The Elements of Fate

Chapters

Chapter 2: Destiny Discovered
Chapter 3: Feelings of Loneliness
Chapter 4: The Return of the Real Stars/ A Welcoming New Home
Chapter 5: A Beautiful and Yet Dark Night
Chapter 6: The Canterlot Tragedy
Chapter 7: The Moonlit Savior
Chapter 8: The Changeling War/ Loves Price
Chapter 10: 5 Years Later
Chapter 1: The War/ Fate's Beginning
Chapter 9: The Death of a Princess/ Towards The Future

Chapter 2: Destiny Discovered

After leaving his uncle's home, Ice wandered how long it would take before he would be able to reach Neighbraska. It was half way across the country after all and he had no money or magical knowledge outside of the basic levitation spell. Although, as he knew, that wouldn't help very much in his current situation. He could fly, but not halfway across the country. So in light of this, he decided to continue walking so that he could find a constant source of plants to eat on his journey. About five and a half days had passed since he had left Califoalia and he was approaching a quite pleasant-looking forest, with a sign saying “Welcome to the beautiful Spring Forest. Home of bountiful plants and wondrous natural water springs.”

Ice saw the sign and thought happily “This sounds great, seems like there would be a lot of food and water in there. Maybe I'll stay there a while.” And so he trotted into the forest with a relieved smile, thinking of all the plants that he'd be able to feast on.

From the moment he entered he could see the abundance of life both plants and animals. He said out loud “This place is great! Everything seems so alive and vibrant, I can literally feel the liveliness of everything around me!”

As the day went on he had plenty of fresh fruit to eat and the natural spring water was much cleaner than any water that he had ever experienced at his uncle's house. “I sure could get used to this place, maybe I'll just stay here for the rest of my life. I feel so peaceful here. I've never felt true peacefulness in my life before.

” He continued to search around for the rest of the day for a place to sleep until he found a nice little clearing with a small stream running through the middle and blackberry bushes all around. So he laid down, but before he fell asleep he stared up to the sky and fell into amazement.

“Whoa, I've never seen the night sky like this before. It's so beautiful, all the stars and that full round shining moon. They complement the dark blue sky perfectly. I guess every dark has a light in it after all.” he said still in awe. After staring for about half an hour he finally fell asleep.

The next morning he woke to the sun shining brightly down on him and birds chirping all around. “This is much better than waking up to uncle yelling all the time.” he thought to himself. So he got up and started searching for something to eat, he grabbed some blackberries and put them in a bowl made of twigs that he had made the day before. Then he saw a plant that he had never seen before. Its leaves were a bright yellow, its stem was green like most other plants and it had a peculiar burnt orange berry on it. So he decided to try it out, so far everything he had eaten in this forest was excellent so he saw no reason that this would be any different. So he went back to his campsite with his fruitful bounty of delicious looking food, but things soon took a turn for the worse! As soon as he took a bite of his newly discovered plant he began to feel woozy. It wasn't long until he started to convulse and passed out altogether. On top of that, a mysterious figure in a red and black cloak found him lying on the ground after the fact.

“What do we have here? A fool who ate an unknown plant without fear? I hope it is not too late. For he has great things yet to happen in his fate!”

Ice finally woke up around night time, but he was shocked to find that he was in a bed in an unfamiliar cabin. “Oh finally awake I see. This fact fills my heart with glee.” the mysterious voice said.

Ice got up and asked defensively “Who are you? Where am I? What happened to me?”

“Calm down young one. I wish no violence to be done. My name is Genevere. And you are in my hut my dear. That plant you devoured can be deadly. Unless treated by the correct medical medley.” Ice looked relieved,

“So you saved my life? I'm grateful, but why, you don't even know me.”

“That is not important my dear. For your future is quite clear. You will do something great. But it might cost you a piece of your fate.” Not sure what she meant, he just nodded and thanked her again. Genevere began to speak again “I do not mean to pry. But this journey you are on, I must ask why?”

He thought for minute and replied by saying, “Well my parents died in the battle of Mt. Zephyr and my only remaining family hates me. So I decided to go somewhere to the east to start anew. It’s been harder than I thought though.”

“Why is that my dear? Let Genevere hear.” she said curiously.

“Well first off, no pony seems to like me because I'm a blank flanked alicorn. Second is I don't have any money. And third my parents died before they were able to teach me any magic.” he said in a saddened voice.

“Well with two of those I can help you. But for a cutie mark you must be to yourself true. Stay with me for a year or two. And I shall teach you some magic to do.” She said with a caring grin.

His eyes widened and he jumped from his bed and asked excitedly, “Really, you'll teach me how to use magic? Thank you so much!”

She grinned and said “Yes, while I may be a zebra of the earth. I have many books to increase your magic's girth.” So Ice decided to stay with Genevere for a couple of years to learn magic and earn some money.

Meanwhile, the sisters were already halfway across the country. They had reached a small town that lied on the side of a mountain named Canterlot. This is where a troop of many unicorns combine their magic to raise and lower the sun due to the absence of Dusk and Dawn; who formerly had that responsibility. Luna and Celestia witnessed it happen on the first day they got there. But raising and lowering the sun took a large amount of energy each time and the unicorns were getting exhausted from it.

“Tia, why do they all look so depressed and tired?” Luna inquired.

“I'm not entirely sure, but I would guess that taking over our parents' job of taking care to the Sun is too taxing for them after a while. And it has been around five years since they died in the war. After doing this for so long they're probably running out of energy by now.” Celestia replied.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. Poor unicorns, I wish we could help somehow.” Luna said with a slight frown on her face. Celestia just hugged her and took her to hotel that they were staying at. The next morning Celestia noticed that something was off. The sun still wasn't up and it was nine o'clock in the morning.

She thought to herself “Where's the sun at? It should have been up about two hours ago. Unless... oh no! They don't have enough energy to raise it anymore. The stress of doing it day in and day out has finally taken its toll.” Celestia jumped out of her bed and rushed down to town square. Only to find that her suspicions had been accurate. “I have to help them.” she thought to herself . She rushed up to the front of the pack, despite all of unicorns yelling at her to stop interrupting what they were doing. Once she was standing in front of the horde she rose her angelic wings and her horn started to glow in what seemed to yellow sunlight.

“She's an alicorn!” one of the ponies exclaimed. Another one said “I don't believe it, I thought they all died back in the war!” As the unicorns were all bickering to one another about the probability of this outcome the young princess flew in the air drawing their attention. She raised the sun, seemingly effortlessly by herself. All of the unicorns were in amazement at the young mare's magical ability.

One saying, “So this is the power of an alicorn. To think that a single pony could raise the sun by themselves.” As Celestia hovered back down the unicorns noticed that her flank was glowing, and then out of nowhere an image of a golden sun appeared on both sides of her back legs. Just as she landed back on the ground Luna showed up and looked panicked.

She ran over to her sister and said, “Why'd you come here without me? I was worried that something had happened to you; just like our parents.”

Celestia hugged her and said, “I'm sorry Luna, but I had to come help. Please forgive me, I know I promised not to leave you alone.”

Luna hugged her back and said smiling, it’s ok as long you're safe.” When they let go of each other Luna's eyes got bigger and she yelled “Tia! Look! Your cutie mark showed up! It's so beautiful.”

Celestia turned around and smiled “I guess I got it just now! You're right, it is beautiful.”

It wasn't long before all the unicorns asked the two sisters to stay in Canterlot to raise and lower the sun every day. Celestia graciously accepted the offer and eventually the castle was built and the city grew in size as well as population. On top of this, many new neighboring towns were founded. Among these towns was one named Ponyville . Luna had also discovered her cutie mark as well: a wondrous silver crescent moon in a pitch black sky. It appeared one night when Celestia asked her to try to lower the sun as a test of how her magic was coming along. Needless to say, she was overjoyed when it happened. During this time Ice Breeze had completed his magic training with Genevere and continued on his journey eastward to Neighbraska, still without a cutie mark of his own, even though he was practically grown-up already. But before we head over to see Ice's progress on his quest, we must know the story of Luna's snowy friend: Snowdrop!

On one Spring Sun Celebration: a celebration of the first sun raising of spring, a blind pegasus filly as white as snow offered up a self-crafted snowflake that she carved using one of her feathers. The other fillies from her school laughed at her for bringing snow to a celebration of spring

. Despite this, however, Celestia allowed her to explain why she did this. Snowdrop explained that people wished on the twinkling stars at night and that she had heard the same twinkling from the snow one night. “If people wish on stars, then maybe they should wish on the snow as well. Just because it's different and can be a nuisance sometimes doesn't mean that ponies shouldn't like them. They're both wonderful in their own way, you just have to look for it.” Snowdrop explained.

Luna looked shocked that she would say that, for no pony before then had ever said anything good about the night time that she had worked so on hard on each and every night. Celestia saw how Luna was affected by the snow white filly's explanation and chose her snow as the sign of good faith to winter for years to come. Celestia then got Snowdrop to make more each year and always dropped one on the first day of winter to hopefully calm the usual winter blizzards. And since that first snowdrop was dropped each year, the storms had stopped coming.

During the years to follow Luna and Snowdrop would have long conversations almost every night. One night Snowdrop asked, “I haven't ever seen your night, princess, I bet it's beautiful. Is there any way that you could show me it one night?”

Luna paused for a short time and responded by saying, “Sure, I promise that I'll show you one day.” Luna didn't know how to do this since Snowdrop was blind after all.

Snowdrop jumped with glee and shouted, “Yay thank you Luna!” then she proceeded to follow Luna's voice in order to give the night princess a hug. The years to come were basically the same, they had talks and enjoyed each other’s company, but a long time had passed since they had first become friends. Luna could tell that her friend didn't have much time left to live and she still had not found a way to show Snowdrop her night yet.

That was until one night, she asked a great wizard known as Star Swirled the Bearded “My blind friend has very little time left and I was wondering if thou hast any way to let me show her the night time she so badly desires?”

Star Swirled looked at her and inquired, “You ARE the princess of the night are you not? Isn't it your duty to watch over your subjects at night? Then can't you view and enter your subjects' dreams to protect them mentally as well?” Luna had never thought of trying that before.

“I-I'm not sure.” she stammered.

“Well then let's test it.” Star Swirled said as he cast a sleeping spell on himself. Luna's horn began to glow a deep blue as she stained and before she knew it she had entered Star Swirled's dream! “See? I thought you'd have this ability. Now try changing the scenery in here.” Luna concentrated on the world around her picturing a beautiful mystifying night. The sunny day that was once there slowly grew darker in hue until it was a deep blue-violet night with millions of stars and a gleaming full moon. “Excellent!” Star Swirled said as the night turned back into the original day.

“Why has thine dream changed back?” Luna asked confused.

“It is MY dream after all, I can change it at will, but since Snowdrop wants to see what the night time truly looks like I bet she won't change hers. Luna exited the dream and Star Swirled woke up and then they parted ways after Luna thanked him for the advice.

The next night Luna visited Snowdrop in her hospital room. She was looking dreadful that night, but she was still elated to hear Luna's voice. “I have a surprise for you Snowdrop.” Luna said quietly.

“Re-really what i-is it?” she responded very meekly.

“I hath found a way to show you night time at long last!” Luna exclaimed.

“T-that's great! How can you do it?” Snowdrop asked excitedly.

“You have to go to sleep so that I can enter your dream and show it to you.” Luna explained. Snowdrop agreed to this and Luna waited for the old mare to fall asleep. Luna showed up in Snowdrop's dream with great haste.

“So, this is what you look like princess. You look just as I had imagined.” Snowdrop said.

Luna replied with, “Just you wait, this shall be worth your long waiting period.” The scenery shifted from a cloudy graveyard (which bothered Luna as it was) to a beautiful night filled with twinkling stars and the fullest moon that Luna had ever created. She even created a lake in front of the two so that the moonlight would reflect off the surface to amplify the beauty. Snowdrop's eyes lightened up immediately as she gazed at the wonders of the night sky.

“It's all I ever imagined and more! It's all I've dreamed of seeing.” Snowdrop blurted out excitedly. But the excitement was cut short as a sudden burst of pain woke her up. Luna automatically rushed to her bedside knowing what was probably about to happen.

Tears started to fall down rapidly as she begged, “Please don't go yet! You're the only real friend I've ever had, I still wanted to show you...”

Snowdrop interrupted her, “Please don't cry for me princess, I knew I didn't have much longer. You were my best *cough* friend and you showed me *cough cough* the most wondrous and beautiful thing I had ever seen. Plus, if it weren't for you and your sister all those years ago I would've still felt useless, but not anymore. You two gave my life meaning that day and I thank you both for that. Please tell your sister that I lo…” her sentence was cut short by the sound of a flat-line. Luna fell to the floor crying as the doctors came in.

Later, when she finally exited the hospital it was pouring down snow, she looked up at the beautiful white flakes and whispered to herself, smiling gently while looking back to Snowdrop's room, “We love you too, my snowy friend.”

Now let's rewind a bit to hear what had happened to Ice Breeze during this long time period. After two long years of intense magic training and doing many odd jobs for the forest rangers and surrounding villages Ice Breeze bid adieu to his now good friend and mentor Genevere and continued on his way to Neighbraska. As he started out this time though he noticed something different: for the first time in his life, he actually felt confident in his abilities despite the fact that he was still a blank flank. He was now wearing a bright gold cloak in order to cover his flank up as well as his wings, seeing as no pony took solace in the fact of him being an alicorn. He continued on his way for about six or seven months, until finally he had arrived at his destination. The city was as big as he had imagined, plenty of wheat and hay farms along with many different shops and a big living district. And the icing on the proverbial cake was the huge river that flowed only about a mile from the city itself. He stared at the city and thought to himself, “This place looks amazing, a river to the east and another forest to west. It just seems so peaceful here, I could definitely get used to this place.”

As he started walking into the city he noticed all the ponies working around the place. “Everypony seems to have a directed job to do, it's so orderly. This is perfect.” he thought to himself. Just as he got to the city's edge a deep blue coated unicorn colt with a burnt orange mane approached him.

“Heya, you're new around here aren't ya?” said the curious unicorn.

“Yeah I am how'd you know?” Ice replied.

“Not hard to tell by the way you're gawking at everypony. I'm Cerulean Shield and armor spells are my specialty, not much on force fields, but I can magically enhance one’s body to resist almost anything. By the way, what's your name newbie?” asked Shield.

“I'm Ice Breeze and I'm a little embarrassed to admit, but I don't know my talent yet.” Ice said with a sad tone.

“You're still a blank flank after all this time? You look practically grown up, must suck to be you.” Shield replied.

“It has its ups and downs.” Ice answered jokingly.

“Well that's good to know, I gotta go, but I'll see ya around now I guess.” Shield said as he walked away. After about ten days Ice had finally settled in with a job and renting a house. The ponies in town apparently had thought that he'd be a good potion and elixir maker since his training with Genevere the zebra, as all zebras have some knowledge of elixirs. So he spent most of his days in the shop whipping up various elixirs and most mornings gathering ingredients from the river and forest. One day just as shop was about to close up he heard a familiar voice say,

“WAIT! Don't close up shop yet!” He saw as Cerulean Shield entered the shop with a surprised look on his face as he entered. “Ice? Is that you? I didn't know you ran this shop.”

“Yep, I run the elixirs shop here, so what did you need?” Ice kindly replied.

“Oh right, do you have to help with pony flu? My mom is feeling kinda down with it and the hospital's closed by now.” Shield answered nervously.

“Sure, I made one yesterday. Just give her one dose tonight and one in the morning and she should be just fine.” Ice said smiling.

“Wow thanks dude! You know, we should hang out sometime.” Ice just smiled and agreed.

The next couple of years went by smoothly, everypony admired Ice for his elixir and medicinal prowess and he and Cerulean Shield had become very good friends. Despite the fact that freak storms had been happening everywhere, Neighbraska seemed as peaceful as ever.

That is until the citizens of the fair city heard a maniacal laugh, “MUAHAHAHA! So this is the next site for some chaos, eh? Good, it's filled with plenty of ponies. I'll make sure the storm wipes out everything hahaha.”

All the citizens came outside only to find a very black sky with the wind picking up and the once calm river flowing extremely rapidly and coming over the banks. “What's happening?” one of the town ponies asked.

“What does it look like my dear? It's a storm of pure, destructive, luscious chaos. I'm sure you're all wandering who I am by now. Well I am Discord, the embodiment of disharmony and I am here to avenge my parents! In fact, let's make it a little more interesting shall we?” As the last draconicai finished his sentence he raised up his arms creating a volcano on the north side and a mountainous rock slide on the south. “Well have fun with this my dear ponies. It will keep going until every last one of you have been destroyed. HAHAHahaha.” was all the ponies heard as the draconicus disappeared in a bright green mist.

After the initial shock was over, the ponies of Neighbraska went into a frenzied panic. They had absolutely no escape route with fiery magma to the north, an earthy rock-slide to the south, a flooding river to east, a hurricane force wind blowing trees at the city from the forest to west and lightning-filled storm clouds above so that no pegasus could fly out.

As everypony was running around trying to find a way out and the militia was trying to stop at least one aspect of the storm for an escape route, Ice and Shield were coming out the elixir shop only to find pandemonium spread across the city.

“What in the world is going on here? It was clear when I went into your shop.” asked Shield.

“I'm not entirely sure, but I'd say draconican chaos magic.” Ice replied with a worried look on his face.

“What's a draconicai?” inquired the curious blue colt.

“Well my parents used to tell me about them. They were a chaos loving race of animals made from different animal parts.” answered Ice.

“Were?” said Shield. Ice looked at him and anwered,

“Yes, they were apparently annihilated in the great war around one hundred years ago. But as you can see that's not entirely true.”

“I've heard of that war, all of the alicorns were wiped out as well right? Shield inquisited.

Ice looked down to the ground with a tear falling from his left eye and said, “ Umm, yeah, yeah they were, but enough of the history lesson just look. No pony has a plan, they're just running around blindly.

I need to get this under control!” His demeanor changed as some of his alicornian leadership instincts took over, he raised his horn using magic to amplify his voice and shouted in what now nationally known as the Royal Canterlot Voice, “CITIZENS OF NEIGHBRASKA PLEASE CALM YOURSELVES! RUNNING AIMLESSLY WILL NOT HELP RIGHT NOW, FOLLOW MY LEAD AND WE MIGHT SURVIVE OR CONTINUE THIS FOOLISH BEDLAM AND BE DOOMED TO PERISH! NOW WHICH ONE DO YOU CHOOSE?” The towns-ponies and Cerulean Shield looked surprised at colts unusual initiative, but decided to follow suit anyway.

“OK, ALL THE PEGASI GO TO THE WEST AND TRY TO COUNTER ACT THE WIND WITH WING POWER INDUCED WINDS. ALL THE EARTH PONIES, GO EAST AND TRY TO BUILD A BARRICADE TO KEEP THE FLOODING RIVER OUT OF THE CITY. UNICORNS GO TO THE SOUTH AND TRY TO USE YOUR MAGIC YOUR MAGIC TO LEVITATE THE FALLING ROCKS AWAY. AND LASTLY, SHIELD YOU'RE WITH ME TO THE NORTH I'LL EXPLAIN WHEN WE GET THERE. AS LONG AS NO PONY TRIES TO FLY UP, THE STROM CLOUDS SHOULDN'T BE AN ISSUE. NOW SPREAD OUT!!!”

As Ice finished his strategy speech all the ponies rushed to their commanded positions. Once they reached the northern magma stream Ice asked Shield to do something that shocked the blue colt.

“Shield, I need you to use the strongest fire armor spell that you know on me.”

“For what?” Shield inquired.

“I'm not sure why, but I feel like I can stop it, but I need to get into the center of it!”

“That's insane! That IS lava, you know that right?” argued Shield.

“YES, BUT WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO ARGUE RIGHT NOW!!” Cerulean reluctantly agreed and cast the spell. Ice's body glowed with a bright orange aura showing that he was now heat resistant. He rushed into the lava flow with great speed. He could tell the spell was working, but the pure heat burnt his cloak off of his back revealing his wings.

Shield gawked in amazement and managed to stammer, “Y-you're an alicorn!? Why didn't you tell me?”

“I didn't tell you because everypony's always hated me for it, just because I was different and rare.” Ice replied while trying to conjure enough strength to hold all the lava back.

“Aww, I wouldn't have cared either way and I bet none of the town ponies would have either. That's what being a friend is about: accepting the similarities AND the differences of one another.” Ice smiled bigger than he ever had, but his sudden loss of concentration would prove costly as some of lava slipped out of his weakened grip. At the same time Shield was pre-occupied with discovering his friend's new wings that he didn't notice the encroaching lava.

“SHIELD WATCH OUT, GET BACK!!!” Ice yelled as he regained his composure, but it would prove to be too little too late.

“What are you talking ab....AAAUGH!” Shield screamed in agony as the lava had started to burn his legs away and climb up his legs to his body. As Ice saw his only real friend being burned alive and screaming, something snapped in head. His eyes flashed open and his horn started to glow a bright fiery red.

The lava started to wrap around the horn as if being drawn to it and then it seemed as if it all just reversed its stream back into the volcano. With one final burst of magic, Ice, without knowing how closed the volcano and sealed it back underground. He then quickly flew over to Shield in a speed that neither had ever experienced before as if the wind itself was propelling him. He grabbed his injured friend and took him to the center of town where all of the hospital workers were stationed and told them to try to heal him while he handled the other disasters. First he quickly went east to help the earth ponies. Once he arrived all of the ponies there were surprised to see an alicorn before them, but had little time to gaze as Ice's horn began to glow, but this time it was in a deep blue not fiery red. As he used his magic, the river seemed to calm down at his command and then froze over to prevent any water from escaping. The earth ponies were trying to realize what just happened as a powerful gust of wind knocked them over as Ice flew to the south at blinding speed. The rocks were starting to pile up and the unicorns couldn't hold many more, then out of nowhere all the rocks mended together and sunk into the mountain Discord had created. As the unicorns looked up they saw an alicorn hovering above with his horn glowing in an intense mahogany color. They started to ask him how he had wings, but he was gone in a flash to the west. Finally arriving at the forest entrance he signaled for the exhausted pegasi to stop, they gladly agreed as they watched his great wings open up and his horn glow a bright green to amplify his wing strength. With one blast of his magic imbued wing wind blast the opposing wind just stopped all together. As the pegasi began to thank him he rushed back to center of town to where Shield was.

He got there quickly and asked the nurses how he was doing, but they told him that there was nothing they could do seeing as half of organs had been melted.

Ice rose his wings and his horn glowed yellow as he said, “I-I understand, but I won't have him die with a stormy sky above him.” Then as the yellow aura around his horn grew larger a gigantic lightning bolt came out and struck the cloud that it came from resulting in an internal explosion causing the cloud to dissipate. As soon as the cloud was gone Ice's flanks began to glow. And soon he had a star on both sides with the top point being a bright yellow representing lightning, the top left point was brown to symbolize earth, the bottom left point was red-orange to show fire, the top right was blue for water and ice and lastly the bottom right was lime green for the wind element.

He then bent down to talk to his friend one last time when Shield said smiling while continuously coughing up blood, “ Hey, you *cough* finally got your cutie mark. It's about time huh?”

Ice looked back and saw it and then replied, “Yeah, I guess it is.”

Chapter 3: Feelings of Loneliness

The air was still tense as the two friends' conversation, many ponies in the crowd knew what was going to happen to their native unicorn and couldn't help but tear up over it. “What you did *cough* was amazing. Stopping the destruction of my hometown like that. I'm proud to have been your friend.” said Shield while his conscience was slowly fading into nothingness.

“Why would you be proud of me? You're on your death bed because I lost focus back there, it's MY fault that you're going to die.” Ice said while crying.

The town ponies started murmuring to themselves “Did you hear that, he said that it's his fault Cerulean is dying. AND he's an alicorn, they're supposed to be extinct. He's probably why that draconicai attacked, he's bad luck!”

“It's not your fault! I distracted you, I was the reason you lost your focus and you know it! So don't blame yourself for this, please. If you do I'll die knowing that a burden as heavy as this is on my best friends' shoulders and I'd hate myself for it.”

Ice started to reply but was cut short by Shield's last words, “But it w...”

“No matter… what any pony... says, don't for…get that you're… a hero to …me … friend.” And with that being said the deep blue unicorn lost conscientiousness and his life force.

The next couple days were busy for the ponies of Neighbraska and for Ice Breeze as well. Cerulean Shield's funeral was the very next day, but a certain alicorn wasn't at the funeral for fear of being overwhelmed by guilt. The following days he helped the rest of the ponies clean up the gigantic mess that Discord had created with his powerful chaos storm. Despite his helpfulness however, he started to feel alienated from the rest of the ponies in town. He could always hear them whispering about him behind his back and they were always staring at him disdain.

This continued for the next month until he had finally had enough of it and shouted from the center of town, “IF THERE'S SOMETHING ALL YOU WANT TO SAY? THEN JUST SAY IT!”

Almost all of the ponies surrounded him and then the mayor said, “Yes, we do have things that we want to say to you. First off, we DO blame you for the death of Cerulean as well as the attack itself. Second, we blame that attack on the fact that you're an alicorn. It was clear that this Discord fellow wanted revenge for his dead race. And lastly, we don't like you and we never truly trusted you, so just LEAVE US ALONE AND GET OUT OF HERE!!”

Ice looked shocked at what the town leader just said to him, but he knew that this was inevitable just like any other place he went. He'd always be hated no matter what town he went to, just for being born an alicorn. It wasn't fair, but he knew that fact didn't matter much to the cold eyes of reality. So he left the once loving city of Neighbraska in light of Discord's attack as well as being exiled by the mayor, so he decided to find a cave and live the rest of his life alone just like he would in any city or town that he would ever go.

Now we are back in present day Autumn, Ice Breeze had found a relatively large cave with various herbs and other food and water sources around it, but the best part of it for him was the clearing right in front of the cave in which he could stargaze every clear night. Discord had been going from town to town as he had used to, but his anger had subsided a lot since he had started. Now instead of destroying or decimating cities he would just go to each one and cause a little “fun” chaos. And for the sisters they had both became wielders of the Elements of Harmony: the strongest magical force in Equestria. Celestia wielded the elements of magic, kindness and laughter. While Luna wielded honesty, generosity and loyalty. One day, Discord decided to visit the royal city of Canterlot. Little did he know that this stop would be his last in a long while! It started out as normal as any other of his chaostops as he had starting naming them.

“Hmm, let's see what I can have fun with here. It's quite a big city and that castle looks absolutely joyous!” So he began to change and manipulate things as he saw fit. Turning buildings upside down, changing ponies' personalities as well as color and turning harmless food into ravenous predators.

One of the royal guardsmen saw all of this taking place and flew to Celestia and Luna's chambers. “Please excuse my intrusion my princesses, but I fear that the city is under siege!”

Both of the princesses jumped up and Luna shouted, “WHO DOTH DARE INVADETH OUR FAIR CITY OF CANTERLOT?”

The guard, his ears still ringing from Luna's “royal” voice, replied, “Umm, yes well it seems to be a draconicai my princess.”

Luna and Celestia both glanced at each other and Celestia asked, “A-are you sure about this?”

“Yes, I am quite positive. He seems to be using chaos magic which as you both know only draconicai can use.” the guard replied swiftly.

“SISTER, WE MUST RUSH TO STOP THINE INTRUDER!” Luna said to Celestia.

The older princess said, "Yes, my sister we shall gather the elements and stop him!” So both princesses gathered their respective elements of harmony and flew to meet the draconicai.

“My, my, what do we have here? Two alicorn sisters? I thought all of you pretties were eradicated along with my race. Oh well, no need to be rude, I am Discord.” said the draconicai with a grin on his face.

“BELIEVE US WHEN WE SAY THAT WE ART SURPRISED BY THINE EXISTENCE AS WELL.” said Luna again in her royal voice.

“Why all the yelling my dear?” Discord replied.

