Dark Light

Chapters

The Factory
A Second Chance
Moving on
The Blessing
Celestia's Letter
Insomnia
The Journey
The Enemy
The Void
Semper Fidelus
Hope, Hope is Undervalued
Unexpected Consequences

The Factory

“WAKE UP COLT!”

The familiar voice and banging on the door no longer startled the Young unicorn, with a jet black mane and a brilliant grey coat in the small, inescapable room in which he slept and lived. The roomed contained naught but a small stack of hay with a makeshift blanket and a pillow that felt like it was made of concrete. The unicorn got up and walked to a small box on the floor about the size of a cider barrel. In this box was a small set of personal belongings and a few pieces of linen for the ‘bed’.

“GET UP YOU SON OF A WHORSE! YOU’VE GOT WORK TO DO!”

The stallion behind the door was getting impatient, but, then again, he did this every morning, always with a different insult. The anger from the pony behind the door led to the young unicorn colt getting a hoof in his cheek every day, and even though this had happened for years and despite the great strength of the unicorn who received it, the pain was still there, setting his face ablaze. He found that he could get used to the pain, but he could not ignore it. The colt opened the door and braced for impact. Sure enough, his face was in pain as the stallion swung his hoof at it and nearly knocked the small foal over.

The pony behind the hoof had a coat that was a musky shade of purple, and a mane that was rough and uncared for in its grey tinged navy blue colour. “Why the buck I keep you around I’ll never know,” the abusive earth pony said.

“What am I doing today Mr Hard Boss, sir?” the young colt said, hoping to avoid any further abuse.

“You are on clean up duty today. You better do a good job, you don’t want to repeat what happened yesterday, now do you?” the stallion said, looking at the foal sternly, anticipating a response. “DO YOU?” this time he was almost shouting. The colt look up stone faced, so as to hide his emotions. Emotions are the same as weakness, he thought to himself.

“No,”

“No, what?”

“No, Sir,”

“Good. Now, GET TO WORK!” the stallion shouted. The colt immediately obeyed, galloping to his start point for the day. At his point there was a broom, a mop, a bucket, and a couple of gallons of water. The colt carefully swept the entirety of the area he was told to, later mopping up the blood, vomit and dirt of the floor, nearly vomiting himself. The job was over within a few hours and the colt reported to Boss, who, after inspecting the worried unicorn’s work, smiled and gave the colt a ‘well done’ and rather aggressively ruffled his jet black mane. This was always a good sign. The colt would eat today. Clean up duty was not the unicorn’s strongest point. He was much better at any task that demanded some form of physical exertion. His strength was the one thing he was proud of. The years of forced labour had built it up and usually his duty involved heavy lifting, but he dropped a glass sculpture yesterday so clean up was his punishment, along with the ten minutes of beating.

He felt sorry for the other, what were they called, orphans, they must have not worked as hard. The better Hard Boss thinks you work, the more you get to eat. That was the deal: No work, no food. Four years earlier the colt tried to share his food with a filly who was on weaving duty called Sweet Leaf, as she had only got a spoonful of rice for her meal, but he only ended up getting hit, and Sweet Leaf wasn’t given any food at all for the next few days, which were, needless to say, her last.

This had left the young colt in tears. He hated the establishment. He hated Hard Boss. Above all else though, He hated himself. He blamed himself for what happened to sweet leaf, and he tried to starve himself as punishment, but the he realised that if he died, all memory of sweet leaf would die with him. So he stopped and worked harder than before. The rule was that if you work hard enough, you can earn your freedom, The young colt was trying to obtain such a task, so he could expose the harsh ‘orphanage’ for what it really was. He wanted to tell people about sweet leaf, how she had been rejected and left to die by the people who swore to uphold the law of Equestria, but where in the law did it say that neglecting and killing foals was permitted. Something had to happen, and this young colt, knew what to do.

*************

The grey unicorn colt started to pass word of his plans. Lots of the foals were sceptical, they were young, still only blank flanks and yet he wanted to take over a factory? The colt knew this, but he also knew that he wouldn’t take over the factory.

He would destroy it.

The pain he had felt here was too much, the constant beating, the blood spilt by the machinery and the heartless overseers who showed no remorse. And the death of sweet leaf, that wasn’t the last straw on the camel’s back, that was the ten ton weight that ended it all. He wasn’t doing it for himself, or for the other orphan workers, he was doing it for sweet leaf.

He told everyone what would happen and they reluctantly agreed, and the plan was laid out. Everypony got into their positions, and the young colt, anxious to take over the factory stood in the centre, so as to make it so he could coordinate the attack. As soon as they had got into position, Hard Boss and his cronies entered the room.

“WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON HERE? GET BACK TO WORK!” Boss shouted.

The young colt took over.

“Let me tell you about a young filly, barely over the age of eight. Her name was Sweet Leaf. She was a young beautiful filly, had a chance at living the big life, she could have made a difference to Equestria, give it something it didn’t have, but now…” the young colt said, his voice starting to show his affection towards this young filly. He couldn’t sugar coat it. He had to make it harsh. “…NOW SHE IS DEAD, IN A PIT IN THE DIRT! NEGLECTED AND MISTREATED, SHE STARVED!” The colt showed his anger, and Boss’s facial expression was palpable. “I have dealt with this treatment for long enough. Now it ends.” The colts and fillies around him seemed to be incredibly motivated by this speech, so he started it with one final sentence. “I AM DARK LIGHT AND THIS FACTORY WILL FALL UNDER MY GUIDENCE!” A massive roar came from every foal in the room, and so Dark light gave the signal and the attack began.

Even though he wanted them dead, he gave instructions to capture the overseers. He wasn’t like them. He was merciful, and killing them would only make him sink to their level. He would force them to stand trial. The only problem with the revolution was that none of the foals knew what to expect from the outside world, but, despite this, they were confident that they would find the outside world to be better than the factory. As they exited the factory with some of them carrying the overseers with other ponies so that they could be punished lawfully, the first sight that most of them had was of an angry white alicorn with a flowing translucent rainbow main and tail.

“What in Equestria is going on here?”

Dark light told her everything about the factory, about the revolution, and failed at holding back tears when he spoke of sweet leaf, and how she died due to the neglect that the overseers had given her. He spoke of how none of them had been outside the factory for years and how they had been forced in to labour and worked none stop. He then spoke of the overseers, how they had hit and beaten them and how they killed a filly because somepony tried to give her food, that pony being Dark Light, and as he spoke more and more about what had happened in the past few hours, including how some fillies and colts lost their lives or were badly wounded in the revolution, he noticed tears rolling down the alicorn’s face.

“Where are the overseers?”

The foals that were helping carry the overseers brought them forward, presenting Hard Boss as the leader. “You have committed crimes beyond any other pony in history, you are hereby under arrest and by royal decree you are to be taken to Canterlot prison, and await your trial and punishment. You are likely to all be executed for yo-,”

“Wait!” the interruption startled the alicorn. “They may have done awful things to us, but killing them won’t change that,” the alicorn looked puzzled and gave the grey colt a questioning glance. “They deserve a massive punishment, but don’t spill more blood than what has already been spilled,” The alicorn looked as though she understood.

“As you wish. Then they will not be executed. You surprise me young unicorn, I never expected one so young to understand the concept of mercy. Oh, and you may want to check your flank next time you get the chance,”

A Second Chance

Years past. Dark Light grew accustom the outside world, slowly he began to feel as though the factory years were just a haunting nightmare, but every night he had dreamt of the last day of the factory. The painful years he had spent, hauling a load that would have broken any other ponies back at that age, and the guilt he felt at the death of Sweet Leaf, magnified by the deaths during the revolution. He couldn’t escape the dreams, the pain and anguish. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep, but he tried anyway.

After he escaped from the factory with the other foals, he went to find out what other unicorns like him did. He learned about magic at an age considered late by most other unicorns, but he quickly got the hang of the natural power within him. During his teaching, he met the only other unicorn within two years of his age who was at the same magical capability level. Her name was Shimmer Heart. They quickly became well acquainted and enjoyed helping each other in the struggles they encountered during their teaching.

“How come you haven’t finished with the elementary level magic yet Shimmer?” Dark light asked tentatively.

“My parents are both earth ponies, they didn’t care much for magic. Thought that everypony who used it lacked the strength to do the task that they were using magic for, manually,” The mare replied.

“What changed?”

“They took me to canterlot to see the wonderbolts, but then just as we exited the show there was a massive rainbow explosion and all of a sudden a huge dragon burst through the ceiling of one of the castle spires. It was then that they realised that some things couldn’t be done without magic so they sent me here a few years later, I joined about three years ago, I think.” Shimmer explained. Dark Light seamed intrigued, and then a smile spread across his face.

“That was the same year I joined!” he said, surprised that another ‘Late bloomer’ joined the same year as him. He was about to continue talking about the topic until Shimmer asked something that he didn’t want to answer.

“What about you? Why didn’t you join earlier?” she asked innocently. It was a question that she had no reason not to ask, but even so Dark Light’s heart started pounding hard as he thought hard to himself. ‘What do I tell her? I have to answer, but I don’t want to lie to her!’ His train of thought drifted from one point to the next, until he made his decision. ‘I have to tell her, she’d probably find out from me later anyway’

“I was a factory worker, forced in to it due to the fact that I was living on the streets at a young age. My parents had died in a massive storm that hit a town called Ponyville, where we lived before I was orphaned. I don’t remember much of my father, only that he was a Pegasus who sorted out the weather there. My mother was a unicorn. She stayed at home to care for me. She was beautiful. Silver coat, Gold mane and brilliant blue eyes. When the storm came, nopony expected it. All able pegasi and unicorns had to help control it, in the end the storm died and a few ponies with it, both my mother and my father included. I was left on the streets, and then forced into labour until I managed to end it. I was able to cope for myself when I escaped but I didn’t know I had the power to use magic. So I just travelled but then a few years after my escape, I saw a unicorn use magic, I learned what it was and enlisted to join the school for basic magic,”

Shimmer was silent, and looked at the stallion as if she had just seen him die. Suddenly, she burst into tears and wrapped her front hooves around him. She looked at him and asked why he didn’t tell her earlier and how it was horrible how he had lost his family and been forced to work in a factory. Dark light sighed, smiled and put his hoof around her. “Don’t worry about it Shim, I know it’s sad but it’s all in the past. I never have to deal with it again.” She looked at him with eyes filled with tears. He lifted her chin so her eyes were looking into his. “You don’t know how much it means to me, seeing how much you care about me,” he pressed his nose against hers. “Thank you, so much, but if it made you sad to have to hear it, imagine what I feel. I know you mean the best, but I need to know that I have somepony who is strong to lean on if I need it. Which I most likely will,” He released her and backed his head away slowly. “I have nightmares about this every night. I won’t be able to cope if nopony is there to help me. Okay?” Shimmer sniffed and smiled.

“Okay,” The two of them walked home together, as they had done for the past few weeks, and just as they passed Dark Light’s house, and said there goodbyes Shimmer called out to Dark Light. “Wait!” the young stallion stopped and looked over his shoulder at Shimmer. “You know you said you had nightmare every night?” The beautiful young mare said, blushing cutely. Dark light nodded, as he turned to face her properly. “Do you want me to… maybe… stay over tonight, s-see if I can help you sleep?” Dark light was surprised by the proposition at first but then smiled.

“I suppose it’s worth a try,” The stallion said, signalling for her to come in. The mare took the offer to come in to the stallion’s house, after which he closed the door. She walked up to him, said thanks and then kissed him on the lips. Dark Light felt his heart beat start to speed up as the two unicorns wrapped their hooves around each other. The warmth of her embrace seemed to clear his mind of his troubles. When he told her he needed somepony to rely on when he was troubled, she was there right away. Shimmer was not only making him happy, but she was also clearing his mind. He knew he would have a peaceful night tonight.

“You must have your mother’s eyes, they’re beautiful” Shimmer said. They went to bed and slept in each other’s embrace and for the first time in eleven years, Dark Light Had a Good dream.

The two unicorns woke up, happy and well rested.

“Hey, Shim, do we have magic class today?” The grey one said with a smile on his face. The other unicorn with a bright blue coat and a smooth free flowing dark blue mane looked puzzled.

“No, Why?”

“I was hoping, if you wanted to, to ‘snuggle up’ a bit,” the stallion said with a handsome and slightly provocative smile. The mare giggled and blushed. She obviously knew what Dark Light meant.

“O-Okay,” The timid unicorn said smiling happily, she was really surprised by the offer but she was also happy that he did offer. They went on and enjoyed the moment for what it was, they were showing their love for each other. When they had finished, Dark Light went to the shower to wash up. The experience was like nothing he had felt before. And he loved it.

“What do you want to do today Shim?” The happy energetic stallion asked from the shower. The vastness of canterlot only meant that everything was either hard to find or overrun due to there only being a few main events that everyone wanted to attend, any show with the wonderbolts was usually the first to sell out.

“We could wonder about canterlot, that’s usually interesting” The suggestion was better than the stallion expected but he still considered it dull.

“I’ve seen pretty much everything there is to see here. We should go somewhere different” He tried to sound enthusiastic but from what he could see of Shimmer she wasn’t fooled.

“How about Ponyville? I think they are preparing for the Eastern Embers ceremony, which could be fun!” The showering unicorn was confused and asked Shimmer what it was with a confused face and an odd tone. “You don’t know what Eastern Embers is? Oh dear. It commemorates the day in which a single pegasus forced a dragon to fly east to prevent the smoke from damaging the town. It’s apparently going to be celebrated for the rest of Ponyville history!”

