TiM: Price of Victory

by Twidashforever

Rating: mature
Tags: Romance, Original Character, Sex, Tragedy, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Rainbow Dash
Length: 254947

TiM: #6 At what point does the cost of victory exceed the price of defeat? When would it be preferable to simply have lost?

Story number six of the Twilight is Magic series. See author notes in first chapter for link to read order.
Two dark shadows have hatched their own plans for Equestria as the nation still tries to recover from the destruction caused by the Titan attack six months ago. Meanwhile, marriage begins for two of Equestria's inhabitants, and a prophecy still hangs overhead.

Thanks to Electrostatic, Somepony Unstable 3224, Voidedstory, Northernwing, Silent Reader, and Crystal_bombshell for help with edits!
image comes from deviant artist NyuuChanDiannePie. Titled: The longest night

Published 2014-06-17 10:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-21 19:42:40 UTC

Firestar's Wedding

Author's Note

Twilight is Magic read order

And we began again.

bigger chapters this time around. (of course that means less updates)

this time expect everything and anything to happen

As always, leave your comments below.

Firestar's Wedding

The Crystal Empire

Six months ago, Firestar, the Commander of Cloudsdale military forces and by tradition, the Commander of Cloudsdale itself; suffered injury in the campaign against the Titan Cronus. While attempting to save the life of a wounded soldier, the Titan shattered her back legs with its fist. Every bone in them reduced to powder by the hit. It was only due to Prince Radiant Star’s quick response that she was able to survive the battle at all.

After extensive surgeries and magical treatments, they were able to save her legs, owed in no small part to the magical help of Princess Luna, Cadance, and Shimmering Night. Who each took it in turn to augment her doctors’ natural healing magic with their alicorn magic. While they saved her legs, the doctors told Firestar she would never be able to walk again.

Anypony who knew Firestar could tell you that the fastest way to get her to do anything was to tell her she could never do it. She took to her rehab like a mare possessed. Firestar blew right past what the doctors said she should be able to do. Several times she would stumble and fall, several times the pain was almost too much for her to take. Each time, Prince Radiant Star would catch her as she fell.

Radiant was her rock, her motivation to do the impossible. Radiant achieved the impossible for her; he went against his natural talent and limitations in order to save them both. His love for the mare allowed him to protect them both from a Titan’s bulk crushing them when it fell. For the first time in his life, Radiant Star managed to cast his father, Shining Armor’s, shield spell. It was a mark of his love for her that he achieved such a feat.

Many rumors spread about the two, as the son of Princess Cadance, Radiant was a prime target for rumors and his obvious romantic interest with Commander Firestar was the talk of the nation. Three months ago, Firestar finally had enough of answering the question about when they were going to be married. She called a press conference and told everyone that they would get married when she could bucking well walk down the aisle to her own wedding.

Most wrote it off at that point. It was an impossible dream for her that they figured the two were using as an excuse never to marry. Not Firestar, for her it was the goal line she strove to pass every single day of her life. Her motivation to get up in the morning and she poured her heart and soul into that goal. Radiant was the world to her, their love for each other was nothing short of magical. She knew that she would walk and they would get married. Nothing else mattered to the mare as nothing else was that important in her life. As such, two months to the day of her press conference, Commander Firestar took her first, unsupported step.

It had a one-in-a-million odds of ever happening, but when you roll the dice, sometimes you get lucky. She immediately scheduled the wedding for one month out.

History would come to know the wedding as the most secure ceremony ever. Commander Firestar’s office passed a mandate to all of Cloudsdale that every active pegasi who did not get an invitation to the wedding would be on patrol duty. For the first time since its creation, Cloudsdale was empty. Every pegasus knew either of the Commander’s temper first hoof or from the accounts of others. As always with such rumors, a lot of them were blown out of proportion. Several claimed that she would throw ponies out of her office through unopened windows. Nopony really took it seriously. Save those that actually went through such treatment, the doctors that healed them, and the ponies that replaced those windows. For Firestar’s part, she did not care what any rumor said about her, as long as they obeyed her orders.