Before Luna could answer, Celestia intervened, “Enough stalling! Quit your devious acts or we will be forced to stop you ourselves.”

“Haha stop ME? ME!? I hold the only chaos magic in the world, I'm unstoppable!” Discord said while chuckling.

Luna stepped up beside her sister and said, “WE WARNED THOU, NOW YOU MUST RECEIVETH THINE PUNISHMENT.” Discord started laughing again until the six elements started to shine with magical brilliance.

“W-what are those?” Discord asked worriedly.

“These are the elements of harmony. The six strongest forces of friendship in our world: generosity, honesty, kindness, laughter, loyalty and magic. And we will use their energy to stop you.” Celestia answered while the two sisters activated their harmonies. Before Discord could say anything else a rainbow-colored beam shot into the sky and landed on and all around him. By the time the blast ended, the fun and chaos-loving draconicai was petrified into what appeared to be a marble statue. The ponies of Canterlot cheered, but it only seemed to be for the older sister. Although Luna helped greatly no pony seemed to acknowledge that. Despite their ignorance however, Luna acknowledged their lack of love and respect for her and this would set into motion her descent into jealousy and rage.

As the following months rolled on, Luna became more and more depressed at the lack of love, adoration and respect that she had been receiving. Though she had done much for the kingdom, it was still Celestia that got all of the attention and love of their royal subjects. And on top of that, all of the ponies in the kingdom and surrounding areas would always go to sleep and disregard Luna's wondrous night, but pranced around joyously in her elder sister's day. Even though she knew that everypony always slept during the night it still upset her knowing that all of her subjects didn't seem to care for all of hard-work that she had put into her beautiful nights.

One night as she sat and kept watch over Canterlot and all the surrounding lands like always she asked herself, “Why doth sister always receive the love and admiration of our fair subjects? Have I not proven myself to be a noble enough princess? What more must I do?” she asked looking up to the sky. Soon enough the day came back around and she watched as all of the ponies came out of their homes to greet the daytime with open hearts. This made her angry as well as jealous of her sister. And although she had tried to talk to Celestia about this, her sister would always brush her off; saying that she was overreacting or that it wasn't true or that she was too busy right then to deal with it. This cycle repeated for the next couple of months until one fateful night a nightmare came to town!

Luna was keeping watch as always on the Canterlot castle balcony, although that night she had been feeling more agitated than usual. Then she heard a voice come from behind her!

“Hello, dear night princess. How are you on this lovely evening?” Luna, shocked turned around rapidly, yet all she saw was a cloud of pitch black smoke with a pair of glowing purple eyes looking back at her.

“WHAT ART THOU?” Luna exclaimed, pushing the smoke back with her voice alone.

“Me? Why I am the answer to your troubles my dearest.” the cloud answered.

“W-what do you mean by that?” Luna asked. “I've been watching you over this past year and I've noticed the growing despair and jealousy in heart.” the cloud replied.

“So what about it?” inquired the dark blue alicorn.

“Well being a being of pure magic, I can help you gain recognition beyond even that of your sister's and that is no bluff!” answered the black smoke.

“And how prey tell would thou do this?” Luna asked.

“By simply integrating with you. As I am not a physical being it should be quite simple to do. All you'd have to do is accept me as part of you and it will happen on its own.” the black smoke replied.

“And how would help me?” Luna asked curiously.

“I could give you magical ability even beyond that of Celestia's! Isn't that what you want? Huh? To gain the love and recognition of all your subjects?” the cloud spoke.

“Well, y-yes that's what I desire more than anything right now, but before I accept you I at least want to know your name.” Luna demanded.

“My full name Nightmare Force, but you may just call me Nightmare. And I promise this will be over quick!” said Nightmare grinning sadistically.

As the two finished their conversation, Luna closed her eyes and imagined Nightmare as being a part of herself. As soon as she did this the black smoke named Nightmare shot right into her chest and though it was painless as the cloud said it would she could feel that something was off. Her rage and jealousy began to consume all her thoughts!

“What's happening to me? I feel so angry! What are you doing to me?” she said as her dark blue fur began to turn pitch black in places.

“Nothing my dearest, just exasperating your vengeful feelings so that you can overthrow your sister like you wanted hahaha!” Nightmare said laughing hysterically.

“NO! I don't want to harm anypony, just get them to notice me! STOP!” Luna shouted as her light blue mane began to turn into a deep translucent midnight blue with what appeared to stars in it.

“No can do deary I'll be control soon hahaha!!” Nightmare laughed maniacally.

Not knowing what to do, Luna teleported herself into Celestia's room. “TIA HELP ME!!” Luna shouted. Celestia woke up surprised by the sudden screaming and gasped as she saw her little sister changing in front of her eyes. Luna's fur had almost fully become black now and her mane and tail had already changed.

“Luna? Is that you? What's happening?” Celestia asked nervously.

“I accepted a black cloud named Nightmare Force into myself in hopes of getting the power for people to notice me. But it's bringing all of my negative thoughts up and amplifying them. I'M LOSING CONTROL!” Luna yelled pleading for help.

“Luna, no! It lied to you, its name isn’t Nightmare Force. It IS a Nightmare Force: a nameless, shapeless magical being who feeds off of resentful feelings and takes over their hosts!” Celestia explained.

Luna, now in pain from her horn and wings growing as well as the battle over psyche that was taking place said, “I DON'T CARE UGH, JUST HELP ME TIA! I DON'T WANNA HURT ANY..” before she could finish her statement her once loving eyes flashed and changed into a dark aqua color with cat-like pupils, signaling the final step in the takeover.

“L-Luna are you ok?” Celestia asked worrying for her sister's safety.

"Luna isn't here any longer dear Celestia. Instead you may call us Nightmare Moon as of now!” Celestia looked absolutely shocked at this development, she had read about Nightmare forces before, but for one to have actually taken control of her sister was unthinkable.

“Let her go now!” Celestia demanded.

“Oh you know that I can't do that. We are one now and we shall finally the recognition we deserve! Let's see how everypony likes our night when it becomes nighttime forever!” Nightmare Moon said triumphantly.

Celestia glared at the nightmarish version of her sister and said, “You can't do that! If the sun never comes out how will the Earth ponies grow all the food needed for life? And what about the joys of daylight's warmth and the rainbows?”

“Oh well, it's their fault, now they will suffer for their negligence!” Celestia began to run towards the Elements of Harmony's case when all of a sudden a blue bolt of magic hit her square in the back. “Oh, I'm sorry. Did that hurt the mighty princess? And in case you haven't noticed you can't use the Harmonies seeing as you only control three of them!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed while smiling widely. Celestia pulled herself up and realized that this was true and decided that the only way to save her country was to get rid of her sister! As Celestia rose, her once bright pink mane and tail changed into a mixture of luminescent pink, cyan, teal and bright green and seemed to gleam like reflected sunlight.

As she turned to face her sister's twisted form she rose in the air and said, “Please forgive me mother, father and most of all you sister.” Her horn glowed extremely brightly and what seemed to be a magical veil wrapped around Nightmare Moon's body.

“What are doing to us?” Nightmare Moon exclaimed.

“I'm banishing you to the Moon so that you can't do any harm, that's what my real sister would want me to do in this situation.”

The veil then fully enveloped Nightmare Moon's body and then she was gone in a matter of seconds, but not before saying, “I WILL get my revenge one day!” After she was gone Celestia looked up to Moon and saw the image of Nightmare Moon's face appear on it. Starting the next day Celestia took on the responsibilities for both princesses and this was how it was for the next thousand years. And after a couple of years after the banishment Celestia returned the Elements of Harmony to the original royal castle in the Everfree Forest.

The night after all this had taken place Ice Breeze saw the new face on the Moon and wondered what had happened for it appear. He had spent almost 3 years in that cave now and had got accustomed to being alone. Because for him it was like he had always been alone except for Genevere and Cerulean Shield. He thought of going back to live with Genevere often, but he knew how much time had passed since he had left and knew that she was either very old or had passed away by then. And he knew that going back to Neighbraska was out of the question, seeing as he'd probably just get exiled again for being different. The days went by slowly as he did the same routine everyday: get up, gather some berries for breakfast or lunch depending on when he awoke, go to the stream for a bath, sit and daydream, then gather dinner and lastly gaze at the stars until he fell asleep again. Needless to say, he was quite bored every day, except while stargazing which still seemed to fascinate him after all these years. Although something about the stars was off somehow now he would think to himself every night.

“They look the same as they used to, but they just don't feel the same as the old days.”he found himself pondering on it every night and speculated that it something to do with the “ Mare in the Moon”.

A couple years passed when one day he awoke to the sound of ponies talking outside his cave. He got up and walked outside quickly for he had not seen any other ponies for at least 5 years now.

He thought to himself hopefully, “Maybe times have changed, maybe they won't hate me for being an alicorn anymore.”

Unlucky for him though, the two ponies he heard talking were a couple of the most hateful ponies you'll ever meet. As he tried to greet them, one of them yelled, “Whoa, look at this freak. Just walking out of a cave looking all ragged AND he's an alicorn no less.” Before Ice Breeze could say anything the other pony picked up a rock and threw it at Ice's face and caused him start bleeding. Immediately Ice ran back into the cave crying at the harsh treatment he had just experienced before even saying anything. The two ponies just laughed at him and continued on their way.

“So I'm still hated no matter what eh? I should have figured that.” So he decided to stay there in the cave for as long as he saw fit and before he knew it a thousand years had passed.

During those thousand years, Celestia vigilantly kept Canterlot as well as the rest of country safe. And remained vigilant in her raising both the sun and the moon every single day. It was hard, but she knew she had to do it for her long lost sister. Nightmare Moon was still stuck in the moon for those lonely thousand years. Each night Celestia would try to visit her by magical telepathy trying to get the old Luna to fight off the Nightmare Force that had taken her over. Despite her efforts, however, she soon realized that her trying was futile as the once peaceful, loving sister she had once knew was apparently gone for good. During the times Celestia wasn't visiting her Nightmare Moon sat inside the moon plotting her escape with the aid of the stars and other celestial objects. Over these thousand years Canterlot had truly become the head city of all of Equestria and many other provinces had sprouted up and a city in the sky named Cloudsdale had become in charge of the weather for Equestria as a whole. Also during this time seven special ponies that would impact the future of Equestria were born, their names were: Mi'amoré Cadenza or Cadence, Applejack, Pinkamena Diane Pie or Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle!

Those thousand years have now passed, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle all have moved to the town called Ponyville. Celestia still keeps a watchful eye over all of Equestria even seeing Cadence who her and Luna had turned into an alicorn and becoming Twilight's teacher. Despite the happiness of these ponies, however, two still remained as scarred and hurt as ever. Ice Breeze was now thinking that he was destined to end his life alone in that cave that he had inhabited for so very long. It had been a whole thousand years of nothing but a lonely, empty and feeble existence. The only comfort he still had were the stars, but even they didn't mean much to him anymore. He had thought many times of ending his life right there by using his earth magic to cause a cave in on himself, but could never bring himself to do it. He still had a tiny little bit of hope left that one day he would not be criticized for him being an alicorn and perhaps find somepony to even love him as more than a friend. Though he admitted that this was probably impossible, since nopony would live as long as him (he still doesn't know about the sisters). This fact alone got him to think that finding love would be impossible for a pony like him.

This continued for a while until one night he had an inspiring dream that led to him leaving his cave and setting out back to the East. “I'm not useless and I will find friends in the next town, I know they're right!” he thought to himself as he trotted off directly on course for Ponyville!

At the same time, the time for the stars to help Nightmare Moon escape had become nigh. Even Celestia herself could feel the presence of the vengeful mare start to grow ever stronger as the days passed on. Finally, one night the stars alined perfectly with moon forming the image of a giant orb and then a dark blue smoke escaped from the orb and made its way down to Equestria. Once back the planet, the smoke to a clear form: the form of Nightmare Moon. The image of the Mare on the Moon then disappeared. Ice breeze noticed this almost instantly and felt the same feeling from stars that he had so long miss except they felt evil somehow now. And looking out her window after sending Celestia a letter, Twilight knew what was coming. The only difference was the age of the mare she was much bigger than when she banished a thousand years ago. Despite that, however, she still had the same pitch black fur, elegantly evil looking translucent blue mane and those evil cat-like aqua eyes.

“Hahaha! I'm finally free! Now it is time for my revenge! Get ready my dear sister and my subjects for the night of your life. For it WILL be FOREVER!!”

The first visit Nightmare Moon made was to her sister before her appearance at the Summer Sun Celebration! But when she arrived at the castle, Celestia was nowhere to be found.

“So she runs from me now is that it? Oh well, her calendar says that this year’s celebration is in Ponyville. I'll just have pay her a visit there then!” she said as galloped out of the castle and towards the peaceful town of Ponyville!

Chapter 4: The Return of the Real Stars/ A Welcoming New Home

Upon arriving a couple hours before, Celestia's day had been like any other that she had taken part in her lifetime. When she arrived, she was escorted by a patrol of royal guards without making contact with the public before the Summer Sun celebration itself. Despite that, however, everypony in Ponyville was glad and honored to have her Excellency visit their little town; all except one. Twilight, being her student was naturally glad to get see her again, but at the same time she couldn't get her thoughts away the Mare in the Moon prophecy; a prophecy that would soon become true. Despite her suspicions though, Twilight tried to remain calm and collected in order not to cause a panic at the celebration. Celestia also felt uneasy, as she too was well aware of the prophesized day was that very day. Despite her trepidation, Celestia went on with the celebration as planned or she would have if she had not had an early, unexpected visitor in her royal guest house!

Resting in her guest house before the ceremony, Celestia was finally at ease for it was the appointed night in the prophecy and yet Nightmare Moon was nowhere to be found.

She sat quietly and began to think to herself, “Maybe the whole prophecy was false after all. I mean it was supposed to happen today, but it's almost nighttime and there's no sign of her anywhere. I have all the guards looking out for her just in case, but nopony's reported anything unusual. So I guess the ceremony will go as planned, I had hoped to see her, but I suppose this way is best. This way none of my subjects will be in harm's way. Well I better get ready for my appearance.”

Just as her thought finished she heard two thuds outside of her front door. The sun princess quickly rose to her hooves and rushed over to the door; her heart beating faster than it ever had before. As she opened the door she saw both of her posted guards lying on the ground unconscious. She immediately checked to see if they were still breathing, which they were.

Whoever had done this didn't want to kill anypony just get to her it seemed. “LUNA COME OUT!” Celestia demanded. Then she heard a voice coming from the shadows,

“We told you before that we are no longer Luna, we are Nightmare Moon!” As Celestia watched the shadows where the voice had come from she gazed upon the black furred mare walk out slowly and menacingly and said, “Long time, no see dear sister. How have you been hmm?”

Celestia shook off the initial shock of seeing how much her “sister” had grown and said, “Sister? The only sister I have is Luna and since you just said you weren't Luna then you are not my sister!”

“Aww don't be like that. We are still technically your beloved sister, just with a different mindset.” Nightmare Moon replied.

“That's just it!” cried Celestia. “The true Luna would never want to hurt the subjects that we love so much! One's true self isn't determined by words, but by actions. And while she did make a horrible mistake she still only did actions to help Equestria! Now before this goes any further, release her at once or I'll be forced to banish you again!” said Celestia.

“Hmm, well that certainly wouldn't be good now would it? But can you really do it this time around? We seriously doubt that you could, so in light of this our answer once again is no!” the black mare replied.

“That's a shame, Nightmare Moon, but oh well. I have no other choice, but to send you back for another thousand years!” Celestia began the spell that had banished Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago, but while she did the black alicorn just stood there and smiled as if she had just heard a funny joke! Celestia shot the beam of magic just like last time and as the beam became a veil and started to wrap around Nightmare Moon once again, with a sudden burst of magic the veil had dissipated!

“W-what's going on? That should have sealed you away just like a thousand years ago! Why didn't it work this time?!” Celestia asked in frantic confusion.

“Hahaha, you really don't get it do you? There are three very good reasons why it didn't work this time around. Care to guess?” Nightmare Moon said while still chuckling.

Celestia still stunned that her spell had no effect just continued to gaze in disbelief. “No? Well fine then, we'll tell you. Reason 1: Over these thousand long years we've trained on our magic and magic defense relentlessly. Reason 2: Whether you realize it or not you've grown weaker since we last met. The responsibility of both the sun AND moon has taken its toll on your physical and magical health."

As she began to speak reason 3 she bent over and starred directly into Celestia's eyes. “And perhaps the most important is reason 3: that is the undeniable fact that you don't want to banish your beloved sister to the moon for another thousand years. Your heart's just not in it my dear Celestia. Now do you see why you're completely powerless against us? You don't even have the Elements in your possession anymore, they're in the old Canterlot castle in the Everfree Forest aren't they?” Celestia looked even more shocked and admitted that everything she had said was true.

“So now it's our turn! We won't send you to the moon like you did to me, but we'll have you locked up in a magic prison until you agree to help us!” And just like that with a flash of dark blue light the sun princess was gone! “Now let's address our lovely subjects. We're sure they'll be excited to see us after all this time!” the black mare said while heading to the Summer Sun celebration.

As the preparations for the celebration were finished, all of the ponies were waiting patiently and eagerly to see their majestic sun princess Celestia. The time for her arrival had finally come or so everypony thought.

As the mayor of Ponyville announced, “Now let's welcome our beloved princess Celestia! Make her feel welcome to everypony, it's not every day she comes by.”

Everypony in the grand tent where the celebration was set to be at was ready to cheer as the royal guards pulled open the curtains to the second floor balcony. As they opened, however, everypony was shocked to find that Celestia was nowhere to be found! All of the ponies in the tent started to panic at the absence of their princess, but this was cut short by an evil laughter that they had never heard before. As the laughter grew louder the ponies of Ponyville watch as a blue cloud of smoke on the balcony formed into a pitch black alicorn mare with evil eyes that seemed to pierce their souls. None of the ponies in the place knew who this mare was except for Twilight who had realized that the Mare in the Moon prophecy had indeed come true.

“Hello my dear subjects, I bet you're wondering where your precious Celestia is right about now, aren't you? Well let's just say she won't be joining us tonight MWUAHAHA!!” the black mare said maniacally.

As soon as she finished speaking that very sentence three members of the royal guard rushed her simultaneously, but were easily struck down by a powerful magic lightning bolt summoned by this mysterious alicorn. “Have a good look Ponyville, for we, Nightmare Moon are your new ruler and tonight's darkness shall last for eternity!” she said as she turned back into a cloud of smoke and exited in a flash.

“Come back here!” Rainbow Dash yelled trying to chase after her only to have Applejack stop her. As this happened they noticed Twilight run out and rush back to her library and decided to give chase.

“Oh no, the prophecy came true after all!” Twilight said frantically while searching for certain book. She continued to search only to have Rainbow Dash slam through the door and tackle her to the floor.

“Prophecy? What prophecy? Do you have something to do with this?” Dash inquired still holding Twilight on the ground.

“Now hold on there pardner' I don't reckon that Twilight is a part of this, but she definitely knows what's going on. Dont'cha Twi? The purple unicorn nodded as Rainbow Dash got off of her. When she got back up to all fours she saw that not only did Dash and Applejack follow her, but Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity as well! She then proceeded to explain about who Nightmare Moon was, the prophecy and the Elements of Harmony. And as she went to walk out the door to pursue Nightmare Moon the other five stopped her and insisted that they were coming with her.

As they made their way to the Everfree Forest, Rainbow would continue to tell horror stories of the forest and all of the other ponies, especially Fluttershy were becoming continually wary of entering it. Until Rarity finally spoke up, “Rainbow my dear, will you please stop telling these atrocious stories? Fluttershy's about to have a heart attack and the woods are already dreadful and dirty enough without your stories. So just stop already.”

Rainbow looked shocked, but agreed to stop as Fluttershy finally came out of the bush she had been hiding in. As they got to the entrance they all felt an unnatural force from it. And as they ventured through it there were a multitude of tests that demonstrated each Element that each pony represented and at long last they finally reached the old Canterlot Castle now grown over with foliage to add to its decaying presence. As they entered there was a very powerful, bad feeling that overtook them and at the back of the main room there was a spiral staircase.

Twilight insisted that she go alone this time and the others reluctantly agreed. As she reached to top of the staircase she saw the Elements of Harmony orbs sitting on a pedestal and when she went to approach them she noticed that there were only five Elements there!

“Where is the sixth one? Wait, the tale said that once the five are united a spark will summon the sixth.” Twilight spoke to herself. She then arranged the five elements in a circular pattern and tried to create a spark using her magic but before she could; they were swept up in a blue tornado like magic and returned to pedestal where Nightmare Moon was now standing!

“Did you really expect me to leave the only thing that could defeat me unguarded? You're a naïve fool then.” the black mare scolded at her.

"I know who you are and I'm here to stop you!” Twilight replied.

“You? Stop me? Don't make me laugh! Not even Celestia could stop me!” Twilight disregarded her words and rushed at her. Nightmare Moon, still chuckling got serious and charged at Twilight as well. But just as they were about to collide Twilight used a teleportation spell and ended up next to the elements. As soon as she got there she shot a spark of magic into the center of the Elements and they started to float up. Nightmare Moon looked shocked and Twilight seemed victorious until the five orbs fell to the ground and shattered.

“W-what? Why didn't it work?” Twilight said confused. Nightmare Moon began laughing hysterically as she her and Twilight heard hoof steps coming up the staircase at a rapid rate.

“Twilight, are you OK?” they heard come from one of the five ponies. At that moment Nightmare Moon teleported to the pedestal and resulted in knocking Twilight back to the middle of the room. At that moment when her friends arrived Twilight's eyes widened as it came to her: she needed the others to activate the Harmonies! She got back to her hooves as the other five surrounded her.

“So what is having these five with you going to accomplish?” Nightmare Moon asked.

“Oh, you'll see!” Twilight snickered. The broken orbs then started to glow their respective colors: an outstanding orange for honesty, a ravishing red for loyalty, a picturesque pink for kindness, a vibrant violet for generosity and a brilliant blue for laughter. And as all five reached their peak colors a sixth orb appeared in the middle, this one colored a magical magenta.

“B-but h-how? Why are they working now?” Nightmare Moon nervously asked.

“Simple, they needed a pony that truly embodied their values and these five hold those qualities. Applejack, who always tells the truth embodies honesty. Pinkie Pie, who laughed in the face of danger embodies laughter. Rarity, who cut off a piece off her own tail to help someone less fortunate represents generosity. Fluttershy, who is unfailingly nice embodies kindness. And lastly, Rainbow Dash, who put her friends over her own personal desires represents loyalty.” As she said each pony's name the element that pony represented flew around their necks and turned into necklaces

. “And when all five are assembled the sixth: magic, appears.” Twilight said as the magenta orb turned into a crown on top of her head. As all six Elements finished forming the six ponies levitated in the air and a rainbow colored beam shot out onto Nightmare Moon. As the beam dissipated, the old princess Luna laid on the ground unconsciously. After a couple minutes she awoke and as she did Celestia appeared between the seven ponies!

“Princess! What happened to you?” Twilight quickly asked.

“My most faithful student, Nightmare Moon had imprisoned me, but that broke once she returned to normal. I thank you and your five friends.” Celestia said as she walked over to her younger sister.

“Luna, it's been a thousand years since I've seen you like this. Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Celestia asked demandingly.

“I'm so sorry sister, I never meant to hurt anypony.” Luna said as she began to cry and hug Celestia. At this point Pinkie was in the background crying rivers of tears exclaiming how heartwarming this was.

Celestia looked down with a smile and “I know Luna, it's OK, let's head back.” The sisters thanked the mane 6 once again and teleported home. And while this all happened in a matter of days, in those days Ice had almost arrived at his Ponyville destination!

On his way to Ponyville he entered the deep, dense and dark Everfree forest. The town that he hopes to settle down in was just a forest away, but what a forest it was. The first thing he noticed about it was the unnerving fog that seemed to always linger about endlessly. That and the smell of rotten, decaying wood surrounding him. As he began to truck through the dense weeds and brambles with them scratching at him every time he moved. Despite the painful scratches he trudged forward until suddenly the fog became so dense that he found himself unable to see anything. He quickly stopped and used his wings to clear the fog away, but to no avail. So he decided to take it up a notch and try to use some wind magic he had been working on. His horn glowed a bright sea foam color and a mini-tornado suddenly popped up out of nowhere. The winds were extremely strong despite its small stature and just as he was about to unleash the wind from its funnel he heard a voice as the fog suddenly cleared!

“That's a mighty strong wind you have there. With it, you'd better take care.”

Ice seemed shocked and he thought to himself, “That couldn't be Genevere could it? It's been over a thousand years! There's no way she could be alive.”

He stepped back cautiously and asked “W-who are you?”

“No need to be frightened child. My name is Zecora and my temperament is quite mild. You seem lost in this here forest. Being your guide would certainly be no test. For I know these woods like the back of my hoof. For even if you are lost you needn't look so aloof.”

Still a little shocked he asked, “Zecora, are you by chance a zebra?”

“Why yes I am my dear. Did you figure that out by just using your ears to hear?” she asked.

“Not exactly, you see I met a zebra by the name of Genevere a long time ago and she taught me about elixirs and such.” he replied.

“Genevere you say? So you came my ancestor's way. That must make you quite old. How is it you're not dead and cold?” she inquired.

Hesitantly Ice stepped out of the shadows and said, “Because I'm an alicorn that's how!”

“Ah I see now. You truly are a rare show. Now where are you going to through here? Is it place far or near?” Zecora answered still a little surprised.

“I'm trying to find a place called Ponyville. Do you know of it?” he asked hopefully.

“As a matter of fact I do. These woods I shall guide you through. But not until tomorrow dear. Come stay in my hut until day comes back around here. Ice decided to oblige and followed her to her hut.

Once they got there, Zecora fixed some tea and they conversed about her ancestor Genevere. He told her about how she taught him magic and potion making when nopony else would lend a hoof to help him. Zecora then expressed how proud she was to have a ancestor like that. Then they went to bed. In the meanwhile while they were sleeping through the morning the mane 6 had just ended up beating Discord using the Elements of Harmony. Finally, around noon, Zecora and Ice Breeze both woke up, surprised at what time it was.

“My goodness it's late! We must leave at a quick rate.” Zecora said. Ice went along with it and they both exited the hut. On the way to Ponyville the two were attacked by a pack of Timberwolves.

Ice immediately jumped in front and said, “Please allow me to repay you for your hospitality.” Zecora nodded and Ice's horn began to glow a mixture of mahogany and red.

“Two colors at once I see. Then two magics are coming I believe.” Zecora thought to herself.

She watched as pieces of the ground began to form an orb and just before it closed a ball of magma form a perfect inner layer. Ice shot the ball with great force and just as it reached the pack, the bomb exploded, covering all of the wolves in molten lava and stone. Zecora shrieked in horror as some of the magma came backwards towards them, but in the blink of an eye Ice's horn changed to blue and yellow. And as this happened, a gigantic wall of electrified water rose up to protect them: the water to cool the magma and a cutting high voltage electrical web to break the stones into smaller pieces.

Amazed at what she had just witnessed Zecora managed to mutter, “T-t-the lost art of elemental magic? I had always thought its disappearance was tragic. But you, you possess the special art. You should be honored to wield its heart.”

“Its heart? What do you mean?” Ice asked.

“The heart of the elements my dear. Only the holder of all six qualities may hold this form of magic near.” Zecora answered still in disbelief.

“Six qualities? What are you talking about?” he inquired.

“Magic, laughter, kindness, generosity, honesty and loyalty. These are the qualities of true harmony. The soul of a hero lies within you. For nature itself is your tool. Only one with an absolute pure heart may wield this power. Your pure heart will shine in your loved ones most dire hour.”

“Loved one? I don't have a special somepony or even that good of a friend.” he replied.