“Wow, It’s that important huh?” the stallion said just out of the shower, smiling to at Shimmer to show his sarcasm. “Well We have a few more days away from magic training. Why not stay there for a while?” There was an unmistakeable squeal of happiness from Shimmer that got a chuckle from Dark Light “You have no idea how adorable you are. Do you?” Shimmer blushed. “Do you want to pack?” the stallion asked.

“Ok,” The mare started packing for the trip as Dark Light went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast for the two of them. They both finished at roughly the same time so Shimmer entered the kitchen to find a plate with some scrambled eggs, a slice of toast and a bit of butter on.

“I hope you like eggs,” the unicorn chef said. “I wanted to practice my magic and thought of no better way to do it than to cook breakfast,” There was a big smile across his face, as he turned to make his own breakfast, again using magic. Shimmer ate the magically prepared meal fairly quickly, having spent a lot of energy already that day. After Eating his food, Dark Light grabbed the surprisingly heavy saddle bag and him and Shimmer went on their way. They went by train to Ponyville and were told that the best place to sleep was the Quill and Sofa, which was a quill and sofa store but it went out of business and so it was converted into an inn.

They arrived at the inn and rented a room for the few days they were staying, but before they arrived at the inn, they saw all the festivities and decorations but there were none of the pegasus who got rid of the dragon, leaving many questions in the grey pony’s mind.

“Let’s see what there is to do,” Said Shimmer. Needless to say she was much more enthusiastic than Dark Light. He didn’t want to tell her how he was feeling. It was back here. This is where it all began. He hadn’t been her since he was a colt, he didn’t feel he would be able to cope with the memories. He didn’t want to have to deal with them again, but this was different. He had someone by his side. Someone he could rely on to be an anchor that kept his mind in the right place.

They walk about, stopping at an apple store run by an orange mare with a hat, which was very polite and spoke with a strong country accent.

“Howdy, y’all. I can’t recall seein’ you round here before. Ya must be new here, er are y’all just visitin’?” The orange pony smiled at them.

“Yeah, we were just seeing what there is to do here, it has changed so much since I was here last,” The grey stallion said looking at the differences in the town that hadn’t been there before.

“So y’all ‘ave been ‘ere before?” The orange mare asked politely

“I used to live here, about twelve years ago but…” this was what he was worried about. His head was flushed with questions and awful memories. “Circumstances changed and after a while I had to move to canterlot,” The pony looked a mixture between worried, suspicious and sympathetic.

“Ah know it ain’t my place to ask but, what do yah mean?” The pony asked being slightly quizzical.

“I don’t feel like talking about it to somepony who doesn’t even know my name,” The stallion said, with an accidental tone of aggresion.

“Ah understand, I shouldn’t really have asked. Anyway, now is as good a time as ever to introduce myself. Ah’m Applejack. Ah run the farm here with my family,” the mare said quickly changing the subject.

“I’m Dark Light and this is my marefriend, Shimmer Heart,” She smiled and said hi. “We had a few days off and we wanted to do something fun. Shim said we should go here for your eastern embers celebration,” The stallion looked at Shimmer with a smile, which she returned. “But anyway, we would like to buy some apples. These look delicious!”

“Why thank yah kindly. All hoof grown and hoof picked. What kind would yah like, Ah’ve got honey crisp, red delicious, golden delicious, gala, granny smith, big macintosh and best of all ah have some left over zap jam,” The names and the aroma of the apples were making his mouth water.

“We’ll take a few of each and a jar of that jam. I’ve never seen anything like it before!” The stallion said gazing at the jar. He got out his pouch of bits.

“Ok so that’s three fer the bag and two fer the jam. That’ll be five bits, please,” the orange pony said politely, as the stallion got the money out of his bag and passed it to the mare. “Thank you kindly. Hey would y’all fancy stoppin’ by the farm, y’all could see the apple harvest and ah could introduce y’all to some of mah friends,”

“Sure. We’d love to,” Shimmer answered before Dark light could even open his mouth. He looked at her and smiled.

“Great, see y’all in a few hours. Oh, and if you see a pink pony with a messy mane, be careful. She’s got a habit of jumping out at new ponies,” Applejack said smiling but serious. The couple said goodbye and continued looking around the town, eating the apples they had bought until, two hours later they agreed to go to the farm. When they got there they saw a sign saying “Go to the barn” so they obliged and went to the barn, and as they opened the doors they heard an eruption of streamers and ponies shouting “SURPRISE”. The couple looked puzzled until a pink pony came up to them and started speaking really fast.

“Hey, You guys are new here and everypony whose new gets special pinkie pie welcome, which I thought would help you have fun because I know your only staying for a few days but applejack told me you were looking to have fun so I thought to myself ‘you know what’s really fun? PARTIES’ so I thought you should have a party so you enjoy yourself so you can come back later and we can have another party. I love parties. They are like my favourite thing in the world because they always have cake. CAKE?” The pony went away quicker than she appeared leaving the couple wide eyed and completely confused. They glanced at each other and then started laughing. The orange pony, who was at the store greeted them and introduced them to all the ponies at the party.

Learning the names was easy enough and as the night went along the couple started making a lot of new friends, and being asked by some fillies how they got their cutie marks. Dark Light got his through what he said was a Tough time through which he lead a lot of young ponies to happiness, his cutie mark being a triforce that in ancient pony days signified strength, mercy and kindness, all tying in with the necessary traits for leadership and a lightning bolt (A blue pegasus, that they had learned was called rainbow dash, said to the stallion that he was the only pony she had met who wasn’t a pegasus but who had a lightning bolt on their cutie mark) that signified power and stability, also necessary for leadership, Shimmer had three snowflakes with smiling faces that showed gentleness, kindness and happiness, which she earned by helping all her class mates through their struggle to learn as the teacher made the lessons a bit too difficult. They weren’t the best cutie mark stories but that was mainly because Dark Light’s actual story wasn’t really suited for young foals.

As the night went on and it started to get late, most of the guests left and the three fillies who asked the couple about their cutie marks were asleep in the corner of the barn as their siblings or guardians were still at the party, which went on for another hour then everyone decided to all go home, considering it was almost midnight.

Dark Light and Shimmer found themselves walking to the inn with a purple unicorn and a white unicorn, with one of the three fillies sleeping on her back. The couple had learned that they were Twilight Sparkle and Rarity and the sleeping filly was Sweetie Bell.

“So you two met at magic elementary?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, we were the only two ponies there who were considered ‘late bloomers’ as we didn’t know much magic. I didn’t know about magic for most of my life, my mom did everything by hoof,” The stallion said, they continued talking until they had reached the inn where they said goodbye to the two mares and the sleeping filly and they went to their room and slept in each other’s embrace.

Moving on

Two weeks after they had passed their magic courses, the time had come for the couple to move. Not only had they found the perfect house, they had found the perfect neighbours. They had sold Dark Light’s house in Canterlot after finding this house in Ponyville. Applejack even managed to get them a discount on it after they told her of their plans to move to Ponyville. The transition from the big city to the rural town was not as difficult as they had thought, with both ponies settling in very well with some help from the friends they had made on their last trip to Ponyville. After all of their belongings had been moved they had been told that there was yet another party in the sweet apple acres barn. Which was much like the first party they had had, only this time it involved a lot more dancing, and the celebration was much more exiting given the fact they were moving here permanently. An hour in Applejack made a big announcement to welcome Dark Light and Shimmer Heart and made a toast to the couple. Then Dark light whispered in shimmer’s ear after which shimmer gave a nod and waved at AJ indicating she wanted to say something at which the orange pony nodded and got everypony else to be quite so Shimmer could talk.

“Thank you so much, everypony. The move here was difficult but the help you offered us has really been apriciated,” Dark light smiled and nodded. “Now, there is something that Dark Light and I would like to share with you all. We are going to be having a foal!” There was a tremendous noise of ponies clapping their hooves against the floor and a lot of ah’s signifying the approval of all the ponies at the party. All the mares came over one by one and gave Shimmer a hug while all the stallions gave Dark Light a friendly hand shake, aside from Big Macintosh, who, to his surprise, gave Dark Light a hug.

Just before ponies started to leave Dark Light got everypony’s attention and led Shimmer to an elevated platform in full view of all the ponies in the barn.

“Shim, could you close your eyes?” The grey unicorn asked. She obliged with a smile on her face, not knowing why he wanted her to not see what he was going to do. When her eyes were closed the stallion brought out a ring which he had hidden in his mane and knelt down with the case open revealing a shining circle of gold emblazoned with a small diamond. “You can open them now,” She opened her eyes and saw the ring, covered her mouth and started to tear up. “Shimmer Heart, Will you marry me?”

“Of course I will!” The teary mare said. The two, now engaged, unicorns embraced each other as the crowd cheered loudly and the hug moved on to a kiss. There was one pony that was happy for the couple but was worried at the same time.

“This is great. You two are having a foal and you are getting married! There needs to be another party though otherwise we won’t have celebrated enough and-and!”

“Pinky, it’s fine. This party is good enough for the both of us,” Shimmer interrupted. The pony looked relieved when shimmer said this, smiling and being particularly bouncy. Apple Jack came over to them and gave them both a hug. Rarity came over and offered to make the dresses for the bride and bride’s maids with no cost, with shimmer objecting but failing to persuade her not to.

There wasn’t a lot of time to plan the wedding, as the two engaged unicorns wanted it to happen before the foal came but they also wanted to have it a bit of a break between settling in and getting married. This didn’t stop them being the talk of the town, and shimmer sent a letter to her parents who quickly came to visit them and give them their congratulations on both the foal and the wedding. Shimmer’s father took a liking to Dark Light and gave his blessing on the wedding. Shimmer’s mother was very excited and kept on asking how Dark Light proposed with shimmer not wanting to tell here for fear of her being underwhelmed. This fear came to a close as her fiancé started to get annoyed at her mother’s incessant asking and started to tell her.

“We were at a party that some friends of ours had organised to celebrate us moving in. It was great fun and it was brilliant, seeing them again. About an hour in there was a big speech from one of the ponies who lived her and helped run the farm saying that it was a great honour to have another two, well, three ponies making Ponyville their home. After this we told them that Shim was pregnant and near to the end of the party, just before everypony was about to leave, I got their attention, took Shim by the hoof and took her on stage, where I asked her to close her eyes. In front of all the ponies there, I knelt down and held an open box containing the ring and asked her to open her eyes, and with the ring in hoof, I asked her to marry me,” The story started to draw tears from his future mother in law.

“Oh, how romantic!” Dark Light smiled as the mare wrapped her front legs around him. He sighed and winked at Shim in an ‘I told you so’ kind of way, who returned with a smile and blew a kiss. After the mare had let go, her husband came over and placed his front hooves on Dark Light’s shoulder.

“You be good to her, ok?” The father said, in a gently firm tone.

“Daaaad!” Shimmer moaned in a tone showing her embarrassment.

“You have my word,” Dark Light replied, smiling and ignoring Shimmer’s complaint. With that, the father smiled and wished him the best.

At the end of the day, Shimmer’s parents left to go home as Shimmer turned to Dark Light and started to speak to him about the happenings of the day.

“Sorry about my dad, Light. He can be a bit aggressive at times,”

“Don’t worry about it shim. He was only protecting his beautiful daughter and besides, if we have a filly I’ll probably do the same when she comes of age,” This cheered Shimmer up as she smiled at him and kissed him softly. “Now, what’d you say to us heading home and getting some rest,” The mare agreed and they headed off to their home and slept.

The day had arrived. Shimmer and Dark Light were getting married. They had decided to have the ceremony in Canterlot so as to not forget their shared past. The wedding was taken by none other than Princess Celestia, as she had received a letter from Twilight Sparkle saying some friends of hers were getting married and at this the princess offered to host the ceremony. Dark light had chosen Big Mac as his Best Stallion and Shimmer chose Applejack as her Mare of Honour, with Apple Bloom being a bride’s maid. The other bride’s maids were of course, Pinky Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle.

All of the ponies that were at the party where Dark Light proposed were there as guests and so were some of the other residents of Ponyville and for some reason the wonderbolts were there as well. The wedding was soon to start and Dark Light was both nervous and exited, a state that Pinky had named nervousited (but is more aptly described by the term 'apprehensive'). Dark Light and Shimmer were in separate rooms and were waiting for the wedding to start, but before it did both of them looked in a mirror and turned to their respective apple family member.

“Applejack, how do I look?” Shimmer asked the orange pony, who was speechless and dumbfounded by her sheer beauty in her dress.

“Aw heck, sugar cube. Beauty ain’t a good enough word fer what ah can see,” AJ said, which was received by a smile and a Hug from the bride.

“Oh dear. Big Mac, Do I look good enough? I don’t feel like I do,” The groom was panicking a little as Big Macintosh put a hoof on his shoulder.

“Eyup. You ain’t got nuthin’ to worry about. Yer lookin’ great!” This was received with a sigh and Dark Light, thanked Big Mac and gave him a hug which the red stallion returned. The groom controlled his breathing and was escorted to the front of the main hall with Big Mac who stood there smiling at him. The princess leaned over to him and started to speak to him.

“Don’t get too nervous, you’ll calm down a lot when you see your wife-to-be,” She said with a smile. The grey stallion looked down and smiled, snapping his head up to attention as he heard the bridal march. He looked over to the door and his jaw dropped. Celestia was right. He was no longer nervous. He was over the moon, so to speak. The mare with the wedding vale was so beautiful. Words could not describe. Her father was next to her, they had their arms locked as they approached the front. Dark Light felt his heart beating as he saw his other heart in a wedding dress approaching him with a few tears on her cheek and a smile on her face. Shimmer reached the front and then lifted her veil as the princess started the wedding.