Obey they did; it did not matter that some of the rumors were true and some were not, what mattered was that they existed at all. The guest list was a mile long, inviting every pony that could come. However, nopony wanted to be off guard incase yet another event occurred during the royal wedding. Equestria did not have a good record of accomplishment with those; as such, every other pegasus in Cloudsdale volunteered for guard duty, and that was not counting the Cloudsdale militia, which was on the highest alert.

The Cloudsdale military combined with the civilian reinforcements, the crystal pony guard, and the royal guard created the most secure location in history. Despite the record turnout for the wedding itself, nopony got within a hundred hoofs of the Crystal Palace without three different guards stopping and questioning them at least three times. The guards searched every piece of luggage three times and confiscated anything suspicious. They pulled the Wonderbolts’ themselves off the hunts for Tartarus escapees to provide security for the palace itself.

Of course, not everypony was happy about the security. As Rainbow Dash was making her feelings about it painfully clear to Twilight Sparkle in no uncertain terms.

“If we get stopped one more time, I'm going to lose my bucking mind.”

“Rainbow, you will do nothing of the sort.”

“Twi… I've had it with this. We are bucking princesses for Luna’s sake. We shouldn’t have to put up with this sort of treatment.”

“Rainbow Dash, you know why they are doing this. The guards stop everypony; everypony's ID is checked. There are no exceptions.”

“Ugh… Fine…” Rainbow landed next to Twilight. For the time being, only the security detail could fly in the Crystal Empire. In truth, Twilight suspected that it was her friend’s predisposition always to be off the ground that caused them to be subject to so many security checks, well that, and Rainbow’s golden wings. Although, Twilight would have to add another idea to her list of reasons, almost everypony who stopped them also wanted an autograph from the two. Twilight did not exactly understand that last part. Rainbow told her they were famous, but she had no idea they were this famous.

Twilight smiled as she looked over at her friend’s pouty face. ‘Rainbow sure is cute when she gets like this.’ She thought to herself. Twilight had yet to talk to Rainbow about it but she felt a growing attraction to the mare, something only Princess Cadance knew anything about. Several times in the last few months, Twilight actually built up the nerve to ask Rainbow out. However, each time she would chicken out at the last minute.

‘Today,’ Twilight vowed to herself once again. ‘After the wedding, I'll ask her.’ Cadance told her to follow her heart, that there was absolutely nothing to fear from doing so. It was good advice, sadly every time Twilight went to do it her heart wanted to run away in fear.

Twilight had made some wonderful friends in the past six months. Ever since her accident, she knew not who she was. It mattered not; she had Rainbow by her side every step of the way. Truly, Twilight doubted a more loyal pony existed. Despite Rainbow’s tough exterior and in-your-face attitude, she was nothing but a big softy at heart. It seemed like there were two sides to the mare, her public face that she put on for everypony else, and the side she only showed Twilight.

Of course, Rainbow Dash was not the only pony Twilight met. There were several colorful characters she now counted as the best of friends, including, but not limited to: A half pony dragon hybrid that went by the name Ataxia. Her parents, a fabulous dress designer named Rarity, and her faithful dragon husband who oddly spent most of his time transmogrified as a pony, Spike. Her sister-in-law, Princess Cadance; who use to be Twilight’s foal sitter when she was younger. Princess Luna, one of the rulers of Equestria. Princess Shimmering Night, a new ruler that took over when Princess Celestia died.

While Twilight had yet to meet the next three, she also heard a lot about Princess Aurora Flash who now served as the ambassador to the Griffin Empire and the two griffins in charge of the empire, Siros and Icarus, The latter being the son of the former, and the current Emperor.