“You shall my son. Sooner than later she may come. But enough of that for there is your town. There is Ponyville, so no more frowns.” Ice looked up at the sky and said goodbye and thanks to Zecora. Then he trotted off, hopeful to discover a place to live in this new town!

Exiting the forest, he saw the town of Ponyville. And he couldn't help but be excited because from what Zecora told him the night before, the residents wouldn't hate him for being an alicorn. “For once I can truly be myself.” he thought to himself while smiling widely.

And another thing that he had noticed the night before was that the stars he had loved so much finally seemed to return to way they used to be. As he walked closer to what he hoped to be his new home, he spotted a purple unicorn practicing magic with a small purple dragon on the outskirts of town. He decided to go say hi, seeing as they were probably residents of Ponyville, he wanted to make a proper introduction. The purple mare was concentrating hard on a new spell she was trying to learn: a spell that would be used offensively sort of like a magic laser beam, just in case someone like Discord ever came around again.

Just as she was about to cast the spell a voice cried out, “ Excuse me!” shocked, she turned and shot in that direction out of surprise. She could only watch as her beam was headed straight for the green colts face, but suddenly a huge gust of upward wind blew the beam up and away from him.

“O-oh my gosh! Are you okay?” the purple mare shouted whilst running over to the colt.

“Oh yeah I'm fine no big.” he said laughing it off.

“Oh good, if it wasn't for that freak gust of wind my magic would hitting nailed you right in the face.” she said relieved.

“Oh that was no freak breeze. I controlled the wind to do that.” he replied while smiling.

“Really? But controlling the wind's supposed to be impossible!” she said slightly confused.

“Yeah really, controlling the elements is my special talent. See my cutie mark? Its five colors represent the five elements.” he answered.

“That's impossible! Just who are you?” she inquired.

“That's right, I forgot to introduce myself, sorry. My name is Ice Breeze and I'm hoping to find a place to live in Ponyville. And just to let you know, I'm an alicorn. If you hate me because of it, I'm used to it by now.”

“Really?” the purple mare asked as she looked around at his sides. As soon as she saw the wings she blurted, “Oh my gosh, you ARE an alicorn!” Ice looked down thinking he knew what was about to come.

“That's amazing!” she said excitedly.

Ice immediately looked up in shock and said, “Y-you don't hate the fact that I'm an alicorn?”

“Now why would I hate you for what you are? Oh and by the way, my name's Twilight Sparkle and this my assistant Spike. It's a pleasure to meet you.” she said with a confused smile on her face.

Spike just looked in amazement at a third alicorn. Ice started to tear up. “What's wrong?” Twilight asked.

Ice wiped his eyes and said, “You're the first one to truly accept me for who I am since over a thousand years ago.”

“Really? Well I know of at LEAST five more that will accept you easily. Let's go, I'll introduce you to them.”

“Follow me, this way.” Twilight said.

“Wait, Ponyville's that way.” Ice said.

Twilight just laughed and said, “I know that, but two of the ponies I was talking about don't live in Ponyville, but on the outskirts. Oh and Spike go back home and tell you-know-who to get a welcome party ready.”

Spike looked at her and said, “Who are talking, oh ok, gotcha.” He then ran off back to Ponyville. Ice just looked confused at what she meant, but decided to go along with it.

“So where exactly are we going? Ice asked.

“A nice farmstead named Sweet Apple Acres. There you'll meet my friend Applejack and her family.” Twilight answered with a smile.

About half an hour later they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. The first pony they saw was a big red stallion with a big green apple as a cutie mark.

“Oh, BIG MAC!” Twilight yelled. The stallion turned quickly and acknowledged his visitors. “Is Applejack home?” Twilight asked.

“Eeyup and who this you have with you? I don't recognize him.” Mac asked.

“Oh hello, my name's Ice Breeze it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Ice said while bowing.

Mac just looked at him like he was nutty, but replied with, “Eeyup, likewise. Applejack and Applebloom are inside. And Granny's taking her nap.

“Thanks Mac, see ya later.” Twilight said as her and Ice Breeze went inside.

Mac just continued doing his work and said, “EEYUP!”

As they got to the door the door opened on its own and behind it was a little yellow filly with red hair and bow-tie in her hair. “Ah thought I heard you Twilight. Who's this guy?” the yellow filly asked.

“This is Ice Breeze, Applebloom, he's a new resident in Ponyville and he's looking for some friends.

“ Ah then welcome to Sweet Apple Acres.” Applebloom said with a big grin.

“Thank you.” Ice replied.

“SIIIIIS!!!!” Applebloom cried.

The three heard the floor creak as a pony's silhouette came closer to the door. As she came out into the light what they saw was an orange mare with blond hair tied in a ponytail and a cowboy hat. “Well howdy there Twilight. What you doin' in this here neck of the woods?”

“Hi Applejack, this is Ice Breeze and he's new to Ponyville. He was hoping he could make some friends, so I decided to help out.” Twilight replied.

“Well shucks, that's not a problem at all. Howdy pardner, my name's Applejack. Nice to meet you sugarcube. And lookie here, you're an alicorn no less. That's rare to see.” Applejack said.

“Nice to meet you as well and yes we are rare indeed.” Ice replied smiling.

“Well y'all come on in now.” Applejack said.

“Sorry we'd love to, but we have a long day ahead of us.” Twilight answered.

“Ah gotcha ya,” Applejack said as Twilight was whispering something in her ear. Applejack just nodded and Twilight and Ice Breeze set off to their next destination.

Once they were off of the farm Ice asked, “Where are we headed to now?”

“My friend has a cottage that's on the way back. We'll stop by there first.”

“Ok.” Ice said. After walking for about ten or fifteen minutes, they saw a small cottage sitting on the peak of a hill. “Is that it?” Ice asked.

“Yep, that's her cottage alright.” Twilight said smiling. The two ponies walked up to the door and knocked gently to see if anypony was home.

They then heard a meek voice from the other side, “Hold on, I'll be right there.” the voice said.

As the door opened a bright yellow mare with flowing pink hair came out of the door along with a rabbit, two birds, a frog and a ferret. “Well that was unexpected.” Ice thought to himself.

“Um... hello Twilight. Who's this?”

“His name is Ice Breeze and he's new in Ponyville, introduce yourself.” Twilight said.

“Um... hi I'm Fluttershy.” she said meekly.

“Um excuse me, didn't quite hear you.” Ice said.

“My name's Fluttershy.” she said quietly once again.

“Um, could you please repeat that one more time?”

“My name's Fluttershy *squee*.” she said blushing while still shying away.

“Oh ok, well Fluttershy it's nice to meet you.” Ice said.

“L-l-likewise.” Fluttershy said while becoming less nervous.

“So do you take care of all these animals here? It must be hard work.” Ice inquired.

Fluttershy's ears perked up, “Oh yes! These animals are my life. It is hard work, but it's so rewarding.” Fluttershy said excitedly.

“That's a big change of pace.” Ice thought to himself once again.

“Well Fluttershy, we have to go. We still have places to go.” Twilight said.

“O-of course.” Fluttershy said while Twilight whispered something in her ear as well. Flutttershy nodded just as Applejack had done before and Ice and Twilight left for Ponyville at last!

On the way back to Ponyville, Twilight got a little curious and asked, “So where did you come from?”

Ice just stopped and looked down at the ground and said, “I- I'd rather not talk about it right now.”

Twilight could see that this was a sensitive subject for him and just replied with, “It's ok, sorry for asking.”

As they were nearing their destination, Twilight shoots a flare from her horn, surprising Ice so much that he almost fell backwards. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” he shouted.

“Just calling a certain pony to come give you a Ponyville welcome!” she said with a smile.

As he looked towards the town he saw a pink mare with what seemed to be a cannon! Naturally, he got a bit nervous. “W-why does she have a cannon?” he asked.

“Oh it's part of the welcome, don't worry.” she answered.

He just smiled and took a big gulp not sure of what awaited him. As the pink mare finally got close to him she jumped up in the air and began to sing a joyful song. As soon as she started, Ice thought to himself, “She is very hyperactive, but at least she won't be boring to hand around.”

“Welcome to Ponyville, where we all love each other.
With sadness we don't even bother.
We are pleased to have you join our family, so please come on in.
And have some delicious cake now and then.
I promise that it will be quite tasty and good.
And it's always sweeter when eaten with your friends to lighten your mood.
By the way, my name is Pinkie Pie.
And if we can't be friends then I might just cry.
So let's become best friends and NEVER say goodbye!”

After the song was done, Pinkie pulled the string on the cannon and a loud BOOM, made him flinch as confetti and icing shot out everywhere. “So what's your name?” Pinkie asked.

Finally opening his eyes he said, “I'm Ice Breeze, it's a pleasure Pinkie."

And Pinkie then asked Twilight, “8 O'clock right?”

“Yes Pinkie Pie 8 at my library.” she said with a smile. As she took Ice further into the town.

“So Twilight, I'm almost scared to ask who's next, but who's next?” Ice asked nervously.

“Trust me she's a lot calmer than Pinkie, but she can be a bit full of herself at times.”

As they made their way to the central plaza Ice saw a cyan colored mare with a rainbow mane and tail up in the clouds. “Who's that?” he asked.

“Actually that's who we're looking for. DASH COME HERE!” Twilight yelled.

This surprised the blue mare causing her to fall out her cloud on to the ground with a THUD. “Whoa Twilight, what's the big deal yelling like that. And who's the tool with you?”

“I'm Ice Breeze, I just moved here, it's nice to meet you miss...”

Before he could finish “Yeah, yeah I'm Rainbow Dash. I see you have wings there, you any fast?”

Ice just looked at her, “You want to find out?” he replied with a smirk.

Twilight just looked worried and said, “Oh boy, this won't end well.”

“You see that hill in the distance?” Rainbow asked while pointing to a large hill about four miles out of town.

“Yeah I see it.” he replied.

“The first one to get there and back is the winner ok?” she asked.

“No problems here! Twilight could you do the countdown?” Twilight was reluctant, but sighed and began to count down. 3, 2, 1 zero!

The two ponies shot off in blazing speeds both seemed tied until a barrier started forming around Rainbow Dash. “You're pretty fast Ice, but this is where I leave you in the dust. See ya!” just as she finished speaking a huge circular rainbow shot out from behind her as her speed instantly doubled.

She reached the hill before him with ease, but on the way back she noticed he was smirking like he'd won. Suddenly he laughs and says, “You're incredibly fast yourself, but I control the wind itself.”

And with that all of a sudden he bolted almost instantly reaching the hill AND reaching Dash with ease. “See ya Dash and sorry.” he said as his speed increased even more in what seemed a teleport he arrived at the finish line first.

Rainbow just stopped looking shocked that somepony actually beat her in a race. But that soon turned into excitement. “That. Was. AWESOME!! How'd you fly that fast? I did the sonic rainboom and you still flew by me with ease!”

“Well that's my special talent. I use elemental magic, so I just used my wind magic to enhance to aerodynamic attributes of my wings and body.”

“Ok, you lost me after magic, but still, you are about 20% cooler than the others in this town except for me of course!” Dash said with a grin.

“Well Dash it was fun, but we must be off to the Carousel Boutique now and don't forget to be at my house at 8 ok?”

“Yeah, yeah egghead. I got it.” The two then walked further into town as Rainbow Dash flew back up to the cloud and began napping again.

Twilight and Ice Breeze finally arrived at their destination: The Carousel Boutique! “ Now Ice I will warn you that my last friend can be a bit over-dramatic at times and is OBSESSED with fashion and cleanliness. So please try to keep the dirt you bring in to a minimum, OK?”

Ice just nodded in reply to Twilight. He then used his magic to blow away the dirt in front of the door so they wouldn't get any in the boutique. “Ok all done.” Ice said smiling.

Twilight smiled and knocked on the door. The door opened and a small white filly with lavender and flamingo pink hair answered. “Oh, Twilight! What did you need?” the filly asked.

“Oh hi Sweetie Belle, is your sister home? This is Ice Breeze and I'm trying to get him some friends because he just moved here.” Twilight replied.

“Oh that's so sweet of you Twilight!” Sweetie Belle said.

“Oh well you know me, I try to show good friendshipness towards everypony.” Twilight answered.

“THAT'S NOT A WORD!” Sweetie exclaimed.

Ice and Twilight looked shocked as the filly continued speaking, “But yeah, sis is home, come on in.”

Both of them stepped inside and immediately saw a white mare with a very well groomed, purple mane and tail, each with a beauteous rotating pattern.“ Sweetie dear, who was at the door?” the mare said while still working on her sewing machine.

“It's Twilight and a newcomer in town named Ice Breeze.” Sweetie said.

The white mare turned around, whipping her head so that her mane would fall perfectly like always. “Oooh, Twilight darling, who IS this smashing stallion hmm?” the white mare asked.

Before either Twilight or Ice could answer the white mare had ran over to Ice with a measuring tape. “Hmm, yes, yes very good. AHA! I just had the most darling idea!” She then quickly ran back to her work station.

After about two minutes had gone by, Ice finally begin to speak, “Umm miss could…” “IT'S FINISHED!” the mare interrupted. “Isn't it just gorgeous? I think it fits your brilliant blue and red mane quite well wouldn't you say?"

She then threw a red and blue scarf with light green accents on it to complement his coat around his neck and gazed at him for approval. “I-it's wonderful.” he said with a big smile.

The mare's eyes widened with excitement as she ran back over to him and hugged him. “Finally a stallion with good fashion sense, you have NOoOoO idea how hard they are to find. What did you say your name was again dear? I am Rarity.” she asked with a gleam in her eye.

“It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Rarity, my name is Ice Breeze.” he said while bowing.

“Oh my!” Rarity said while fainting to the ground.

After a couple of minutes, she regained consciousness. “Um Rarity, why did you faint? Was it something I said?” Ice asked.

“Oh nothing like that darling. It's just so rare to find a handsome stallion such as yourself with fashion sense AND manners. I think I'm in love!” Rarity said with a huge smile on her face.

Ice just blushed and looked onto the ground. Twilight finally intervened and said, “As much as we'd love to stay, I have to help Ice find a house. And all the girls are meeting at my house around 8 o'clock. Are you coming Rarity?”

Rarity looked disappointed that they were leaving, sighed, and then said, “Sure dear, I'll be there. Bye Ice.”

“See ya around Rarity and you too Sweetie Belle.” Ice said as him and Twilight left.

“Lucky for you Ice, there's a house up for sale right on the edge of town, do you have any bits?” Twilight asked.

Ice smiled and pulled out a big coin purse, “As a matter of fact I do.” he while revealing the large amount of money he had gained from his elixir shop in Neighbraska.

Twilight just gaped her mouth open and said' “Well I-I'm sure that w-will cover it and then some!” Ice just grinned and put the purse back in his saddlebag.

They then went to the mayor's office where he was granted citizenship and he paid for the house deed. They walked to the north side of the town, “Here it is!” Twilight said.

The house was of average size, the color was a bright yellow and a great view of the city of Canterlot and the surrounding scenery. It was now 6:30 and Ice said “Thanks Twilight, but if you don't mind I'd like to get moved in myself.”

Twilight just nodded and told him, “Okay, but why don't you come over to my library at 8 o'clock? I'm sure the others would like to see you again, especially Rarity.” she said while winking and giggling.

“Sure I'll be there.” Ice said smiling.

He then made his way inside and immediately made his way to his bedroom. Once there, he pulled out a photograph out of his saddlebag and put it on his nightstand. The picture was of him and Cerulean Shield back in Neighbraska. “I finally found a place where I'm accepted. If only you could be here with me.” he thought to himself while staring at it with a tear rolling down his face.

About an hour later he had finished, he set off to Twilight's. When he got there he noticed all the lights were off. “It's 8 o'clock, where is everypony?” he thought as he knocked on the door.

The door then opened and the six ponies he had previously met jumped out with a big, “SURPRISE!!” “What's going on here?” he asked confusingly.

“IT'S YOUR WELCOME PARTY SILLY!” said Pinkie Pie in a very high pitched voice.

Ice looked shocked and started crying again. “Thank you, all of you. I finally found ponies who will accept me even though I'm an alicorn.” he said wiping his tears away.

“AN ALICORN?” Rarity yelled whilst fainting again.

As the ponies woke her up she said, “I couldn't see your wings because of your saddlebag earlier. You're handsome, polite, fashionable AND an alicorn. YOU! ARE! PERFECT!” Rarity exclaimed.

The other five just rolled their eyes at her. Then Applejack asked, “Well sugarcube, what do ya mean ya finally found ponies to accept ya?”

“Yeah, what did mean by that huh?” Rainbow Dash added.

So then Ice told them of his past. At the end of the story all six were crying, but Rainbow Dash was trying to hide it by going to get some punch.

Fluttershy then flew over to Ice Breeze and then gave him a big hug and said, “There, there you poor thing. It's ok now. You're with friends now.” the other five just nodded then all came over for a group hug.

While this was happening Ice said, “Thanks girls, if you need any help around town or whatever I'll be glad to help.”

They then released each other and began the party for another four hours until Ice finally said he needed some sleep and left.

The next morning, Ice woke up still feeling a little sore from all the dancing and games the night before.

“Man that was the first time I've had fun since Shield was still alive.” He thought to himself while trying to rub the soreness out of his front legs. He goes down stairs fixes some oats for breakfast and then brushes his teeth as a blue pony named Colgate mentioned to him yesterday on the way to the surprise party. After he was done he heard a knock at the front door. When he opened it he saw Pinkie Pie standing there, looking excited.

“Hey Ice! You know when you said you'd help us around town if we needed it? What am I talking about? Of course you do, you're the one that said it duh!!! Well anyway I need your help over at Sugarcube Corner so head on over there as fast as absolutely possible ok?”

Before he could reply the pink mare had bounced off. “Well um ok.” said Ice with a confused look on his face.

So he walked out the door and headed over Sugarcube Corner. When he got there the door was already open. “Pinkie? I'm here. What'd you need help with?” he asked.

“Oh there you are silly nilly. We're going to have so much fun together. We're going to make some cupcakes!” she said bouncing up and down.

She then handed him one and asked him to taste test it. He obliged, but soon found out that there was something wrong with it as he soon passed out. He awoke in what seemed like a torture chamber of sorts, with skulls lying about.

“Awake now are you? GREAT!!” he heard Pinkie's voice say from the dark corner of the room.

“P-Pinkie where are we and why am I chained down to this table?” he asked nervously.

“We're just making cupcakes. I just needed you for the extra flavor! I wonder how alicorn tastes?” she said laughing evilly.

“W-what this isn't funny Pinkie!” he said now extremely nervous.

“Of course it isn't for you silly.” she said coming out of the shadows with a knife in her hoof.

“Now hold still, this will only hurt for a second.” she said as she rose the knife over her head.

As she lowered it with a big thrust, Ice yelled, “Just stop!”

“OK! You just had to ask silly. Besides, this knife is made of cardboard anyway.” she said smiling.

“What about the skulls over there and all the blood on the walls?” he asked.

“Oh silly, those are paper Mache and the blood is nothing but red cake icing.” she said while still laughing.

“Then why do all of this? You almost gave me a heart attack!” Ice asked.

“It's just something I saw on this other fanfic on the ponynet called Cupcakes. It's not as fun as they made it out to be though, sorry. Wanna actually make some cupcakes now hehe?” she asked.

“Um, sure I guess?” he answered, not sure how to react.

They walked upstairs and much to Ice's surprise they were still at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie proceeded to start the oven and tossed Ice a pair of oven mitts.

“Um Pinkie I don't need these. I can use magic remember?” he asked with a grin on his face. “Oh that's right, I forgot, stupid me!”

So the two proceeded to make a batch of cupcakes and then handed them out to as many ponies as they could before they ran out. Once they were done Pinkie said goodbye to Ice as she went back to her actual job at Sugarcube Corner.

Ice smiled and said, “See ya later Pinkie.”

As he walked away from the sweets shop. On the way to the market he saw Twilight working on some magic in a field. So he decided to go see if she needed any help.

“Twilight, what are doing over here? You seem to be have trouble with a spell.” Ice asked.

“Oh Ice, yes this spell is so difficult. I'm trying to perform a higher level force field than I'm used to and it's driving me mad, ugh!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Why do you need a stronger one?” Ice asked.

“It's in case somepony like Discord comes back.” Ice looked at her with a shocked look on his face.

“Did you say Discord?” Ice asked with anger in his voice.

“Uh, yeah I did. You've met him?” she asked acknowledging the angry tone in his voice.

“I only saw him for a couple of seconds, but he tried to destroy my old hometown. Luckily my powers kicked in at the right time, but as I told all of you he also cost me my best friend that day.” he replied angrily.

“That's right! How could I have forgot? Sorry, but you won't to worry about him anymore. He's been turned into stone by the six mares that threw your party last night.” she said while winking at him.

His expression then turned docile once again. “Oh good, it serves him right. Now about that spell. Try it again.” he said.

Twilight agreed and tried to conjure the force field. He watched as the field began to form and then he shot a burst of magic into it. The blast broke through the force field like a knife through butter.

“Oww, I thought you were going to take it easy?” Twilight said holding her head.

“I did and I know what you're doing wrong as well.” he replied.

“Well then what I am doing wrong? I've been at this for hours!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Are you imagining the force field in the shape of a sphere? Or are just trying to cast it?” Ice asked.

“I'm just trying to cast it. That's all I've ever needed to do before.” she answered.

“Well when you go higher up into the more advanced spells, you actually have to imagine the spell you're casting and give it shape. Just casting won't work. Just try it.” Ice explained.

Twilight listened and imagined the spherical shape that she wanted. And as she kept that image in her mind, the field formed without a hitch. Ice then shot another burst of the same power as the first one, but this time instead of breaking through it just left a medium sized crack.

Twilight was amazed that it had worked and began hopping up and down, “Thank you so much!!” she yelled as she ran over to hug him.

“No problem.” he said. He then told Twilight that he had also helped Pinkie earlier in the day and that he was pretty tired. They both said goodbye to one another and he headed home for some dinner and well deserved sleep.

The next day after his morning routine, he heard a big crash behind his house. He ran outside to see what it was only to find Rainbow Dash laying upside down in a bush.

“Umm Dash, what are you doing in my bush?” he asked.

“Oh sorry, I was just trying to clear the clouds early so I could work on a new trick I've been working on. I tried to use a twister, but I got kinda out of control.”

“No kidding there. Let me help.” Ice replied laughing.

With one mighty blast of his wind enhanced wings he created three mini twisters and guided them with laser-like precision. The sky was cleared in no time.

“Now about that trick. Would you like any help with it.” Rainbow just nodded her head still looking in awe at the twister barrage.

She then snapped out of it and flew into the air, “ Ok, all I need is to get the movement down and I should be fine, but at the speed I'm going I always seem to get to the ground too early to perfect it.” she said.

“Well then, let's see it.” Ice replied.

Dash gave a big nod then shoot down at the ground while doing a corkscrewing back-flip of some sort. And just she said, she got to the ground before the trick was finished.

“God! You see what I mean?” Dash yelled.

“Yeah I do, now try it again. This time I'll make the wind push against you some so that the friction induced by wind will slow your momentum in order to give you more time.”

Rainbow just stared at him in confusion, but flew up again anyway. This time as she plunged down to the ground, she could feel the wind push against her and slow her enough for her to finish the move. They then did it another four times for her to get it down.

“Ok, you ready for this awesomeness?” Dash asked. Ice just rolled his eyes and nodded.

Dash then proceeded to jet downwards completing her 360 whirlwind flip as she called it and as soon as she exited the move she shot into a sonic rainboom ending it with a spectacle.

“Haha yeah baby! You like that! Of course you did it was super-radically- awesome!! Oh and thanks!”

Before Ice could reply Dash had shot off to show the town her new move. “You're welcome.” Ice replied knowing she couldn't hear him.

“Well now, wasn't that fancy?” he heard somepony ask from behind him.

As he turned around he saw Applejack standing there.

“Howdy there pardner, since you helping out the pony folk, care to help me out?” she asked.

“I would, but I haven't had any lunch yet.” he answered.

“Well that's no problem Sugarcube. Just head on over to Sweet Apple Acres with me. I'll fix ya somethin' real good.” Ice smiled and followed her to her farm where she fixed him a couple apple fritters and glass of milk.

“So what'd you need help with? Ice asked curiously.

“Well ya see, Mac's gotten injured again somehow. So I need somepony to help buck some apples, seeing as I remember last time.” Applejack said while giggling at her own memory.

“Sure this will be simple.” he replied.

Applejack just looked at him as if to say “you'd best be joking with that statement.”

Ice looked at the orchard and told the orange mare to set up the barrels under the trees she needed. She obliged and when she was done, Ice told her to stand back. His horn began to glow mahogany colored as he stomped the ground extremely hard with his two front hooves. Just as Applejack was about to ask what he did that for, the ground started shaking vigorously. All the trees with the barrels under them began to shake as well and all of the apples dropped off in a matter of minutes. Applejack starred in amazement as Ice started to trot over to the barrels to carry them back to the barn. Applejack the proceeded to help and later gave him some more food after they had finished going through the good and bad apples. Ice then left with the food and returned home for another night of well-deserved rest, not knowing what tomorrow would hold!

The next few days were quiet and nothing much was going on until four days after helping Dash and Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity came knocking on Ice's door. Ice answered the door and welcomed them in, both graciously accepted.

“Hello girls. What can I do for you? Or are you just here to hang out?” Ice asked.

“Well darling, as much as we would love to hang out with you we simply can't.” Rarity said.

“Well umm... you see we were wondering if you could do us a favor over the next few days... if that's okay with you.” Fluttershy added nervously.

“Sure, what is it?” answered Ice with a friendly smile reaching across his face.

“The truth is dear, is that we just received a letter inviting us to Twilight's older brother's wedding in Canterlot. And we were wondering if you could watch Fluttershy's animals and my boutique while we were away.” Rarity replied.

“Of course! It shouldn't be a problem just give a list of things to do and they'll get done.” he said smiling still.

Rarity then proceeded to run over and give him a big hug, “Oh I knew you'd do this for me, oh I mean us. My boutique will be the easy part, all you have to do is keep it clean, help customers with their orders and take notes of orders for when I get back.” Rarity said while finally letting go of Ice.

“Oh and mine hopefully won't be too much trouble either. Just give them food and water three times a day and it should be fine.” Fluttershy said.

“No worry girls, it shall be done. Have fun at the wedding! And tell Twilight and her brother congratulations.” Ice said as the two mares were walking out the door.

That night Twilight and her friends packed for their trip. But in Canterlot something terrible had happened!

Meanwhile in Canterlot castle we go to a dinner between a beautiful Pink alicorn mare with purple, pink and yellow hair and a crystal heart cutie mark and a handsome white unicorn stallion with blue hair and a shield as a cutie mark.

“So Cadence how are you liking this romantic dinner and aren't you excited with our wedding day being so close?”

“Shining Armor, honey, you know I am. And this dinner's amazing. On top of all this, I'll get to see Twilight again, it's been ages!” Cadence said.

“I know, I haven't seen her much myself since she moved into Ponyville. I'm sure she'll be glad to see both of us. I wonder what her friends are like. You know Celestia hoof picked them to help with the ceremony so I'm guessing they're all pretty reliable. What do you think Cadence?” Shining Armor said inquisitively.

“I'm sorry honey, but hold that thought. I have to use the little mare's room.” Cadence said while rushing from the table.

“Ok, hurry back!” Armor said. “Man I must be the luckiest royal guard captain ever! Just look at that flank! That and I get to see my little sis again!” Armor thought to himself as he watched his soon to be bride run from the room.

Cadence was finished quickly and started to head back to the dining room when she heard a voice from the bathroom window, “So this is the royal castle, eh? It's quite lovely.” a dark figure outside said.

“Who's there? Luna is that you?” Cadence asked nervously.

“Oh no my dear, shall I come inside so you can see properly?” the figure asked.

No! No strangers are allowed in the castle without permission. I'll come out.” Cadence said.