“Mares and Stallions. Fillies and Colts. We are gathered her today to bring together Dark Light and Shimmer Heart in a permanent bond of love. They have declared their love for each other and are ready to show the power that love can bring,” She went on and the two unicorns locked front legs and smiled. “Do you, Dark Light, take Shimmer Heart to be your bride?”

“I do,”

“And do you, Shimmer Heart, take Dark Light to be your husband?”

“I do,”

“Then I now pronounce you husband and wife,” The princess declared as she place a ring on each of the couples horns. “You may kiss the bride,” The newlywed couple leant in and share their most romantic kiss yet, whilst the other ponies in the hall stomped their hooves against the ground. They were married. Better yet, they were having a foal.

The reception was amazing, a big party with lots of balloons but it still seemed like an adult party. Pinky Pie was good at doing that, making an adult’s party fun. At both Shimmer’s and Dark Light’s request, the party ended with a slow dance using the same song that was played at the goodbye party when the couple first visited Ponyville. Again there were a lot of couples dancing, with Twilight again dancing with Big Mac, AJ with Clover and Rarity with Caramel, but this time Rainbow Dash was dancing with one of the wonderbolts, Soarin’, on the ground, and they were both staring into each other’s eyes smiling. Fluttershy was dancing with a stallion she had met on winter wrap up, called Dr. Hooves, and she seemed to be enjoying her dance more than Rainbow Dash was enjoying hers. There were a lot more couples on the dance floor; Shimmer’s parent’s being one of them.

Dark Light and Shimmer were just staring into each other’s eyes, just like Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash. The difference being, they were doing it with a lot more love. They were both smiling and were entranced by the beauty of the other partner’s eyes. Then, it happened. The most magical moment of both of their lives. Quite literally. They were bordered by a light red aura and started levitating themselves above all the guests. They embraced each other with the best kiss, of either of their lives.

The Blessing

After the months of morning sickness and eating cupcakes with celery, Shimmer was ready to have her foal. Her husband had managed to keep his sanity with her constant fluctuations between being horny as a … very horny thing … to being as sad as a widow. He had done this by thinking about what the fruits of his labour, scratch that, the reward for his suffering would be. His foal. Neither of them wanted to see what gender it was (hospitals usually had a unicorn who knew an identification spell that could not only tell them what gender it was, but also what type of pony it was) as they both wanted it to be a surprise. They had ideas for names. If it was a filly it would be Starlight Glimmer and if it was a colt it would be Bold Flash. Both of the married couple new the baby was due and so they always tried to stay together just in case.

Dark Light was going through the evening paper in bed whilst Shim was downstairs cooking breakfast when...

“Light! Either I’ve peed myself or…”

“Or what?” Dark Light asked in reply to Shimmer’s odd words. As he said it he realised what the ‘or’ was and rushed to her and told her to get on his back. She obliged, knowing how strong the stallion was, and together the couple rushed off to the hospital and within minutes they were there. They got to the front desk of the medical building as the sweating husband shouted at the attendant. “M-my wife is- g-going into *huff* labour!” Dark Light said. The mare behind the front desk yelled out in an attempt to get one of the doctors. She sent one of the other ponies behind the desk to get a wheelchair who immediately sped off arriving not a minute later with one. Thankfully, the stallion carrying the foaling mare placed Shimmer in to the wheel chair and the pony behind it pushed it to one of the free patient rooms, right before a doctor arrived.

“I’ll keep an eye on her. You can take a rest in the lobby,” He said, getting a head shake from Dark Light.

“I’m staying with her. I hav-“

“Sweetie, it’s OK. One of the nurses will get you if it is about to arrive,” Shimmer said, interrupting her husband, who frowned nodded and left the room, went to the lobby and talked to the mare he spoke to originally.

“Is there any way I can deliver a few messages, like now?” He said. The Pony behind the desk nodded and pointed to a small bell on a window, with some paper, quills and ink. “Thanks,” he replied, walking up to the window. He started to write six letters mostly the same but changing the names of the recipient. One for each of Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinky Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle saying:

Dear *Recipient*

Shimmer is going in to labour and is about to have our foal. We would appreciate it if you could get to the hospital as soon as possible to help support her through the birth. We will be in the second door on the right in the corridor that leads off from the reception area.

Thanks,

Dark Light

P.S. Applejack, bring Big Macintosh

He rang the bell after he had written the letters and a grey wall eyed pegasus came flying by. He gave her the letters telling her they needed to be delivered right away. She said ok and flew off quite quickly. Dark Light sat down the closest chair he could see that was free. A few minutes later the Rainbow maned pegasus he knew as Rainbow Dash came through the front door, saw Dark Light and walked over to him with a smile.

“Hey DL. Congrats!” She said, receiving a smile in return.

“Thanks RD,” The stallion replied, getting a stern look in return. “Hey, I let you call me DL. Don’t be a hypocrite,” He said. They looked at each other and after a few seconds, both burst in to laughter as a pink bouncing pony walked through the door.

“Hey guys, why are you laughing? Did I miss something? Has the foal arrived? What Happ-“ Rainbow Dash stuffed her hoof into Pinky’s mouth.

“Relax, Pinky. You haven’t missed a thing,” She said, getting a smile and an ‘ok’ after she removed her hoof. Applejack and Big Macintosh both arrived and gave Dark Light a hug congratulating him.

“Oh, I almost forgot! Congratulations Dark Light!” Pinky said frantically. Rarity and Fluttershy arrived together, and Twilight arrived just after. They each in turn congratulated Dark Light and Fluttershy gave him a hug just before a nurse arrived and called Dark Light in, stopping the six mares and the red stallion on the way.

“Family only I’m afraid,” she said.

“Surrogate family counts,” Dark Light replied getting a sigh of defeat from the nurse, who let them pass. They all entered the room that Shimmer and the doctor who was caring for her were in and all of them said hi to shimmer who was crying from a mixture of pain and joy from seeing her friends and husband, who trotted over to her took hold of her hoof and smiled at her as the others all went to her side and smiled at her too.

“Ok. Now Shimmer Heart, you need to push out the foal,” The Doctor said. Shimmer screamed and scrunched up her face.

“Come on Shim, You can do it sweetie,” Dark Light said as the main six and Big Macintosh offered their encouragement as well. This continued for a minute or two just before a crying noise was heard. The Doctor cantered over and helped the foal out.

“It’s a colt,” He said as he took him in his arms and wrapped him in a towel.

“Well done Shim. You did great,” Dark Light said, leaning over and giving her a long kiss, after which he whispered something in her ear to which she nodded and smiled, tears in her eyes from the relief of it being over and done with. The doctor handed the young unicorn colt over to Dark Light who took him in his hooves and kissed him on the forehead before handing him to Shimmer.

“Isn’t he handsome?” The weakened unicorn mare said as the foal looked into her mother’s eyes “He has your mane, Light. Look,” He looked at the foal’s mane which matched his, leaving the father with a smile. He had the same fur colour as his father.

“He’s got your eyes as well sweetie,” The father said smiling and kissing his wife on the forehead.

After a Few minutes of silence and tears of joy, Dark Light looked up towards the two apples with a smile.

“Applejack? Big Macintosh?” The two ponies looked at him and smiled. “I know it’s usually tradition to have a couple do it but…” Dark Light paused, “Would you kindly consider being the godparents?” Applejack teared up even more than she already had and Big Mac even started to tear up as well but both of them smiled.

“Ah’d…We’d love to sugar cube,”

“Ee-eeyup,” The two came over and hugged the new parents and the five others joined in the hug. Dark Light looked over to the doctor in a beckoning sort of way. He sighed and also joined in in the embrace.

Celestia's Letter

The sun shone through the window and gleamed though Dark Light’s eyelids, waking him up, much to his annoyance. He and Shimmer were overjoyed with their new foal a year ago but now all he did was keep them up late at night. They loved him but sometimes Dark Light wondered why he had stayed to be with him, until he looked at his wife, her beautiful free flowing silver mane and her perfect silken pale blue coat that her husband loved so much. Her eyes were a brilliant gold colour, shared by her son, whereas Dark Light’s were ruby red in colour.

“Morning Shim, Get any sleep tonight?” Dark light said with a smile. Shimmer chuckled and kissed him. “Come on, you go have a shower. I’ll check on Flash and make some breakfast,” He said kissing her again. She walked off to the bathroom and had a shower as her stallion walked over to their son’s crib. “Hey colt, how are you?” He said in a hushed and playful tone, as the young colt put out his hooves to get a hug.

“Dada!” The young foal said with a smile. Dark Light’s jaw dropped and the he shouted in the direction of his wife.

“SHIM! FLASH JUST SPOKE!”

“REALLY? WHAT DID HE SAY?!”

“Dada,” There was a happy exclamation followed by a ‘Dammit’.

“I was hoping he’d say mama first,” They both laughed and Dark Light took his son down stairs and put him in his high chair as he made breakfast. Shimmer trotted into the kitchen and walked over to her son and kissed him. The little colt giggled in an adorable way as Dark Light put his and Shimmer’s breakfast on the table. He put a bowl of what looked like mush on the table as well and started to feed it to his son, holding the spoon with his magic and put it into his son’s mouth who then swallowed the mush. After the three of them had finished with it their food Shimmer noticed a rolled up scroll and retrieved it. Seeing it was for her husband she handed it to him and he broke the wax seal and unrolled it.

Friends,

I have an urgent matter to talk to you about. We need to meet up in the library at 4:00 today. It is vital that you are there as this concerns all of you.

Twilight Sparkle

Dark Light was puzzled by the letter but could think of no reason not to be there.

“Shim, is it alright if you look after Flash this afternoon? Twilight needs to see me apparently,” He said. His wife frowned but agreed.

******************

Later that day Dark Light left to go to the library under Twilight’s instruction. When he arrived, at about ten to four, the once unicorn now alicorn ushered him in.

“Good you’re early. We still need to wait for the others though,” She said.

“Who else is coming?” Dark light responded, slightly confused.

“Well there’s you, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinky Pie and Big Macintosh,” She listed.

“Wait, Big Macintosh?” asked Dark Light, even more confused.

“Hang on, I need to show you something, this’ll all make sense when I do,” The purple princess said, grabbing a scroll from across the room with her magic and passing it to the grey father who grabbed it with his magic and unrolled it.

“What is it with you and scrolls?” He said with a smile then read the scroll.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I am afraid there is no time for sentiment. All of Equestria is under threat, but this time it is different. I need you and the elements of harmony along with two strong ponies to come to canterlot as soon as possible. There I will brief you all about the threat. Your brother and sister-in-law will also assist you in this task. Luna will watch over the crystal empire for the time being and I will work on the sun and the moon during the task.

It is of vital importance that you do this. The lives of all Equestrian citizens are in the hooves of you and your friends. You will be away from Ponyville for at least a month so make sure you say your goodbyes to everypony.

Princess Celestia

P.S. Do NOT let Rarity pack more than one Brief case

Dark Light sat down, his smile diminishing to a defeated looking frown. His heart sunk and he felt a lump in his throat.

“Why me and not some other stallion?” He said looking woefully at the alicorn.

“You carried a labouring mare half way across the town in a few minutes; you are probably one of, if not the, strongest pony in Ponyville,” He sighed, nodded and started to pace about the room. Suddenly all the other ponies Twilight had listed earlier arrived and twilight showed them the letter, all of them reacted differently. Big Macintosh just stood there with his mouth agape, Fluttershy just lied down and quivered, Applejack tried to shrug it off but ended up crying a little, so Dark Light walked over and comforted her with a hug.

“A whole month?” Rainbow Dash Exclaimed.

“Oh no, I won’t be able to foal sit the baby cakes!” Pinky said.

“ONE BRIEFCASE?!” said drama queen - uh, I mean Rarity - right before she fainted, only to be caught by a dragon that seemingly appeared out of nowhere but collapsed under the mare’s weight. Twilight poured a glass of water over her which she had ready realising she would faint as soon as she read the last line of the letter. The mare awoke slightly startled and fairly soggy.

“Ok, Everypony,” The alicorn said. “This is important. We are going to leave tomorrow!”

“TOMORROW?!” All the other’s shouted.

“Yes, tomorrow,” The slightly miffed Princess repeated. “I am sorry for the short notice but this is important. If Celestia went to the trouble of getting Shining armour and Cadence then something awful is happening. She asked for the eight of us to go as soon as possible, so pack your things and say your goodbyes. This is going to be a tough ride,” she turned to her draon friend and handed him a scroll. "Spike, send this to Celestia, it tells her we;ll be leaving tomorrow, and keep the library tidy and look after awlicious whilst I'm gone," The baby dragon nodded and the other ponies all agreed and went either to their house or to their partner’s house. Applejack went to Clover’s house; Rainbow flew back to her house, in which Soarin currently resided, Rarity went to speak to caramel and Pinky and Fluttershy walked back to their own homes, being the only two of the main six not to be in a relationship with somepony. Big Macintosh stayed with Twilight and just as Dark Light was about to leave Twilight stopped him.

“Ok, I don’t know the reason why she wanted two strong ponies to come along as well, but the main reason I chose you two was because you are the two strongest ponies who live here. Big Mac, Dark Light, I am sorry to have to drag you from your homes and Dark Light I am so sorry that I had to take you away from your son, and your wife but I need you two to do this,” She said. Dark Light agreed and the red stallion that was stood near him leant over to twilight and whispered something in her ear that made her blush and he kissed her. Dark Light said good bye and walked back to his family.

