “They have a drive and a knack that is once in a lifetime. But do not envy them, it comes at a price, and you are no less gifted, just in other ways.”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement to Luna’s words.

An hour passed as they watched Applejack and Dash rearrange, and add to the ritual structure. Whatever they had gleaned from the books had warranted some major corrections. It didn’t matter how many times she saw it, she would never get use to seeing those two weave spells. Rainbow’s chromatic aura danced in the air, while Applejack’s red washed over things like a brutal tide. It was equally odd watching Discord being deadly serious as he helped where he could.

“We’re ready,” Applejack announced, walking up to them.

“Same places?” Spike asked.

“No, few changes. You’ve had more physical contact with her than any of us, so you’re going to be in the circle too.”

Spike nodded. She could tell he was nervous, but she knew he would do anything. He had been the first plagued by the dreams; and the one to make them believe there was still a chance.

They made their solemn march into the giant circle, leaving Luna behind to take her place as the external catalyst. She gave Spike one last smile, and a kiss on the cheek, before separating to take their marked places.

Each of the girls donned their element. Pausing a moment, they let silence speak for why they were here. A year ago today, thay had rent their best friend to ash. The stone with Twilight Sparkle’s name on it had nothing beneath it. The dust, that had been her body, was too fine to gather before the wind had taken it.

“Everypony ready?” Dash asked.

Affirmations echoed around the circle till only Applejack was left. Seeing the others prepared, she let her red magic flow from her hooves. Dash responded by letting her rainbow aura fill the air above them. It was terribly beautiful.

Runes and glyphs along the ground lit up with eldritch fire. Strange voices echoed from elsewhere around them. Stone pillars within the circle took on a life of their own, shifting, moving. Rarity tried very hard to ignore the shadows dancing along them.

Arcs of magic caressed Spike, a split second before their elements sprang to life, pouring their magic into the maelstrom. The new magic mixed with the spell till there was only blinding white light.

“From one to another, another to one,” they sang.
“A destiny denied, again to be revealed.”

The white light faded and flickered. Howling wind and biting cold filling its place. Sun on snow still made it hard to see. Rarity’s vision began to focus, Spike’s purple and green stood out against the white, but something was off, he was twice the size he should be. He looked like he did in her… dreams.

“Where’s Twilight?” A strange voice shouted.

Looking around, Rarity found familiar faces she didn’t remember.

“There!” The rose earth pony shouted, her hoof pointed towards the sky.

Above them, two alicorns fought with deadly intent. One, a dark and shadowy figure they did not recognize, the other obviously Twilight. All six elements swirled around her, adding their efforts to the battle.

Rarity reached up to touch the element on her neck, but it was gone. She flapped her wings, hovering in place. It felt strange, yet natural. They were strong wings that could tear apart storm clouds, not the gosmer things from two years ago.

“Don’t leave the circle!” a yellow unicorn yelled.

“You’ll get lost in the dream if you do,” the other yellow unicorn added.

Iris landed back on her spot. “Spike! Can you get her attention?”

Spike bellowed into the air. Green fire erupting from his mouth and nose as he unleashed a noise the rattled her bones. A little part of her said to run from the beast that made that sound, while another part of her said there was safety near it.

“Wow!” Surprise said with a flutter of her wings, as the echo of fire faded.

‘A bit overkill,’ Iris thought. It had worked though. Both alicorns were looking at them. ‘What were they supposed to do?’ She knew she had to stay on her mark, but why?

“Twilight, you have to give us the elements!” Morning shouted.

Twilight used the distraction to weave magic around Black Heart. The web of energy clung to her, and slammed her to the ground. She would set this right once and for all.

Landing between Black Heart and the Crystal Heart, Twilight looked at her brother trapped in the ice; not alive, not dead, he was trapped in his exact moment of death. She could feel his soul trying to join her stars, but unable to.

Using the elements and the heart, she could stop it. She could forever put him out of the reach of the Crone’s shears, and heal Cadence in the process.

Reaching within herself, Twilight pulled that little spark that was herself out, and joined it to the elements’ magic.

“No!” Morning shouted. “Don’t! Give us the elements. We can fix this.”

Twilight shook her head. “I can’t use you like that. The elements will change you. I want you to live your own lives.” Pooling magic around her, she reached out to the heart. It would snuff out her own light, but everything would be as it should be.

Pain racked her side, sending her tumbling to the ground.

“You will not go gentle into the good night. We have fought too hard to reach you.” Rarity’s voice moaned beside her.

“Iris! Get back, you’ll forget!” Dash’s voice called from behind her.