Once outside she saw the figure slowly glide down from the sky and onto the ground. “Who or WHAT are you?!” Cadence asked.

“Me? Why I am Queen Chrysalis: the queen and leader of the changelings! And before you ask why I'm here. It's to collect food for my subjects. And who might you be? You seem too small to be one of the royal sisters?” Chrysalis said.

“I'm princess Mi'Amoré Cadenza or Cadence for short and what do you mean by food? If you need provisions, why didn't you just say so?” Cadence asked.

“You seem to be confused my dear. You see changelings don't eat food, they gain nutrition and life from love. And Canterlot is full of it, that's why I'm here to take it over.” the changeling said with vigor in her voice.

“Not on my watch! I won't have you disturb my wedding!” Cadence said while shooting a pink magic beam from her horn. “Chrysalis just laughed and seemed to absorb the blast with her own beam.

“ You shouldn't have done that. And a wedding you say? Your groom must love you a lot, this is perfect! Now just watch!” Chrysalis said as her body started to glow green.

Cadence watched in shock as Chrysalis transformed into an exact copy of herself. “H-how did you do that?!” Cadence shouted in disbelief.

“Perhaps you weren't listening. I'm a changeling, I can take the form of whatever I touch or whose magic I absorb. That's why I said your blast was a mistake. And now to deal with you!” Chrysalis said while speaking in Cadence's voice.

“Oh no you don't!” Cadence said as she start a spell up.

But before she could release it two of Chrysalis' changelings hit her from behind. The last thing she remembered seeing was seeing green flames wrap around her body as she thought, “Shining, I'm so sorry.”

“Good job my subjects now make yourself scarce and signal the others.” the queen ordered.

“Cadence? Why are you out here darling?” a voice said from behind her.

“Oh, honey. I just thought I had heard something and when I got out here I saw two strange black figures flying from the courtyard. But why don't we call it night shall we?”

“Yeah sure. You do seem tired. You wanna snuggle with ol' Shining Armor tonight?” he asked.

“Not tonight sweetie. I'm really tired and our big day is coming up, we have to be focused on that.” Armor just agreed and they went to bed.

The next day Twilight and her friends arrived in Canterlot. They all got settled in their rooms and set off to see the city. And the same day Cadence woke up, only to find herself trapped in what seemed to be a crystal prison. She tried desperately to break out, but after three hours decided to save her energy, for the inside seemed to be magically enhanced to resist damage. A few days passed and at last the day before the wedding arrived. Twilight had suspected “Cadence” of being a fake and finally confronted her during the wedding rehearsal causing her run out of the room “crying”. Everypony: her brother, friends and even Celestia herself scolded her and left her to think about what she had done and Shining Armor told her not show up at the actual wedding at all! Once all the ponies had left the fake Cadence showed back up in front of her. And much like the real Cadence, sent Twilight to the Canterlot caves using a type of green fire that can move though matter. Once there Chrysalis revealed her true identity and her plan. Naturally Twilight tried to stop her only succeeding in blasting down a crystal wall where Chrysalis' image had been.

Once the dust had settled from the blast she saw Cadence sitting there, immediately Twilight tackled her thinking it was Chrysalis. “Twilight stop! It's me, Cadence!” the pink mare said.

“Likely story, “Cadence”!” Twilight yelled.

Cadence then stood up and started dancing,
“Sunshine, Sunshine
Ladybugs awake
Clap your hooves
And do a little shake”

Twilight's eyes widened as she knew this was the real Cadence. She knew because they used to this song and dance whenever Cadence would foalsit her. Cadence explained the situation although Twilight had already heard it and they rushed to find a way out. They found a mine cart and rode it until the track was broken off. Then both mares flew out of the cart and Cadence opened her beautiful pink and purple wings, Twilight hung onto her tail while they both flew out of the caves. Meanwhile, the wedding ceremony had and the changelings had gathered outside the force field that Shining Armor had put up after the fake Cadence told him about the figures in the courtyard.

Just as the vows were about to be made, Twilight and Cadence busted through the doors, “STOP!” they both shouted simultaneously.

Everypony looked surprised except for Shining Armor who was in some sort of trance. Cadence told everypony that the one on the altar was a fake and then Chrysalis broke her disguise and revealed her plan. All of the ponies just starred in shock except for Celestia who naturally as the ruler of Equestria rose to fight her. Celestia charged the changeling queen only to end in a stalemate. She then flew up and shot a powerful golden blast straight at Chrysalis, who in return shot an equally impressive deep green beam. It seemed that Celestia's beam was going to win until all the love that Chrysalis absorbed from Shining Armor kicked in causing her to overpower Celestia! The princess then instructed the mane six to go grab the elements of harmony, they obliged as they ran to the castle. They then ran into a horde of changelings who had rushed in after the force field had broken and though they fought valiantly, they were eventually captured. They were then brought back to wedding chapel and tossed onto the ground. All hope seemed lost until Cadence reached out to Shining Armor and used a love spell to break him free from his trance. Chrysalis just laughed, but just as she began to think she had won Cadence and Shining Armor combined their magic and created a gigantic evil sensing repulsion field that shot all of the changelings, even Chrysalis out of Canterlot.

Later that day, the real wedding commenced and the after party was very exciting even Luna appeared asking, “Did I miss anything?” everypony just looked at her and said no.

Celestia also gave her the night off seeing as she herself would probably be up most of the night with the party and such. Luna reluctantly agreed and flew up to the Canterlot Castle's balcony where she began to think.

Chapter 5: A Beautiful and Yet Dark Night

Luna starred down from the balcony, looking at her elder sister playing and partying with the new bride and groom as well as their friends. Part of her wanted to join in the festivities, but it just didn't seem right for some reason. The last few nights she had started feeling more and more lonely and often thought about her past and all that her and her sister had trudged through. They had happy memories, sad memories, scary memories as well as regrettable memories. Despite the variety, however, all of them were still a vital part of who they are now. This night, however, these feelings of loneliness were stronger than ever.

“Everypony's having a good time down there. I should really go down there and join them, but I can't help feeling that I don't belong.” Luna said while still looking down at the crowd of ponies.

She then slowly turned to the wondrous full moon that she had created that night. “What is my real purpose? Is it really to just raise the moon every night? With no pony to ever be beside me?” she asked herself with tears welling up in eyes. She then began to think back like she had so many times before.

“I remember the first time mom tried to teach me to fly.”

“That's it, Luna now just try flapping a little faster!” mother cheered while I was flapping my wings to the best of my ability.

“I can't mommy they're not big enough yet.” I said.

“Don't worry honey, you'll get it eventually!” mother said with a smile on her face that warmed my heart.

“You still can't fly yet little Lulu? You're hopeless!” mocked a voice coming from the royal castle in Ponysopalis.

“Tia, shut up! You know you're older than me so of course you can do it.” I yelled at Celestia whilst sticking my tongue out at her.

“Now, now, girls don't fight. You know daddy's off on a business trip right now. He's still trying to keep peace with the draconicai, even when all others say that's it's a fruitless effort. You don't want him coming back to an angry family now do you?”

We glared at each other for a little bit before I finally apologized.

“Why did you apologize Lulu? I'm the one that said the mean thing.” Celestia asked.

I looked down at the ground and spoke up, “Because I love you sis and I don't want to fight with you.” Celestia looked surprised and started to blush at what I had said.

“I'm sorry too, Lulu. I shouldn't have said those things.” Celestia said while looking down smiling. Mother then called both of us over to her and hugged us tightly.

“Now that's what I like to see from my girls. Daddy would be so proud of you two if he were here right now And you know that I am, my little ones. I hope you are always there for each other. Why don't we go get some dinner? Celestia you can help make Luna's favorite salad can't you?”

“Sure mom, although I still don't understand why she likes those nasty eggplants.” Celestia said as Luna's flashback ended.

“That was a beautiful day, but I it was so long ago. If only mom and dad could have stayed with us instead of going to the battlefield like they were warned against doing. The fools! They should have stayed.” Luna said while still staring at the moon.

She then heard Cadence's voice from below, “Luna! Why don't you come down? We're having a lot of fun!”

Luna walked to the edge of the balcony and shouted, “I appreciate thine offer, but I'd like to be alone at this particular moment.”

“Well ok, but you're welcome down here if you change your mind.” Cadence replied with a slight worry in her voice.

Celestia just looked up her sister and wondered what was going through her head.

“Cadence, huh? I doth remember when sister and I met her on the outskirts of Manehattan so long ago.” Luna said as another flashback began to fill her mind.

“Tia, why don't we stay in Manehattan? It seems like a nice enough place.” I asked my sister.

“Yes Luna, it is nice, but I think it will be better to start over in a small and quaint town; instead of a bustling city. That way we could make more of a difference in the other pony's lives. You understand what I'm getting at don't you, Luna? Besides, the city of Manehattan is going through some kind of civil disagreement at the moment and both sides are very angry with each other; it will likely turn violent soon. ” Celestia said back.

“ I understand sis, but isn't there anything we can do to help? I mean we can't just leave them like this, can we?” I asked with a saddened tone.

“'Tis not our place Luna. We are not from here and thus, shouldn't get involved with their civil disputes. It saddens me as well, but this is for the best. Trust me.” the white alicorn replied.

Although I didn't fully agree, I went along with sister's judgment. With that being said, we departed the grand city of Manehattan. On the road heading East, I noticed something peculiar on the side of the road behind some brush.

“Tia, what do you suppose that is?” I asked.

Celestia looked over to where I was pointing and saw what seemed to be a pink, yellow and purple pony tail!

“Why it looks like a tail Luna!” Celestia said while trotting over to it.

Once over there, she saw a little pink filly, maybe about five or six years old. She had passed out and was barely breathing.

“Oh my! We have to help her!” I cried. I quickly grabbed some food out of my saddlebag while Celestia tried to wake the young pegasus pony up.

At last the little pony woke up just barely. “My dear, do you need something to eat? It looks like you haven't eaten in weeks.” Celestia asked.

“Y-yes... p-please.” the pink mare barely whispered.

After eating most of the food that we had, the pink mare was back in good shape.

“Thank you so much! I almost died out here!” the pink mare said.

“We saw my dear, if it weren't for Luna's keen eye you probably would have.” Celestia said while I started blushing.

“Thanks again to both of you and by the way, my name's Cadence. What's yours? And how did you become alicorns?”

“My name is Celestia and this is Luna. And we were born alicorns. What were you doing out here all by yourself?” Celestia asked.

“They kicked me out of the city.” Cadence said starting to cry.

“City? You mean Manehattan?” I asked.

“Yes, I was trying to calm down the political leaders and end the civil dispute in the city, but they kicked me out. I just wish I had the power to make a difference.” Cadence said with tears streaming down her face.

I then smiled at her and said, “I could give you the power to make a difference if you want!” Celestia glanced over at me and said,

“Are you sure you want to use it now Luna? You know each of us can only use it once it our lifetimes.”

Cadence looked confused and asked, “What is IT?”

“My sister and I have a spell that can turn either an earth pony, a pegasus or a unicorn into an alicorn, but we can only use it once in our lives. And yes, sis I am sure. She can create much good in this world, I am sure of it!” I exclaimed with conviction in my voice.

Cadence looked at me in disbelief, “Could you please do it then? I want to be able to help. I HAVE to help! Ponies should love each other, not fight over pointless things!” Cadence roared.

Celestia nodded to me, and then I flew up into air and shot a mighty bolt of sparkling blue magic onto Cadence. The process was relatively quick, but you could tell that the horn growing did hurt a little bit. After the blue energy had dispelled there stood a new alicorn: Princess Cadence! We then hurried back to Manehattan to see if Cadence could do what she so strongly desired to. Once they reached the town they immediately demanded an audience with both of the leaders of the city at the same time. Being alicorns as we were, this request was granted though the people didn't see how this would help. Once in the meeting, Tia and I stood back and let Cadence do all of the talking. The meeting seemed to be going fine for a while, until one of the leaders brought up the main reason for the argument: that most of the rich ponies had to pay less and got more privileges than the poorer ones. Cadence tried to explain that they could give equal money and taxes to each pony, but none of the leaders would listen. Soon, the once peaceful discussion came to a boil. Ponies were yelling, threatening each other and even started to hurl things at one another.

“Stop! Stop!! STOP!!!” Cadence shouted as her newly formed horn began to glow pink.

Suddenly, what seemed to be pieces of a broken heart shot out her horn and immediately shot over to each one of the politicians who were too busy fighting to notice. The pieces then flew into each one's head and met in the middle to form a perfect unscathed heart. After this happened all the fighting stopped and the leaders just starred at each other wondering why they were fighting each other. It wasn't long before they came to an agreement that the amount each pony got wouldn't change, but those who made over a certain amount would have to pay a higher tax than the ones that didn't make as much. At that moment, Cadence's flank began to glow as a beautiful crystal heart formed as her cutie mark.

A few days later me and my sister left Eastward again, we asked Cadence if she wanted to come and she said, “Not right now, but I will follow shortly. I need to make sure things here are all worked out first.”

Tia and I just nodded and left to be on our way.

As the flashback ended, Luna walked back to the edge of the balcony and said, “I guess I made the correct choice after all.”

Though there was now a slight smile on the princess of the night's face, another memory soon wiped it away.

“How could I forget about the most recent one? The bad news that I received after I was changed back from Nightmare Moon.” Luna said while entering her third and final flashback.

“I know Luna, it's OK, let's head back.” my sister said to me after I had apologized to her; and we then headed back to the castle.

Once we got there, all of the royal guards greeted me as if nothing had happened; I'm guessing that was sister's doing. It was almost winter time again and sister had some disheartening news for me.

“Luna, my sister, I'm not sure how to tell you this so I guess I'll just spit it out.” sister said to me.

“What is it, Tia?” I asked her with worry, since she looked troubled.

“Well Luna,” she then paused for a moment. “You see we are on the last snowflake that Snowdrop made.”

I looked at my sister in disbelief and began to hastily think of a way to spare it. “Can't we just keep it sister? Must we use it? It's the last thing I have to remember her by!” I pleaded, but to no avail.

“No Luna, you know that she wouldn't want us to keep it selfishly for ourselves. She wanted the joy of the winter snow to be shared by everypony.” sister explained to me. I silently hung my head and agreed, then I ran off to the bedroom, where I spent the rest of the night pondering on my old friend.

A couple days later Celestia and I dropped the last Snowflake of my beloved friend.

And just I was about to say goodbye, sister said something to me. “Luna, that snowflake wasn't the last thing to remember her by. You have your memories of when you spent those important times together and those will always stick with you no matter what.”

I couldn't believe what I had heard! She actually said something that made me feel better. I knew it wasn't the first time, but after being banished to the moon for a thousand years, it seemed like it was. Luna then exited her flashback and decided to go fix something to eat. During her flashbacks, however, another pony back in Ponyville was also having them!

Back in Ponyville while finishing feeding Fluttershy's animals; Ice Breeze walked outside of the cottage and remembered back to some memories of his own.

“Man it's been a long while since mom and dad perished.” he said with his ears flopping downward along with his moral.

“I still remember when mom and dad tried to teach me how to be a royal guard. Hehe I was awful at it.” he laughed while starting to fade into his past.

“AGAIN, ICE BREEZE! FOLLOW THROUGH WITH YOUR SWING!” my dad would always yell, he was always so critical.

That's when mom came in, “Honey, don't be so hard on him. He's trying his best.”

“Storm Caster dear, if I don't go hard on him then he won't end up a good soldier.” dad explained to her.

“Yes, Shock Wave I know, but he's only a colt. His body can't handle too much yet.”

Then I spoke up and said, “Don't worry mom, I'm ok. I want to keep going father, I need to be as strong as possible for King Dusk and Queen Dawn.” both mom and dad just looked at me and smiled.

Then I concentrated on my next strike fully.

“Ok then Ice, come at me again. Let's see what you've got son.” dad told me.

“Alright dad, you asked for it! HAAAA!” I screamed as I charged at him with full speed and all of my might. Our swords struck each other with great force.

Dad seemed surprised at the speed that I was able to muster. “Son, that was incredible! I've seen very few ponies your age that can move that fast. Even the king and queens daughters can't move like that! It turns out that you will make a fine guard after all my son.” dad said smiling before I passed out from exhaustion.

Ice's mind then returned to the present and he realized that he was still at Fluttershy's cottage. So he went inside and told Angel and the others goodnight and started back home.

On the way back he saw the Everfree Forest to his right. This got him thinking about his old magic tutor Genevere.

“Genevere was the first friend I had since my parents. Though we weren't as close as me and Shield. And she taught me lots of useful things.” he said while fading back into memories.

“So, you know nothing of magic? For an alicorn, this is quite tragic.” she told me the first day of training.

“So what's first?” I asked.

“We will start with the most basic of magic spells. Levitation is now where your mind must dwell. To do this simple task, all you must do is focus on an object and let it in your magic bask.”

“OK I'm focused on that rock, now what?” I asked.

“Now just imagine it in the air. And it will float on without a care.” she told me.

I did as she told and sure enough it worked! I spent time perfecting the levitation and we then moved onto magic blasts and force fields.

“Now my dear Ice. These two subjects are almost exactly similar so teaching them together proves nice. For a beam just focus your magic at your horn. And for a force field focus it around your form.”

Once again, her instructions were dead on. Except for the fact she never told me to hold the field in place. So it kind of ended up being a circular energy blast. And not to mention all of the elixir training. She taught me which plants went well with which and what ailments they each helped. But the most important thing she taught me was to respect diversity. She did this a couple simple sentences which also happened to be the last sentences I heard from her before I left.

“You have learned much my child in these past years. But one more lesson you must learn to break others around you into cheers. This lesson is the most important I have to teach. So suck these words in like blood to a leech. There are all sorts of ponies out there. Each with their own set of cares. But no matter what their talent is, they all play a role. They continue to do so up until nature's final bell toll. So next time you see another pony no matter what shape or color. Be polite and kind and know that you are all as important as the other.”

Ice then snapped back into present time to find out that he'd almost arrived at his house. And to this day, he keeps those words in his heart and soul!

He finally reached his house, with it now being around eleven o'clock at night he decided to call it a night. So he went upstairs and crawled into bed. Despite being tired however, he thought back to one more moment: the vision he had in cave a thousand years ago! And so, once again, a flashback occurred. After the two ponies came and hit me with that rock, I felt like nopony would ever love me or even care for me as a friend anymore. And that was the case for the following thousand years! Finding nutrients for that long of period wasn't easy. I had to constantly find different sources further and further away from the cave that I had made a home out of. I had thought about giving up lots of times, but that changed when I saw them that night. The night before I set out to Ponyville, I had a certain dream that reaffirmed my convictions.

“This life is so lonely, maybe I should just end it tomorrow.” was what I thought that night; then I fell asleep.

The dream started off in a thick fog so I couldn't see anything at all, but then I heard something, “Ice, did we hear you correctly? You want to kill yourself?” a familiar voice asked.

“Who's there? Show yourselves!” I yelled still wondering whos voice that was.

“You've forgotten us already? I know we died in the war a long time ago, but at least remember your parents, son.”

I started to cry as he saw the silhouettes of my parents: Shock Wave and Storm Caster walk out of the fog.

“Mom? Dad? Is that really you?” I asked while crying like a little colt.

“Of course it is dear. It seems you've had a rough life since we've been gone.” mom said.

“It has been, mom. I've only had two real friends and they're both dead. There just seems to be nothing to live for anymore.” I said while running over to them.

Once I got over there, dad hit me square on the head knocking me back onto the ground, “I don't wanna hear you talk like that! You're part of the royal guard family, self-pity isn't an option! Do you understand?” dad yelled with tears in his eyes.

Then they both looked at each other and came over to where I had been knocked down at. Once there, they both grabbed me in a huge hug and started crying,

“We're so sorry we couldn't be there for you through the hard times. Though we had jobs as royal guards, we also had responsibilities as parents, which we neglected.”

“No, it's OK. You had a job to protect Equestria, it wasn't your fault. I still love you no matter what you did or didn't do in the past. And I don't blame you for what has happened to me over these long years. I just don't see the worth of living anymore.” I said back while hugging them as well.

Then mom spoke up, “But son, you must have a reason to live. Or else you wouldn't still be here.”

“That's right son, you still have something that you need to accomplish. We don't know what that something is, but it can't be overlooked.” dad followed.

“Your dad's right and besides you haven't fallen in love yet. Nopony should die without experiencing true love. And who knows, maybe she'll be an alicorn like you.”

I just looked at her and laughed, “All of the other alicorns are dead they...” I was then cut short.

“Don't be so quick to suspect things. You might be surprised at the end result.” I just nodded my head in agreement.

“We don't have much time left Ice, we love you. Please don't forget that. And know that we are always looking over you and we are so proud of what you've become. You just have believe in yourself and in your destiny!” mom and dad said simultaneously as they disappeared.

“No worries mom and dad. I know that you both love me and I'll keep my head up high, I promise. Goodbye, I love you forever.”

With that, Ice finally came back to present time with a big grin on his face as the stars seemed to form the image of his parents. He then drifted off to sleep not knowing that he'd meet somepony special there.

Back at the castle, Luna was growing more and more bored by the minute.

“Hmm, perhaps I should go join the party. It is quite dreadful up here by myself.” she said.

She then walked toward a window that showed the town of Ponyville and she sensed something of interest to her.

“What's this? A troubled dream? Well maybe I can help ease their rest for tonight.”

Ice was sleeping restlessly when all of a sudden he heard a loud shout in his dream, “ART THOU OK? YOUR DREAM SEEMS TROUBLED!”

“Whoa, who's yelling? I don't recognize your voice at all.” Ice replied.

His eyes then widened as he saw a beautiful dark blue alicorn mare with a mane and tail that resembled the night sky itself. This mare looked equally shocked to see that the source of the dream was also an alicorn.

“W-who are you? You're an alicorn! How can that be possible?!” Ice stammered.

“I-I am Princess Luna. I watch over the night time and the dreams of ponies, who art thou? I wasn't aware of another alicorn other than sister and Cadence.” Luna replied.

“My name's Ice Breeze, it's a pleasure to meet you your highness.” there was then a brief pause.

“WAIT, WHAT? THERE ARE TWO OTHER ALICORNS AS WELL?” Ice shouted.

“I AM QUITE IMPRESSED WITH YOUR ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE! And yes, me and the other two live in the capital city of Canterlot. I am just as surprised to learn of your existence as well Ice Breeze.” Luna said.

She then started to blush and asked, “Would thou mind if we stayed in thy dream awhile? I am most bored right now and I am quite intrigued by your existence. I would love to hear where you came from and where you've been.”

Ice answered, “Sure, I don't mind. Stay as long as you want, it's not often I get to be in the presence of a beautiful princess.” Ice then realized what he had just said, “Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. Please forgive me, your highness.” he begged.

Luna just looked at him awkwardly and started laughing, “'Tis OK Ice Breeze, nopony's ever told me I was beautiful before. Thank you.” she replied while blushing.

“Just Ice is fine, My princess.” he said.

“Then thou shall just call me Luna, nothing more.” she replied. He nodded as they both just continued to stare awkwardly at each other.

“So Ice, where doth thou hail from? It is most odd to see other alicorns.” Luna asked.

“I was born in Ponysopalis, my parents were the captains of the royal guard.” Ice replied.

Luna looked shocked and replied with, “Your parents were the royal guard captains Shock Wave and Storm Caster?”

“Yeah they were, how did you know that?” Ice inquired.

“I know that because King Dusk and Queen Dawn are my parents!”

Ice's mouth gaped open, “I thought princess was just a title given to you because alicorns are so rare, but you really ARE a princess!” Ice then got more serious “Which also means you've been alone and without parents for this long as well.”

Luna got quiet and managed to speak, “W-well I haven't been completely alone. I have my older sister Celestia, but she stays too occupied to spend much time with me nowadays. But enough about that how did you end up here?”

Ice then began to explain in detail about his time with Genevere and then his days in Neighbraska. Luna then stopped him after that.

“So, you lost your best friend right before your eyes as well?” she asked while staring at the ground.

Ice looked at her and saw she was starting to tear up. Before the tears came all the way out, however, Ice had walked up to her and wiped them away with his hoof. Luna then opened her eyes back up and looked at him with a look that implied great thanks.

“Yes I did, I'm guessing you have as well or you wouldn't be acting like this.”

Luna nodded her head and explained, “Her name was Snowdrop and she was the first friend I ever had besides Celestia and my parents. I was there at her hospital bed when she died.”

More tears started to fall out of Luna's eyes, but then Ice wiped them away again and said, “Losing a friend is never easy, but they always give us something worth keeping.”

Luna looked at him with a questionable look on her face, “And what pray tell would that be?”

Ice just smiled and using the tears he gathered from Luna, formed a heart of water, “It's the precious memories we keep in our hearts. The pony's body may be gone, but their spirits never fade away. I learned that recently from my parents. They're always with us!”

Luna gazed at the heart and she saw the image of Snowdrop looking back at her with a big smile on her face,

“He's right Luna, I'm always here for you and I always will be. You are my best friend after all.” Luna heard Snowdrop's voice say.

“S-snowdrop?” Luna asked in a confused voice and she then saw the Snowdrops reflection nod and fade away and all that was reflected now was Luna's chest; right where her heart was.

Ice just looked at her with a smile, “You saw her again just now didn't you?”

Luna looked up at him and ran over and hugged him, “Yes I did! You're right, she's not gone!” she said while still hugging Ice.

The two then continued to talk throughout the night, all the while growing more and more comfortable with each other. But while this was going on another, more sinister happening was ahoof!

Meanwhile in the Morphius Valley, (a valley known for its ever changing landscape) on the outskirts of Equestria, the changeling queen Chrysalis was in her fortress planning another raid on Canterlot!

“I cannot believe that those two blasted ponies were able to repel us! It's disgraceful and humiliating!” she said while sitting on her black spiky throne.

Two changelings then entered the throne room, “Are the preparations ready for the next attack?” Chrysalis asked.

Both of the changeling shook their heads up and down signaling that they were indeed ready.

“Perfect! Now we just have find an opportune time to strike! Now my dear changelings we're off to the caves under Canterlot to await the time to attack! Soon they will pay for making a fool out of me, for I have a trump card this time! And with that being said, Chrysalis and the two changelings teleported to the Canterlot caves in order to execute their plans!

Chapter 6: The Canterlot Tragedy

A few days after the fateful night, Ice hadn't heard anything from Luna since she actually had to keep watch again. He didn't know that, however, and he was beginning think that he had did something wrong. So he decided to go get some herbs to create an anxiety elixir to calm his nerves and ease his thoughts. While he was gone, Celestia visited and gave Discord over to Fluttershy and the others to try to reform him. And after a long day of seemingly hopeless attempts, Discord finally saw the importance of friendship and left back to Canterlot with Celestia, who was still wary of his true nature and intentions. About an hour after Discord and Celestia had left, Ice returned from his herb gathering and while the other five had gone home Twilight saw him returning from the Everfree Forest and went to greet him.

“What are doing in the forest this time of night?” Twilight asked.

“Oh hello Twilight, I was just gathering some herbs to make myself a nerve calming potion. Nothing to get worried about.” he replied.

Twilight looked at him and could tell that something was wrong. “What's wrong, Ice? You seem very preoccupied and not in a good way.” she inquired.

“Oh it's really nothing, its trivial really.” he replied while staring at the ground.

“IT”S NOT TRIVIAL! Now tell me what's wrong or I'll follow you around and keep bugging you. Better yet, I'll tell Pinkie Pie you're sad and she'll come cheer you up her way.” Twilight demanded.

Ice just starred at her and said, “No! Not Pinkie! I'll tell you just don't let her go hyperactive on me. I'm not in the mood right now.” he replied hastily.

“Good now why don't we go back to your place and you can tell me what's bugging you so much.” Ice agreed and both of them walked off to Ice's house.