The morning was not easy. Shimmer was tearing up every few minutes and that only caused her son to join in as well. Dark Light comforted them and with a small case he had packed he wished the good bye, giving his son a kiss on the cheek and his wife a long passionate kiss on the lips. When he told her the night before, she gave him what she called a ‘parting gift’ which he enjoyed greatly. As did she. He left the house and waved at his wife and child, and walked to the station where the eight ponies had agreed to meet. They found each other and got on the train, saying good bye to their home town together.

It was a sight they would all miss.

Insomnia

They started the hour long train journey with them being in two separate compartments. The apples, Rainbow Dash and Dark Light were in one and the others were in a separate adjacent compartment in the train.

“So, D.L., how did Shimmer take the news?” Rainbow Dash said in a successful attempt to break the silence.

“Well last night when I told her she …uh, let’s say ‘gave me a goodbye present’ but this morning, her and Bold Flash were crying like a raincloud,” Applejack and Rainbow dash both blushed. “From the looks on both of your faces, I presume that I wasn’t the only pony given a ‘good send-off’, hey?” He said causing the pair to blush even more and chuckle a little as Big Mac cleared his throat and glared at the only other stallion in the room. “Sorry Big Macintosh,” He said realising that he was talking about the red stallion’s sister having sex with her coltfriend. That isn't really a good thought to have. “Anyway, Let’s change the subject,”

“Eeyup,” the red stallion said firmly.

“Flash said his first word yesterday,” That sentence was received very well by the other three ponies in the compartment.

“Awesome! What’d he say?” the pegasus asked.

“Dada, which really is awesome! Shim was spending at least an hour every day saying mama over and over again in front of the poor foal. One night he was having a nightmare and woke up crying, I wasn’t able to sleep that night so I just walked over to him and told him ‘Dada’s here don’t worry colt’, he went to sleep and the morning after I went to wake him up and when I did he stretched out his arms and said it,” Dark light explained.

“That is real sweet, sugar cube. Yah really are a great pa,” Applejack said.

“Thanks, A.J.,” Dark Light said in reply. They four ponies continued talking as the train journey went on. It only seemed like a few minutes as they continued joking about and having fun conversations but they arrived in Canterlot and were immediately greeted by large wagon that took them all to the princesses’ palace. They entered and walked to the throne room, where Shining Armour and Cadence were waiting, with the tall elegant alicorn with the polytechnic mane as well.

“Twilight!” Cadence ran over to the purple alicorn who was also running towards her. The both caught up with each other and started doing what Dark Light and Big Macintosh thought was a dance.

“Sunshine, Sunshine. Lady bugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” They said in chorus as both of the stallions looked at the other elements of harmony questioningly. Needless to say they all started laughing at their puzzled faces. The two of them just shrugged and didn’t question it.

“Sorry to interrupt the reunion,” Celestia said, “We need to talk about the matter at hoof,” All the ponies assembled into a group and looked at her apart from Twilights Brother and his wife. “I have already told these two about the dilemma and they have agreed to assist you all. There has been reports of an ancient stallion who has taken to the name Chimera. He has declared war on all of Equestria and is preparing to attack and destroy it. He has somehow managed to raise an army of soldiers from Tartarus and has managed to take control of the most vile creatures that were imprisoned there,” A few of the ponies started to tremble at the words of the Princess. “I am afraid your task is incredibly dangerous. As Chimera knows, I cannot enter that realm, for were I to do so all of Equestria would be left unprotected and the world would crumble. I am afraid that the ten of you must venture into Tartarus, find Chimera and put an end to his plans. The elements alone will not be able to fend the dangers with in nor defeat Chimera, and so I have asked these two,” she gestured towards Cadence and Shining Armour. “To accompany you and combine the power of harmony, friendship and love,” Dark Light stepped forwards.

“I’m sorry for interrupting, Princess, but why did you want some strong ponies as well?” Celestia looked at him and smiled and gestured for Big Mac to step forward.

“Apology accepted, and you two play one of the most important roles in this entire campaign. You are to defend the others as the creatures in there have a resistance to all types of magic. Not only this, but once Chimera has been hit with the magic of harmony, friendship and love he will still be able to lead, only he will be mortal. You must- You are going to have to kill him,” She finished.

“Ah’m sorry miss Celestia, did y’all say kill?” the Princess nodded. Dark Light looked down at the ground and gritted his teeth. He started hitting his hoof against the ground slowly, and then he looked at the white alicorn with a face showing his anger.

“What happened to mercy? What about what you said to me all those years ago? Does that mean nothing to you anymore?” He said through his teeth.

“Dark Light I unde-“

“DON’T YOU DARE SAY YOU UNDERSTAND! NONE OF YOU DO!” The grey stallion yelled, terrifying all but one of the mares in the room.

“I know you are angry, and I know you don’t want to do this, but you must. Chimera is not like any other evil. He has a mental link to his army. If he is alive, they can still fight! This is why he is in Tartarus, were he here he could easily be stopped!” The Princess said firmly but calmly. Dark Light looked back at the ground, then looked up.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” The princess thanked him and then told them everything about the mission that they needed to know. How to get past Cerberus, how to find Chimera once they were in TarTarus and most importantly, how to combine the different forms of magic that were needed to make Chimera vulnerable. After that they were told to rest in a large dormitory that they would be sharing, apart from the married alicorn and her husband who would reside in their quarters, seeing as they already had their own private room on the castle. Big Mac and Dark Light also got their own room as they were the only two stallions in the ‘Ponyville Eight’. They were going to rest in the castle for the night and in the morning they would start on their path towards the gates of Tartarus.

As night came, all of the residents of the castle fell asleep. Well, all but one. Dark Light tried to sleep but he couldn’t so he instead left his room and walked about looking at the stain glass windows that depicted all the most important moments in Equestria’s history. He looked at the one of discord being defeated by Celestia and Luna and sat there just looking at it.

“Couldn’t sleep either, huh?” Dark Light turned his head in the direction of the voice. It came from an orange pony, usually seen wearing a Stetson and with mane bands. Dark Light shook his head gently; he noticed how she looked nice without the mane bands. “Me neither,”

“What’s got you up then A.J.?” Dark Light said, inviting her to sit next to him.

“Oh, n-nuthin’,” She said hesitantly.

“You’re the element of honesty, you’re a born awful liar,” Dark Light replied, smiling as he did so.

“Codsarnit!” The orange mare exclaimed. She had started to cry. “Ah’m worried, Ah’m worried Big Mac won’t wanna do it, Ah know he don’t wanna do it, but ‘e has too an’ if ‘e does it’ll tear ‘im up!”

“A.J. I don’t want to do it either. In fact I don’t want to do anything apart from go home to Shimmer and tell her how much I love her, and see my son again. Hear him laugh, cry anything to know I’m with him, but I can’t. It’ll tear me up if I do it as well but I could probably manage better, I know Big Mac well enough to know that he is physically stronger than me, but I have been able to suffer more emotional pain than him. If you are that worried, I’ll do it, he won’t have to lift a hoof,” Dark Light wiped Applejack’s tears away.

“Ya promise?” The mare asked looking into Dark Light’s eyes. The Grey stallion drew a cross over his hoof and then placed it over his eye. They both chuckled.

“How’s Clover?” He asked.

“Great, he said he’d help with applebuck season this year an’ ‘e managed tah persuade Caramel an’ his twin brother lucky tah help out as well, so the trees’ll be fine and dandy,” She smiled. “How’s yer little bundle o’ joy comin’ along?”

“He’s been keeping me awake a lot but I don’t really care. He is the best thing that’s happened to me since I married Shim. That’s another reason why I can’t sleep, his crying is actually quite therapeutic once you’ve had it for a year,” The Stallion said. Applejack laughed, and he laughed with her.

“You should have your hair like that more often. Suits your personality,” Dark Light said.

“Really, How so?” The mare asked.

“It’s soft, beautiful and goes wherever it wants,” He said with a smile, half joking half being serious.

“Ah would, but it just ain’t practical fer work,” She responded blushing noticeably.

“Well, when you settle down and have foals of your own, you can do whatever you want with it,” He said.

“Guess yer right there, sugar cube,” she said leaning on Dark Light. Then she fell asleep. Dark Light carefully picked her up and took her to his room and placed her on his bed as he sat on the floor and after a few minutes, he lied down and embraced his overwhelming tiredness.

The Journey

Dark Light woke up, rather early and noticed that both the apples were still asleep, so he started getting ready for the day ahead. After he had finished (about half an hour later) Big Macintosh awoke and looked at Dark Light’s Bed, turning towards the grey unicorn and giving him a death stare and just as he did the orange mare bed woke up, and got out of Dark Light’s bed. She looked at her brother and saw where he was looking at.

“Big Macintosh! Why the hay are y’all starin’ at Dark Light like that for?” She said firmly.

“What the Hay are you doin’ in his bed?” He argued

“I went out of our room because I couldn’t sleep and looked at some of the stain glass windows. Turns out A.J. had the same problem so she went out of her room as well and we started talking. She fell asleep on me and I didn’t want to go in to the girl’s room in case I disturbed them so I took her here and put her on my bed and slept on the floor. Nothing explicit happened, Big Mac. I do have a wife, and a foal, and A.J. has a Coltfriend,” The Grey stallion said calmly.

“OK, Ah believe y’all. Sorry fer being suspicious of y’all,” Big Macintosh said.

“it’s fine fella, y’all had every right tah be suspicious,” Applejack said before Dark Light could say anything.

“A.J. bein’ fergivin’. Now Ah AM suspicious,” Big mac said and laughed, joined by Dark Light, as the mare sighed.

“Thank yah kindly fer lettin’ me sleep in yer bed Dark Light,” She said after the two had stopped their hysterics. He smiled at her as if to say ‘no problem’. She nodded and left to go back to her room. The two stallions still in the room started to pack up their things after they had both got ready for the day’s activities, which almost entirely consisted of walking, as they needed to be as subtle as possible on their way to Tartarus. A carriage was out of the question, so they had to go on hoof. The ten ponies that were leaving had a very hearty breakfast in order to build up energy for the day. Dark Light decided to lead the group as the others either weren’t good group leaders or should have to worry about an entire group of ponies as well as having to focus on casting a phenomenally important spell to conceal the group. If they failed, all of Equestria would fall, and Dark Light would do anything to prevent that. Besides he was probably the best leader in the group, if you excluded the captain of the royal guard, who was hesitant about Dark Light leading until his sister brought him to his senses.

They set off at about eleven in the morning, with Dark Light leading and Big mac at the back to make sure they were all together. A certain over eager pegasus continuously flew ahead only to be shouted at by Dark Light to stay in the group. The journey they were taking was long and difficult, bringing them past the boarder of Ponyville and in to an unclaimed piece of land. There was a reason it was unclaimed. It held the door to Tartarus and there was too much of a danger to any ponies who lived there, therefore nopony wanted to live there, and nopony did. The journey there would take at least three weeks with the ten adventurers having to keep a low profile, which would slow them down. There journey back would be quicker. They would have no reason to hide and could walk at a fast pace.

As the day went on, and night drew near the ponies put down their few bags, one large bag that Dark Light carried that had all the food, and a few smaller bags that contained other essentials. Each pony carried a small saddle bag that had a bottle of water with a tube connected to it. This made it easy to get to your water instead of having to slow up the entire group and open your bag, take out your bottle, drink from it and put it back. It was Twilight’s idea. The group looked for a clear but visibly shielded area where they could rest for the night. They didn’t have any tents but they had a fire they could use to keep warm. This was a luxury they wouldn’t have later in the journey, so they made the most of it. They all sat down around the fire and talked for about an hour before there was a slightly awkward silence.

Then Shining armour broke it.

“Hey Dark Light, What did you mean yesterday?”

“When? Yesterday was a long day, I said a lot of things,” He replied hoping that the prince wasn’t going where he thought he was going.

“When you yelled at Princess Celestia, You mentioned what she said ‘all those years ago’,” The prince said.

“Well, what about it?” The grey stallion said getting defensive. Of all the times to share his past, now?

“What did she say?” Shining Armour said, getting a bit frustrated.

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business!” Dark Light said aggressively, glaring at the questioning stallion. Shining armour sighed.

“We need to know why you were so against killing Chimera! If we don’t it could jeopardise the mission, and besides he’s your enemy so don’t get aggressive towards me!” He nearly shouted. This time Dark Light sighed. He decided to tell him.

“Fine, but don’t expect some sugar coated namby-pamby story. This is real life, MY life,” The grey unicorn said. He told him. Him and the other eight ponies. He told them all about the factory, and the forced labour, about the torment, the revolution, the deaths, the suffering…Sweet Leaf. As he let the words escape more memories flooded in of his mother and the white stallion with the fedora that came and told him of his parents’ demise, him leaving his house, it falling in to disrepair as he was the only pony that lived there and he started to destroy in it in rage and sadness. Then he decided to tell them about what happened as soon as he had left the factory after the Pyrrhic victory over the factory overseers.

Shining Armour had a sullen look on his face. He knew then why Dark Light had been so defensive.

“Dark Light, I-I’m sor-“ He started only to be interrupted by the now enraged and depressed grey unicorn.

“Yeah, of course you are. Everypony says the same thing. ‘Oh Dark Light, I’m so sorry’,” he said the last part in a high pitched voice. “Here’s the facts, yes it happened, and yes you say you’re sorry but no you are not sorry. If you hadn’t been nosing about in my life, you would have never heard that story in the first place. Don’t tell me you’re ‘sorry’ to me, I’ve had enough of pointless pity. Only when you’ve been through what I have will I accept your pity,” The Angered grey unicorn said. A single tear running down his cheek. He stood up and started to trot away.

“Now where’d yah think you’re goin’?” Applejack asked. Dark Light turned his head.