Of course, she could not forget the two ponies whose wedding they were here to see. Prince Radiant Star, her nephew and Commander Firestar; the former Captain of the Wonderbolts, recently promoted to the Commander of all of Cloudsdale.

“Equestria to Twi! Hello, anyone in there?!” Twilight blinked several times as Rainbow waved a hoof in front of her face.

“Twi, we’re being stopped… Again…” The frustration in Rainbow’s voice was evident, Twilight felt sorry for the mare, this was the seventh time this hour that the pair was questioned, and that did not count the trip to the train station to pick up Rarity, Spike, and Ataxia only to find out they were delayed. The three would be arriving on the next train. At this point, even Twilight had to admit it was getting old.

“ID please.” The crystal pony guard said.

“Silver Blade, you know who we are.” Rainbow growled back at him. “We were at your graduation ceremony for Luna’s sake.”

“ID, please.” Silver Blade replied.

“For bucks sake.” Rainbow went to get her ID out from her bag. Then she stopped, Rainbow lifted her head at the crystal pony with a wicked grin on her face.

Twilight noticed this in her friend. Something bad just happened in Rainbow’s mind. Something that was going to cause a whole lot of trouble very soon, and Twilight just knew it would somehow involve her.

“Rainbow, whatever you’re thinking, please don’t do it.” Twilight whispered to her friend.

Rainbow simply winked at her, which for Rainbow is the same as saying that whatever was going to happen had already happened, reality just had not caught up to it yet. It was not in any one's power to stop it at this point.

“Tell me Silver Blade, what sort of air guard is in place right now?”

“That information is on a need to know basis.”

“Is that so? Because to me it looks like there are only three teams of pegasi flying overhead with two Wonderbolts keeping watch. Now tell me, is that enough guards for this area?”

Silver Blade became very suspicious as Rainbow raised both of her golden wings; the stallion looked like he was getting ready for a fight. Twilight could only hope he was not that stupid. “Miss, I need to see your ID now!”

Twilight mouthed a silent ‘sorry’ before what came next.

“Oh, I don’t think you need to see my ID, but I’ll do you one better; let’s put the air guard to the test.”

Twilight could only watch in horror as Rainbow picked her up and took off straight up. The gust of wind created by Rainbow’s wings knocked over the Silver Blade and every pony that was standing next to him. Twilight tried to scream for Rainbow to stop, but the sudden G-forces took the breath from her mouth.

Rainbow began laughing as she flew straight up; the pegasi teams started mobilizing to this unexpected threat in the center of town. As Rainbow flew above the clouds, she gingerly placed Twilight down on one.

“Rainbow, what do you think you are doing?!”

“Relax; I’m just going to have some fun for a minute. Then we can head to the palace.”

Twilight laughed at that, when Rainbow wanted to ‘have fun’ it normally implied a lot of property damage and the possibility that somepony would soon be injured. However, even she had to admit that it would be somewhat interesting to watch. “Be back in five, ok?”

“Five? C’mon Twi…”

“Five minutes.”

“Fine.”

Rainbow shot straight down into the group of guards that had made it halfway up to their position, knocking most of them a few hooves out of the air before they managed to catch themselves.

Twilight actually found herself laughing at some of Rainbow's antics. She half suspected that Rainbow was doing this on purpose just to impress her. She found herself blushing at that thought. ‘Does she like me too?’ Twilight questioned herself as Rainbow flew circles around an ever-growing number of pegasi that flew over to stop her.

Twilight laughed as the pegasi attempted to surround Dash, as they all moved in at once, the golden winged mare disappeared. All the guards collided with each other in their attempt to catch her. Twilight was not the least surprised when she heard a voice coming from behind her.

“So let me ask you Silver Blade, who is that on the cloud right there?”

Twilight turned around, while she was not surprised to see Rainbow there, she was surprised that Rainbow was holding the pony who questioned them before.

“I’m just doing my job.” He cried out.

“That’s not answering the question Silver Blade, I asked who that is.”