On the way back, the two saw Fluttershy leaving Ponyville to go back to her cottage. They stopped to say hi and Twilight told Fluttershy about Ice Breeze's sadness, which in turn made the yellow mare give him a big hug and she then insisted to come along to help him out. The three arrived at his house and they gathered around his living room to discuss his problem.

“So, umm could you tell us what the matter... if that's ok with you. I'll understand if you don't wanna talk about it.” Fluttershy asked.

“He already agreed to tell us, so I doubt he'll back out now.” Twilight told Fluttershy.

“Alright, here's what is on my mind. I spoke with an alicorn named Princess Luna the night that you all were at the wedding party and we talked all night long in my dream.”

“That’s great! What's the problem here?” Twilight asked.

“Well I haven't heard from her since. I feel like I might have done something wrong and now she doesn't want to talk to me. So I'm feeling a little depressed at the moment.” he answered.

Fluttershy then spoke up, “There, there, I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong. She's just busy with her duties. I'm sure that's it, don't worry about it too much.”

“What duties?” Ice asked.

“Luna is princess of the night. Therefore, she is responsible for looking after all of Equestria during the nighttime. The only reason she was free that night was because Celestia stayed up all night because of the party and told Luna to take the night off. I'm absolutely positive that she's not ignoring you on purpose.” Twilight explained.

“I guess that makes sense. Thanks you two, I feel better now knowing that she is just busy.” Ice said with a big grin on his face. The two mares said you're welcome and they both said goodnight and left for their own houses.

The next day, Twilight received a book from Celestia explaining Starswirled's greatest spell that was unfinished. She finished up her chores and duties in the library early and that night cast the spell without knowing the consequences. The next day her five friends' cutie marks had switched place and this caused them to switch places with each other. Applejack tried to run Rarity's boutique, Fluttershy tried to be the smile bringer like Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie tried to work on Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow Dash was up to her neck in Fluttershy'ss animals and Rarity was stuck controlling the weather. None of which went too smoothly. During all this Ice was out on an errand delivering a package to a pony named Octavia. The box was really big and he had no idea what was inside. When he arrived, a gray mare with a black mane and tail with a music note for a cutie mark answered the door.

“I have a package here for Miss Octavia Melody.”

“That would be me. Thank you for bringing this to the train station, I have a big concert in Canterlot tonight and my new Cello came just in time.”

“Oh, well good luck.” Ice said.

“Thank you, but I must get going. Farewell for now, your payment is at the bank in Ponyville.”

While he was on his way back, Twilight had fixed her friends' dilemma by using the Elements of Harmony. And thus, convinced Celestia to use her once in a lifetime power and thus a new alicorn was born. Despite this excitement however, prying eyes in the form of a changeling turned into a bush saw everything and heard the plans for the crowning ceremony. After they all went home, the changeling ran back to Chrysalis and told her the news, for this was just the distraction causing event she had been hoping for. And she then began to tell her plan to the two changelings that followed her!

“Alright then, did they say when the coronation ceremony was going to be?” Chrysalis asked.

“I believe it's tomorrow at noon my queen.” one of the other changelings said.

“I see. This doesn't give us much time to execute my plan then. We must start immediately!” she said.

“Yes ma'am what would you like us to do?” the other changeling said.

“I suppose both of you have already learned the forms of a couple royal castle guards?” Chrysalis asked in a demanding voice.

Both changelings nodded in agreement.

“Excellent! Then let us go to Canterlot while everypony's sleeping, take out the two guards and you two take their places. And don't forget the masking powder, to mask our presence so Luna won't notice us. And that other something special for tomorrow.”

The three then proceeded to sprinkle the powder over their bodies, which made their bodies blend in with the environment and suppressed their life force.

“Now I'll go over the plan one more time before we go. First, you two take the place of the guards by me knocking them out and sending them down here. Then I will come back down here with them to make sure they don't escape or alert the other guards. Then, once the sun comes up, I'll take the form of their beloved sun princess: Celestia herself! When the real Celestia is busy introducing Twilight to the Canterlot royalty, one of you must tell Luna to come with you as there is urgent news. I'll be hiding on the inside of the balcony wall using the masking powder and I will change into Celestia once you convince Luna to come with you. Of course the other one must be one of the guards escorting the princesses up to the balcony so as to tell Celestia to not act conspicuous in the ceremony by leaving and that Luna can handle it. Then me, disguised as Celestia and the one of you from the main hall will escort Luna to the royal bedroom. Once there, use the sleeping powder I gave both of you on her, then immediately teleport yourselves and her to our fortress and lock her in the anti-magic chamber in the dungeon to keep her from escaping. I will follow suit shortly, after I place the note in the bedroom and free the guards we captured. Is everything clear?”

Chrysalis finally finished. Both once again nodded. Then they set off and executed the first part of the plan with ease: capturing the two guards and switching places with them. Now Chrysalis was eagerly awaiting the sunrise to come to start her revenge!

The next day, all the nobles of Canterlot and the surrounding towns were in attendance of the coronation ceremony of Ponyville's new princess: Twilight Sparkle! Onto Canterlot via train, Twilight grew increasingly nervous.

“Now why don't cha calm down Twilight? You're as nervous as Mayor Mare around the CMC. Jus calm down.” Applejack said trying to calm her down.

“She's right you know, this is gonna be awesome. I mean you're a princess now! How cool is that?” Dash added.

“Yeah I guess you two are right, what could go wrong?” Twilight asked.

“Well, if you don't mind me saying so. There will be hundreds of ponies staring at you, judging your every move. If you make one little mistake your life as a princess could be over before it even began!” Fluttershy answered.

“Now, now dear. Don't listen to her, you'll do just fine. Just remember to keep your composure, it's all in the presentation.” Rarity said, seeing that what Fluttershy had said made Twilight even more nervous.

“You're just nervocited, you'll be fine. Unless you mess up a speech or catch your hoof on your dress or bump into Celestia while walking onto the balcony or even have a bird poop on you while you're standing there on the balcony. Whew! Did I miss anything?” Pinkie asked with the usual grin on her face.

“No, I think you got it all Pinkie, thanks.” Twilight said sarcastically. Then the train horn blew and just like that, they had finally arrived in Canterlot for Twilight's and unknowingly to them or anypony else, Chrysalis' big day as well!

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Ice had just finished his last odd job for the day by helping Cherilee teach the young ponies about magic. On the way out of the school, he saw a light blue mare with a purple star-covered wizard’s hat and cape. She looked as if she was searching for somepony, so Ice decided to go ask her and introduce himself.

“Excuse me miss, are you by chance looking for anypony in particular? You seem to be flustered at the moment.” Ice asked.

“And who might YOU be?” the blue mare retorted.

“Please forgive me, my name's Ice Breeze.” Ice explained.

“Well Ice Breeze, the Great Trixie must find Twilight Sparkle before her crowning ceremony.” Trixie said while frantically looking around.

“Well, I'm sorry to say, but Twilight and her friends already left about three hours ago.” Ice explained.

Almost immediately, Trixie's ears flopped downward, “Sh- she's already left?” Trixie asked, now in a sadder tone.

Ice looked at her for a moment and could tell that she was greatly upset by this.

“Yes she has, I'm sorry. Was there something you wanted from her?” Ice asked sympathetically.

“Well, the Great, um I mean I wanted to give her this present I made for her. We've had a lot of trouble with each other in the past. So I wanted to fix that.” she said while staring down at the ground.

“I see, well she should be back tomorrow if you would like to wait. “ Ice explained.

“I would, but I have nowhere to stay.” she replied.

“You could stay at my house. It has two bedrooms and no one uses the other one.” Ice said while smiling.

Trixie looked up at him with a confused face, “Why would you offer that to a complete stranger?” she asked.

“A little kindness and generosity would never hurt anypony.” he replied.

She just smiled and accepted his offer and they then went back to his house. That night, the two of them sat up while Ice kept telling jokes, which Trixie, apparently thought were hilarious.

“Why are you trying so hard to get me to smile?” Trixie asked.

“A bit of laughter will go a long way. Especially to those who are sad.” he said while smiling. But hours before they went to bed, an event in Canterlot happened that would set up a conflict in the near future!

Five hours before Ice and Trixie arrived at his house, Twilight and the others reached the castle doors. Celestia and Luna were both there to greet them and the changeling guard, sent a telepathic message to the one on the balcony. About half an hour passed and there was now a rather sizable crowd awaiting their newest princess underneath the Canterlot Castle balcony.

Celestia and Luna went out first to address the crowd, “Our royal subjects! Hear my words, a new princess my faithful student Twilight Sparkle has arisen from the nearby town of Ponyville. She has proven herself on many occasions, even returning my beloved sister Luna back to her old self. We now present to you, Princess Twilight Sparkle!” and with those words, Twilight walked out onto the balcony between the two royal sisters.

Twilight looked down in shock at how many ponies there were, but managed to pull out a short speech, “Hello everypony, I thank you for coming to my coronation ceremony, it means a lot to me. Seeing as I'm not acquitted with being a princess, I'm not exactly how beneficial this will be in the beginning stages. With that being said however, I promise to give my absolute effort for you all. But before you all start thinking that I did all these amazing things by myself, let me tell you that you'd be very wrong.”

At this point she turns her head back and signals the other five to come out. Which in turn, gives Chrysalis, who is concealed on the inner wall of the balcony, the opportunity to signal her changeling guard who is next to Luna! While the other five are addressing the crowd with Twilight, the changeling disguised as a guard, walks up to Luna.

“Ahem, I'm sorry to interrupt such an auspicious occasion, but we have just received word that there is a threat planning on attacking the ceremony!”

Luna quickly looked at the guard and whispered, “Are you sure soldier? Who told you this?”

“It was the mayor of Ponyville, apparently a dark figure came through the town telling everypony of his plans. He said that he would be coming at five o'clock and I'm sure you know that it's four thirty already!” the fake guard explained.

Luna then ran over to Celestia, just as Chrysalis had hoped she would. For then she could change into Celestia after Luna entered the room, when the guard persuades Celestia from moving from the balcony.

“Sis! I have just heard that somepony or something is planning to attack this ceremony!” Luna whispered loudly into Celestia's ear.

“What are you sure?! We have to stop it!” Celestia quickly replied.

Luna ran inside first, then Celestia would try to follow, but was stopped by the changeling guard.

“What do you think you are doing soldier? This ceremony's in danger I have to go stop it!” Celestia yelled at him.

“I realize this, your highness, but please leave it up to Princess Luna.” the guard pleaded.

“Why should I? This is a most urgent matter after all. All of these nobles as well as Twilight and her friends could be in grave danger. So why should I not go?” Celestia asked growing impatient.

The guard took a big gulp in hopes that this would stop her or else the whole plan was ruined.

“Well, your highness, how would it look if both of the royal sisters left in a hurry from such an important ceremony? They all would suspect something was wrong and this in turn would cause a widespread panic throughout the crowd. I'm not sure the guards could handle that without using force on some of them. Please reconsider!”

Celestia starred at him and pondered this for about ten seconds and said, “Fine, I guess you're right. It would cause a huge panic and we wouldn't want to hurt any of the nobles ourselves. On top of that, my sister is capable enough for herself. Just in case though, please go with her.” The guard then bowed and left off of the balcony with a huge grin on his face, knowing that the plan would succeed after all!

Once the changeling guard exited into the balcony room, he walked over to where Chrysalis was hiding and told her it was time. She then quickly changed into Celestia's exact doubled, body and voice. The guard and Chryslestia ran down to the main hall where strangely enough all the guards had been knocked out. Luna thought this was because of the alleged threat to the ceremony. While in actuality it was the second changeling guard who had knocked the others out with his sleeping powder and then teleported back to the changeling's fortress.

“Who could have done this so quickly? Sister please come and help me investigate this tragedy!” Chryslestia happily agreed and walked slowly and menacingly over to her.

After searching the room for about five minutes, Chryslestia told Luna to come check out the royal bedroom with and the royal guard. Luna asked, “Why would we go up there sister? The incident happened down here obviously.”

“Isn't it obvious sister? If the incident happened here and nopony's here to account for it. They must have went further into the castle. And since I have a very strong magic relic hidden in the room, it's a good possibility that's where they're headed.” Chryslestia answered.

“Magical relic? What art thou talking about sister? I know of no such thing.” Luna explained.

“That's because I had to keep it an absolute secret. Just trust me, you trust your elder sister don't you?” Chryslestia asked.

Luna nodded in agreement and they rushed up to the royal bed room. Once they got there, the room was completely untouched. Luna and the guard went to the far side of the room while Chryslestia stayed near the door. Then all of a sudden, the door slammed shut: BANG!! Luna and the fake guard quickly turned around to see Celestia's body quickly fading away to reveal Chrysalis underneath her full body mask.

“You again?!” Luna yelled.

“I-is that Chrysalis? The one who was masquerading as Cadence?” the guard asked while pretending to shake in fear.

“Yes she is! You stand back, I'll deal with her and her evil intentions!” Luna shouted.

Chrysalis just looked at her and laughed, “Hahahaha, you think YOU can stop ME?” You poor delusional mare. You have absolutely no chance! I overpowered Celestia at the wedding, so I can definitely take you down.”

“Thou thanketh so? Then, why don't thou try it, vile changeling?!” Luna demanded.

“Oh dear I would, but I have no need to.” the changeling queen then nodded to her fake guard behind Luna and before she knew it, Luna had a rag full of powerful sleeping powder smacked onto her face.

“Y-you were a changeling all alo...” before she finished she passed out and was quickly teleported along with the fake guard back to the fortress. Chrysalis then wrote a note explaining what had happened and where Luna was and then, she too vanished back to her fortress in the Morphius Valley.

Once there, the changelings quickly took Luna to the dungeons only magic sealed room, so she would have no way to escape.

She then woke up not shortly after, “Where am I? She tried to blast the door down with a magic beam, but she learned very quickly of this particular room's ability to stop magic from starting and she quickly fell into despair, for she knew her only hope for escape was somepony to either negotiate or barge into heavily guarded territory to get her back. And Celestia wasn't likely to negotiate anything, even if her sister's life was at stake.

Meanwhile back at the castle, the ceremony had just finished up and Twilight, her friends and Celestia all came in from the balcony as the crowd below dissipated.

“I wonder what's taking Luna so long.” Celestia thought to herself.

“Umm princess? Could I ask you a question?” Fluttershy quietly asked.

“Sure Fluttershy, what is it?” Celestia replied.

“Umm, well where;s Princess Luna? I haven't seen her since we came out to the balcony.” she asked.

The other five just now realized this as well.

“That's a good question. I have no idea where she is at!” Celestia said with a worried tone.

“Ok princess, what's going on? You're hiding something from us aren't ya?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Celestia looked at the five and then nodded and explained what had happened. Rarity then noticed something out of place as they headed downstairs, “Princess Celestia dear, why is the royal bedroom door closed? Wasn't it open when we got here?”

Celestia looked at the door in shock and quickly ran over to the doors and opened them quickly.There on the bed she saw a letter.

And it read, “Dear Princess Celestia, this is your lovely enemy Queen Chrysalis! If you're wondering where your precious sister is, then my plan worked perfectly! If you want her back, you have one of three choices! One, to hand over the crown of Equestria to me and resign from the throne. Two, keep your throne, but allow my subjects to continuously to feed on the citizens of Equestria. Or three, the stupidest one, you can try the suicide attempt of storming my fortress, which I might add, you don't even know its location. So the choice is up to you princess, choose wisely or face the consequences. You have a week to decide, if no decision is made by then, Luna dies!”

Chapter 7: The Moonlit Savior

Princess Celestia stood over her bed looking down at the ominous letter that she had just read. Her silent demeanor alerted the mane six that something had indeed happened to their lunar princess, something bad.

“Princess? What's the matter? Did something happen?” Twilight asked nervously.

Celestia stood still for another couple of moments, until finally turning around with tears rolling down her face. “

Yes Twilight, something did happen. I failed my sister again and she is in the clutches of Queen Chrysalis and only has a week to live unless we make a decision that is written in this note.” she said, handing the note to Twilight and the others.

Rainbow Dash speaks up, “Well obviously it's the last one! I say go storm that palace or fortress or mansion or whatever and get Luna back!”

“I wish it were that simple, but the changeling army numbers in the thousands and on top of that we have no idea where the changeling hideout is.”

Fluttershy then spoke up, “Umm, princess, if it's not too much trouble, I think I know someone back in Ponyville that would direly want to hear this news. If that's ok with you.”

All of the others looked around and wondered who she was talking about until Twilight remembered the talk Fluttershy, Ice Breeze and she had a couple days back.

“And just who this pony back in Ponyville that would want to hear this news so very badly?” Celestia asked.

“I believe I know who Fluttershy's talking about, your highness. His name is Ice Breeze and he's an alicorn like you and Luna. Me as well now I guess hehe.” Twilight answered.

Celestia looked at her with a very confused expression on her face. “Another alicorn you say? This is most odd. And why would you say that he'd want to hear this news?”

“Well princess, he and Luna had an all night long talk on the night of Cadence and my brother's wedding. And he was deeply worried when her duties kept them from speaking with one another. If something happened to her like this, I'm positive he would want to know. Plus, his elemental magic could definitely be of great use to us.” Twilight explained.

“So that's why she had been so happy the couple days after the wedding. Wait, did you say elemental magic?” the sun princess asked in shock.

“Darn tootin' princess he used the Earth element to buck every single one of my trees at one time.” Applejack said.

“Yeah and he used the wind to get up speeds past even my sonic rainboom. Now THAT was impressive!” Dash added.

“I see, so he possesses the six!” Celestia said.

The mane six looked at her wondering what she meant. “What do you mean by the six, princess? I thought there were only five elements.” Twilight asked.

“There are, but that's not the way I meant it. By “the six”, I meant the six elements of harmony. It is said in an ancient legend that one will arise with the ability to control elemental magic. This individual will also be able to perfectly represent all six elements of harmony by themselves! Only one other pony in history to even come close to such a power was my father Dusk: the king of the alicorns! And he could only control the fire element! We could definitely use his help. Rainbow Dash! How fast can you fly from here to his house?”

Fluttershy looked over to Rainbow Dash who was thinking."I'd say about two hours if I go at full speed!” Celestia nodded and sent Dash to go get Ice.

Before she could fly off, however, Fluttershy had grabbed her tail. “Fluttershy! What are you doing? I have to get going!” Dash yelled.

“I- I know, but I just wanted to say for you to be safe. I'd hate for something to happen to you, that's all.” she said blushing.

Rainbow, wondering where this was coming from, blushed as well and said thanks and flew off as fast as she could. “What was that about? Though it felt kinda nice to hear that.” Dash thought to herself as she flew towards Ice's house.

About two and a half hours later, Dash arrived at Ice's house. “HEY! ICE WAKE UP!!!” Dash yelled already breathing heavily from all the flying. Ice got out of bed and came to the window.

“* YAAAAWNNN* Dash? What d'you want? It's like midnight.” Ice asked while still yawning.

“No time for all the details, but Luna's been kidnapped by Queen Chrysalis of the changelings and her life is in danger!”

Ice's eyes quickly went from drowsy and tired to focused and downright fearsome. “What did you just say? This better not be a joke, Dash!” he said with a scowl on his face.

“It's not, trust me. I wouldn't lie about something like this, I swear! Princess Celestia wants to see you at the castle for your assistance in getting her back.”

“Luna's been kidnapped?!” a voice from behind Ice said as Trixie walked to the window.

“TRIXIE! What are YOU doing back here again? I thought we told you to nev-”

“Dash stop right there!” Ice said with a tone that made Dash shudder in fear. “She's come back to apologize for the trouble she caused you all and to give Twilight a present for her princess ceremony. So don't finish that sentence. Do you understand?” Ice explained.

Rainbow nodded her head quickly, not wanting to anger him anymore. “Trixie. You're coming with us. We'll need all the help we can get and you'll get to give Twilight her present once we're at the castle. So Ice then put on his satchel and told them, “Both of you hang on the satchel strap as tight as you possibly can! Especially you Trixie since you can't fly!”

They agreed and both grabbed onto the strap, then Trixie apologized to Dash for the trouble her two previous encounters caused and Dash reluctantly forgave her. Then, when Ice was sure they were ready he rocketed off in the direction of Canterlot castle and within an hour they were back to the castle where a desperate meeting awaited them!

Once the three were at the castle, Rainbow knocked on the door and Twilight came to the door and answered it. “Hello Ice, welcome back Dash and TRIXIE!” Twilight yelled in a surprised voice.

“Yes, it's me Twilight.” Trixie said blushing.

Twilight just looked at her and actually for some reason felt relieved that she was there.

“Well you three come on in, Celestia is waiting in the meeting room!” Twilight explained.

So the three walked through the main hall, upstairs to the meeting room. Once there, the other four ponies from Ponyville were shocked to see Trixie. Until she bowed to them and asked for forgiveness for her awful behavior. Fluttershy and Pinkie easily forgave her and though it was harder for them, Applejack and Rarity did as well.

“Now that all of that is settled, we need to talk about getting my sister back!” Celestia announced.

“Do you know where she is? Do you think she's ok? How long has it been since she was kidnapped?” Ice starting blurting out. Celestia looked at him and was surprised at how concerned he really was.

She smiled gently and said, “The first two I'm not sure about. But she was taken about six hours ago. Before we do anything though, I will tell you all that I've gone with choice three. I'm sure Rainbow told you what the choices were.” she said looking at Ice who nodded.

"So we are raiding the changeling's fortress then?” Ice asked.

“Yes, that was the only choice that I could possibly make. Despite knowing this, before we do anything we need to form a team for the rescue.” Celestia explained.

“Excuse me, but shouldn't there be two teams princess?” Ice asked.

“Why would we need two teams, Ice Breeze was it?” Celestia asked.

“Yes it is and I believe we need two because their main plan could be to attack Canterlot while all of us are out to rescue Luna.” Ice explained. Celestia looked at him, shocked at the thought he had given this in such a short time.

“I guess I never thought of that. Alright then, who would you suggest for the teams then?” Celestia asked, intrigued at how fast he could formulate a plan of attack.

“I believe the ones to stay here should be you princess, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. And as for the rescue team it'd be me, Twilight, Trixie, and hopefully you can contact Cadence and Shining armor to help us as well.” Ice said.

They then heard the meeting room door open,

“So, we're on the rescue team eh? Sounds good to me.” said a stallion from behind them. They turned around to see Shining Armor and Cadence standing in the doorway.

“We got a letter from Celestia as soon as she found out what happened, so we came as fast as we could.” Cadence explained. And with that the rescue plan meeting began!

“Ok now that the teams have been established, we need to discover the hideout's location. I've narrowed it down to three possible locations: The Morphius Valley to the far south, the Chasm of Decay in the north or the abandoned island in the eastern Equestrian Sea. Until the scouting teams get back I'm afraid we can't formulate a precise strategy, so let's hope they return soon!” Celestia said.

So we now go to the individual royal patrols. The first patrol is a team of four guards, they have made it to the abandoned island. At first they are hesitant to come ashore, as there had been rumors of a terrifying beast on the island and the suspicion of the changeling fortress being there didn't help matters either. Despite their worries however, they vigilantly explored the lush, tropical island over and back again and found that it was indeed abandoned. The second group ventured to the Morphius Valley and once there they immediately noticed the ever-changing terrain. The weather was constantly changing with calming sunlight one minute to a blizzard the next! And on top of that, the ground itself and the surrounding mountains would constantly shift and ungulate. Causing footing and overall balance hard to find. But what they then saw was what they feared: a huge, black, beehive looking fortress floating in the lowest depth of the valley! This “beehive” however, had giant spikes jutting out from all sides to add to the intimidation factor. They started to run back towards Canterlot, but were stopped by Chrysalis and five other changelings.

“So, we have spies here do we? How cute you all are. My subjects, let's teach them a lesson!” and just like that Chrysalis and her changelings each shot a beam of magic killing the four guards almost instantly!

“Now then, at least I know Celestia's answer don't I? Chrysalis said as she flew back to the fortress.

The last group arrived at the Chasm of Decay and living up to its name, all life that was around the giant crack in the ground. Trees were drooping and looked as if the life had been sucked out of them and there was no life to be seen anywhere around it. Despite it feeling really eerie though, there appeared to be no changelings around so they headed back.

The next morning, the two patrols returned to castle to report their findings. “So only two teams returned? That means, that the team that didn't return probably found the hideout and were either captured or killed. So the Morphius Valley is our best bet huh?” Celestia asked.

“It would seem that way my princess.” one of the guards replied.

“PRINCESS!!” Shining Armor said as he burst through the door.

“What is it Shining? I'm in an important meeting.” Celestia scolded.

“I know, but we received another letter from Chrysalis!” he said.

“WHAT?! Let me see that!” she then read the note that stated,

"Dearest Celestia, just so you know you won't be getting your four guards back. And also I take this as a sign that you've taken the last option and decided to raid our fortress to get your precious sister back. So be it, we will settle this one week from now in Morphius Valley! It will be delightful to see you again my princess hahaha!”

After reading the letter Celestia immediately ordered Shining Armor to gather the others in the meeting room once again. He nodded and rushed out the door heading to the dining hall where the others were having their breakfast.

“Guys! The princess wants us all to meet in the meeting room once you are all done eating.” Shining Armor told the others who just looked at him and acknowledged what he said and continued eating. All except for Ice Breeze who instantly got up and went to the meeting room at a very fast pace. Shining followed and eventually the other eight followed their lead as well. Once they were all gathered in the room the conference to regain Luna was set into motion!

Once all the ponies were gathered around the room, the meeting started. “First order of business, let’s review the teams.” Ice said.

“Very well.” Celestia said.

“First off, Twilight, Trixie, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, you all are with me.” Ice Breeze explained.

“And on my side, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie you’re with me here in Canterlot.” Celestia said.

All the ponies nodded and agreed to their respective assignments.

“Now I believe we should split up into our two groups and discuss our tactics. If both squads try to commune in the same place it’s possible some might not hear their orders properly.” Ice urged.

Celestia agreed and they both went to opposite sides of the room to discuss their plans.

“Now listen up everypony, we should have the easy assignment in this rescue job, being that most of the hoard will be at the hideout and not here in Canterlot. On top of that we aren’t even positive that they’ll attack Canterlot in the first place. And thirdly, we have the royal guard to back us up, so our efforts won’t need to be as great as the others. With that being said, Applejack, I’d like you to go over to the other group and help them!” Applejack looked shocked and a bit confused, but accepted the task anyway. “Ok, now that that’s off of my chest, let’s get down to business. Each two of you will lead a platoon of soldiers. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie you’ll be one group and Rarity and Fluttershy; you’ll be the other. I’ll be providing support with my own platoon and we will do a triangle formation. Meaning our groups form a pyramid type scheme to cover all of the city, but I’ll leave your strategy to your own platoon.” Celestia explained.

On the other side of the room, Ice Breeze was trying to come up with a strategy that would guarantee success. This proved difficult however, seeing as they didn't know what the fortress looked like and on top of that the terrain of the Morphius Valley was very unpredictable. And to make matters worse, they would be greatly outnumbered, even with three alicorns in Twilight, Cadence and himself; this would prove to be difficult!

“Ok, listen up! I'm not really sure of a plan that will gain us a one hundred percent chance of victory, but here's what I'm planning. Obviously, when we first arrive we have to take care of the terrain first. So I will use my Earth elemental magic to calm the ground. After that, Shining Armor and Cadence I need you to make a barrier around me, because I'm planning on entering the fortress alone!” Ice explained.

“Alone!! Are you mad? It's suicide!” Twilight shouted.

“I know it seems like a foolish idea, but having a group go into an unknown fortress would just be cause for more changelings to guard the inside of the fortress. So I need you five to hold the fort on the outside whilst I'm on inside recovering Luna. Applejack, you'll play a crucial role in this! I need you to use your herding skills as much as possible to keep the changelings in somewhat of a single file line, either vertical or horizontal. Then that will allow the other four to shoot them down with magic blasts” Ice said.