Scrambling to her hooves, Twilight looked around. she didn’t recognize where she was. Some altar that reeked of dark magic. The world took an even darker hue when Iris fluttered back into the circle that her friends had made around her, casting the immobilized forms of Black Heart and Shining Armor into a grim visage.

“We need the elements now,” Morning said in Applejack’s voice.

“I won’t use you like that.” They were right. They could use the elements, and set everything right without the need to sacrifice herself. But their personalities were already starting to blend. If she let them actually wield them, she had no idea what would be left of her friends.

“We came here to help you. Let us,” Tranquility’s voice pleaded.

“Trust us to make this choice,” Iris said.

“We miss you.” Pinkie’s voice tugged at her heart.

Turning in place, Twilight wilted under the sad eyes looking back at her. “I don’t want to miss you again. I’m not ready yet.”

Spike started to step forward, but stopped. “Trust them, Twilight.”

“But I-” Twilight hung her head. He was right. A flash of light sent the elements back to their old hosts.

- - x - - -

At the edge of the field, Luna felt the dream shatter. The column of star stuff that had joined the earth and heavens started to dissolve along with the dream. Her lungs burned with held breath as she waited to see what was revealed.

Twilight had been taken from her before she could ever admit her heart to her, and now, just maybe, she would have a second chance.

The tall, lean figure in the center of the circle confused her at first. It was Twilight, but she had wings and a mane that blew in ethereal wind.

“What happened?” Alicorn Twilight asked.

Dash grinned till her face threatened to split. “We stole you back from the dead.”

Pinkie wrapped her hooves around Twilight’s neck, dangling from the taller pony as the others pressed around. “We missed you so much.”

Twilight sat back down, letting a foreleg wrap Pinkie in a hug. “I don’t understand. Where’s Surprise?”

“Twilight hon,” Applejack said, she expression turning serious. “That spell you had us try in the library; Star Swirl’s. You remember it?”

“Of course, that’s what turned me into an Alicorn.”

“No.” Dash’s face went a bit pale. “It turned you into a pile of ash. You died. We killed you.”

“I… No, I remember everything.” Twilight scoured her memoires. That day on the mountain with Spike came back as clear as the present. Before then she had... She had... What? It was all a nebulous feeling, things she knew, but no memory of doing them.

“After your funeral.” Rarity paused a moment. Taking a moment to rest a paw on Spike. “Spike started having dreams about you. Said you were still alive, but you were trapped in the stars.”

“We really didn’t believe him,” Fluttershy admitted. “But then the dreams started.”

“The dreams?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie nodded. “You were in all our dreams.”

“Eventually they talked me into looking for your dreams,” Luna said, standing just outside the circle of friends.

Applejack nodded. “Dash and I had been reading some of your magic books. We just couldn’t believe you were gone like that. Not when we were talking to you every night. So when Luna decide to look, we helped where we could.”

Twilight looked over her friends. Applejack looked exotic and dangerous with the ink under her coat. They were spells, and powerful ones too. Dash was a walking collage of artifacts. Some she was sure had come from Celestia’s personal collection. The power thumbing off the pegasus was almost deafening. “You two, learned magic?”

Luna laughed. It was an honest belly laugh that forced the others to snicker along with it. “They did what nopony else has ever done.”

“Only ‘cause she has a greater fate,” Applejack said, trying to dismiss the compliment. “I think the coming back as an alicorn would prove that.”

Looking up at the stars, Twilight reached out to them. She could hear the echo of voices there, but it was not the jumbled mess she remembered. There were points of light she could touch, and understand. An itch in the back of her mind told her where new stars were forming. Souls to greet, troubles to comfort. If she closed her eyes, she knew she would see lights streaking both up to her stars, and back down to creation.

All the little lights, they were hers to protect and comfort till they returned to the living.

“Let’s go back to the house, I’ve got a party waiting for us!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing off towards the Apple homestead.

The others laughed as a years worth of stress drained from their bodies. They stood to follow, but paused, something unspoken hanging in the air. Twilight started to ask what was wrong, but then the lot of them lunged forward in one great group hug.

“We’ve missed you so much,” one of them said. The words seemed to give permission for others to sniffle and mumble words of agreement. They all held one another for a while, then one pony stepped back to follow Pinkie, then another.

Soon it was only Luna left beside her.

“Twilight,” Luna said setting beside her. “I had dreams of you. Do you remember them?”

There was a shyness about Luna that Twilight found out of place, but oddly cute. It was hard not to kiss her, but if everything had been some kind dream… “Luna, I’m going to have to adjust to all this. To me; you and I were lovers for a very long time.”

Even in the dim light of the evening sun, Twilight could see a blush on Luna’s face. “I thought I would never get to say this, but I would like it very much if we brought that to reality.”

Twilight kissed Luna’s cheek, it was familiar and strange at the same time. “Me too.”