“Twi-Twi-Twilight Sparkle.”

“And who am I?”

“You’re crazy!”

“No, that’s not my name… You might want to hurry up; my hooves are getting tired of holding you.”

“Please don’t drop me!” The stallion shouted.

“Say my name.” Rainbow grinned at the panicking earth pony in her grips.

“Rai-Rainbow Dash!”

“There you go, now what is our title?”

“You’re both princesses!”

“See and you got all that right without our ID.”

“Rainbow, that’s enough.” Twilight had found some amusement, but it was quickly getting to a point where Rainbow might take it a little too far.

“Fine.” Rainbow said with a sigh.

In the blink of an eye, Rainbow returned Silver Blade to the ground and rejoined Twilight on the cloud. She landed next to her and wrapped a wing around the alicorn. Twilight enjoyed the warmth more than she could ever say. “So, how long until they find us?” Twilight asked.

“Oh that ship has sailed you two.”

They both turned to the newcomer who spoke. It seemed one of the guards actually had the presence of mind to go and tell Princess Cadance what was going on. Twilight shrunk in the golden cocoon she was wrapped up in, suddenly embarrassed to be seen like this by her friends. Rainbow simply blew the princess a raspberry and held Twilight even tighter.

Cadance landed next to the two with an upset look on her face. “What was that all about?”

Rainbow simply smiled at her. “What? I was just testing the guard defenses. I have to say, they won’t stop much in the way of an attack.”

“Rainbow, nopony could stop you in the air.”

“Yet they all felt the need to stop me every five bucking minutes to ask for an ID!”

Cadance face-hoofed, mainly at her lack of foresight to predict such a problem, but also at the stubborn streak Rainbow would constantly remind everyone about. “Rainbow… It’s called a security precaution. Everypony gets checked. There are no exemptions.”

“And this is the result of such a rule; besides, tell me how many ponies have golden wings for Luna’s sake!”

Cadance laughed at that, as much as she did not want to admit Rainbow was right, well… well she was right. No amount of magic or changeling tricks could clone those wings. They were uniquely Rainbow’s. That being said, such antics should not be encouraged.

However, looking at the two now. Cadance could not help but see what they used to be: Rainbow standing strong, unwilling to let her wife come to any harm or trouble. Twilight cooped up into Rainbow’s wings, simply enjoying being in the embrace of the mare that she loved. It was the epitome of love in Cadance book; she could no more stay mad at Rainbow for her antics than at the sky for being blue.

A smile crossed her face as she looked at the two. “C’mon you two, let's get to the wedding.”

Cadance took flight, followed by a confused Twilight and Rainbow Dash, who looked around waiting for the other horseshoe to drop. When none came, she was able to relax a little and enjoy the sites.

The crowd stretched for miles in every direction. They were all here for the wedding of Radiant and Firestar. The last time Rainbow saw a crowd this big was for her three (much to her chagrin) public weddings to Twilight… that memory was unwanted right now, so she tucked it away in a box marked ‘later’, a box that was quickly filling to capacity.

Rainbow tried to think of something, anything else. She noticed the wedding would take place directly under the Crystal Palace. With the Crystal Heart serving as the backdrop for the two lovers when they said their I-do’s. Even Rainbow had to admit; it was a romantic way to get married. While only a handful of ponies would actually be able to see it, the entire thing would be broadcast by magic over several large screens around the palace. When it was over, the two newlyweds would head off for their honeymoon. An event Rainbow was sure would not be for the young. Of course, thinking about those two and what they would soon be up to only served to remind Rainbow about memories of her and Twilight being together. Memories that quickly became erotic in nature. Yet those memories always brought a smile to her face.

“Hey Rainbow?”

“Yeah Twi, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to ask what you were thinking about. You had a really odd smile on your face.”

‘Crap.’

