…Moments Ago…

Luna flinched as another ball of fire impacted against her shield, and then flinched further as a thunderbolt struck the ground near her.

Things were beginning to slowly spiral out of control, for the immense heat bleeding off of the ever growing flames in both the White Tail Wood as well as the Everfree were interacting with the blizzard that had formed over the ruins of Ponyville, and thus wild thunderstorms were beginning to form in the skies above.

“Ok when the hell is she going to tire out,” yelled Ember as she sent a wave of red magic out from the Bloodstone Scepter, “because I’m starting to get tired here and she doesn’t look like she’s ready to quite anytime soon!”

“If Day Breaker works anything like Nightmare Moon did, then she is drawing strength from her rage, which will be bottomless at this point. The only way to end this is through the elements.”

“Bad news there,” said Thorax as he redirected another blast, “Pharanx has been trying to get into the storm for the past hour, but has had no success. However he was able to make contact with one of the elements, and who told him that Everfree has opened a rift to Tartarus, and that rift wont close until she is dealt with.”

“Well I just caught sight of her battling with Twilight and two others…and it doesn’t look like their faring well.”

Luna, who had been blocking another blast of magic during this exchange, suddenly realized what needed to be done, and looked to Cadance, who saw her looking out of the corner of her eye, so she mouthed one sentence before disappearing in a blinding flash.

“Forgive me.”

*

…The Present…

Everfree coughed again, before falling to the ground as Luna ran forward and caught her, the mare holding her close as Everfree spoke. “Luna…you didn’t need to…”

“Yes I did,” said Luna, “what you were doing was causing too much harm, it needed to be stopped.”

“I would have figured it out in the end,” said Everfree, “I just needed more time.”

“But how many more should suffer for that discovery,” asked Luna, “I remember you when we first met, using your magic in ways that I never could have believed, and all to save those less fortunate then yourself from plights beyond imagining…but I think somewhere along the way you forgot your one rule when it came to your brand of soul magic.”

“And that was?”

“To never harm another living soul.”

Everfree’s eyes widened in shock, and then she chuckled before coughing again. “I guess I did…and looking back, I remember getting cold hooves those first few…awakenings, wondering if I was really doing the right thing or not. But each time I would see your smiling faces…it became easier to justify what I was doing…till finally I didn’t even worry about it anymore.”

“I figured as much,” said Luna, “but now its time to put an end to this, and put right all these wrongs.”

Everfree hesitated, and then nodded, before grimacing as she tried to stand up. “Help me up.”

Luna did so, and when she was fully standing she saw Twilight looking at her, as were Sombra and Starswirl, though in Sombra’s case it was more of a glare.

Taking a breath, Everfree reached out with her magic and undid the spell creating the Windigos, their cries filling the air as she then looked back at her sister and spoke. “Sister, I…I need your help, for I…I may have made it so that I could not undo the spell myself, so you…you need to use the elements on me…in order to break the spell and…and put an end to this.”

Nodding her head, Twilight closed her eyes, and beside her five portals opened, the rest of the elements walking out of the portals to stand beside her, before Twilight spoke. “Luna, you may want to stand back, for I don’t want to risk you getting caught in the magic due to…what happened before.”

Luna nodded, backing away as Twilight and the others charged up the elements, before unleashing the blast of harmonic energy.

However, just as the blast arched in the sky and was about to reach Everfree, Twilight saw a sudden spark enter her eyes, and then her horn began to glow just as the blast reached her, but before Twilight could cry out it struck, and then her vision went dark.

*

“…light…Twilight wake up!”

Twilight groaned as she came to, seeing Rainbow staring down at her and…the stars?

Getting up, she saw that she and the girls were in some massive field of what looked to be clouds mixed with stars, a field that seemingly was endless.

“Where…?”

“Oh…well this was unexpected.”

The bearers heads all whipped around, and standing behind them was none other then Everfree, herself, looking slightly confused, but seemingly happy at the sight of them.

“Sister, what did you do…and more importantly where are we?”

“Well, to your second question, we are in the Nexus, the place where Zacherle created the first Ascendants.”

“And you know this how?”

“Faust took me here once,” said Everfree, “back before I…I went down the path I took, saying she had a possible way of making me immortal. It would have taken a long time, which is why I initially rejected it, but as the friendship blast came toward me I suddenly got this idea to use that blast to…well, speed up the process shall we say.”