“I'll help her herd! I'm not very good at offensive magic, so this would be the best place and job for me as I could protect us while we're herding.” Shining Armor explained. Ice nodded in agreement and continued,

“Now if that doesn't work, you need to cut off into groups for safety. One group will be Twilight and Cadence. With both of them being alicorns they should be well off. And then Shining Armor, Applejack and Trixie; you'll be the other group. From then on you'll have to think on spur of the moment tactics to be safe, that's why I have Twilight: who's the smartest and Shining Armor: who has the most combat experience in separate groups. Now are there any questions? If not, we are done planning.” Ice asked.The five ponies in Ice's group shook their heads and both groups converged back to the middle of the room.

“Now that strategy has been discussed, we have nothing more to do besides wait and prepare for the battle.” Celestia said and with that everypony in the room walked out.

The next few days were tense with everypony honing their abilities for the upcoming fight, which would likely not only hold the fate of Luna in its hooves, but all of Equestria! Twilight was practicing flying and beefing up her spells stopping power, while Shining Armor was busy strengthening his defensive spells. Cadence was working with Trixie and Rarity in order to teach them fighting magic. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were working on their own way of fighting which for Applejack was mainly close combat and lassoing things. While Pinkie on the other hoof had been practicing using various item to put in her party cannon and working on aiming them correctly. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were both working on their aerial prowess and with Fluttershy being a weak flyer, she practiced using her animal friends such as bears and hawks to help with her attacks and maneuvers. While they were all honing their respective skills, Ice Breeze and Celestia were working on their own skills. Ice was mainly trying to learn stealth spells in order to sneak into the fortress unnoticed. And Celestia was working on spreading her magic over a wider angle in order to hit more targets at once and increasing her flying speed for faster physical attacks. And finally, after five days of intense training it was the day before the battle!

That day, not many words were spoken as everypony was contemplating his or her place on the battlefield in the coming day. They had the usual breakfast and lunch, but every single one of them could feel the nervousness and tension in the atmosphere around them. It wasn't until that night when the conversations started. Cadence and Shining Armor just stayed side by side all night, knowing that it could be the last night they'd be alive. Ice Breeze and Celestia were discussing life back before the giant war of Mount Zephyr and Luna as a whole. Rarity and Applejack didn't spend much time with the others as they were busy writing letters to Applebloom, Big Mac, Granny Smith and Sweetie Belle; explaining what was happening and what could happen to them. Pinkie spent most of her afternoon trying to cheer up the guards and towns-ponies to keep moral on a general high, even though she was nervous and doubtful on the inside. She knew she couldn't show it and after that was done she sent a letter to her parents and sisters back on the rock farm explaining everything. But the two conversations that seemed to have the most immediate meaning was that of Rainbow/ Fluttershy and Twilight/ Trixie.

In one of the guest bedrooms, Twilight was sitting nervously on her bed reading books as usual until she heard a voice and knock on the door.

Knock, knock “Twilight, are you in there?” she heard a voice say.

“Yeah, I'm here. Who is it?” Twilight asked, even though she already instinctively knew who it was.

“It's Trixie, can I come in?” Trixie asked hopefully. Twilight hesitated for a moment before opening the door with her magic. Trixie slowly walked into the door and looked nervously at Twilight.

“What's the matter?” Twilight asked, seeing that Trixie was doubtful and nervous about something, which was an odd thing to see from her.

“Well I just... I never got the chance to give you the present I got you for your princess celebration.” Trixie stammered, now blushing a little. Twilight looked surprised and also began to blush a tiny bit.

“You got me a present? Thank you Trixie! I thought you would have been mad at my coronation. That's why I didn't invite you.” Twilight explained.

Trixie started blushing a lot now, “You were going to invite me? I thought you hated me.” Trixie asked.

“Well at first, I didn't really like you, but when you left I began to miss you more and more each day. I would wonder where you were, if you had a place to stay and if you had food.” Twilight explained.

Trixie looked down at the floor tearing up a little bit. “I thought I was the only one that was worried. While I never had much I always got by, but I always worried about you and your tendency to get into trouble.” Trixie said.

Both of them then just glanced over at each other awkwardly a couple times before Twilight asked, “ Well, ahem, what was the gift you got me?” Trixie snapped out of her stupor and walked over to Twilight and opened up a small box. Twilight's eyes gleamed as she saw a brilliant Amethyst gemstone the same color as her fur staring her in the face. And moreover it was on a necklace of what looked to be gold. “Tr-Trixie! Where did you get this? It's beautiful!” Twilight asked.

“I started working at Pinkie's family's rock farm again and we found an Amethyst while we were moving rocks. It took me two weeks of pay, but I bought it and the gold chain from them. It would look good with your crown.”

Twilight's face was extremely red now as was Trixie's, but she put the necklace on and said, “Thank you Trixie! I love it!” as she gave Trixie a big hug.

“No need to thank Trixie- I mean me. It was the least I could do for the trouble I put you through.” Twilight just looked at her, still surprised at her remorse for her past behavior.

“Would you like to stay with me tonight? This room has an extra bed.” Twilight cautiously asked, hoping the blue mare would accept.

Trixie got a shy grin on her face and replied, “Sure I'd love to. Just don't mention tomorrow. I'm nervous enough.” Twilight nodded and closed the door for the night.

Meanwhile in the outside training area, Rainbow Dash was walking around the track thinking about what tomorrow could bring and how big a role she had in it. When suddenly her train of thought was broken as she saw Fluttershy standing on the side of the track.

“Hey Fluttershy, what are you doing out here?” Dash asked.

“I... umm just wanted to be with you tonight, that's all.” she said as she shied away.

Dash looked a bit surprised, but walked over to her and asked, “Are you worrying about tomorrow? Don't worry everything will be fine.” Fluttershy just nodded slowly and hugged Rainbow as she started to cry.

“It's more than just the battle tomorrow. I don't want anything to happen to you. You've always been there for me even back in flight school when everypony picked on me. You would always be there to stand up for me and fight off the bullies. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

Dash, not really knowing what to say at this sudden outburst, just patted her on the back and said, “ Shh stop crying Flutters. Nothing’s going to happen to me, I promise. I'll always be there to look after you and that's coming from the Element of Loyalty right there. So cheer up, you're gonna make me start crying too.” Fluttershy then wiped the tears from her eyes and asked Dash to make a Pinkie Promise with her that nothing would happen to her in the upcoming battle. Dash agreed and they made the Pinkie promise. And with that they both headed back to the room that they were staying in, starting talking about the first time they met and called it a night.

Now with a full nights rest and doubts somewhat diminished the day of the battle had finally arrived. Ice and his team set off to the Morphius Valley early that morning, while Celestia and her team set up their triangle formation with the guards filling in the middle. All the ponies were set for the showdown of their lives. Though it took a while, Ice and his team finally reached the valley and were shocked at how ominous the fortress actually looked. And at the same time changelings started popping up over the Canterlot mountain,

“Ice was correct I see.” Celestia said watching the changeling coming. “Everypony get ready for battle!” both Ice Breeze and Celestia cried out. And with that the battled had started!!

Chapter 8: The Changeling War/ Loves Price

With the war now started, both squadrons started their respective battle strategies. We start off with the home front in Canterlot. The changeling were coming in moderately high numbers over the Canterlot Mountains; naturally causing a panic with the Canterlot locals. Despite the number of enemies, the three teams stood strong and didn't falter. The first team to get in on the action was the Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie team as they were stationed closest to the mountains. The team launched the first strike as Rainbow ordered Pinkie to fire her cannon at the encroaching enemy. Pinkie happily obliged and fired what seemed to be broomsticks.

Dash just looked at her as if to say, “What was that?”, but the chunks of wood seemed to be effective so it didn't really matter she supposed. Then it was Rainbow's turn! As Pinkie and the guards stationed with them were distracting the main horde, Rainbow flew high up into the air and came down at blinding speeds taking out half of the changelings attacking their group with a sonic rainboom. This shocked the changelings s they weren't expecting such a big attack right off the bat. While, Rainbow and Pinkie's group were dealing their own changeling problem, some of the horde reached Rarity's and Fluttershy's group.

Being the leader of the group, Rarity took it upon herself to get Fluttershy into the correct mindset. Rarity then, using her magic picked up some tables near her and hurled them at the approaching changelings. And while they were staggered, she told Fluttershy to let her animals out. Fluttershy nodded and whistled, causing two bears and a whole swarm of hawks and eagles to come down on their enemy. This tactic seemed to be working quite well until the changelings starting fighting back, causing some of the birds to flee as well Fluttershy herself cowering in fear for herself and her precious animals. Rarity saw what was happening and decided to sacrifice some of her beloved gemstones in order to gain the favor in the fight once again. She used some magic she had learned recently in the past week of preparing and with a flash, the gemstones she had brought along with her had become as sharp as razor blades! She then used her magic to propel them towards her attackers with devastating effectiveness. The stones shredded through the changelings like a diamond blade through butter. Seeing how Rarity was sacrificing what she held most dear in this fight, Fluttershy got up off the ground and ordered her remaining animal friends to help her fight off these “ big meanie heads” as she called them. Rarity saw that her shy friend had come back to her senses and smiled gently before ravaging the horde once again with her gems.

And the last group was holding up just fine as one would expect of a group made up the royal guards and Princess Celestia herself. Everytime the changeling horde would get close to her group she would whisk them away using a very strong reflector magic while the three unicorn guards in her squad were constantly giving her magical energy to keep her reserves in tip-top shape.

She thought to herself, “This is quite easy for my squad, but I wonder how the other two are faring? Maybe I should use the convergence signal to bring us closer together.”

And with that thought in mind Celestia quickly ascended into the sky and let out a bright purple magic blast shaped like three arrows converging at one central point. Dash and Rarity both saw the blast and knew immediately what it meant. So they ordered their respective groups to fall back and meeting near the center of Canterlot for the final attack on their Changeling invaders, since their numbers were less than expected.

Meanwhile while the battle of Canterlot was going down, Ice's group was getting ready for the battle of their lives. Ice had just finished calming the terrain with his Earth magic, when the changelings started pouring out of the fortress.

“Chrysalis must of sensed my magic. Not that it matters, I WILL SAVE LUNA NO MATTER WHAT!!” Ice yelled. The others in the group, after hearing their leaders resolve tightened up their stances and prepared for their minds and bodies for the fight. But deep inside the fortress, a certain alicorn felt a deep sorrow and was sure that nopony was coming to her rescue.

“Nopony cares enough to come save me. Sister probably can't do anything because it would leave Canterlot defenseless and the only other pony that might come would be Ice Breeze. But he probably thinks I've ignored him after the first time we spoke so he probably doesn't care that much either. And why should they? I've been nothing, but a letdown for everypony. I only come out during the night so the public barely ever sees me. I became Nightmare Moon because I was jealous of my sister's popularity. That put everypony in danger and must have weighed heavily on sister's mind. I wasn't even able to save my parents or my best friend Snowdrop! My life's been a complete failure and everypony knows it.” Luna said crying in her cell.

“Now now, don't be so hard on yourself dearie. Your absence did allow me to gain entrance into Canterlot and you yourself have given me quite the bargaining chip. You should proud that you are of such assistance to me!” Chrysalis said while walking past the cell after hearing Luna reprimanding herself. As Chrysalis continued to walk down the corridor,

Luna felt even more despaired than ever now and contemplated whether it all was worth it or not and if anypony would really miss her; then she heard a voice.

“Don't worry Lulu, he's on his way.” the voice said.

“Mom! Is that you? Where are you?” Luna desperately asked.

“Why dear, I'm here with your father and this sweet white pegasus. Just close your eyes and you'll see us.” the voice said once more.

Luna quickly shut her eyes and sure enough, Dawn, Dusk and Snowdrop were standing in a pitch black room with only one light above them and one above Luna. “Mom, dad and you too Snowdrop! Why are you all here?”

“We're here because you needed some hope my dear Luna.” Dawn said.

“That's right honey, I know it's been difficult for you since mom and I died and Celestia hasn't always been the best sister, but she tries.” Dusk added.

“And didn't I say I'd always be there when you needed me? I meant that, you are my best friend after all!” Snowdrop explained.

Luna just sat there on the pitch black room's floor as more tears began to stream down her face. “Y-yes you did Snowdrop and I'm grateful for that. And yes mother and father I know sister has many duties to perform and she doesn't always have time for me and my personal self-esteem issues. What you said earlier though, about don't worry he's coming what did you mean by that?” Luna asked feeling seriously confused.

All three just looked at each and formed three huge smiles and simultaneously said, “The one you've been waiting for Luna. Your soul-mate is coming to rescue you! So please don't worry anymore, for he won't fail, we know this to be true. So just wait a little longer!” they said as all three faded away into the darkness of the room. Luna then opened her eyes and though she was still unsure of who they were speaking of, a new found hope had entered her mind and she waited patiently for her prince to come.

Now back outside of the fortress, the battle has commenced and Shining Armor and Applejack were busy with their herding job while Trixie, Cadence and Twilight were trying to create an opening for Ice to break through. The battle about as intense as they expected it to be, but Ice finally managed to find a hole in the changeling army. And as soon as he did, he quickly amped up his wings with his Wind element and flew towards the fortress with great haste. With their primary objective completed, the others could now completely focus on fighting the army that was in front of them. Applejack and Shining were successfully herding most of the changelings right into Cadence's magic beams, which in turn basically knocked out everyone it hit. And Trixie and Twilight were on opposite sides of them, taking out any stragglers. That was until a group of five changelings had snuck up behind Twilight and shot her down with an energy blast of their own. Trixie heard Twilight's body hit the ground with a thud and turned to see that they were going in for the kill. Shining Armor hurriedly ran over, but it was clear that he wouldn't make it in time to save his sister and Cadence and Applejack could only watch as one of their best friends was going to be done in right before their eyes.

“STOP!!!” Trixie yelled as her horn gleamed a brilliant lavender color and then she vanished and appeared in front of Twilight with a force field that even Shining Armor himself was impressed with. “YOU WILL NOT HARM HER FURTHER, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!” Trixie yelled as her force field grew larger pushing back the five changelings as Cadence took them out. Twilight just stared at Trixie and how hard she tried to protect her. Right then and there she felt something she had never felt before and she was sure that Trixie had felt it as well: a sudden warmth in her chest region that seemed to ease all worry and pain in her body and mind. Cadence and Trixie then switched spots so that Cadence could use some healing magic to bring Twilight back up to speed. Then after taking the necessary precautions they went back to their strategy.

Meanwhile, Ice had just found an open window to get into the fortress. The place was almost completely empty though, he thought it was to be expected though seeing as most of them would be out there in the battlefield. So he began to sneak around the fortress in order to find the dungeons, which unbeknown to him, Chrysalis herself was guarding! Even if all the changelings were out on the battlefield,

“This all seemed a little bit too easy.” he thought to himself. And right when that thought was finished he saw two changelings walking around the corner! He quickly backed up into the room he was in and waited for them to pass before using Wind magic to pull the oxygen from their lungs causing them to pass out temporarily.

“Now how do I get to the dungeons from here?” he thought. He continued walking around until he found a staircase leading down for he did come in at a relatively high point in the fortress. It would only make sense that the dungeon would be below him somewhere. So, he continued to dodge random encounters with changelings and a few minor security feeds until he reached a rather disturbing staircase!

This particular staircase was a deep rusted blood looking red instead of the usual black ones he came across. Also, there were spikes on both sides of the stairwell and long chains with hooks on the ends of them hanging from the ceiling above. He was officially creeped out by the staircase, but at least he knew now that he was on the right track to the dungeons. And that much closer to saving Luna and keeping her from being sad anymore. He had barely know her yet he felt as if he had known her for centuries, he couldn't really explain it. So he cast his nervousness aside and carefully walked down the bloodied staircase in order to find and save his lunar princess.

As he made his way down the eerie stairwell, he grew increasingly nervous for Luna's safety as he began to see bones on the sides of the steps.

“What in the wide world of Equestria is down here?” he thought to himself. He continued to walk for another minute or two and he finally reached the bottom of the stairwell. Once he exited it, he could clearly tell what this was: a quite big torture floor!

“Man, I've got to find Luna fast! I shudder to think what might happen to her if I don't. I'm sure she's thinking nopony's coming to save her, but hopefully I'll be pleasant surprise.” he thought to himself grinning slightly. He then shook his head and refocused on the task at hand, for this floor surely had its share of traps in store for any unwarranted visitors. And as soon as he stepped forward, sure enough a trap triggered. A moderate sized pendulum came swinging from the left side of the ceiling. He quickly ducked, though it did manage to slice some of his mane off.

“That was way too close! I'll have to be extra careful from now on!” he thought while still getting over the sudden near-death experience. “Now let's see what else this floor has to throw at me!” he said with a slight confidence in his voice as he began to walk forward.

As he began to walk through the floor, he moved more and more cautiously seeing as the first trap almost did him in. He noticed all the different torture devices spread throughout the floor as he traversed it. All the way from the classics like the Iron Maiden and stretch rack to new ones that he didn't even know what they were. The next trap he encounter was somewhat obvious as he saw all of the holes in the walls around him, meaning that most likely either arrows or spears would shoot out at him if he triggered it. That was the problem however! Nothing looked out of the ordinary, so he didn't know where the trigger was set at. So in light of this, he decided to fly through without touching anything, but just as he was about halfway through the hallway his body hit a tripwire suspended in the air! Immediately arrows began shooting out of the holes straight at him. He quickly used his wind magic to accelerate past the hallway, but one of the arrows did manage to graze his back leaving a small cut on it.

“Another close call, these traps are very well placed and executed.” he said to himself. He continued on and began to smell a most unpleasant scent.

“What is that awful smell? It's just plain disgusting!” he complained. He didn't let it bother him though as he walked forward to a room with what looked to be acid around a narrow winding stone bridge. “

So that's what that smell was! Some type of dark green acid that looks quite dangerous.” As a test he ripped one of his feathers off and tossed it into the green substance. As soon as the feather hit the green stuff it dissolved instantly! He knew right then and there that he did NOT want to touch the acid. Besides that though, there was nothing else peculiar with the room, so he tried to fly again, but as soon as he did, a steel net that was invisible before hit his head, meaning that he had to walk across the narrow bridge. So he began to walk across in an orderly manner, once he reached about a quarter of the way to the door though the acid started rising! He then quickly running not wanting to get touched by the deadly green liquid. He nearly fell in a couple times, but was able to keep his footing and get through without a scratch this time. The next stair case was now in his sight, only one more room on this floor separated him and the next floor!

He made his way to the next room where he saw what looked to be giant changeling sleeping in the right side of the room. It was nearly as big as Sugarcube Corner itself! He entered the door and as he did he felt a strange sensation and all of a sudden a bell started ringing over the giant's head waking him up. Ice instantly looked above himself to see an scanner in the top of the doorway. He knew that's what triggered the bell. He watched as the giant slowly arose from his slumber, intently staring at his potential next meal! The door then slammed behind him trapping him inside with the beast!

“Great! Well I guess this is the last trap on this floor. And what a trap it is! The beast yawned once then charged straight at Ice Breeze. Though he easily dodged it, he knew that if ever hit it would do quite a bit of damage to him. He knew he didn't have much time so Ice decided for once in his life to be ruthless. His began to glow a bright blue as ice began to form around the changelings legs and before it realized it, it had been frozen to ground! Struggle as it might, the changeling couldn't break free. And then, Ice's horn glow changed from light blue to dark blue. After this change occurred, a water orb formed around the giant changeling's head! Ice just watched as the giant gasped for every breath, but could never find one as the water began to fill up its lungs. And after about a minute, it collapsed, dead from lack of air.

“I'm sorry I had to do that, but I'm in a bit of a rush here. May you find peace in the afterlife.” Ice said as he walked down the next staircase.

As he exited this staircase, he felt as small sigh of relief as he saw cells lining the walls. “I've finally made it too the dungeon!” he thought to himself.

He then noticed that one of the cells was more heavily reinforced than the others, so he decided to head to that particular one first. He walked toward the cell and heard a voice from down the hallway,

“Congratulations! Somepony actually made it here!” He watched as he saw a female changeling walk out from the shadows. “Hello dearie, I am Queen Chrysalis, the queen and leader of the changelings!” she said.

“Well, I knew there was something different about you. So you're the leader eh? Where's Luna at?” Ice demanded

“Oh I think you already know, that's why you headed to this cell. You'll have to go through me first though if you want to save her. Ice just grinned and quickly used Earth magic to trap Chrysalis using the clay and mud from the wall around her.

“Sorry, but I have to get going.” he said as he broke the cell open. Chrysalis struggled mightily, but couldn't get out of the hardened clay.

As he broke through the door, his eyes met Luna's. “I-Ice Breeze? Is that really you?!” Luna stammered.

“Of course it's me, you didn't think I'd let you stay in harm’s way did you?” he asked while running over to her.

“I-I don't know what to say. I thought nopony would care enough to come for me!” she said starting to cry on Ice's shoulder.

“Of course I would come for you, always without a doubt. Now's not the time for this though, we have to get out of here!” he said while the two ran out of the cell. Chrysalis slowly began to use her magic to break the clay around her and before they knew it the chase had begun!

Now back in Canterlot, the fight there was nearly over. The group had pushed many of the changelings back over the mountain, but they were beginning to get a little bit relaxed.

“Aww yeah we've got this in the bag! These guys never knew what hit them!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. The remaining changelings weren't about to go down without a fight though! They continued shooting their magic while some charged to do melee attacks, but almost none of them worked. That was until an errant blast shot down and killed one of Fluttershy's birds. Shocked and dismayed, the yellow pegasus quickly flew over to catch the bird. She then began crying on the ground holding it tightly to her chest.

“I-I'm so sorry little birdie. I should have never gotten you involved with this. Now your family is going to be without its father and it's all my fault!” she said still sobbing immensely. The changelings noticed the pegasus laying on the ground crying and decided to take full advantage by aiming their magic blasts at her!

“Hey! Where are you looking, you changeling scum?” Dash yelled as she turned her head to where they were pointing their heads. Her eyes widened as she saw what they were about to do. “FLUTTERSHY!! GET UP, HURRY!!'” she yelled, but to no avail as Fluttershy was too traumatized by her dead bird friend. “Dammit!” Rainbow exclaimed as she took off towards Fluttershy. The changelings shot their magic together with deadly precision. At that moment Fluttershy turned around to see the blasts and what seemed to be her end! At the very last moment, however, she saw a shadow fly in front of her and take the blasts straight on! Her eyes then followed the figured through the air as it landed on the ground behind her.

“No, NO, NO, NOOO!!” she shouted as she saw a bloodied Rainbow Dash lying behind her. She quickly rushed over to Dash's side, “Why? Why would do that?” Fluttershy said with tears rolling like a river.

“G-good, you're not hurt. I t-told you I'd always look after you didn't I?” Dash quietly said. Fluttershy sadly nodded trying to wipe the tears away, but they kept coming no matter what she did. Celestia, seeing this decided that this needed to end or more injuries might occur. So her and a troop of four unicorn guards combined their magic into a powerful circular blast that disintegrate every changeling it touched. The four guards then collapsed do to the immense output of magic they had just used, but alas the battle for Canterlot was over with Celestia and her group as the victor. And while Rainbow Dash was badly injured, the doctors said that she would make a full recovery within two months. Fluttershy stayed by her bedside the entire time while the others anxiously waited to hear good news from the other group.

Back in the fortress, Luna and Ice Breeze were rushing to find an open window to escape. At this point, Chrysalis had broken free and was chasing them relentlessly.

“Do you really think I'll just let you get away?” Chrysalis yelled as her horn began to glow a dark green. As this happened the hallways started shifting and now Luna and Ice were heading right towards her!

“Luna, get ready this might hurt a little bit.” Ice said.

Luna, not knowing what he was talking about got right up next to him and said, “Don't worry, whatever plan you have, I trust you completely.”

Ice nodded as his horn began to glow a mixture of red and brown, then what seemed to be a bomb just appeared out of nowhere. He tossed the bomb at the wall to their right causing debris to fly everywhere, but Ice shielded Luna from it with one of his wings. There was now, to Chrysalis' dismay, a hole leading to the outside. The two quickly jumped out and began to fly towards their friends when Chrysalis reached the hole and used a spell to stop Ice's wings from flapping! The green alicorn started falling from the sky at an alarming rate, but as he hoped she would be, Luna caught him and continued to fly to the platoon.

Chrysalis, enraged at this escape quickly jolted out of the hole in the wall and followed them.

“GET THEM!!! DON”T LET THEM REUNITE WITH THE OTHERS!!!” Chrysalis ordered commandingly. All the changelings then changed their attention to the two alicorns flying to their comrades. Luna dodged and weaved through the blasts as Ice tried to shoot as many changelings as he could in the hectic flying. After what seemed like an eternity of flying, they finally managed to reach Twilight and the others.

“I'm so glad you're safe!” Cadence exclaimed when she saw Luna and Ice.

“Thanks for the sentiment, but we're not out of this yet. We still have to escape from the horde.” Ice explained as Chrysalis and the rest of the changelings grew ever closer!

“FIRE, MY MINIONS KILL THEM ALL!!” Chrysalis yelled. At that moment, every changeling including Chrysalis herself, shot the strongest beam of energy that they could. Trying to block it, Shining Armor put up a giant force field, but it was quickly shattered. Then, quickly Trixie and Twilight joined him and still the barrier started to crack! As a last ditch effort, Cadence and Luna also joined in the force field, but the might of the changeling's combined beams still proved too much!

“Ice, please hurry up and think of something!” Luna asked in a sweet yet stern voice as the shield started cracking again. “I- I'm drawing a blank here!” He said adding his force field to the ranks now.

And while it was seeming to hold after a couple of minutes the worst thing possible happened! The beams shattered the shield, knocking down the magic users as well as Applejack and leaving Twilight and Cadence unconscious! As Trixie looked after Twilight and Shining Armor rushed to Cadence's side, the changelings were almost upon them! Ice looked around desperately and saw that all his comrades were either too injured or too worn out to help fight anymore, even Luna hadn't fully regained her power after being locked up in a non-magic cell for a couple of weeks.

“Dammit! What am I supposed to do? We were so close to rescuing her, now we all might die!” he said frantically while trying to think of a plan, but all he could think of was Luna and how he couldn't let her or any of the others come into harm's way.

“Well, well, are you all finally ready to die?” Chrysalis said as she and her changelings had reached the group. Ice could feel something in his chest, like a sort of power welling up, but he had never experienced it before. And then suddenly, he remembered what Zecora said to him in the Everfree Forest.

“T-t-the lost art of elemental magic? I had always thought its disappearance was tragic. But you, you possess the special art. You should be honored to wield its heart. The heart of the elements my dear. Only the holder of all six qualities may hold this form of magic near. Magic, laughter, kindness, generosity, honesty and loyalty. These are the qualities of true harmony. The soul of a hero lies within you. For nature itself is your tool. Only one with an absolute pure heart may wield this power. Your pure heart will shine in your loved ones most dire hour. You shall find her my son. Sooner than later she may come.” And as those words ran through his head, the Elements of Harmony that the mane six had begun to glow!

“Rarity! What's going on?” Rainbow Dash asked still lying in her hospital bed as the Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Loyalty amulets started glowing back in Canterlot as well.

“I don't know Rainbow dear, but let's hope its good.” she replied. Applejack stared as her Honesty amulet and Twilight's Magic crown lifted into the air as did the other four back in Canterlot. Ice then began to rise as well, not of his volition, but it felt as if the Elements were dragging him to them! As he reached the height of the two Elements, four beam of light shot at him from the direction of Canterlot and once they were close, the other two shot at him as well. “What's going on? What is he doing?!” Chrysalis demanded as she tried to shoot him down. Despite her efforts though, all her magic was easily deflected.

“You have to protect Luna at all costs, she the one you've been destined to be with your entire life! Now's your chance dude, let it out!” Ice heard Cerulean say in the back of his mind. And at that moment, the beams intensified and formed what seemed to a giant crystalline heart made of all the colors of the rainbow!