“I was just remembering some memories from before…” Rainbow hated playing that card, but she knew Twilight did not like the discussion going in that direction. The mare lost a lifetime of memories. She did not want to be reminded of that all the time, at least not all the time.

“Oh ok, never mind then.” As Rainbow predicted, Twilight immediately dismissed herself from the discussion.

Rainbow looked at the mare longingly. ‘I will have you back… one day.’

Following Cadance’s advice was the hardest thing Rainbow ever did in her life. She would rather face down ten rampaging Titans then lie to her wife like this. After six months, it still hurt to look at her and not be with her. Every cell in Rainbow’s body wanted to ravage the mare to an inch of her life and then do it repeatedly for a week straight, but she could not. “That Twilight is gone.” Cadance had told her. “If you want your wife back you have to accept that. This is a new pony, one who looks and sounds just like her, one who lost her entire life. Treat her as such; treat it as a new relationship. It will be the hardest thing you have ever done, but you have to let what you had go. If you want her back that is.”

So Rainbow played along. In front of Twilight she ‘pretended’ her kids were not her kids. She ‘pretended’ not to be soul mates for the one pony she loved more than anything else. Those feelings, she stored them in the ‘later’ box in her mind.

Few ponies truly suspected what it was truly doing to the mare. Rainbow was dying a little inside every single day.

Princess Cadance helped when she could. Nightly Rainbow would dream of her wife. They would be together yet again, hoof and hoof, lips to lips. It was the paradise she knew of before Tartarus, before that asshole took Twilight from her. If Rainbow could only have one wish, one that could not bring back Twilight’s memories, it would be to be able to kill that son of a bitch every single day for the rest of her unnaturally long life.

Her thoughts came to an end as soon as they reached the front of the stage. Cadance directed the two of them to their front row seats. They were seats befitting their roles as Saviors of Equestria, Princesses, and family members. Although Rainbow could not help but see the hypocrisy of Cadance’s earlier statements, if everypony was getting ID’d how come nopony stopped to see Cadance’s ID?

She let it go, for now.

“Alright you two, can I leave you here?”

“Cadance, what about Rarity, Spike and Ataxia? Who will get them when they arrive?” Twilight asked.

“I’ll have somepony bring them in for you, ok? They have assigned seats right behind yours. Now the wedding starts in four hours. Can I trust you two not to cause any more mischief during that time.” While Cadance used the term ‘you two’ there was no doubt in any pony’s mind that she was talking about Rainbow, and the fact she stared right at her during that speech was also a dead giveaway.

Rainbow and Twilight simply looked at each other, their non-verbal conversation confirming what the other was thinking. Both heads turning back to Cadance and each raised an eyebrow at her in perfect symmetry. It was Twilight that broke the silence though. “You want Rainbow to sit here for four hours and NOT cause trouble?”

“I’ll bring you one of the Daring Do omnibuses.”

“Make it the first one!” Rainbow called out as Cadance flew away. Heading directly for the library before Rainbow found ‘other’ ways to entertain herself.

“What’s Daring Do?” Twilight asked her friend.

A smile crossed Rainbow’s face. In the six months since the accident, Twilight had focused her time on her studies. Beyond the few minutes Rainbow stole her away, she never had time for anything fun. Rainbow grabbed Twilight's hoof with her own, an action that cause a noticeable blush from the lavender alicorn. “Trust me Twi, you’re going to love it!”

…………………………………..

Ponyville Express

“Ok, someone is getting roasted alive today!” Ataxia shouted as yet again, another pony bumped into her on the train. It was getting annoying and fast.

“You shall do no such thing. No daughter of mine is going to make a spectacle of herself.”

“Mom… he’s doing it on purpose!”