“AWAY! FROM ALL OF YOU!” He yelled at her and faced forwards, continuing his trot. The orange mare sat down, and after a minute of just staring at where Dark Light had wondered off to and then she buried her head in her hooves and started to cry. Rainbow Dash flew over and comforted her as Twilight walked over to her brother and glared at him.

“Well look at what you’ve done!” She said. He was his older brother but it was her turn to scold him. “Not only have you upset the pony that is meant to protect us, but because of you, he’s wondered off. What if he doesn’t come back, huh? What then? And look at Applejack! You’ve messed up the group’s moral as well,” The prince was taken aback by his sister’s words and tone.

“But Twilie I-“

“Don’t you dare ‘but Twilie’ me mister. You have a lot to think about,” The purple princess interrupted. All of the ponies still around the fire were staring and the two siblings, aside from Applejack, who was still crying and Rainbow Dash, who was still comforting her. Shining Armour sighed and looked at the ground, completely guilt ridden. His sister went over to Applejack and comforted her as well. Just as she reached her, the crying mare ran off in the same direction that Dark Light had gone shouting his name through hers tears.

“A.J.! STOP! COME BACK!” the rainbow maned pegasus shouted going to fly to her but being stopped by something that was grabbing her tail. She looked behind her to see it was Twilight, but she wasn’t using magic as she usually did, she was using her mouth.

“Dammit dath, we’ve jush loshed two ponieth, we can’th losh anofer,” She said with the tail still in her mouth. The Pegasus gave up and sat next to the fire and Twilight glared at her brother in a ‘this is your fault’ sort of way, discouraging him even more.

“They’ll be back by morning…I hope,”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“D-Dark Light! Dark Light!” Applejack shouted through her tears, re had been running in the mass of trees for a few minutes now. “Dammit, how far’d ‘e go?” She said to herself in a worried tone. She looked around and saw a lake that was glistening in the moonlight. There was a silhouette in the reflected light and Applejack approached it. She was only a few feet away from it now.

“You know why I love sitting by the water, Applejack?” The silhouette said. She recognised the voice. It was Dark Light. He could tell it was Applejack from the sweet aroma of apples that always seemed to linger about her and the weight in the sound of the hoof prints. They were heavy enough to be different from an average earth pony, with the orange mares muscle that had built up from her years of apple bucking she weighed more than the average mare. She sat down next to him, she was still crying, but it was just tears. No noise apart from the occasional sniff.

“It shimmers,” Dark Light said. A.J. got his meaning, he missed his wife. “Before me and her got together, I always slept alone. I had never shared a bed with anypony,” He continued. “I had nightmares. Every night, I told her about it and she stayed with me for one night. That night, I didn’t have any nightmares.” He looked at the ground. “Last night, when we had our little conversation, about why we couldn’t sleep? I didn’t tell you. Yes, I was worried about killing Chimera but the real reason was that… it was because Shim wasn’t there. The only reason I got to sleep later was because you were there. I felt protected. It’s the same with Shim. I can fight of the night mares with her … and you,”

“Yah know, ah was six when mah parents died, both the same year but at different times. Mah ma died givin’ birth ta mah sister an’ mah pa died savin’ his brother from some timber wolves when ‘e came tah visit. Ah told mah sister that mah ma an’ pa died in a storm, ah didn’ wan’ ‘er feelin’ all guilty like. It still haunts me tah this day. Ah’ve been lien’ to ‘er for ‘er entire life. Ah’ve been able tah sleep without nightmares because a’ clover, an’ that was another reason why ah, couldn't sleep last night, so ah kinda just returned a favour by helpin’ you sleep,”

The orange pony leaned over to kiss him on the cheek but ended up hitting his lips as he turned his head at the last second. It took both of them a moment to realise what was happening but neither of them tried to stop it. So the kiss continued for nearly half a minute before they both backed away.

“Oh Sweet Celestia!”

“Oh Horse apples!”

The two of them said in unison, both blushing massively. They both smiled at each other, both trying to think of something they could say that would break the awkward silence.

“Well, if it is any consolation, you are an awesome kisser,” The grey stallion said, getting a laugh and a more intense blush from the orange pony. “Clover’s a lucky guy,”

“Aw shucks, thanks sugar cube, ta be honest you ain’t that bad either,” The two of them laughed and decided to head back to the others. Just before they left, Applejack put a hoof on Dark Light’s shoulder. “Ya think we should stay here till mornin’?”

“That might be a good idea, we could actually see where we’re going,” The stallion said. They both lied down by the body of water and slept. Dark Light didn’t have any nightmares either.

The morning came and the two ponies awoke, and found their way to the others, that showed great relief at seeing both of them. Shining armour came over to Dark Light and apologised for being intrusive. Dark Light said it was fine and even grabbed him for a hug which, even though the prince wasn’t expecting it, he still accepted it.

“I should be apologising, I ran off, and shouted. So, yeah, sorry guys. And gals,” The grey unicorn said. Everypony joined in the hug that was going on between two of the three stallions in the group. After the embrace had finished the ponies packed up and set of on the rest of the journey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There they were. After three weeks of trotting and being attacked by ponies who had been consumed by Chimera’s evil. They had arrived at the door to Tartarus. They had already planned their move; they had to charm Cerberus with calm music, which was provided by a small harp and some magic, from Twilight. After that they had a small briefing session and cool down,

Then they entered the closest thing to hell that anypony could think of.

The Enemy

The door was the size of the door at the palace in Canterlot…times by two. To say it was large would have been an understatement. It technically wasn’t even a door. I was just a large swirl of different shades of red bordered by an ancient stone archway. It didn’t look physically possible, there was magic behind it. The ten ponies entered in pairs so if there was any trickery behind the door there was a chance to defend each other, the interval between each pair going in was agreed at three seconds, Dark Light and Rainbow Dash were first. The two went in and after a peculiar sensation were spat out in to the evil and corrupt prison land that was Tartarus. The next pair was Rarity and Pinky Pie, then Shining Armour and Cadence, followed by Applejack and Fluttershy and after a bit more than three seconds the last pair, Twilight and Big Macintosh came through. Twilight apologised for being late and her escorting stallion followed up with his catch phrase.

“Eeyup,”

They started to follow the trail of monsters and possessed ponies in search of Chimera’s main chamber. There was something strange about this place. From what Dark Light had heard it was completely self-supported, there was always a failsafe though. A spell Celestia would cast, collapsing the outer door and destroying Tartarus and everything in it, but there was something that irked Dark Light. It felt weakened. Then they heard it. A deep booming voice echoed around them as if it were coming from their own minds.

“Ah yes, the foals from Ponyville have come to play. I won’t waste time with pointless mind games. I am going to tell you the facts. If you kill me this entire dimension collapses. On to you. That stupid fail safe Celestia had put in place is now tied to my heart beat. If I die you’d have, what, ten seconds to escape. Oh, and by the way expect a challenge getting to me,” The voice laughed maniacally and died out of their heads. There were a few panic stricken murmers, and Dark Light’s head was spinning with ways that he could get everypony out. Only one came to mind.

“QUITE!” He shouted at the nine other ponies. One word to get their attention. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to get us all out…but I can’t. There is only one way to get you out.” He looked down at the ground and huffed. “Applejack? Big Mac? Look after Shim for me; Flash too,”

“No!” Applejack said in a sad and pleading, crying as she did so.

“You have to; There is no other way!” he continued. “I want my son to have a normal life. Tell him about me. Tell him I loved him and if something happens to Shim, raise him as if he were your own. Let him know why his parents aren’t there anymore. And tell the truth. I’ll take care of Chimera. Mac, you lead everypony out as soon as the spell has been cast, I …” he paused. “I can kill him by myself. I have a plan. By the time I’m done you guys will have gone through the door, don’t bother with precautions. Run through as fast as you can. Don’t. Look. Back!” he finished, Big mac started to disagree.

“Ah ain’t leavin’ you!” he said. Firmly.

“YES YOU ARE!” Dark Light Yelled back. “Only two ponies are going to die here. ME AND CHIMERA!” He shouted. “Nopony else,” Big Mac backed down realising there was no arguing with this pony. He was more stubborn than applejack. And so the ten continued. Getting attacked on every corner, or placed in a room full of traps that were only just avoided, until after an hour of pain, anger and blood, the ten ponies arrived at what was easily identifiable as the door to Chimera’s chamber. Dark Light stopped everypony before anything happened.

“This is it, everypony!” He said. In a tone hiding his fear. “We are going to wait here for ten minutes and get some of our strength back, after that all of us will charge in, the eight ‘magicians’ will run in too your formation and start the spell. Twilight, how long will the spell take?”

“It takes a minute to charge,” She said.

“Ok,” The leader of the group said. “Big Macintosh?” the red stallion looked at Dark Light. “We will charge at Chimera and distract him, be ready to jump away when the spell is cast,” The farm pony nodded. “When he is hit, escort these ponies out. It should take you about ten minutes to get back to the door without any distractions, I can give you fifteen. Then I’ll get it over and done with and this’ll all be over,” He faced the ground and let a tear fall from his eye. “Tell Shim, and Flash, I love them,” He lifted his head. “Any questions?” no response. Apart from one from Applejack.

“Yeah, sugar cube could ah see yah in private?” She asked.

“OK. Ten minutes to rest everypony. Then, it’s all or nothing,” He took Applejack round a corner nearby, out of eye and ear shot. “What did you want to see me for A.J.?”

“This,” She leaned over and kissed him firmly. They both closed their eyes and wrapped their hooves around each other. He knew this was wrong, but he also knew she needed this; he did too. Their lips parted as tears rolled down A.J.’s cheeks. “Ah-Ah don’t want you to go!”

“I don’t want to go either, but I have to. If there was any other way that didn’t involve another needless death I would take that option,” He paused. “But there isn’t. Just promise me you will look after Flash, and Shim,”

“Ah- Ah promise,” She said with a sigh. He lifted her chin and they kissed again. Then they joined the others and rested for the remainder of the time they had left. After that, Dark Light got everyone ready and he and Big Mac took a door each of the two door entrance to the grand hall.

“Ready?” All the ponies nodded. “On the count of three.” The he closed his eyes. “One,” He felt his heart tremble as he remembered his family. “Two,” He remembered his friends, still in Ponyville, oblivious to what was happening here. And then he remembered her. The small Beautiful filly whose life was cut short by evil and terror. That did it, he opened his eyes and Shouted at the top of his lungs staring at the door, anger in his blood, as adrenaline pumped through his body. “THREE!” He and Mac rammed the door hard as it swung open, and they looked around quickly and saw the surprised and angered pony they were looking for, sitting on a throne on a podium, fifty feet high with a drop either side, it stopped at the level the stallions were at currently, and there were stairs leading up to the podium. As soon as they saw this they charged up and distracted Chimera for the minute it took for the spell casters to charge the spell.

“BIG MAC, JUMP!” The grey unicorn jumped. The two of them dived away from the evil pony they were fighting as he was hit by the spell. There was a howl that came from the affected villain and after the light was gone, he started to look weak. “Mac, take the others back to the portal, I have this,” The muscular farmer obliged and ran towards the others, who were tired out from the spell but had no time to rest. Applejack tried to chase after Dark Light, but was picked up by her brother and was dragged out of the throne room.

**************

It was time for Dark Light to hatch his plan. He charged towards Chimera and started to strike him with his hooves hard. After taking a few hits the evil pony blocked the oncoming swings from the grey unicorn, whose strength was surprising, but not enough. He started to parry the attacks and hit him with a greater force. Dark Light stumbled but he knew how to take a hit. He started to block and attack back but his opponent was doing the same. The battle continued for about ten minutes until Dark Light showed signs of weakening. They were half way down the podium steps now, Chimera having the high ground.

Despite his weakness Dark Light fought on, taking every hit and returning it, but that all stopped when Chimera had an awfully brilliant idea. As Dark Light stood up to attack the evil stallion, he noticed that Chimera had turned around and put his legs back. Just before his enemy extended his legs with amazing force Dark Light tensed his chest to prepare for the collision of hooves on his chest. The power of the buck forced him back as he hit the wall parallel to the stairs and landed on the ground. He tried to stand up but could only do so by weakly rotating his front so that he was resting on his front hooves, then doing the same with his flank.

“Pathetic little pony! Is that all you can muster?” Chimera mocked. Dark Light smiled.

“How about this?” The grey unicorn started to charge at the evil pony. He hit him and managed to keep on running up the stairs of the podium and right into the throne. He drew back and looked at the result. An injured red pony sitting in a throne. He grabbed the injured stallion and lifted him from his throne, taking him to the edge of the podium and dropping him, there was a crack and a loud scream as the red lump hit the ground.

“H-how?” The broken villain said, his voice quivering with pain and confusion.

“Acting strong can only lead to those who are stronger than you beating you with ease. By acting weak I lured you into a false sense of security. I am sorry for what I am about to do. Your death is nothing to celebrate. Especially as it will come hand in hand with mine,” The fifteen minutes had passed and now he was going to do what he was told to do. He was still surprised that his plan worked though, but after that thought he delayed no longer, he jumped off the podium and landed with a sickening crack and a blood splatter on to Chimera. He had done it. The evil red stallion was dead. The walls started to cave in and Dark Light closed his eyes and embraced his fate. He saw a bright light and then…

He was gone.

**************Fifteen minutes earlier*************

Big Mac closed and barred the door with the one hoof he had free, the other being occupied with carrying his sister who was now crying. A lot. He instructed the group to run for the portal, and they all obeyed. Weaving their way through the maze they were in. They were limited in their time, but fifteen minutes was more than enough. No creatures or other hindrances could slow them down; they had dealt with that on the way in. The path was still complicated and took them most of their time to get near to the portal.