“So what then,” said Applejack with a stern look, “instead of getting sent to Tartarus or imprisoned in stone, yah planned to cheat the entire thing and become immortal tah boot?”

Everfree chuckled at that, “No, I fully intend to serve out my time, but I didn’t want to risk history repeating itself…especially with how Celestia has taken all of this.”

“So why are we here then,” said Rainbow, “do you need witnesses or something.”

Everfree chuckled nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. “Well I may have…not taken account of certain factors when I um…did this. One, I did not account for how intrinsically tied to the elements you all were, and two…well, I didn’t account for how tied to my soul the others were.”

“The others,” asked Twilight.

Everfree gestured for them all to look behind them, and when they did, Twilight saw all the others who had been with her in the pocket dimension, which caused her jaw to drop a bit as she turned back to her sister.

“Soul Magic can be a finicky thing,” said Everfree, “especially when you get to the level of…well, altering life, but the point is while I was originally only intending to turn myself into an alicorn…I ended up roping you all in as well, which means when you all leave this place…you’ll be alicorns to.”

Silence hung in the air for a long time, and then Rainbow fell over laughing, and that laughter proved infectious, as everyone else began laughing as well. It took a while for everyone to calm down, but by the time they did, they all noticed that energy was begging to swirl around them.

“Looks like it starting,” said Everfree, quickly moving up and surprising Twilight with a hug, before pulling back and getting a serous look. “Just be ready when you return, for Celestia is still enraged, and I don’t think any amount of talking will sway her, even if you tell her I…accept my fate.”

Nodding her head, Twilight pulled her in for one more hug, “See you in three sis.”

“See you in three,” said Everfree, before all of them were consumed by blinding light.

*

Luna stared in shock as the blinding light ended, for where her beloved mate once stood, a statue of her as an alicorn remained in its place.

The statue bore a calm accepting smile, but Luna could mull over that fact latter, for now she was looking around, wondering what happened to the bearers, as they had vanished in the flash of light.

However, before she could begin calling out for them, a bright light appeared in the sky, causing her, as well as the others near her to look up, and she gasped at what she saw.

High in the sky was Twilight Sparkles cutie mark, and surrounding it were those of her friends, as well as many others, and slowly they began to shrink down before in an explosion of light, dozens of small alicorns came down from the sky, all of them landing rather shakily on the ground, save for those who had experience flying.

Luna was about to run up to them, but jumped as she heard a roar, looking back to see her sister flying in there direction as flames billowed around her, and she could see Cadance, Ember, and Thorax giving chase.

“Luna, I’m going to need you to move the moon,” said Twilight as she flew up to Luna’s side, Luna and beginning to move the moon as Twilight and the others readied the elements.

Just as Day Breaker was about to reach them, Twilight and the girls unleashed the blast, Day Breaker crying out as the blast overwhelmed her and sent her flying, before locking her within the sun.

“How long will she be imprisoned,” asked Luna as she took hold of the Celestia’ body and began to move it below the horizon, for thanks to her internal clock, she knew the night had begun a few hours ago.

“Well we were able to put a bit more power into this blast,” said Twilight, “so if my calculations are right, her prison will break around the same time my sister is finished serving out her sentence.”

“So three thousand years,” said Luna, before looking down at Twilight and speaking. “Now to the more important question, why are you all alicorns.”

“You can blame your mate for that,” said Nyx from Fluttershy’s side, “for she decided to try to utilize the power of harmony to see if she could become immortal, and accidentally roped us into becoming alicorns as well.”

“I see,” said Luna, “well with that being the case, we must head to Canterlot at once, not only to begin repair efforts for the town, but you all will also have to be recognized as Equestrian Royalty.”

“Hold up,” said Rainbow, “you know not that I wouldn’t want all the glory that comes with it and all, but I’m not all that hyped about being made a princess.”

“If I could let you escape this I would, but Equestrian Law does not allow for such assurances, Alicorns are required by law to become part of the monarchy as set down by the old nobles after the fall of Discord.”

Rainbow grumbled, but Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder and spoke, “I’m sure we’ll find someway around the law, but for now lets gather Starswirl and the others and then head to Canterlot.”

*

It took them a while to make it to Canterlot, as due to the fact that the train station had been destroyed in Day Breaker’s rampage, they were forced to send a letter to Canterlot to request several carriages, and the guards who brought them had had slight panic attacks at the sight of so many Alicorns, as well as King Sombra, King Thorax, Prince Pharanx, and Empress Ember.