“Ladies, calm down. Ataxia, look around, this train if packed full of ponies; there is no room for anyone. Everypony just needs to deal with it for the time being.” Spike did his absolute best to try and calm everyone down. After the debacle with trying to board the first train, (an event that almost got them banned for life from ever riding the trains again.) they were lucky to even get seats on this train. Much less still be able to make it to the wedding on time. Rarity was relieved that the outfits for the wedding were already there. Firestar and Radiant each came by her boutique weeks ago for her to work on them. All her designs were good, but these were phenomenal.

“I still don’t see why we're even on this dumb train. I flew from Canterlot to Ponyville to get you two, why can’t we just fly there?”

Spike’s heart jumped into his chest as she brought up this argument again. There was a reason why they could not just fly there, a very, very, good reason. It was just one that he did not want to share with anypony just yet. The conversation going in that direction caused him to rub up against Rarity just a little closer. For most ponies, they couldn’t see it, Rarity spent hours on her looks every day in the mirror; most ponies wouldn’t notice anything wrong with her.

Spike wasn’t most ponies. He lived with the mare every day of his life for the past forty-one years. He knew her better than she knew herself. Old age was finally catching up to the mare. A flight on the back of a dragon would not do her health any favors. As such, he simply came up with an excuse to take the train. Unfortunately, it was one that fell apart under the tiniest bit of scrutiny.

“Tell you what Ataxia, why don’t you go ahead and fly there, we'll stay on the train with our bags.”

Ataxia’s face lit up, she could finally get out of this apprehensive, and if she was being honest, smelly train. “You... you sure?”

Rarity smiled at her. “We're sure, but don’t destroy anything on your way out.”

“Thanks mom!” Casting a quick gravity reversal spell on all the other ponies in the train, the passengers suddenly found themselves on the ceiling of the car, most with grunts of pain as they hit their new floor. Rarity face-hooved as she watched her daughter leisurely stroll to the connection between cars and jump off the train. Out the window she saw her transform in midair and fly off.

The rest of the passengers soon found their gravity had re-righted itself and once more fell to their floor of the train. Their grunts of pain were accompanied by a plethora of “sorrys” from Spike.

Rarity realized her mistake far too late. ‘I should have also said, do not hurt anypony too.’

………………………………………

Ten miles south of Ponyville

“Are you sure I should be coming?” Icarus looked at Aurora, a pleading expression in his eyes, as the griffin was looking for any excuse he could find to fly back to the empire

Both Aurora and Siros turned to the young emperor. Alone in the carriage pulled by two griffins the three of them were the representatives of the Griffin Empire. Well that was their official function anyhow. In reality Siros was a good friend of the family and Aurora Flash is Prince Radiant’s cousin, in addition to being a princess in her own right. That meant not only was she expected. She had a front row seat. Icarus was the current Emperor of the Griffin Empire. While he could technically get away with not making a public appearance at such an event, that was not going to fly for Aurora.

Not only was she looking forward to this event, she wanted Icarus to be there as well. For multiple reasons, in increasing order of importance these included but were not limited to: Wanting to improve relations between Equestria and the Griffin Empire. Wanting to change Icarus’s reputation. Wanting company for the event. Wanting Icarus to make a good impression on her family. Wanting the father of her unborn child to be by her side when she finally told her mom about it. About little Orion Knight. The son she never planned on, but now? Now she could not imagine a life without him. Him and his father. Even if Icarus was still an ass.

“You’re here because we need to show solidarity with the Equestrians.” Siros gave his normal political answer.

“You can’t do that?” Icarus responded. Aurora knew that wouldn’t work. Not with a griffin as stubborn as Icarus was.

“You’re here because I want you to be with me when I tell my mom about Orion Knight.” Aurora rubbed a hoof over her stomach. It was obvious to anypony who looked at her now, she was five months pregnant. While she wasn’t sure what it would be like to give birth to a hippogriff, she knew Rainbow would not take the news well. However, the chance to tell her before now never came up. It seemed as if the Gods themselves conspired to stop the two from having any chance to talk in the last few months. Her one saving grace is that Rainbow placed nothing above her family. She would both hate and welcome this piece of news.