Just as they were within a hundred metres of the portal the floor behind them started to collapse.

“GO! FASTER!” Big mac shouted as the group approached their escape hatch. They reach the portal and Big Mac threw his sister in before jumping in himself. He got through the portal and landed on the sullen ground that surrounded the door that lead to Tartarus in the over world. He saw his sister running towards the door and stopped her just as the top two key stones in the archway gave way, the portal dissipating into smoke. All that was left were two pillars. Applejack stopped struggling in her brother’s grasp and just sat down and stared between the pillars.

“Dark Light,” she said softly and mournfully.

He was gone.

The group started the trek back to Canterlot. They arrived within a week, as they could travel freely and had no need to be cautious. There was nothing that attacked them or slowed them down, unlike on the way there, were they encountered many obstacles and had to hide for hours on end, greatly slowing their progress. The entire group were disheartened at the loss of their leader. Big Macintosh took charge of them all, making sure they would be able to continue and trying to cheer them up. The arrival at Canterlot was met with a carriage that took them to the palace, where the princess great them all.

“It is good to see you all, but I can’t help but ask. Where is Dark Light?” The princess questioned. Applejack hid her face in her Stetson to hide her tears as he brother stepped forward.

“He- He’s dead ma’am,” Big Mac said. The princess looked towards the nine ponies that had made the return trip, closed her eyes and sighed. “An’ afore yah say anythin’ don’t say yer sorry. That word has caused enough problems,”

“Well, It may not be my place to ask but, how did he die?” Then Applejack stepped forward, Tears fresh in her eyes.

“When we went inta Tartarus, an’ that evil guy, Chimera, told us if ‘e died than the entire place would collapse,” She tried to continued but was too teary to do so. As she cried Big Mac went over and hugged her so Twilight stepped forward and started off from where Applejack had stopped.

“We got to where Chimera was and Dark Light told us his plan. He sacrificed himself so that we could have time to escape. He managed to succeed because just as we reached the portal, Tartarus started to collapse. We managed to get out just in time and when we were out of Tartarus, the portal-door thingy broke. Dark Light didn’t make it out,” The purple alicorn said.

“I see. Give his wife my condolences. He was a brave stallion and I will make sure his name is known. Well done to you though. Together you saved Equestria, again,” The white princess said. “Now, I would suggest you get home, your families will have missed you, and you two,” She gestured at Cadence and shining armour, “You must head back to the crystal empire, and tell my sister of your success,”

“If even on pony dies, it’s not a success,” Shining armour replied, as he and Cadence left for the empire.

The seven remaining ponies headed to the station and got on the first train back to Ponyville. The compartments were share by the same ponies, apart from the empty seat next to Rainbow Dash; She chuckled a little.

“What yah laughing at Rainbow?” Big Mac asked.

“I just remembered the conversation we were having on the way to Canterlot a month ago,” She said with a smile. “Those are the things I want to remember him by, not the way he died. He wasn’t just Equestria’s hero, he was our friend. That’s how I remember him,” The two apples in the compartment agreed.

“I’m surprised y’all could be so … honourable, Dash,” Applejack said, and laughed only to be joined by the other two ponies in the compartment. After an hour of chatting and talking about all the good things they had done with Dark Light, the Pinky parties, the last winter wrap up where he helped on the farm by helping plough away the snow, so that the ground could be used to plant seeds, doing odd jobs around the orchard to earn some bits and volunteering to be a test subject for one of twilights spell, which turned him completely green apart from his eyes. It lasted for a few hours and he managed to jump at Big Mac whilst he was bucking by crawling on the ground and blending in with the grass. The big red muscley stallion let out a surprisingly girly scream when it happened. The memories were good. They provided a good image for their now lost friend.

They arrived at the station and as soon as they did they said good bye and parted ways, but Big Mac and Applejack didn’t head to Sweet Apple Acres, They instead went to Shimmer’s house. They both had sunken hearts and lumps in their throats as Big Mac raised a hoof and knocked on the door. The beautiful light blue mare opened the door, and smiled at them inviting them in to sit down. They entered in and sat down in her living room, Shimmer sitting on a chair that was next to them but angled so she could see the two siblings.

“Shim, There’s something we’ve got to tell yah,” Applejack spoke. She took a large breath. “Dark Light, He,” She sighed “He died, savin’ us, all of us. He died to save nine ponies who otherwise woulda died with him. He’s a hero,” As the orange mare said those words, Shimmer started crying. Applejack embraced the widow, and she embraced her back, and started crying as well. Big Mac joined in in the embrace trying to calm both of them down. He was sad, but he had only ever come close to crying once; that was when Applejack left for Manehatten as a filly. This time he didn’t cry, he needed to be strong for the two mares.

“Ah promise, Me an’ Mac’ll help in any way we can. Financially or otherwise,” The crying orange mare said. Shimmer nodded in a way that said ‘thank you’. She leant out of the hug and sat down. “Do yah want us tah stay?” Shimmer nodded. The two farm ponies nodded and stayed. Then Shimmer asked them what happened and so they told her, about their mission, about Chimera and about his adamancy of them leaving and him taking care of Chimera by himself. They stayed with her for an hour before she said they could go if they wanted to. They left and didn’t say sorry, but instead said he was a good stallion. Then they went to their farm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sister!” The dark blue alicorn ran to her older sister yelling out to get her attention. The urgency of her voice managed to get what she desired.

“I Can get him back!”

The Void

Three days had passed since the seven heroes arrived in back in Ponyville. A lot of things had happened in Equestria. Celestia announced what had happened and thanked the ten ponies for their brave work; she mentioned Dark Light and how he had sacrificed himself to save Equestria. Shimmer had been depressed for the entirety of the first two days, not leaving her house and just feeding her son and barely eating, herself. She was eventually forced to go outside by Applejack and they went to sugar cube corner with Bold Flash. This was good. It was a step up from being alone in their house, secluded from the universe.

The two mares started talking as Pinky volunteered to look after the little colt during the day for Shimmer, She was grateful for this and she and Applejack made the most out of her first day out of the house in a while. After eating at the cake’s small café applejack decided to do something that they would both enjoy. They went Sweet Apple aches and were immediately greeted by an agéd mare who told them that she had made a pie with some left over zap apples and asked if the two of them wanted to try some. It wasn’t every year that they had the multi-coloured apples in a pastry due to the large demand of zap apple jam but this year, they had harvested more zap apples than ever before so they had enough for a few pies and even some zap apple cider, which was surprisingly delicious.

As the day came to a close, the two mares walked back to Sugar cube corner to collect the small blue colt from Pinky Pie.

“Thanks for looking after him Pinky,” The colt’s mother said, smiling for the first time in a few days.

“No problemo! Any time you need a foal sitter, just ask. He sure was better behaved than the baby cakes usually are. I didn’t get covered in flour at all today!” The pouncy pink pony said, happily. She got a questioning look from the other two mares but then they just shrugged and giggled trotting off back to Shimmer’s house.

“Hey Applejack, would you mind staying over for the night, you can sleep in the spare bedroom, it’s just… I’d like to have somepony else in the house, aside from flash,” The light blue unicorn ask.

“Of course sugar cube,” The farm pony responded. They got to Shimmer’s house and said goodnight to each other, Applejack going to the spare bedroom after being told to take whatever she wanted if she got hungry during the night, she thanked her host and waited for Shim to go to bed before doing so herself. Shimmer was comforted knowing there was somepony else in the house. She would sleep well that night.

**************

Meanwhile, two sisters gathered outside the collapsed door of Tar-tarus.

“Are you sure this will work, sister?” The taller white one asked.

“Certain,” The slightly smaller dark blue one responded.

“Then let us begin,” the white one put her horn against her sister’s. An aura of a swirling mix between dark blue and bright yellow started to form around the arch stones that fell when the portal collapsed . The stones started to rise and fell into their original places before it had collapsed. “You must be quick, he will be weak and I cannot hold the portal open for long” The white one said.

The portal opened up and the smaller of the two flew in with a great speed. After coming out the other side, all she saw was blackness. Blackness and a small grey shape. She flew towards the grey object and picked it up onto her back. The object moved and let out a weak questioning moan as the two started to head back to the portal, making it through. As they burst out the other side the white alicorn holding the stones up, staining and sweating, released the magic from her horn and the portal once again collapsed. The white alicorn walked over to the grey object, which was now revealed to be a unicorn, and pressed her horn against it. The yellow aura started to appear around the horn and the unicorn suddenly gasped and woke up.

“Food! Water!” he said in a raspy, weak voice. The white alicorn drew out a water bottle and a large amount of food, mainly apples. The unicorn started to drink the water and eat the food, but realised who was surrounding him. “Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? What? How? When? WHAT!?” He said, dazed and confused.

“When you killed Chimera, Tartarus collapsed, but when an entire dimension dies, everything in it that is still alive, , stays alive in an empty void, forever, having a hunger that will never kill and a thirst that cannot be quenched despite what I had been led to believe by the one who erected the spell -starswill the bearded. It is an eternal form of suffering that should not be endured by anypony. You have endured this suffering for ten days. Everypony thinks you are no longer alive, but despite the amount of time you spent in there you are alive and look surprisingly fit, but before you can venture back to Ponyville there is something that I must do,” Celestia said, then nodded at Luna, who pointed at the grey unicorn with her horn and blasted a spell towards him.

The grey unicorn looked around him to see nothing but what looked like stars. And then Celestia.

“Where are we?” He asked.

“You are in a place that few ponies have seen or are going to see. This is my own realm; it is infinite and can contain any thing I will it to contain. It is also where I take those whom I deem worthy of being made a royal by their own right. You are one such pony. You have shown the true skills of leadership: self-sacrifice, courage in the face of fear and understanding of the certainty of fate. For all you have done for Equestria and for your willingness to sacrifice your life so Equestria could be saved, I feel you have earned the title of the first male alicorn prince… or princess, I still need to work on the formalities of the title, it is kind of confusing,” There was a pause of silence, as the grey unicorn looked puzzled, as a small bright light encircled him. Then there was a bright flash and he descended in down to the ground around the collapsed Tartarus portal, where the other alicorn was standing.

There was something different. Dark Light had a strange feeling on his back, as if he had something growing out of it. He turned he head so he could see what was causing it and his jaw dropped.

“I… have… wings?” He said, his mind struggling to take in what had just happened. “WHAAAA?” Both of the other alicorns laughed.

“Of all the ponies that I have turned into alicorns, your reaction is by far the best,” Celestia said through a smile. Dark Light gave her a questioning glance as if to say ‘what can I do with these?’ “When you get back to Ponyville, I’m sure Rainbow Dash will help you learn to fly. Anyway, back to formalities. You are now, technically a princess, but due to the fact you are not a mare, I will change your title to prince, so it isn’t embarrassing,”

“Wait, Am I going to have a big coronationey thingymadohickey, like Twilight did?” The newly made alicorn asked.

“I am afraid so,” Celestia said with a smile. Dark Light *ahem* PRINCE Dark Light sighed. “You should go back to Ponyville, I am sure your wife will be overjoyed to see you, I can teleport you there if you desire. I will send word to you when you are needed in Canterlot,” The prince nodded and the white princess placed her horn on him. There was a flash and all of a sudden he was standing outside the train station in Ponyville. Without much ado, he ran straight to his house and knocked on the door. To his surprise, it was opened by an orange earth pony, he recognised.

“Hey, A.J.,” He said casually, getting a sudden hug he knew was coming and a very damp shoulder, “Ya miss me?” She pulled him in and then ran upstairs to Shimmer’s room and woke her up.

“Sugar cube, yah gotta see this!” She nearly shouted. The light blue mare trotted down the stair wondering what was so important. She nearly had a heart attack when she saw her husband, smiling awkwardly at her and then being pounced on by his wife, their lips immediately colliding in their first kiss in a month.

“I thought you were dead!” She said through her tears.

“I thought I was dead!” He said in reply holding in his tears. “Oh, and did you notice anything different about me?” He said as he rose up to his hooves. His wife looked at him, confused just before he expanded his wings. They spread out farther than he imagined they would. He was a large pony and thus he needed large wings (unlike - what's his name - bulk biceps). His wife’s jaw had the same reaction that his did when he first saw them.

“You… How? What? When? WHAT!?” Dark Light laughed and embraced her, whilst Applejack was still taking in what was happening. Wings. Dark Light had wings.

“Anyway, before I give you a long arduous explanation I really need some sleep,” He said and then looked at his wife’s face, doing her little seductive look she did whenever she wanted ‘relief’. He gave her a little provocative smile. “but I have a feeling I won’t be getting much tonight,”

“Ah think it’s high time I head back to the farm, give you two some privacy,” Applejack added awkwardly.

“You can’t. not this late just stay in the guest room, and is it alright if we put Flash’s crib in there with you?” Shim asked, the orange mare sighed and nodded, walking up the stairs and dragging the small foals crib into the guest bedroom quietly, so that the married couple could share the night alone. And what a night it was.

******Earlier that night*******

The portal was open, his master was dead but this minion thought he should do one last thing before he gave up all hope. He was going to find the pony that killed his master and bestow upon him his deserved punishment. They would pay for their crimes. The minion didn’t know that the pony he was looking for was there with him, so he went through the portal. When he felt ground again he looked around and saw a tall pony with both wings and a horn. He silently sneaked away and begun his search.

Semper Fidelus

The two ponies woke up in each other’s embrace. They had each other back, after a month of being apart; they could see each other again. Dark Light decided to check on his son and walked to the house’s guest room and quietly tiphoofed over to the crib so as to not wake the hitherto asleep Applejack. The act was pointless as when as his son saw him he started shouting dad at the top of his little foal lungs. The sleeping orange mare woke up a little tired but fairly startled.