Not knowing what this new development meant, Chrysalis ordered her soldiers to retreat, but it was too late as the heart exploded into millions of vibrant, rainbow-colored shards each one of which, decimated whichever changeling it touched! Even Chrysalis fell victim to this brilliant display of power, but for her it had a different effect! Instead of disintegrating her on the spot, it seemed to wrap her up in what seemed to be a crystal linen cloth. And there looked like there was magic going to work on the inside of it. As the glimmering light faded, Ice: who was in the middle of the explosion, fell from the sky and landed with a big thud. Luna and the others starred at him and thought he was dead until one of his ears twitched, but even then they knew that he needed serious medical attention if he was to survive a fall and blast like that. So without checking on Chrysalis or if there were any more changelings around Luna and the others hurried back to Canterlot, with the day won, but at what cost?

About four hours later, they arrived back at the Canterlot castle.

“SISTER, SISTER PLEASE COME QUICK!” Luna shouted. Celestia and the others heard her voice and rushed down to the ground floor.

“Luna! Thank god you're sa... What happened to Ice?” Celestia asked breaking apart her loving sentiment.

“I don't know! There was a huge blast of all different colors and he just collapsed and now he won't wake up.! Please help him!” Luna said with tears rolling down her face. Celestia quickly used her magic to take him to the infirmary and once there immediately took him the emergency medical room. After about half an hour, Celestia and the doctor came out and said that he wasn't going to make it unfortunately.

Luna fell to ground, tears streaming like a flooded river, “NO, NO, NO!! FIRST MOM AND DAD, THEN SNOWDROP AND NOW THE STALLION I LOVED? WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!” Celestia looked absolutely shocked that Luna used the word love. For that was the first time she had said it since they saw their parents alive! She then walked over to her.

“Lulu, there is a way to save him.” Celestia said.

Luna's ears perked up, “WHAT? REALLY? HOW?” she asked very impatiently.

Celestia showed her a spell and said, “Well this ancient magic spell could be used to restore his life force,but in turn somepony would have to give their own life force to save him!” Celestia explained.

Luna knew what that meant, that somepony had to sacrifice their own life to save his! She then got up and rushed to his room. “LUNA WAIT! DON'T!” Celestia screamed as she chased after her younger sister.

“I'm sorry Tia, but I can't let him die too. It would kill me on the inside to watch another of the people I care most about die right in front of my eyes!” she as she turned to Ice's near dead body. “Don't worry my love, I'll save you, just as you saved me. So please don't fret over my passing, know that it was what I wanted; goodbye Ice.” she whispered to him as she turned her head back over to Celestia. “I'm sorry Tia, I love you sister, goodbye!” Luna said as her horn began to glow brighter than it had ever glowed before....

Chapter 10: 5 Years Later

After the royal wedding of Ice Breeze and Princess Luna (now technically Queen Luna) happened, much of Equestria wasn't sure of how their new “king” would pan out. This notion of incompetence was quickly laid to rest however. As within the next five years he and his beautiful queen would both prove to be a force to be reckoned with both in protecting the realm and in politics as well. Within those five years, they along with the bearers of harmony fought off many small invasions by other nations thinking that now that Celestia was gone it'd be easy to do. After they defeated them however, they allowed them to walk away, for showing mercy to an enemy was the quickest way to gain peace. And though many doubted it would, over this half-decade Equestria had become more unified than ever, only the most remote places were not part of the alliance, but even though nothing came of it Ice and Luna and Twilight as well knew that the most remote places were often the most dangerous. Now with this overall peaceful state of things, the citizens who once doubted their newly appointed ruler praised him and his wife just as much or maybe even more than Celestia herself!

These five years have now passed and Equestria is peaceful as it should be. Canterlot is thriving as usual and the surrounding major cities such as: Manehatten, Saddle Arabia and Neighbraska are also doing well. You might ask yourself though, how is Ponyville doing after this long time period and having some of its most important ponies move to Canterlot. And the answer to that question is that it's actually doing better than ever before! There are two main reasons for this outcome happening. First is that it is the city under the closest watch by the bearers of harmony and the second most (after Canterlot) of Ice and Luna. The second reason is that news had spread around the world of Equestria that Ponyville was where the newest Princess: Twilight Sparkle had called her home when she rose in status. This caused ponies from all over to seek residence in Ponyville in hopes that they would be next to rise to that level of fame and importance. Other factors did play into this, but they will discussed later. As for the inhabitants of Ponyville, Mayor Mare was still running things in the usual fashion, but without Twilight's organizing skills, Winter Wrap Up was usually late. Now and then they got it right, but only about twenty five percent of the time. With Rainbow Dash gone, Ponyville needed a new pony in charge of keeping the weather straight so Flitter and Cloudchaser were chosen to take her place as the weather patrol. Mr. and Mrs. Cake still ran the Sugarcube Corner without Pinkie although she did drop by every so often to help out and see the twins. The Carousel Boutique was being kept up by Rarity and Sweetie Belle's parents since they decided to stay behind in Ponyville. All the orders they received they would mail to the Canterlot castle so that Rarity could fulfill them with her usual elegance and creativity. And the library was actually, believe it or not taken over by Scootaloo and Applebloom. Seeing as how Sweetie Belle moved to Canterlot with Rarity, they barely ever saw her and they also knew how important this library was to Twilight so they offered to keep it going. Spike also went back for extended periods of time to help the two out with things. The Summer Sun celebration was also still an annual thing as the town-ponies made a statue of Celestia and had Luna, Ice and element bearers come down every year to praise the Sun and Celestia herself. So basically in the case of Ponyville, nothing much changed except for the population growth and the absence of six ponies and a little dragon.

And as for those six ponies that once called Ponyville home, their tales are great and wondrous in their own right! First off, over these five years Applejack and her family has expanded the Sweet Apple Acres farm business all across the nation. Still located centrally near Ponyville of course, but it now provides apple treats for almost all of Equestria stretching all the way to the western border of Califoalia. Once the ponies of Equestria heard that Applejack was one of the ponies who helped rescue Princess Luna, it immediately brought fame and attention to her family business. For it must be quite the family to raise a hero such as her. Despite this wonderful outcome though, it wasn't all peachy as Granny Smith had passed away two and a half years after the rescuing of Luna. Fighting through the sadness though, Big Mac and Applejack knew that the business must continue and knew that it would be what their grandma would want. Applejack just wondered, since she now had the lifespan of an alicorn, how long it would be before both Big Mac and Applebloom left her behind as well. She kept this in the very back of her mind though, focusing on making the best and most appletastic treats that she and her brother could create. They even branched off to other fruits such as pears and peaches though apples remained their biggest calling card.

As for Pinkie, well she's just continued to be Pinkie Pie as one would expect. She's still extremely silly and random, and tries to make everypony and anypony smile no matter if she knows them or not. In the past five years, she's visited her family back at the rock farm and threw them a “good to see you again” party everytime she went back to see them. She offered them a place at the castle, but they nicely turned her down saying that the farm was all they ever knew and all they ever would know. And though they decided to stay, they did visit Pinkie at the castle or Ponyvile, where ever she was on occasion. After about three years though Pinkie started branching out. She knew that she had an incredibly longer lifespan know due to the element of laughter being a part of her know.

So she decided “Why just keep the people around me happy? I could keep ALL of Equestria happy!!” So she started taking trips to other cities and provinces to provide laughter and smiles for all that she came across. Traveling like this was a new experience for her and was difficult at first, but she enjoyed meeting new ponies and helping to spread joy across the land, so it didn't really bother her for very long at all. She is known across the land as “The Pink Party” for the happiness and extravagant parties that she brought with everywhere she went. She stayed extremely happy now, for all of the smiles she brought to others filled her with glee. She was at last finally able to fulfill her cutie mark's true destiny: to make everypony possible smile and be happy!

Fluttershy was a case of self-growth as well. For while she's lived in Canterlot these past five years, she's grown rather popular and doesn't shy away from people as much as she used to. Despite her popularity, especially with the stallions, she refused to accept any offers from them seeing as she and Rainbow Dash were actually together as a couple and had been for the past three years. Fluttershy kept asking Dash if getting married was in the equation, but being the stubborn pony she is when it comes to love related things,

Dash would always just say, “We'll see Flutters, you know I love you, isn’t that enough?” Flutershy would always say yes and let it go, but she really wanted to have a grand wedding like Ice and Luna's. She also now has her own animal care business for the local Canterlot ponies as well as the ponies of Ponyville. Everypony trusted her unconditionally with their precious animals and pets for they knew that she was most likely the gentlest pony in all of Equestria; she WAS the Element of Kindness after all. She even gained a new pet in Philamena since her original owner had passed away saving Luna from the afterlife. Fluttershy gladly accepted her new pet despite the trick she had previously played on her. Philamena also felt glad because she knew Fluttershy cared unconditionally for all animals and her fur and mane color somewhat reminded her of Celestia's mane and tail. Fluttershy did gain one more job during and this was being a manager.

Fourth comes Rainbow Dash, her New-found lifespan reinvigorated her will to become a Wonderbolt and she succeeded in that goal. Having Fluttershy as her manager, Dash managed to move up to the rank of Wonderbolt captain, overtaking Spitfire who had previously held that title. Having finally achieved her lifelong goal, Dash was elated and finally near the end of the five year time-skip, agreed to marry Fluttershy the day after her fiftieth performance. Which just so happens to be in a about a month. Naturally, Scootaloo was elated to see her idol's face on the Wonderbolt posters and though Scootaloo was never accepted into the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash always made sure to go get her and get her front row seats to her shows. Soarin would always try to court Dash after shows, but they were quickly shot down as Dash would always go straight to Fluttershy in the stands and give her a kiss on her cheeks. Scootaloo would always turn away not wanting to see romance in front of her, so Dash would make them extra-long just to annoy her, but Fluttershy didn't seem to mind at all. The Wonderbolts had risen even higher in fame by now having the Element of Loyalty as their captain. And Rainbow loved every minute of it, basking in her own as well as her flying mates glory, but she knew it wasn't easy and still constantly practiced to keep up her excellence in her flying ability along with her manager and soon to be wife.

Next was Rarity, who had finally gotten to live in Canterlot, not just in the city, but the castle itself. At first she was content with just taking it all in: the ponies, the glamor, the fame and the culture. It wasn't long however, before she remembered why she wanted to live in Canterlot in the first place and that was to create ensembles for the Canterlot royals and nobles. The first couple of months was slow as many ponies didn't know who she was, which pained Rarity deeply. More came once they found out that she was one of the element bearers, but the real business came in the Summer Sun Celebration after the royal wedding of Ice and Luna. When both the queen and king had outfits designed specially for them by Rarity herself and they announced that she was the pony who made them and that they were the best outfits they had ever worn. Needless to say, she then got quite popular. Ponies in the hundreds started pouring into her Canterlot boutique as well as her usual Ponyville customers. She had a hard time keeping up with all the orders, that's when Sweetie Belle decided to come live in Canterlot with her to help her with all of the orders. Over the next couple of years, Rarity went from for all intents and purposes a nopony to the most famous clothes designer in all of Equestria! Seeing her lifelong dream, just as Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie did, she felt her life was almost complete. There was only one elusive thing she could never find: the perfect stallion.

Lastly is Twilight who was now fitting into her role as the new Sun-raiser quite well. Everypony regarded her as a true princess and one of the smartest ponies in history. She would constantly visit the Crystal Empire to tell Cadence and Shining Armor of things she did and experienced, even the first time her and Trixie did “it'. Admittedly Cadnece and Shining Armor didn't really want to hear that, but smiled nonetheless. She and Trixie had gotten married about three years after Luna and Ice had their wedding. Trixie was now the entertainment for royal guests on business meetings that Twilight planned at the castle and such. And she had a blast doing it because she loved to perform. Twilight was also, as mentioned earlier in charge of planning royal meetings and diplomatic get-togethers, but once the meetings started, she usually stayed out of them except the really important ones. Spike spent most of his time nowadays back in Ponyville with Scootaloo, Applebloom and Owlowiscious at the old library that Twilight still cares for to this day. And every year she, Ice and Luna go to visit Celestia's grave on four occasions: Celestia's birthday, the Summer Sun Celebration, Hearths Warmings Eve and the day Celestia sacrificed herself to save Luna. To this day, Twilight still thanks Celestia for everything she has and when in doubt she tries to think how Celestia would handle it.

We know are back in the present day in the Canterlot Castle. “Honey, we might have a slight problem!” Luna exclaimed.

“What is it dear?” Ice asked.

“Discord has announced that he plans to attack us! Now that Celestia's gone he thinks he can get away with it and Pinkie Pie is off in Neighbraska so the Elements are useless.” Luna explained. Twilight was walking by and overheard what Luna had just said,

“What? I knew he wasn't reformed! He was just bidding his time for the perfect moment to strike!”

Ice just at them both and said, “Well it's finally time for a little payback for him killing my best friend. And did you two forgot about this?” Ice asked as he pulled out his Element Amulet.

Both Luna and Twilight remembered that it was all six elements in one, but Discord didn't know that. “Before that however, an anonymous pony wanted an audience with Luna and I, so please tell her to come in, Twilight.” Ice said. Twilight nodded and went and opened the door. A pony in a dark green cloak walked into room and immediately Ice Breeze got up in a defensive stance, “Who are you and why are you concealing yourself?” he demanded.

“Calm yourself dear, I mean you no harm for you have already proven to be stronger than me.” the strange figure said.

“What do you mean?” Ice asked sitting back down. The figure then took its cloak off and revealed herself to be a black alicorn pony with teal hair and a green heart as her cutie mark.

“C-Chrysalis?! I'm sure it's you, but you're a p-”

“A pony, yes I know.” Chrysalis interrupted.

“How did this happen to you?” Twilight and Luna asked at the same time.

“I believe it was that heart shaped blast that killed my underlings, if you recall it trapped me in some sort of weird magic cocoon. I'm guessing the magic somehow reformed me into a pony.”

All three of the Equestrian rulers looked at each other puzzled. “Ok, well why did you request an audience with us if not for revenge purposes?” Ice asked.

“Well, I was wondering if I could live in Canterlot? Seeing as I'm not a changeling anymore, I can't feed off of ponies, so I see no harm in it.” Chrysalis explained.

“Why should we let you? You kidnapped me!” Luna yelled.

“I realize what I did in the past might not have always been as noble as it should have been, but I needed to find food for my subjects. There was no other way, you have to believe me.” Chrysalis said with tears starting welling up.

“Its fine, you can stay here in the castle. I believe we have at least five extra rooms left.” Ice said. Chrysalis, Twilight and Luna all looked at the green alicorn with surprise in their faces.

“A-are you sure darling? It might be a trap!” Luna asked.

“It'll be okay Luna. Don't you trust your own husband?” Ice asked. Luna looked at him and then back at Chrysalis who was actually crying now at Ice's kindness towards her. She then nodded and agreed with her husband.

“W-why are you so easy to trust me after what I did?” Chrysalis asked.

Ice stared at her and could tell that Luna and Twilight also wanted an explanation. “Well first off, even though your actions were wrong, you were looking out for your subjects so you can't be all bad. And second, as the king of Equestria now, it is my duty to watch over ALL of my subjects, whether they have wronged me in the past or not.” Ice finished explaining.

Chrysalis then bowed to him and Luna and asked where her room would be. Ice then directed Twilight to show her which she did. “Now to matter at hand, Luna go keep watch over Chrysalis with Twilight just in case. I'll deal with Discord!” Luna nodded and quickly ran after Twilight as Ice teleported to outside the castle to face his long-time enemy!

“Ah so only one of you show up eh? I'll admit it's a little disappointing to not wreak glorious chaos on both of you. I guess the lovely queen will have to wait, oh well.” Discord said.

“No need to be disappointed Discord! I'm here as more than just the king of Equestria, I'm here as a pony who lost their best friend at your hands!” Ice said.

“I'm afraid I no idea what you're talking about kiddo. This is the first time we've ever met.” Discord explained.

“While that may be true, do you remember that storm you caused in Neighbraska about a thousand and ten years ago? I was there and quelled the storm, but at the cost of my best friend Cerulean Shield!” Ice explained with anger building in his voice.

“Oh now I do recall something like that and I did always wonder why there was only one death in the whole city. He was that one was he? Oh well, it probably served him right for being a friend to you anyway. I bet he wasn't that bright either, he was probably just as incompetent as those alicorns in that war, what were their names? Ah yes, Shock Wave and Storm Caster who tried desperately to the very end to maintain peace, how foolish can you get? I me-”

“STOP RIGHT THERE!!” Ice interrupted with an anger he'd never felt before. “YOU SHOULD WATCH WHO YOU BAD MOUTH!!” he said as the amulet appeared on his neck. Discord looked in fear at the necklace that had just formed around Ice's neck.

“I-i-is that what I think it is?” Discord stammered. Without answering Ice summoned the crystalline heart just as he did against Chrysalis, but he could control it this time around.

“Yes it is, now be gone vile Draconoquese.” Ice said as the heart enveloped Discord's body. Struggle as he might, none of his magic seemed to work on the structure as he glanced one last time at Ice he saw his lips say “ disappear!” and just as he said that, the heart imploded on itself basically disintegrating Discord and all of his chaotic magic along with him.

Luna, Chrysalis and Twilight were all watching the balcony and Luna spoke up, “He finally avenged Cerulean, I'm glad he got the chance to do so!”

With the day won and a new alicorn in the form of the newly changed Chrysalis living in Canterlot, the day seemed perfect. Everypony gathered around the dinner table and ate a most wondrous feast. Chrysalis, who was also there, felt truly loved and cared for, for the first time in her long life. And she expressed it by bowing to everypony at the table and expressing how much this meant to her. All of the other ponies smiled and told her not to worry, for this is was how it was going to be from now on. She smiled, cried a little bit and began eating with the rest of them. The next day was Celestia's birthday and though it was cloudy, as usual Ice, Luna and Twilight went to visit the grave-site, but this time Chrysalis accompanied them. She got down on her knees and begged the dead Sun princess for forgiveness and just like that, a ray of sunlight burst through one of the clouds touching Chrysalis on the cheek.

“I think that's sister's way of saying she forgives you.” Luna said smiling widely. After staying there about an hour, the four returned to the castle. Twilight went to her room to study some spells and set up next month's meetings. Chrysalis walked around Canterlot, even stopping by Rarity's shop and making a dress order. Rarity was a bit surprised to see her, but happily greeted her anyway and accepted her order. As for Luna and Ice Breeze, they both went up to the balcony to see the sunset on their sister's birthday for they were usually exquisite. And this one was no different, as the sun set, Luna began raising the moon and right beside that lovely crescent moon, a shooting star flew right by.

As the last of the golden sun rays glistened off the clouds, Ice turned to Luna and said, “You know, it's been a wild ride for both of us. There were probably many times where both of us felt like giving in and letting go, but I'm glad I didn't or I never would've been sitting here with you this evening.”

Luna turned and looked at him, blushing quite a lot at the romantic words, “You're right there were many times when I wanted to quit. I, like you, am quite pleased that I didn't either. For I have found the love of my life in you and I finally feel complete for the first time. And I thank you for that. I just wish sister was still here to see us.”

Ice moved closer to the dark blue mare, “She is Luna, you that sun right there? As long as it burns and we still draw breath, she is with all of us. I know things didn't turn out quite perfect, but all things considered I think I turned out okay.” Ice said.

“I guess you're right, sorry for bringing it up again.” Luna said while she smiled at him gently with the lowering sunlight reflecting off her mane.

“One thing's for sure Luna.” Ice said.

Luna looked puzzled and asked “And what might that be?”

Ice just smiled at her and moved his head until his muzzle was touching hers gently, “Everything happens for a reason my dear queen!”

Chapter 1: The War/ Fate's Beginning

Some ponies believe that everything happens for a reason. They say such things as fate and destiny control our every
move. Others would say that those ponies are completely wrong; that where we end up is in direct correlation with our own
actions. In this tale, like in all others, both cases can and will be made. Despite that fact, however, the truth is only what you
think it is. Welcome to a story of fate. Or is it a story of decisive action? That my friend, is for you to decide!

This tale begins in the early years of Equestria, far before Ponyville even existed. Two main forces bid for control of the
land: the alicorns and their pony kin and the draconicai, the chaos-loving creatures formed of many different animal parts.
So far they have lived in a very troubled state of peace and harmony, but that soon shall end; just like any other good or
bad thing that comes to pass. The draconicai have long-wanted things to be more chaotic and less structured. This being
the exact opposite of the alicorn leaders of the ponies, who in turn believe that structure is the only way to survive. Thus, the
grounds for the greatest conflict in Equestrian history have been set. And tensions were quickly boiling over.

So one day the two sides held a hopeful truce meeting in the neutral land of Mount Zephyr to settle their differences.
This land was characterized by its strong winds, but on that day it started out oddly serene with a gentle breeze and brilliant
rays golden sunshine coming through slits in the clouds; creating what looked to be large golden harp strings being played
by the breeze. The leaders of the alicorns, King Dusk and his wife Queen Dawn were the first to enter the meeting room.
Dusk was a very muscular stallion sporting a blue-violet coat and a dark marigold mane and tail. While his wife, Dawn was
an elegant mare with a shining silver coat along with an alluring pink mane and tail resembling that of metallic flamingo.
Each one had the responsibility of keeping the kingdom safe during their respective times with cutie marks of a sun rising
and a sun lowering. They were the only two ponies in history to share one cutie mark, they were truly soul-mates meant for
each other. Then after a brief 5 minute wait, Pandemonium and Demona, the leaders of the draconicai entered, each made
of various animal parts as all draconicai were. And thus the meeting to decide Equestria's future began. Would a truce come
to pass? Or would things go horribly awry?

The meeting started out relatively calm with both sides explaining their respective concerns. Dusk and Dawn explaining
that the chaotic ways of the draconicai disrupts the order that the ponies need to survive. While Demona and Pandemonium
explained that this had been their way of life since their race began and that they weren't about to change that. The sky
started to cloud up and winds began blow with force as both sides got fed up with the stubbornness of the other. Until finally,
King Dusk shouted.

“ENOUGH OF THIS BACK AND FORTH RAMBLING. THIS IS GETTING NOWHERE; DAWN LET'S GO, WE HAVE A BATTLE TO PREPARE FOR!”

At the very same time a huge bolt of lightning struck the top of the meeting cathedral, causing the roof to crack open
and the gale-like winds blow into the tension-filled room. Pandemonium and Demona had also had enough, using their
magic to warp out in a cloud of blood red smoke back to their homeland of Chimeria.

Saying in unison as they vanished “We too shall be ready to rid this land of you boring ponies.” And so the pony/draconicai war had finally begun after centuries of uneasy peace.

Back in the pony/alicorn capital Ponysopalis the alicorn leaders and willing pony soldiers prepare by learn new spells,
more complicated flying formations and producing a surplus of food for the battle. While the draconicai studying their own
chaos magics to use them in different, more unexpected ways. There were small battles here and there over the next two
decades until the final, decisive battle finally arrived at the base of Mount Zephyr; where peace was once their objective;
only disdain remained. Both sides, rulers and followers alike knew that this had to end there and then.

The time was nigh, both pony and draconicai glared intensely at their adversaries; remembering all that both sides
have lost since the war began. Resources, peace of mind and worst of all, lives, all lost to the stubbornness of these two
polar opposites. Every being there knew that this was it, both armies came with the rest of their forces to this fight. On top of
that, the four rulers: Dusk, Dawn, Pandemonium and Demona were all present for this sure-to-be epic confrontation. The
fight started in a flash as the draconicai used their magic to hurl hundreds of stones and blades that seemingly came out of
nowhere. The unicorns and alicorns used a gigantic bright lavender force field to block while the pegasi attempted to
maneuver through the storm of deadly projectiles. Some made it through to strike down at least ten to twenty of the
draconicai while the others were either impaled by blades or crushed by the boulders. In all of the chaos of the initial attack
the earth ponies took the opportunity to flank around the left and right of the draconican army, taking out more of the
opposing army. It was all going smoothly until Pandemonium unleashed a spell that turned the earth pony’s minds against
their own kind. Unable to comprehend this weird and crazy magic the unicorns and alicorns could only watch as the earth
ponies and pegasi tore each other apart. After all of the pegasi and earth ponies had demolished each other Dusk and
Dawn decided to end it in one fell swoop. All of the unicorns and alicorns combined their magic to form a massive magic orb,
the size of half the mountain, designed to obliterate all it hits. Seeing the dire situation that they were facing both Demona
and Pandemonium decided to use the draconicai's last resort spell: The Doppelganger Attack! All the draconicais banded
together just as the ali/unicorns had done moments before and used the Doppelganger Attack spell to replicate the
Obliteration Orb. Shocked at the prospect of their own attack being used against them, the admiral of the pony army: Shock
Wave, an alicorn with a vibrant lemon-yellow coat and onyx mane and tail warned Dusk and Dawn that this spell had never
been tested against other magic, just earthly objects. He pleaded that if the two orbs collided it could create a shock-wave
huge enough to wipe out both armies in their entirety! Seeing that her leaders weren't listening his wife: Storm Caster, approached him and said with a heaviness in her voice.

“A-At least if we die here our son in Califoalia is safe from all this.”

He started to cry and said “You're right, but I wanted to see him grow up. See how he'd develop and what his talent was.”

Then to their surprise Dusk and Dawn were sobbing when both said simultaneously “We also have two daughters that we wanted to see grow up, but you know as well as we do that this is the only way.”

So with the thought of their daughters and son in mind they ordered the attack to be made. Little did they know that
Pandemonium and Demona also had a little one that was away from the battlefield, named Discord! Both orbs flew at each
other with relatively fast speed, although to those six it felt like an eternity. As the orbs collided, a huge outburst of energy
expelled from the clash, annihilating everyone and everything in its fifty mile diameter. At the very last moments of their life,
the six prayed to their young ones.

Pandemonium and Demona said with an evil tone “Make sure to wreak havoc on those
who have wronged us and live a fulfilling, chaos-filled life.”

Dusk and Dawn said with pride, “Celestia my dear, please take care your sister you're all she has now, only each other. We love you both, our beloved Celestia and Luna.”

And lastly, Shock Wave and Storm Caster both said lovingly while crying and holding each other, “Our son, Ice Breeze,
please know that we love you and will watch over you always. Goodbye.” After the blast nothing was left, only the loving
memories of six loving parents and dead family members.

The next morning, back in the Ponysopalis castle two young fillies: one with a white coat and flowing pink mane that
resembled reflected sunlight and one with dark blue fur and light blue mane had woken up to a beautiful sunlit day.

“Luna, wake up!” The white mare exclaimed.

“Ugh, Tia what do you want? I'm trying to sleep.”Luna complained.

“Luna, I don't see mom or dad or any of the guards for that matter!” Celestia said nervously. Luna got up quickly and
both sisters looked around and searched the castle with haste, but to no avail.

Luna started to cry out “TIA, WHERE'S MOMMY AND DADDY?” with tears streaming down her face.

Celestia calmly said, “Don't worry, I'm sure they're in town and the guards are there too as royal escorts. I'll go check it out, you stay here and eat something.”

“O-OK.” Luna said wiping the tears from her face. She smiled and said, “Tia, when you bring them back can you ask
them to get my favorite salad in town?

” “Sure” Celestia said, “Although I don't know why you like having eggplants on your salad, eww.” she giggled.

Luna laughed and said, “They match my fur!” Celestia laughed and told her sister she'd be back soon with their
parents and left for the town.

When she got there, Celestia noticed that there was a big gathering of ponies in the central market courtyard. She
decided to see what all the fuss from the crowd was about and as she walked forward she saw a huge stone with her
parents' name on the top and all of the royal army's names under them. As she came into the center of the crowd everypony
stared at her and started to whisper quietly.

She asked, “Um, why are mom and dad's name along with the royal army written here. On top of that, where are they? I want to see them”.