Arriving at the outskirts of the city, they all saw that Ponyville’s residents were all gathered in a sort of refugee camp, though from what they could see it was well put together, but as they passed Mayor Mare ran up to the lead carriage containing Luna and the bearers.

“Princess thank…by the makers, what…what happened.”

“I promise to explain when I have the time dear Mayor,” said Luna with a smile, “but for now I must head to the castle, though once I am done I will be down to discuss with you and your citizens the best way to help restore your town.”

Mayor Mare thanked her, and then they were off once more, arriving at the castle shortly after, several guards coming out to escort the others to guest rooms for the night, while Shining came to greet Luna, The Bearers, Cadance, as well as Thorax and Pharanx.

“Your highness's, I know you all probably want rest right now after what no doubt when down, but someone is waiting for you in the throne room, and they are quite insistent on seeing you.”

“Then lead the way,” said Luna, though as they moved out she wondered who would demand seeing her so late, and really hoped it wasn’t one of the more annoying nobles.

They eventually reached the throne room, and once they were inside Luna saw who had asked to see them, and suddenly all her annoyance was gone, as she quickly ran forward and embraced the mare waiting in the middle of the room. “MOTHER!!!”

“Hello my darling one,” said Faust as she hugged her, and as she held her close she looked to see Cadance behind the element bearers, and once she opened up a wing, Cadance didn’t need to be told twice as she ran forward and embraced her as well.

She held the hug for a long moment, before finally pulling back and looking to Twilight and her friends, walking forward with a smile before sitting down and speaking. “It is good to finally meet you all, though I will admit, I am surprised to see you all…well, as alicorns.”

“You can blame her sister for that,” said Rarity as she bowed to the regal mare, “for she did not account for how connected everyone was when she decided to use the Elements of Harmony to fuel her…transformation.”

“I see,” said Faust, “well as much as I would like to take the time to get to know you all, I have some matters I would like to discuss with my family, though I promise I will speak with you all tomorrow.”

The bearers nodded and began to walk away, only for Twilight to be stopped as Faust placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You are family to Twilight, after all you’re brother did marry my granddaughter, also Thorax and Pharanx, you should come to.”

Twilight looked back to Rainbow real quick, and saw her give her an approving nod, and so she followed Faust and the others as they headed to Luna’s private chambers.

Once there, Faust looked to the raven on her shoulder and spoke, “You can reveal yourself now love.”

Everyone looked confused for a moment, and then to their surprise the raven left her shoulder before being engulfed in green flame, revealing itself to be Queen Chrysalis.

Twilight, Cadance and Shining took combative stances, but Luna quickly moved in front of the changeling and spoke. “Stay yourselves everypony, Chrysalis threw in her lot with us to help battle against my mate, and it is partially thanks to her that my mother is…well here, though that does bring me to a big question as to why you called her love mother.”

Faust blushed, but before she could speak, Chrysalis decided to cut strait to the chase. “Well as I told Luna I am Faust’s soul mate, but as was revealed to my by her…I am also Luna and Celestia’s sire, which would make me Cadance’s grandmother as well, so…sorry for the invasion and all that.”

“Could you have made that sound anymore lame love,” said Faust, before looking towards the others and speaking, "Well what she told you is true, though the only reason she didn’t know initially was…”

“Wait,” said Thorax as his eyes widened in surprise, “If Chrysalis is Luna and Celestia’s sire, doesn’t that mean their our sisters.”

Everyone looked at him in shock, but were even more shocked when Chrysalis spoke up, “You…you knew, but I did my best to keep the truth from you that I was your…”

“The den mothers revealed it to us when we were young,” said Pharanx, “but swore us to secrecy as she feared it would cause others to attack us, however it did lead to us trying harder then the rest…because we wanted to make you proud.”

“And I always was,” said Chrysalis, “especially when you finally stood up to me and helped lead our kind into a new era.”

Smiling, both Pharanx and Thorax walked up and nuzzled her, and as they did Chrysalis looked over to Luna and Cadance and spoke, “I know it will probably take a while for us to get use to each other, but I hope we can get to know each other in time.”

Both of them nodded, and Faust chose that moment then to speak, “Well, it looks like we have a lot to talk about…shall we get comfortable?”

Author's Note

Next chapter will be a bit of a time skip, but it will be the last of this book, and then will be moving on the next one, so till then guys, if you have an questions or comments, feel free to drop them on by, I love hearing from you guys.