“Well, looks like somepony’s happy tah see y’all,” she said, followed by a yawn. She got out of her bed. “Is it ok with yah if ah use yer shower?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure. Shim might be using it at the moment but after that it’s all yours. I’m going to go and make breakfast, do you want anything? We probably have some apples somewhere. I could make you an apple and oats mix if you want,”

“Why thank you kindly, don’ mean to impose or nuthin’ but I can’t decline such a nice offer,” The orange pony said. Dark Light smiled nodded and trotted downstairs to go to the kitchen. As he reached the foot of the stairs, he noticed a small roll of parchment on the floor by his door. He saw it was addressed at him and so he opened it.

Dear Prince (yes, the title is finalised) Dark Light,

I have decided to give you some time to settle back in to Ponyville before your coronation, therefore it will be next week on Saturday. I would like it if your ‘princess’ would come along and be with you throughout the ceremony as I know the two of you will need some time to be together for the health of you both. Finally, I would like to ask you to tell Rainbow Dash to both stop sending letters to me, asking for more time off for Soarin, he will have the next month off so that they can spend more time together and also, she is to teach both you and Twilight how to make use of your wings.

From

Princess Celestia

He sighed and made breakfast for the four ponies in the house.

After the group had finished breakfast, Applejack said she would try and get the six others who were on the trip together so that he could show them all that he was alive at the same time. She came back an hour later and said that they were all at sugar cube corner. Dark Light walked over to the café with the orange mare, trying to hide his wings with a saddle bag and wearing a fedora so as to hide his face. They arrived at sugar cube corner and Dark Light cautiously looked around to see if he could spot any of his friends, noticing they were all gathered around a fairly large table, Applejack and he walked over to the table and he took of his fedora, revealing his face.

“DARK LIGHT!” All the ponies around the table yelled in confused joy.

“Yup, before you ask, I have no idea either. Oh and also,” He removed the saddlebag by extending his wings and catching it with his magic before it hit the ground.

“Do we have a curse or something that makes all of our newer friends turn into alicorns or something?” Rainbow dash said, both surprised and confused. All the others shared the expression.

“I have the coronationey thingymadohicky on Saturday next week, and apparently I am the first male alicorn, and being an alicorn should come hand in hand with being a princess but I have been let off and given the title of prince. So, yeah. That’s a thing,” the grey alicorn said. “Oh, and Rainbow Dash and Twilight, you might want to read this,” He said, getting the scroll from Celestia out. Twilight seemed a bit iffy about it but the rainbow Pegasus seemed to love it.

“WOOO! A whole month with Soarin! And I get to teach royalty how to fly!” she squealed, “This is going to be great!”

The week passed quickly, Dark Light managed to get in the air quicker than Twilight despite the fact that she had had her wings for longer than him, but she managed to start flying a few days after Dark Light. The Grey prince was both anxious and excited at the prospect of his coronation. It was basically just a large celebration of him getting wings but he liked the idea of being important for once.

When he arrived at Canterlot, with his friends, wife and child, they were immediately escorted to a carriage and taken to the palace. During the time they were on the carriage, Twilight gave Dark Light some helpful tips on how to act which she had learnt from Cadence. It was surprisingly helpful, knowing what to do and when to do it saved on any nasty surprises during the ceremony. They arrived at the palace in due time and entered swiftly, when they ran into Princess Celestia.

“Hello, Dark Light,” She said. “And hello Shimmer, Flash, Twilight, Applejack, Big Mac, Rarity, Pinky Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy,” she followed, greeting each of the others with a smile and a nod, which was returned by all of them (aside from Bold Flash, who was too busy playing about to notice a word the princess was saying) as she escorted them to a dressing room. “Dark Light, you should go and get ready, the rest of you, can have the next few hours to your selves. Oh and Shimmer, dear, you can go in to the dressing room with Dark Light, if you wish,” Shimmer nodded politely and joined her husband in his dressing room.

“Hey Shim. You coming to watch me get dressed?” He said with a smile. They both laughed and gave each other a kiss, before the prince was dragged off to be made handsome for his coronation. There was a lot to be done, from makeup to clothing, which was a sort of military looking get up with a slightly regal golden tinge to it. It was expertly designed to match his coat. “I wonder how many ponies know I’m alive,” The grey prince said.

“I think a lot of them do know, how else would they ‘advertise’ the coronation?” his wife said. The couple continued to converse and the time flew by, there was a short rehearsal and a little briefing but then he was ready for the real thing. He was standing in the same room as the one he was standing in before his wedding. So much had happened since then, his son, him going on a long journey, his kiss, no, kissES with Applejack, killing Chimera (which he still regretted) and getting his wings. Yeah, a lot had happened, and now he was here, about to be officially crowned prince. He already had his princess, he would always have her. He was called to be taken to the main hall to start the ceremony, so he left his room and, accompanied by his wife, he trotted his way to the front doors, and then it began. The doors opened, and there was a fanfare, as Dark Light marched up to the front.

They got to the end of the ceremony, and Dark Light and Shimmer went over to the balcony. There was a multitude of ponies cheering aloud as he stood there. He was about to start speaking when he heard something that resembled screaming. He turned around just in time to see an earth pony ten feet away from him holding a clean blade, which was aimed directly at him. The black earth pony with the weapon jumped and before anyone could react, the metal pierced flesh. Though it was not the flesh the attempted assassin hoped it would be. It was…

“SHIM!” The prince shouted. She had dived in front of the gray princeand taken the blade. Dark Light kicked the earth pony square in the face but despite this, he only stumbled back a few feet, releasing the blade that was still in the beautiful, but now bleeding mare. Celestia lifted her away, as her husband was charged by the unarmed earth pony, Dark Light dived out the way and then pinned the assassin against the balcony guard rail. “WHY?”

“You killed my master, the blood debt must be repaid,” he said in reply.

“WHO ARE YOU!?” the prince yelled.

“I am Stone Hoof, I was Chimera’s right hoof stallion, and now he is dead by your hand, I am my own, and I came here to kill you,” the black stallion said.

“Well, I am afraid your attempt will end with no death,” the prince said, grabbing a nearby banner with his magic and tying up the assassin with it. He left to check on his wife who was in the main throne room with Celestia and the seven Ponyvillites that had joined him and Shimmer on the trip here. He immediately ran over to her and took her in his fore hooves. “Hey Shim,” he said, tearing up slightly. “How are you holding up?”

“I-I’ve be-been better,” she said returning the smile.

“You are going to make it through this, Shim, I know you will,” The stallion said rather frantically.

“No, Light, I won’t,” She put her hoof on his check, and he placed his on hers. “Listen, I-I want you to- to be happy. If you find a mare who- who you love, mar-marry her and who loves you back, yo- you have too, for flash,” the stallion began to cry.

“I can’t Shim. I love you, don’t go! Please,” he said through his tears.

“I – I Love you too, sweetie. Flash – Flash as well,” She started to fade, “I-I Feel – so cold,” Dark Light leaned in and kissed her. “I love you, D-ark Light,” And with that, as her blood pooled around her, Dark Light kneeling there trying to stop the inevitable, her life faded. Dark Light took her shoulders and pressed his head underneath hers.

“No! NO NO NO NO NO!! SHIM! PLEASE! SHIM! I LOVE YOU, PLEASE!!” Big mac started to go over to him as the prince turned to Twilight. “USE YOUR MAGIC! YOUR STUPID FRIENDSHIP RAINBOW!” the purple alicorn looked at him with eyes that said ‘I can’t’ as Big Mac place a hoof around Dark Light, who realised who was to blame for his wife’s death and, just after the big red stallion had realised what he would do, tried to charge for the balcony. He was restrained by the stallion that had once been his best stallion at his wedding.

“Ya can’t do this, Light,” the red pony said.

“HE KILLED HER!” The grey prince shouted.

“Ah know, Even Ah think he deserves it, but ya jus’ can’t, Didn’ Chimera tear yah up enough?”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT CHIMERA!”

“SHUT UP AN’ LISTEN!” The now angry red earth pony shouted. Dark Light continued his struggle, “Ah know what y’all is feelin’, ah don’t know how yah feel, but Ah know what it is! You’re angry! Shim ain’t with us no more, killing that bastard ain’t gonna solve nuthin’! Think about what she woulda done,” The still struggling prince calmed down a little.

“Dark Light. Think about what you said to me those many years ago. You are not this pony. You are kind, merciful. What is the point of arguing to save somepony’s life if you are only going to end another pony’s life later? You had no choice with Chimera, but you have a choice now! Make sure you choose wisely,” The Princess said to him, and with it, he ceased his struggle.

“Why did this have to happen to Shim? Why now? If I hadn’t asked her to come here with me she would be alive!” the crying prince turned to his lifeless wife. “Oh Shim, I would have died for you!” He said going down to her and pressing his forehead against hers. “Why didn’t you let me?”

He wept. He didn’t care what anypony thought. He cried, until he couldn’t cry anymore.

******************

Her funeral was in Ponyville. Celestia had told him he could have it where ever he wanted. He wanted it to be in their home town. So it was. She was buried in a special plot of land in the Ponyville cemetery, which was kept out of sight of most of the houses in Ponyville. The ceremony was outside, and the weather was due to be raining, but the pegasi delayed the downpour until the funeral was over. It was time for the widower to say his words, and so he went to the front and wiped the tears from his eyes. His son was not in his usual state of happiness. He knew his mother and he knew she was gone forever. He was crying his eyes out, so Dark Light let Pinky look after him for a second, he still cried but it was not as audible. Without any further distractions the widower started saying his words.

“I would like to let you all know how much it means to me that you are all here. Your support through this has helped me. More than any of you know,” he paused. “I would also like to say that I didn’t right anything down. I wanted everything I say to be from the heart. I was only married to Shim for just over a year and through that year she has done things that no other pony has ever done for me before. She loved me, she comforted me in my times of need, she married me even though she knew me, and she even gave me my son. Above all this, she did something that only she has done, and I hope no other pony will do it again. She died for me. I didn’t want her too, but she did it anyway,” He paused again. “I now have to say goodbye to her, far too soon,” He looked up slightly and started to raise the tone of his words, “but even though she isn’t with us physically, she will always be with us in spirit. Her kindness and compassion, her love and laughter, they will be with us in our memories. I refuse to remember her as the mare that died for a prince. I will always and forever remember her as my wife, and as a loving mother. After all, that was what she was,”

The grey stallion took a hoofull of dirt and threw it into the hole in which his wife’s coffin was. It was an old tradition for the spouse or eldest child to throw in a hoof of dirt, to help that pony come to terms with the death and move on. It was a stupid tradition and it never had the desired effect. That didn’t stop most ponies that were involved doing it anyway. After the first hoof of dirt, any family members and close friends did the same, so the seven ponies who were there that had accompanied Dark Light on the quest to Tar-tarus all put some earth in the hole, as did Shimmer’s parents, who came up to Dark Light and hugged him.

“If you ever need anything, just tell us. You are still our son in law,” Shimmer’s dad said, his tone showing that he was repressing his emotions. Something his wife didn’t have the ability to do, she was crying like a waterfall, as was her right. Loosing someone close to you is never easy, but losing a child? That’s even worse. No parent should outlive their child; this doesn’t mean that no parent does lose their child.

“Thank you. Both of you have suffered a worse loss than I have, so if you ever need anything either, I would happily extend the same courtesy,” The father nodded, and the married couple walked away. Dark Light looked at them, holding each other in a comforting embrace. That was something, the widower missed. Having someone to take care of you, love you as their own, for who you were, not who you wanted to be. He remembered what Shim said.’ If you find a mare who you love and who loves you back, marry her, you have too, for flash,’ how could he? He was broken, by her loss, by his trauma. If anypony else would love him, it would be a miracle, but even if he did, he would feel as though he had betrayed her.

“Y’alright? Ah know what it feels like to lose somepony close tah you,” Dark Light glanced around, his eyes landing on Applejack. “Ah lost mah parents, losin’ mah ma was hard enough, but when mah pa died, I wanted tah join ‘em. Hell, I ain’t told nopony ‘cept mah granny, but I even tried tah join ‘em on time. I just went to the barn and found some o’ the rat poison we used tah keep the little rodents away from our hay and just ate it. It didn’ work, but after granny knew why ah did it, she reminded me that they would always be lookin’ after me, from up above,” She muzzled Dark Light.

“What Ah’m sayin’ is, even though she’s gone, she hasn’t left yah,” She put a hoof around him, placing the other one on his temple, “As long as she’s in here,” she moved it down to his heart, “she’ll stay with yah in here,” Dark Light did something he never thought he could do now; he smiled. He placed a hoof around Applejack, and they embraced each other, tears running down Dark Light’s face, but the smile still being present. He would never forget Shim, and so she would always be with him. That didn’t stop the pain but it helped.

Hope, Hope is Undervalued

After the first two yeasr of waking up alone, to nothing but the empty sheets where his wife once lay, Dark Light start to.. not get used to, but more build up a defence against the loneliness that he felt. It was never easy, and it never would be. He thought he could stay strong, he felt that he had to, if not for Shim, then for Flash, but keeping all your emotions pent up inside only results in more pain in the end. He had learned this the hard way. After a fortnight he had basically stopped eating. A month later he was drinking, regularly. After five months he was drinking far too much far too often. He ended up giving him self alcohol poisoning at one point, and at this point he realised what he had done. He had started to ignore everything Shimmer had said to him. He hadn't stayed strong at all, he hadn't found a pony he loved, looked after Flash, he was fundamentally the complete opposite to what Shim would have wanted him to be.