All of the town ponies started to look down and kick at the ground slowly. Celestia asked nervously, “What's wrong with
everypony? Where's mom and dad? What's this stone all about?” The worry on her face was evident now.

One of the ponies walked over to her crying and said' “Well my princess, this is a... an um”.

“Well spit it out!” she yelled.

“It's an um memorial stone my dear princess. Your parents as well as the royal guard were all killed in battle yesterday,
I'm sorry.” he said still weeping.

The young princess fell to her knees and started to tear up. “W-what did you just say? I DON'T BELIEVE YOU, THEY
WOULD NEVER LEAVE LUNA AND I ALONE!” she said now fully crying. All of town ponies came in one by one and hugged
her, each giving her their condolences.

After about an hour of staring at the memorial stone she realized, “How am I going to tell Luna? I'm not even sure I can,
I doubt she'll be able to take it.” Then she remembered the salad that Luna had wanted for dinner, so she went to the Salad
Salon: the resident salad shop. She walked in and asked the cashier: Veggie Garden “Um could I get two eggplant salads
please?”

Garden smiled and said, “Sure hun, Luna loves her eggplant doesn't she?”

Celestia smiled half ways and said, “She sure does, it matches her fur. She said that's why she liked them.” Garden
laughed and went on making the salads.

“Here you go Princess. By the way, why'd you get two? I thought you didn't like eggplant.”

Celestia smiled and replied, “Well I'm all she has now, so I guess I'll give it a shot for her.”

Garden said “That's mighty nice of you; that will be 6 bits dear.” Celestia suddenly remembered that her purse was at
the castle.

“Um I'm sorry, I forgot my money at the castle. I'll go back and get”

“Now don't you worry” Garden interrupted. “ These are on the house, just make sure to keep Luna positive.”

“Thank you so much, and I'll try my best, but it will be difficult to do so.” Celestia replied with a worrisome look on her
face. They each said goodbye and Celestia made her way back to the castle, trying to think of how to tell of this tragedy to
her little sister.

When she finally arrived back at the castle, she found Luna sleeping soundly by the front door. “She must have been
waiting a while for me to come back with mom and dad.” Celestia thought to herself. So she took the salads into dining room,
sighed heavily and steeled herself for what she was about to reveal to young Luna. She walks back to her younger sister
and nudges Luna with her muzzle. “Time to get up, I'm back from town.” she calmly said, trying not to start crying right there.

“Umm Tia, is that you? You were gone for so long, I got worried.” Luna said still yawning.

“Yes it's me, would you like to come eat your salad now? They're in the dining room.” Celestia replied. Luna slowly got
up and yawned again; then followed her elder sister into the dining room. Celestia opened the basket up using levitation
magic to give Luna her food. Luna stared at it for a while before saying,

“Thank you Tia, but I think I'll wait until mom and dad get back, OK?” Celestia's eyes teared up and Luna looked up at
her with a confused glance. What's wrong Tia? When are mommy and daddy coming back?” Luna asked cautiously.
Celestia didn't answer as tears started to cascade down her face. “WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ME TIA?” Luna exclaimed.

Celestia looked up and quietly said under her breath, “They're not coming back.”

“TIA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Luna replied worriedly. Celestia couldn't hold it back any longer and

yelled despairingly,

“THEY'RE NOT COMING BACK LUNA, THEY'RE DEAD OK?” Luna gasped and quickly placed both front hooves over

her mouth as the waterworks began to flow.

“YOU LIAR!! THEY WOULDN'T DIE YET, THEY PROMISED THAT IT WAS JUST A LEADER'S MEETING AND THEY'D
BE BACK TODAY TO TEACH ME SOME MAGIC!!” Luna shouted.

Celestia yelled back, “I'M SORRY, BUT IT'S TRUE LU”

“NO IT'S NOT!!” Luna bellowed as she flew swiftly up to her bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Celestia knew that she had handled that situation extremely poorly. She sighed again and flew up to her sister's room
with both salads in tow. She got to the door and could hear the small filly whimpering on her bed “WHY? WHY DID YOU TWO HAVE TO LEAVE ME? WHY?”

Celestia begin to cry even more hearing her sister's despair, but picked herself up and said “Luna, can you please let
me in? I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I was just upset, I'm sorry.” There was a long sad silence, then she heard the door
unlock. It slowly opened with the blue filly cowering behind the door.

“I-I'm sorry too, I exploded at you and called a liar. I didn't mean it. I just.”

“Shh, it is okay, I understand. This is very difficult news to take. I was like that the first time I heard it as well. Here's
your salad if you still want it.” Celestia cut in. Luna grabbed the bowl of lettuce, tomato, carrots and eggplants and looked at
Celestia's bowl in confusion.

“Why does yours have eggplants as well, sister?” she inquired.

Celestia smiled gently and replied “Because they remind me of your coat. And anything that reminds me of you can't
be all bad.” A grin returned to Luna's face as she started to eat.

“Thanks Tia, at least you're still here with me. Promise me you'll never leave me.”

Celestia started to waver from her strong state of mind, but held fast and said, “I promise Luna, I'll never leave you
alone.” Both sisters ate their food and went to sleep. Then the next day they went to town to the memorial statue. All the
ponies in town stared silently at the grieving sisters. Celestia looked at her sister and said, “Let's leave here and find
somewhere else to call home. Living in the castle is just too hard now.”

Luna, thought about for a couple minutes and said “I agree Tia, let's head east. I've always wanted to see the rest of
this land.” So they said goodbye to the ponies, the castle and their parent's memorial stone and headed off to a new life.

As they left Veggie Garden thought to herself “There goes the only alicorns left alive, I hope they'll be okay.” Little did
her or anypony else know, that there was one more!

Meanwhile in Califoalia, a young male alicorn foal woke up to an unpleasant sound. “Ice Breeze wake up, make me
some breakfast.” an old sounding voice yelled out. The young alicorn rose from his makeshift bed made from cardboard and
thin mats. He was one of the most colorful ponies you'll ever see. A bright seafoam coat was second in radiance only to his
beautiful mane and tail. Both were comprised of a translucent ice blue combined with a glowing fiery red. And his hooves
were as brown as the earth he stood upon, but he didn't have his cutie mark yet. And many ponies made fun of him for it.

“OK Uncle Smith I'm up.” he replied in a meek voice. His uncle with his black coat and dingy gray mane ran the local
blacksmith shop for the local militia. While his aunt had left on a train two years before and hadn't come back.

“Hurry up will you? I'm starving over here, worthless brat.” muttered Smith while reading the newspaper. Ice Breeze
walked into the small living room with a plate of food in-hand, only to see his uncle's mouth gaping open and the newspaper
on the ground.

“What's wrong uncle? You looked surprised about something.” Ice Breeze asked.

“It's nothing, just give me my food, brat.” Smith said sneering at the poorly cooked hay toasts. Going along like he
always does Ice gave his uncle his food and went to pick up the newspaper when all of a sudden his uncle slaps his hoof
away from it. “Don't you go worrying about that paper, we need more celery and broccoli for lunch. Go to the market square
NOW!” Being as obedient as always Ice nodded his head and went into Los Hoofeles' market.

Arriving in town, he thought to himself, “When are my parents coming to get me? They left me with my uncle a year ago
and said they'd be back after the war was over. I hope it's soon, uncle is always hitting me and reprimanding me for being
an alicorn. I can't help that I have two alicorn parents and he's an earth pony.”

Seeing the young alicorn, a young pegasus stallion named Rain Dancer walks over to Ice Breeze and says “Hey, I know
we never got along all that well, but I'm sorry about what happened to your parents.” Ice Breeze looked rattled by the words
of the navy blue stallion.

As Rain Dancer flew off Ice thought “Sorry about my parents? What was that all about?” He arrived at at produce store
only to see a newspaper hanging in the front of the store. And then he saw the front page.

“W-what's this?” he inquired to the lime green mare behind the counter.

“You didn't know? Everypony and draconicai at the battle of Mt. Zephyr were obliterated without a trace. Most believe
that it was huge magic spell meltdown. I'm sorry for your loss.”

“T-thanks for your condolences, do you happen to have any celery or broccoli? Uncle's running low again.” he said
almost breaking out in tears and rage.

“Sure darling, here ya' go and don't worry about payment.” she said smiling. Ice thanked her again leaving the shop
with tears welling up on his angry face. And off he went back to his uncle's cabin.

The front door bursts open, thud! “What in tarnation?” his uncle yelled.

“WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT MY PARENTS HAD BEEN KILLED? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FAMILY, DON'T
YOU EVEN CARE?” Ice screamed with great rage.

“Oh boo-hoo, so a bunch more magic freaks are dead, who cares. The world's better off if you ask me.” Smith replied
with disdain.

“WELL IF YOU THINK THAT WAY, MAYBE I SHOULD JUST LEAVE. NOBODY LIKES ME AROUND HERE ANYWAY. I'LL JUST
BE ONE LESS MAGIC FREAK YOU'LL HAVE TO DEAL WITH!” Ice exclaimed.

Smith turned and said with a surprising happiness in his voice, “You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say
that.

Just go, I really don't care, I never did.” Disgusted, Ice decided then and there to leave and not look back. He stormed
out of the house and thought to himself, “East seems like a good idea, I heard that Neighbraska is a very nice city-state. I
think I'll pay it a visit, maybe I'll find my destiny there. And so the prince's journey began.

Chapter 9: The Death of a Princess/ Towards The Future

Luna's horn then shot a cloak of magic around Ice Breeze. And with the use of this spell, the lunar princesses' body fell limp on the floor beside her love's bed! Celestia could only stare in horror and disbelief at her younger sister's dead, limb body lying there in front of her.

“Ugh, ugh, w-where am I?” Ice said slowly waking up from his deathlike state. He awoke to Celestia staring at the floor in front of him, unable to move from the act that she had just witnessed. “He could see that she was crying and was still in a major state of disbelief for some reason. “ Wh- what's the matter Celestia?” Ice inquired still unaware at what Luna had done for him. At this moment, Twilight and the others came into the room and saw Ice alive and well, but their beloved Moon Princess dead and cold as her nights.

“LUNA! What happened?!” Twilight yelled. Ice immediately looked around the room, not seeing her anywhere. Until he finally realized that she must have been what Celestia had been staring at and crying over this entire time! He sat up and looked over his bedside only to find that the mare he had worked so hard to save was lying in front of him, dead! He started breaking out I a cold sweat and instantly tears welled up to his troubled face.

“W-what happened here? WHY IS SHE DEAD? CELESTIA, ANSWER ME!!!” Ice demanded as he hurried off of his bed to hold Luna in his arms. She still felt a little warm, so he knew that she hadn't been dead for very long. Despite this, however, that warth was quickly leaving and would never return. Celestia continued to stare until Twilight snapped her out of it by bumping her on the shoulder. “WHY IS SHE DEAD CELESTIA? WHY?” Ice yelled holding Luna ever closer not wanting to acknowledge what he knew was true.

Celestia starred sternly at him, “SHE DID IT FOR YOU ICE!” she yelled. “You were severely injured and the only way to save your life was to sacrifice one's own life force. Which she never hesitated for a moment to do!” Celestia explained with some amount of resentment in her voice. Her tone quickly changed though, when she noticed two things. First was how Ice reacted to this news, he lost it completely, holding Luna as tight as he possibly could tears rolling like somepony had poured the Equestrian ocean out of his eyes and continuously cursing himself because it was his fault. And the second was around his neck! There wrapped around his now wet neck was an Element of Harmony amulet, but one she had never seen before. It was a crystalline heart, just like the one he subconsciously summoned to annihilate the changelings. And the same one that almost killed him.

Celestia then looked around at the mane six and asked, “Girls, where are your Elements?” The six mares, as well as Trixie, Shining Armor and Cadence looked around and noticed that they were nowhere to be found.

“Princess, they're gone! I actually don't remember seeing them after the explosion.” Twilight explained. Celestia then inquired about the explosion that she was talking about and then starred at the six mares with a gleam in her eye.

“Now I know what happened to them.” Celestia said.

“Well then could you please tell us, if you want to?” Fluttershy kind of demanded.

“It's actually quite simple. Ice activated their true powers when that explosion happened, that's why those beams of light shot out of them. So now they're split into parts. One, in the amulet he has on and the second halves are now a part of you all's very being. Meaning that technically, you six ARE the Elements now!” Celestia explained.

The six mares just starred at her and themselves, until Rarity asked, “Does that come with any, how I should phrase this? Side effects?”

Celestia answered, “I would imagine that the more you show the element in which you are now a part of I'd guess you'd grow in power. So basically, you are all alicorns on the inside, but not on the outside. Quite strange really.” The six then contemplated the thought of a long life span that perhaps lasts forever and they seemed delighted with the idea. For nopony really knew what the lifespan for a regular alicorn was, not to mention this hybrid form!

Celestia then looked intently at the six and then at Ice, who was still grasping Luna. “Now I know that it will be okay.” Celestia said as she walked over to Ice and Luna!

Ice just looked up at her, wondering what she wanted. “Ice, please let her go. I'm going to bring her back!” Celestia said with a smile on her face. Ice knew what that meant, but he couldn't believe that the mane ruler of Equestria would sacrifice herself.

“A-are you sure? You know what will happen!” Ice said.

Celestia nodded and calmly said, “It's OK, now please let her go. I don't want you getting caught in this too.”

Ice reluctantly loosened his grasp of Luna and walked to Celestia's side. Twilight knew what her mentor had in mind and just stood back with her friends crying. Celestia, with a heavy sigh lowered her head and pointed her horn directly at her younger sister. Her horn than began glowing with the intensity of what seemed to be at least ten suns. She then shot out a golden colored beam that engulfed Luna's entire body and continued to do so until warmth returned to the Lunar Princess. Celestia then fell to the floor as Luna woke up.

“What hath happened? I should be dead.” Luna said as she heard a voice.

“I-it wasn't yo-your time to die, dear sister.” Celestia said as Luna turned to her sister laying in an almost lifeless state.

“TIA?! Did you do what I think you did?” Luna asked desperately.

“Yes, now pl-please *cough* I don't have much time left. Tell everypony to gather around me, for my final words!” Luna nodded and signaled the others to come over.

“Prince...” Twilight tried to speak as Celestia shook her head no.

“To all of you,*cough* I thank you for making my l-life worthwhile. To Cadence and my loyal guard captain, thank you f-or saving Canterlot and restoring the Crystal Empire. And also, Shining Armor, thank you for rem-remaining loyal to me.” Shining Armor and Cadence both bowed to her as they held each other.

“Now, for you five of Twilight's friends. I-I thank *cough* you for always being there for Twilight and a-also being such wonderful bearers of the Elements. I-I'm sure Equestria will be safe as long as you're around.” the five each saluted the dying princess, as if to say “you can count on us!”

“Now, Trixie. I-I really don't know you that well, but if Twilight has taken a liking to you, you must be quite special. P-please keep her safe for me.” Trixie just nodded and pulled her hat over her face.

“Now as for you Ice. Y-you seem to be most special one here. Lu-na told me of your past and you and she are very much alike. Please watch over her for me, she'll need you now more than ever. *Cough, cough* I do have faith that you are capable of keeping her happy though, so please don't let me or her down.” Celestia said as she started coughing up blood.

“I promise I'll watch over her, don't worry!” Ice exclaimed.

Celestia's smile grew bigger after hearing those words.

“Now, to you... my most faithful student. You have no idea how proud you've made me. I...I knew from the first day that you were different from most other unicorns. * Cough, cough*, but I never c- could have expected what you've accomplished. I'm very happy and blessed that I had you as a student. Please continue the excellent w....work and when you have time, go up to my bedroom and look in the desk. I left something for you. Please continue making me proud, my wonderful student.” Celestia said now almost completely deprived of her life force.

“I will princess, thank you for being such a great teacher to me!”

“And now at last, you my dear sister.” Celestia said. “Why Tia? Why? You promised you'd never leave me alone, don't you remember?!” Luna yelled. Celestia nodded and gathered all her remaining energy so this would be uninterrupted.

“I know I said that Lulu, but you're not alone. Though I might be gone physically, I'll always be there spiritually. Just like I'm sure mom, dad and Snowdrop are. Plus, look to your right, Ice Breeze is here now. He will stay at your side in my place, that's the task I have given him.” she said as Ice wrapped his forelegs around Luna, who in turn leaned into his chest.

“You see? He'll always be there for you, unlike me. I've let you down so many times, but now I'm GOING to make it right!”Celestia said as her last tears began to roll down. “I LOVE YOU LULU, I'M TO BLAME FOR THE NIGHTMARE MOON INCIDENT! I SHOULD HAVE CARED FOR YOU BETTER! NOW THOUGH, I CAN FINALLY SET IT ALL RIGHT! SO MY BELOVED Little sister... please don't fret over my death. And know that... I … always... loved you!” Celestia managed to say as her last words barely beat out her dying heartbeats. The whole room fell completely silent and remained that way for at least half an hour.

Then Luna finally spoke up and said. “I know you did sister and you still do! And at least you left us with a smile on your face. Goodbye Tia, I love you as well; have a safe trip to heaven with mom and dad.” she said while hugging Ice Breeze tightly and looking at her sister's smiling face.

A couple days past and the funeral procession was held after three days. Almost everypony from both Canterlot and Ponyville, as well as many from neighboring cities were all gathered around the royal white casket.

“We all gather here today for a most grievous occasion: the death of our beloved Sun Princess, Princess Celestia! To some she was a sister, to others a mentor as well as a life guide. And some of us here barely knew her at all, but that's just it. Even though you didn't know her personally, you all still came to honor her highness in her death and I'm sure she would be so glad of this fact. In fact she's probably smiling off in another world as we speak, looking over us as always. So whether sister, mentor or just beloved princess. We can all agree that she was one thing: a true, true friend! No matter which of her subjects would have a complaint, she would drop her own duties and do her best to fix it. And now here to speak the eulogy is none other than Princess Luna and Princess Twilight themselves!”

“You go first Twilight.” Luna told her.

Twilight sadly nodded and walked up to the pedestal in front of the casket and was already beginning to tear up, as was Luna. “Ahem, thank you all for coming today. I'll keep this brief so Luna can have plenty of time, but here it goes. To me, Princess Celestia was my personal magic teacher and we spend a lot of time together. I learned so much from her teachings and I also learned the value of friendship through her. I used to be an ignorant little filly that didn't care much for friends, that was until the princess sent me to Ponyville and that's where I met my best friends: Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity. If she hadn't sent me to check on the Summer Sun Celebration setup that year, I probably never would have met them. So I thank her for that. That however is not the main point. The main point is that she was more than a teacher, she was a life-mentor as well as a close friend and trustworthy princess. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that she was and is a great pony. And with that I take my leave and give the stand to Princess Luna: the one who's probably feeling the worst out of any of us right now. Princess, please come on up here.” Twilight said as she walked off of the platform.

“Thank you Twilight Sparkle, that was very beautiful.” Luna said as she passed Twilight on the way up. Twilight just nodded and kept walking with her head down trying to keep everypony from seeing her cry. The crowd of ponies anxiously awaited the Lunar Princess' speech as she had expected they would.

“Dear all my royal subjects, I thanketh thee for coming to my dear sister's funeral. Though it is indeed as saddening day you all help make it a little better and I thanketh thee for that. Before I start talking however, could Ice Breeze please come up here with me? I'd feel a lot better.” she asked staring at the light green alicorn sitting with the mane six. Ice smiled and got up from his seat and walked up the platform and put one foreleg over Luna's shoulders.

“Thank you Ice, now I will start.” she said as all the ponies were in shock at the fifth alicorn, this one being a male no less. Ice thought he knew what was coming, but to his surprise the ponies looked at him with praise and love instead of hate and scorn. “As Twilight mentioned she was a teacher to her, but to me as well. Once our parents died in the Great War, she was all I had to love and she was the only one there to teach me things like magic and how to behave like a princess. And though she didn't pay attention to me quite as often later on in life, it was only because her duty as princess of the daytime got in the way of it. Back then I was too blind to see it and fell into darkness from all the love she received and how little I got. Now I see though, it's as clear as the legendary Crystal Heart from the Crystal Empire: she was hurting as much as I was! Her dying words to me made that painfully clear to me. She was depressed and blamed herself for me turning into Nightmare Moon and for not giving me the love she thought I deserved, but she had to fight through the pain because her position demanded it. So to her, I apologize and I'll tell her that it wasn't her fault. It was my own ignorance that led me to that path, it wasn't your fault sister.” Luna said while looking up in the sky with the sunlight reflecting of her tears.

“And it's like the preacher said earlier: you all may have not known her personally, but you all respected her as your princess, which you should because she was wonderful ruler, mentor, friend and a loving sister on top of it all. To those of you who knew her, you know exactly what I'm talking about and to those who didn't, well I feel a deep sorrow for you. It's not every day that a pony as glorious as she comes around. I only hope that I can be great like her and keep the kingdom as well as all of Equestria up and running in a smooth and orderly manner, but of course I have this stallion and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to help me with that. And on top of them I also have Shining Armor: the former captain of the royal guard and Princess Cadence to look over the newly formed Crystal Empire, so in light of this I now know that I'm not alone any longer. Sister, if you can hear me I want to say thank you for everything did for me and this world and I'll do my best to keep up your excellent leadership. I love you.” Luna said looking up once again, but this time the sunlight intensified almost as if Celestia herself was saying she understood.

Luna smiled as she hugged Ice Breeze tightly and then said, “And with those closing words, here are Octavia Melody and Lyra Heartstrings to play a beautiful requiem as the casket is buried.”

And with that, the casket was slowly lowered into the ground as the two ponies played a song fitting for a princess. Everypony watched as their beloved princess, friend, mentor and sister was lowered into the cold clay of the Equestrian Earth. That, the fact that they'd never see her radiant face again and the sad yet wondrously beautiful music left not a single dry eye at the funeral. And the sun continued to shine ever so brightly as if Celestia had never gone away.

The next day after everything had settled down from the funeral procession, everypony, ( except Shining Armor and Cadence who had returned to the Crystal Empire) were at the royal castle in Canterlot contemplating on how they would run Equestria now, but before that, Ice Breeze spoke up.

"Twilight, didn't Celestia say she left something for in her bedroom? Have you got it yet?”

Twilight shook her head and said, “No I haven't, I'm not even sure what it would be to be honest.”

“I might have an idea of what it is Twilight.” Luna explained. They all looked at her, but decided not to ask. Twilight then walked up the stairs with Luna and the others to the bedroom. Twilight then looked where Celestia told her to and found a slip of very old looking parchment.

“What is this?” she asked herself as she unrolled the parchment. And what she saw surprised her quite a lot. “T-this can't be right! This is a spell to raise the sun!” Twilight exclaimed.

“I thought it would be something of the sort.” Luna said with a sly smirk on her face.

“Why do you say that princess?” Twilight asked.

“It was always sister's intent for you to help her or even take her place one day if something like this should happen, whether you realized it or not. Why do think she made you into an alicorn instead of just praising you for your deeds? It was so that you could carry on the Sun raising tradition for many years to come.” Luna explained.

Twilight just thought to herself for a moment and what Luna said did seem to make a lot of since to her.

"So in other words, this was part of her plan ever since I first became her student?” Twilight inquired.

Luna shook her, “That's unlikely. She needed to make sure that you had enough potential and the right state of mind. Therefore she probably didn't plan it until at least your brother's wedding. The Crystal Empire incident was just to prove to me that you were up to the task.” Luna explained.

Twilight continued to study the page and found a small memo at the bottom. It read,

“To my most faithful student. If you are reading this, it most likely means that I am no longer with you in this world. I leave this with you because I truly feel like you can take over as my successor and that if I am gone, Luna would appreciate the help I'm sure. I know this spell might seem very complex, but with your new-found alicorn power it should prove to be doable, though it may be difficult at first, I'm sure you'll adapt quickly; you always do. Sincerely, Princess Celestia.”

Twilight rolled up the paper with a small amount of tears in eyes, but not enough to cry. “I'll go study this spell tonight and try to raise the Sun in the morning! She entrusted me with this and I can't let her down!” Twilight exclaimed as they made their way back to the meeting room.

Once there, they decided that Luna and Ice Breeze would look after the night and day if necessary. And Twilight was in charge of raising the Sun each morning and helping the two with planning royal events such as business meetings, the gala and things of that nature. And all the other ponies were free to live in Canterlot castle if they so desired to. Applejack instantly declined as she had the farm to look after. Rainbow Dash thought about it, but declined as well because she liked her cloud house. Pinkie decided to move back and worth so she could keep both cities happy. Fluttershy thought about and accepted the offer because she thought the garden would be perfect for her animals, this in turn caused Rainbow Dash to change her mind and come to the castle as well. Or move her cloud house to Canterlot was more accurate. Rarity, as you imagined accepted almost instantaneously; seeing as it was her life goal to live and make outfits for Canterlot nobles. And Trixie stayed with Twilight in Celestia's old bedroom. Naturally, Ice also stayed at the castle with Luna. Despite this, however, they all did frequently go back to Ponyville to make sure everything was okay.

Four months passed and everypony had pretty much gotten used to their new or old lifestyles. There was a rather special event coming up though. A second royal wedding was planned for Luna and Ice Breeze and it was to take place on the day before Nightmare Night. The day of wedding finally arrived and everypony was in a very cheerful mood. Even Luna was dancing about, which was strange sight for everypony to behold (well except for Ice who lives with her). They had the Cutie Mark Crusaders as the flower girls again, but Scootaloo couldn't do it because she was sick. Despite that fact though, Rainbow Dash still went and picked her up so she could at least see the wedding. Pinkie Pie said she'd get the music taken care of and all of a sudden a portal opens up and here come two humans.

“Umm what just happened and where are we?” the guy asked the girl.

“Oh silly, you're in Equestria. I brought you here so that you could sing a song for this wedding.” Pinkie Pie said.

“Umm Pinkie where did you find these odd creatures? “ Ice asked.

“Us odd? You're colorful talking ponies! This has to be a dream, right Gabriella?”

“Sure Troy, I guess, but they're so cute! Let's sing for them!” the girl said.

“Oh alright, one song, but then we're out of here!” the boy said.

“Okey dokey lokey, after one song I'll send you back to your High School Musical or whatever hehe.” Pinkie said. So the two humans walked up and sang a wondrous song called Breaking Free and just as she promised, Pinkie opened the portal back up and they returned to their world. Still in somewhat disbelief, the ponies couldn't deny that it was an excellent song though.

And then the vows were finally said, "Do you, Princess Luna takes Ice Breeze to be your lawfully wedded stallion?”

“There's no question here, of course I do!” Luna answered.

“And do you Ice Breeze. Take Princess Luna to be your lawfully wedded mare?” the preacher asked.

“No I don’t!” Ice answered. Luna looked at him in total shock as did the crowd as a whole.

“W-why Ice?” Luna said getting ready to cry.

“I take her for that as well as so much more. She’s not just the mare I want to marry, she’s also my best friend and soul mate!” Luna started tearing up as the crowd let out a collective, “awwww”.

“Then by the power invested in me I now pronounce you-” before he could finish Luna and Ice had already begun their wedding kiss. It was the first one either of them had experienced , so they wanted to do it as soon as possible, but they thought it would be honorable to save it for the wedding day. And they found out that it made the all worthwhile! The whole world seemed to fade away during the kiss, but they didn't seem to mind at all. As they finished the long, romantic kiss each could see their families and best friends in the sky with huge grins on all of their faces. The faces then vanished into the wind, they were just there to remind the two that they were looking over them and that they were glad they found their special someponies. Of all the faces they saw though, Celestia seemed the happiest, knowing that the sister she had caused so much pain had finally become truly happy. They then proceeded to the reception and Pinkie basically ate all the cake herself, except for the piece Ice grabbed for Luna before Pinkie could get to it. And the rest of the night was one big party until everypony finally got worn out and fell asleep scattered about the castle. And with that, a new era of Equestria's history started!