New Endings

“Sure...” Twilight answered.

Evening cheered, as a dozen books lifted from the floor and re-shelved themselves. Twilight blinked; she had no idea what she had just agreed to.

With a few books still in her levitation, Evening walked towards the stairs. “We’ll check these out, then head to your tower.”

Book? Tower? ... She wants that book she couldn’t find! “Okay,” Twilight answered, following the young mare down the steps. She needed to check this book out anyway. It had to be duplicated and logged in the national registry.

Twilight cradled the book beneath her wing as the two trekked to the royal towers. It was a quiet journey. Evening engrossed in one of her books, and Twilight’s mind running through every possible meaning of the prophecy. It wasn't until Twilight ushered Evening unto her chambers that the silence was broken. As Twilight stowed the book in a protective case, she heard Evening's voice echo from across the room.

“Are these what I think they are?” Evening asked excitedly. “Their magic is incredible!”

Twilight’s legs threatened to buckle beneath her. Evening was standing a foreleg's span from the Elements of Harmony. And indeed their aura was incredible, or at least one of them. Loyalty shrieked in the aether. There was no doubt it would bond with little provocation. It knew its old master and wanted her back.

The light retreats to security, so that the dark cannot encroach upon it.

Twilight’s heart jumped into her throat; the prophecy was a warning. The Maiden had hidden her friends from the darkness. Whatever that was, it needed to be identified as soon as possible.

“Careful!” Twilight shouted. Evening winced, but Twilight interrupted her apology. “It’s ok, just be carefull. They’re not ready yet. I have to keep them, hidden, for a little while longer.”

“Oh,” Evening said, taking a step back from the case. “Then what?”

Twilight smiled. “I have a feeling you’ll have a front row seat. But let’s keep that between us for now.”

“Can I tell sis?”

“Of course you can,” Twilight chuckled. “Now let's find that book, and I have another one I think you’d like too,” Twilight said, leading Evening away from the elements. Going over to her personal collection, Twilight floated down two books: Fate Forgotten, and the old-untitled book that had warned her about Nightmare Moon.

“Keep those as long as you need.” Twilight said.

“Thanks!” Evening cheered. “I should be getting back though. I could at least make my lab for the day.”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “Labs are fun. Don’t miss those.”

In a wink of pink light Evening vanished from Twilight’s room. Above her, a shadow rippled yet again. “I am afraid for you,” it said, dripping onto the floor, and assuming Luna’s familiar shape.

Twilight pressed necks with Luna, leaving her chin to rest on her withers. “Thank you. But don’t.” Lifting her head she walked around Luna and retrieved the book from its stronghold. “Dream Weaver wrote a book the we did not know about. The last vision has yet to pass.”

Luna read the page held out for her, and reread it. “You must be careful. This may well be speaking of you. I have seen the edges of Eclipse, I do not wish to look her in the eyes,” Luna said, looking up from the book and meeting Twilight’s eyes.

A nervous smile played across Twilight's face. She hadn’t thought of herself as the possible threat. “I... You’re right. It could be Eclipse ... me. I can’t fall, not like Cadance, not like...”

“Me,” Luna continued. “What ever this is, we need you. I know this hurts, but you should gather new bearers for the elements. We will need them, either to heal you, or defeat a new threat.”

“So you’re sending me off to make friends again?” Twilight said, looking to the elements with a hopeful smile.

“It is good to see you smile, Twilight. You should do it more. This promise has taken a toll on you.”

“It did,” Twilight agreed; much to Luna’s surprise. “But I know where they are now.”

Luna stared at Twilight, the other alicorn only returning a coy smile. “You... found them?” Luna finally asked.

‘No, they found me,’ was the thought she attempted to speak, but only a strangle groan left her mouth as the geas muted her. Stomping her hoof in frustration, Twilight battled the magical shackle with her will. “The promise is fulfilled,” she said in a strained tone.

Shaking her head, Luna sat down to gather her thoughts. She worked her jaw to speak, but only a nervous laugh came out. “Where, how?” she finally managed to say.

Twilight closed her eyes in thought, testing her will against the geas, exploring just what it would let her say. “I am at peace with their passing now. I need to focus on the new friends I've made.”

Author's Note

No surprise, I have wrote myself into a corner. After much thought, I have decided that the best way to solve this it to simply have a time jump. It's an ugly fix, But I think I can still rescue this story.

See you next chapter!

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way

Twilight didn’t know what she had expected, but it wasn’t this. Devastation was the only word she could call it. The sparkling gem of a city; frozen, mangled.