And so he changed. He sent Flash to the colt's god-parents so he could have a bit of time to recuperate and basically get his act together and that was exactly what he did. He got out of hospital a week after he was admitted, and spent a moth getting clean of all his prior destructive addictions, he didn't even touch alcohol for the rest of the year and he managed to get him self to get into a relatively normal, eating habit. He had lost a substantial amount of weight since Shim had died, but he was now getting back to the healthy size and was even able to improve his strength. His friends had supported him every step of the way, but only after he was released from the hospital did he start to appreciate their help. He even managed to return the favour with some of them.

Dash had a bit of a panic attack when Soarin' was involved in an incident during a tour to Saddle Arabia, a few weeks after Dark Light returned home, in which the venue had been attacked by a group of about thirty rouge changlings who tried to destroy the stadium. Fortunately the Wonderbolts and the Princesses present managed to subdue them, but a few of the defenders had been harmed. Soarin' had lead his squad mates into battle and taken the brunt of the attacks from the changlings and had been badly injured in doing so. He had to stay in Cloudsdale's hospital for about a month, during which, Dark Light had managed to comfort her, telling her that Soarin would be fine and baking a pie or two to remind her of her coltfriend. He wasn't the only one, by the end of the month, Rainbow Dash had received *ahem* : Seven pies, eight bouquets of flowers, five boxes of chocolates, had fifteen different ponies round and nearly fifty different cards to comfort her. she gave six of the seven pies to Soarin' and let him have all the cards in the hospital but she kept the rest at home, because chocolate is delicious. Soarin' made a relatively speedy recovery considering his initial state, and the first thing he said to Dash when she saw him was a wedding proposal. To which the answer was a loud resounding "YES!" followed by a surprisingly fillyish squee. The happy mare got another surprise when Spitfire actually asked her to join the team, and another scream of joy ensued.

Rarity's dresses had become the most prestigious items anypony could own. Having been selected by Sapphire Shores to make the best dresses she could make for a fashion show with the largest and widest audience yet, everypony who saw the dresses wanted them. There was a growing demand, and Rarity only had the time to make clothing for a very select few, but being as generous as she was, she didn't choose the highest bidders, she went for the lowest ones. Soon she was commended for her selflessness and she ended up making a fortune off the dresses she sold, despite her clientèle. Twilight had been tasked by Celestia to take charge over Ponyville as her kingdom, she and the other elements of harmony were to safe guard it and to basically be the guardians of the town, and they did a very good job of it. She and Big Macintosh had also married and were preparing to have their first foal.

Fluttershy had not had much interesting developments in her life, aside from the fact that she had tried alcohol for the first time. Pinkie was holding one of her random but crazy fun shindigs, for two reasons: she had basically started a party company for ponies of any ages and in doing so she had basically learned to live off of her parties. She had a party for her friends every two weeks or so, but she was organising parties all over Equestria every few days, which she didn't mind. The second reason was because she wanted to try and keep all of her friends as happy as possible, with a lot of recent events resulting in a great state of depression and with someponies feeling unable to cope, she took it upon herself to make everypony happy, and that, she did. At this particular party however, there was not pure fun and entertainment, there was one occurrence that lowered the tone. With the shyest and possibly most fragile pony in town trying alcohol for the first time, it was bound to have some repercussions. Fluttershy, being the little pony that could be made of marshmallow, that she was, had managed to get completely hammered after her first bottle of cider, and she was nothing like what she was sober. She had been seduced by a fairly tipsy clover, resulting in the pair waking up the next morning, with Fluttershy feeling really guilty.

Clover relayed the some of the happenings, including the night, to his hitherto marefriend Applejack who, unsurprisingly, ended their relationship there and then. She didn't hate him, but she couldn't forgive him either. She went to Fluttershy's cottage just to tell her that she wasn't mad at her. AJ knew that Flutters wasn't her self when she did it, and she knew Fluttershy well enough to know that she would have felt really bad for doing it. AJ got her side of the story, the full story,and pretty soon after hated her now ex-coltfriend, and so she went to give him a piece of her mind, but by the time she got to his home, he a left and only left a note giving an excuse:

Dear AJ

I am sorry for what I did, and I know that you're never going to forgive me, but I just wanted you to know that I do love you.

Bullshit the first word that came to her head after reading that sentence

The reason I'm skipping tow is because, quite frankly, I am to scared to deal with any potential problems in the future. I don't want to see this town any more, I'm never come back, and I don't want to know anything about the trouble I caused. I wouldn't be able to deal with it, I never will be. Tell Fluttershy that I'm sorry that I took advantage of her and I hope that her future is bright.

Goodbye,

Forever

Clover.

As soon as AJ had read the letter, she tore it up in a fit of rage. She told her brother - who simply said he would kill the arsehole the next time he saw him - and then forwarded the message begrudgingly to Fluttershy, wishing she could give more information. She continued to check up on her for the next few weeks, but there was a sudden change. Fluttershy was pregnant.

AJ got everyone she thought could do something to provide as much assistance as possible. People, made food, helped care for the animals, made sure Flutters wasn't needing for anything and generally keeping her happy. One jet black stallion in particular had managed to give Fluttershy something nopony had given yet. Hope. The ponies name was Thunderlane and the two had stared to get along well, with him providing some vital help with the animals. The two ended up getting together, and after a few months they were, as with Soarin' and Rainbow Dash, engaged. After the foal arrived, the couple raised him as is clover was non-existent. Thunderlane was the foal's father, in both the foal's and Fluttershy's eyes. They decided to name the filly pegasus Dandelion, and the three lived a normal family life, with plans to give Dandelion a younger sibling.

AJ and Dark Light had started to become very close after Clover's disappearance, as Dark Light was the only pony, it seemed, that actually realised she might be suffering too. And suffering she was. She had blamed herself for Fluttershy getting pregnant but Dark Light managed to tell her that she wasn't to blame for anything. Clover was the only one who was to blame, and even if AJ was at fault, if this hadn't happened, Fluttershy would never have met Thunderlane, and she would never have been as happy as she was now. That seemed to coerce her out of her previous mindset, but the prince didn't stop checking on her to make sure for certain that she was fine. After about a month or two, the pairing seemed to have revived some of the feelings they had once had for each other, and realising that denying those feelings now would not only be insanely difficult, but foolish. The barriers that kept it from happening earlier were no longer there, but Dark Light still loved Shim like no other and although he felt awful for falling in love with an other pony, even though the one he had loved the most had passed away.

AJ, helped him through it. Through the guilt, the trauma, the depression, the alcoholism, the sadness, the anger, everything. He realised that he had been given a last request by his wife. She had told him that if he fell in love with somepony, anypony, he should marry them. For Bold Flash. His son. The most important thin in all the world to him. Sending him to his god-parents was the hardest thing Dark Light had ever done, but giving him a mother, even if it wasn't his birth mother, was something that he realised was Important - and so he did. Him and AJ not only got married, but also gave Flash a little sister, whom they called Orchard. She was a pegasus, but she would obviously have an increased amount of strength due to the fact that her mother was the strongest mare from Equestria to Horstralia. The now husband and wife, moved into the farm, with Big Macintosh moving into Dark Lights old house after Dark Light had been insistent on them doing so. Spike now lived in the library by himself, which he enjoyed. He liked being considered responsible enough to live by himself.

After Three years, Dark Light had managed to build a life for himself, and his son. He would tell his son about Shim when he was old enough to understand, he wanted his son to know the truth about her. Without whom Dark Light wouldn't be alive. The life they had was worth keeping, and Dark Light would never, ever, let it go away. Not until the day he died.

----------Epilogue-----------

Dark Light was staring out the folded in top section of the door to his house, looking up at the night sky and thinking about the events of his life.

"Light? Sweetie, where are yah?" The voice of his wife called, as she walked down the stairs.

"By the front door AJ. Are Flashy and Orchid asleep?" He responded. AJ walked up to him, kissed him and gave him a smile.

"yessiree," Dark Light kissed her back, smiled and started to walk towards the stairs. "Howsabout we stay downstairs, maybe just go up to the hill and look at the sky? Ah'd like to spend some time alone with yah, since we ain't had much time together recently. What with the foals an' all,"

"I like the sound of that, I'll bring a blanket," He said, smiling, before he grabbed a blanket and the set off the the hill, through the apple orchard. When they reached it, the two lay down next to each other an just looked at the night sky, with the thousands of diamonds suspended in the dark void background. "AJ?"

"Yeah, sugar cube?"

"I love you,"

"I love you too,"

The two kissed, and soon after fell asleep under the beauty of the night sky.

Unexpected Consequences

The next few days were very enjoyable, with their new friends showing them the ins and outs of Ponyville, on the couple's last day there, they had another party lasting nearly all night and containing a lot of dancing, completely tiring out the couple who had to very quickly learn how to square dance, which was fun, but as they both learned very quickly, not easy. The night ended with a slow dance in which a surprising amount of couples were dancing. Applejack was dancing with a stallion called Clover, Twilight was dancing with Applejacks brother, Big mac, Fluttershy and Rainbow dash, being the only two pegasi present, had an air dance, an old pegasus dance that was commonly danced by same sex couples due to the lack of any romantic connotations in the dance, Rarity was dancing with a pony called Caramel and nobody knew what Pinkie was doing, dancing with herself by the looks of things. Shimmer Heart and Dark Light danced together and to both his and her surprise they were very good at it. Dark light leaned in and whispered in Shimmers ear.

“I love you,” Shimmer blushed and smiled ear to ear, as she leaned out to look him in the eyes.

“I love you too,” The two unicorns engaged in a kiss that seemed to stop time. They were both happy and when the kiss was over they continued to star in each other’s eyes. These two weren’t the only couple who shared a kiss, both Applejack and Clover and Twilight and Big Mac did as well. The dance finished and all the couples (and pinkie) decided to call it a night. They all left to go home giving a big farewell to Dark Light and Shimmer, who promised to visit again. The unicorn couple enjoyed their last night in Ponyville and in the morning they boarded the train and set off to go home.

One month after their trip to Ponyville, the unicorn couple were both nearing their final exams for their magic training. Dark Light was doing exceptionally well showing his skills were beyond that of all his class mates, Shimmer seemed to be trailing behind. She couldn’t concentrate and she was missing her classes. Dark Light new something was wrong but he was afraid to ask. He wanted to help but how could he if he didn’t know what the problem was? During one of the classes that Shimmer was absent from, Dark Light decided that he would go find her.

“Sir, is it alright if I leave? I have to go to an appointment with my doctor,” The professor didn’t seem to like being interrupted, and he gave the grey stallion a long stare.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I forgot” The teacher sighed and said he could go. Dark Light left and started searching for Shimmer. He eventually heard somepony crying in the courtyard and went to investigate. Sure enough it was Shimmer who was lying down with her head buried in arms. “Shim? Are you ok?” the pony looked up and wrapped her arms around her lover still crying.

“Light,”

Something in her voice yelled out she was ashamed and incredibly scared.

“I’m Pregnant,”

A wave of confusion crossed Dark Light’s mind. What should he say? What should he do? He needed to help her. That was the one thing he knew. He embraced her and told her everything was going to be ok, that she had nothing to fear and that he would stay with her all the way. Tears still fell from her eyes but she obviously felt better knowing that Dark Light was there with her. He looked her in the eyes and smiled, trying to get her to do likewise.

“I love you Shim, and no matter what, I always will. You are not alone. I am here with you, every step of the way,” Shimmer smiled and Dark Light leant in and kissed her. “Now, let’s go. You don’t want to fail your exam do you?” The stallion said with a smile.

The day of the final exam came quicker than the grey unicorn anticipated and unlike most other tests, you got your result on the day. That made this day extra daunting. There were two things to worry about, the exam and your mark on the exam. The exam consisted of three main parts, history of magic, magic capability and set spell casting. History of magic was mainly self-explanatory. You are tested on your knowledge of how magic came into this world and how it developed through the years. Magic capability is a pre-prepared spell from the candidate where they show the toughest spell they can cast and the invigilators judge them based on the level of the spell and how successful the candidate could cast it. The last part is the most daunting. You are given an item that requires magic, such as a dragon’s egg, and are told to make it do what it is supposed to do, for example hatch.

Dark Light managed to do brilliantly with both of the spell casting tests but had a felling he didn’t do too well in the history of magic segment. Shimmer came out beaming. She was practically bouncing when she got out of the examination room.

“Looks like somepony did well” The stallion said with a smile. Shimmer blushed and hugged him. He hugged her back.

“Thank you so much, Light. Without you I wouldn’t have had the courage to go in there,”

“It’s ok, Shim. You supported me when I needed it, it’s only fair I support you when you need it,” The unicorns stayed at the college and waited until the results were posted. You were given four results, one for each topic and a total result for the whole exam. Each was given as a letter A through to F. As expected Dark Light got Two A’s from the actual spell casting segments and a C for the history part. Over all he got a B for his total. Shimmer on the other hand managed to get a B in the set spell casting but everything else was an A. Dark Light congratulated her and she said the same to him. They smiled and walked home.

“What should we do now? We don’t have to stay in Canterlot anymore,” The stallion said on their way home. Shimmer seemed to like the idea of moving out of Canterlot. She liked the idea of living somewhere rural and open.

“We should look around Ponyville. See if there is a house on the market,” Shimmer suggested. The look she got from Dark Light showed that he liked the idea of it.

“Let’s go tomorrow. We can tell them the good news,” he said. She smiled at the fact he said GOOD news. He was happy about the child, not scared and he certainly hadn’t run away like she thought he would. He loved her and as he said, he would be with her, every step of the way.