She had not dared to look behind her when she had fled the place all those years ago. It was a miracle five of her friends had made it out alive. The wall of angry ice that had chased them from the city was gone now. Instead, a thin veneer of frost covered everything. Crystal ponies were frozen in time, trapped in whatever pose they had been frozen in. The buildings fared far worse.

“Are they dead?” Iris asked, looking at one of the frozen ponies.

“No, they’re alive in there,” Discord answered, looking a crystal pony in the mouth before gifting it a woolly hat and scarf.

“How?” Tranquility asked.

Twilight stood over a family that had huddled together before the ice hit them. They had been lucky to be outside when the ice hit. A collapsed house nearby offered a much grimmer scene. “It’s part of the crystal ponies’s inherent magic. They can’t be damaged by cold, only put into a suspended state. A lot of these ponies were alive when Sombra took over.”

Surprise stepped beside Twilight. The terrified family seemed to be begging her for help. “Can we wake them up?”

Washing her magic over the ice, Twilight pondered the spell lingering on them. It reeked of dark magic. “The crystal heart should be able to fix this.”

“Yes. That heart will fix everything.”

Twilight’s blood ran cold. That was not a voice she had hoped to ever hear again, and certainly not this soon. “Black Heart,” she greeted her sister in law. Taking a few careful steps, Twilight placed herself between the dark alicorn and her friends.

“Twilight,” Black Heart said, a wicked grin curling her muzzle. A flash of blue and green magic shredded Twilight’s saddlebag, sending its contents flying. Except for the broken heart that remained shrouded in Black Heart’s magic.

“No!” Twilight shouted. Her horn flared as lavender magic churned the earth, pulling up tendrils of crystal that wrapped themselves around the heart, till it was secure within a protective cage. Leaping forward, Twilight entwined more magic around herself. “Get to the city center!” she yelled to to nopony particular. “I’ll keep Cadence here.”

Black Heart stiffened at Twilight’s words. Her magic lashed out not at Twilight, but over her head towards Morning and the others.

Morning’s mind scrambled to weave together a defensive spell. She could feel Evening doing the same. It was a good effort, but far too slow. Moring could only gawk at the lavender aura that batted the dark magic aside.

“Now!” Princess Twilight Sparkle ordered.

Spike, Discord, and the five young mares ran into the ruins of the city. Dark magic lunged out at Twilight, reminding her that she had a corrupt alicorn to shackle. The wards she had already set around herself absorbed the blow. Taking wing to again place herself between Cadence and her friends, she let her own magic lash out. It was a real attack, but not one meant to hit home, just something to remind her foe that she was dangerous.

Black Heart dodged the blow with grace. Landing a bit further back, she looked from Twilight to the gnarled spire that held the heart, and then to the pile of elements on the ground. “The heart and the elements are here, your friends pose no threat to me.”

“Cadence, I know you’re still in there. Let him go. There’s been enough suffering already.”

Black Heart paused her pacing, honest surprise on her face. “How did you know?”

Twilight used the distraction to call the elements to her side. “I know when a pony dies. It’s my gift. I never felt Shining’s soul in the stars.” Memories of her first best friend stirred the element of magic within her. Focusing on the twinkle, she fed it magic. “Let me heal the heart, let me heal you.”

The element of magic called to its kin. Giving the magic will, Twilight commanded the gems to circle her.

“I do not need healing, your brother does.” Black Heart’s expression softened. For a moment Twilight could see her old foalsitter. “I still have most of it. The magic I stripped from those monsters is still within me.” And the moment was gone.

Twilight shook her head. “At what cost? You killed countless changelings gathering that magic. You killed your own heart ignoring Chrysalis’s cries for mercy.”

“It is done.” Black Heart squared herself to Twilight, letting her magic crackle around her. “My actions have no bearing on yours. We will fight, and your brother will die. Or you can save him, and what happens to me will be my own doing.”

This was wrong. Black Heart was a murderer more times over than any pony in history. The elements around Twilight hummed with magic, looking for a target to lash out at. She could banish Black Heart here and now. It would be a fight, and exactly what she sat out not to do, but it would end this.

Sensing the fight in Twilight, Black Heart prepared herself for the attack.

“What do you need me to do?” Twilight asked.

“The heart,” Black Heart said, not taking her eyes off Twilight. “I will have to fill it with the power I stole from Chrysalis. Then I will use the heart to stop death. You brother will be as immortal as you and I.”

“It’s broken. I had planned on using the elements to fix it.”

“Oh…? I thought you had planned on using them to seal me within the ice for a thousand years.”

“That was plan B.”

Black Heart laughed, but there was no humor in it. “If you can fix the heart, simply staying out of my way will be enough.”

A flick of Twilight’s magic shattered the crystal cage protecting the heart. Black Heart winced, and shrunk away from the rainbow blast that followed.