Well that, and the fact that Aurora was not looking forward to this conversation. Rainbow would not be happy about finding out this way. Aurora always had a special relationship with her mom. A ‘pegasi only’ club the two shared simply between them. As much as she wanted to not do this, she put it off for far too long already. It was time for Rainbow to know, and it would be better for the pony… griffin that was responsible for it to be there to face the music with her. Rather than have Rainbow tear right through all of Warclaw looking for him. After the dragon war, it was something that the Griffin Empire could do without.

“Ok.” Came his reply. Icarus was a stubborn jackass at the best of times, but he was quickly learning not to argue with the pegasus. Something Siros was infinitely grateful for.

“Hey Aurora, isn’t that Ponyville?” Siros asked as he pointed to the left.

“Yes… it looks amazing.” Aurora stared in shock at her hometown. Almost every building was restored to its original state. Minus some construction still going on in the outskirts. And the dock on Night River, the town was almost back to normal.

“Rarity, you do some amazing work.”

“I heard she's designing the outfits for the wedding too.”

Aurora looked at her griffin. “Yes she did, she also designs every piece of clothing I wear.”

“Really?”

Aurora nodded at the Emperor.

“So, I have her to thank for the negligee?”

Aurora smiled again as Siros stared off into the distance, tactfully acting as if he did not hear that particular comment.

“Well, remind me to send her a huge thank you card.”

…………………………………………………

The Crystal Palace

“Prince, for the last time, you need to hold still.”

Radiant stared daggers into the stallion, he still could not believe that he had to go through this, again. It was the same damn stallion that pulled rank on him before his first date with Firestar. Yet again, he was at this pony’s mercy. Force to deal with every little pinprick the pony dealt to him. Radiant wanted to throw him out of the room, by way of the window. However, according to his mom, he'd gained a few pounds in the last few weeks. Radiant tried to tell her that nopony would notice, that she was being insane, but Princess Cadance would not let her son be married without him looking his best. As such, without Rarity here to make the adjustment herself, again he had to deal with this stallion poking him with needles all the while demanding he ‘be still’.

A thought occurred. “What’s your name anyway?”

“The prince wants to know my name?” he said as he stabbed another pin a little too far into the uniform and right into Radiant's skin.

“That’s what I asked isn’t it?” Radiant growled through the pain.

“Forgive me, prince. My name is Best Fit. Nice to be formally introduced.”

‘Best Fit? Maybe he should be called Sadist Fit.’ Radiant thought as Best Fit poked him with yet another needle.

“Are you done?” Radiant asked, his patience worn to the bone, the same bone the last needle ended in.

“That should do it, prince. Take a look.” Best Fit gestured to the full-length mirror in the room.

Before he went to glance in the mirror, Radiant looked himself over once. He was amazed that there were no bloodstains on his uniform. How such a miracle could occur was a mystery he would never solve. Radiant walked over to the mirror, what he saw made his jaw drop. He always looked good in uniform. A fact no small amount of mares failed to let him know. Now? Now he was a knockout. Somehow, Best Fit found a way to improve on Rarity’s work. Something he would have sworn was impossible before seeing it himself.

“What… what did you do?”

“Me, I did nothing, whoever designed that outfit is a master of their craft. I simply had to adjust it for the extra weight you put on.”

“I’m not getting fat.”

“Sorry, prince?”

“I’m not getting fat!” Radiant yelled out. Tired of this game already.

“I never said you were, prince. It seems as if your legs have grown a little in size though. I think your new exercise plan is paying dividends.”

Radiant smiled at that, ever since Firestar took her first step, she put them both through the hardest training she could think off. He loved every pain-filled minute of it. It did not matter to him what the two did together, as long as they did it together. While she could not do the same weight he did, that did not stop the prince from pushing his limits. Firestar vowed to beat him one day. He knew in his heart that day would be here soon. Firestar’s daily improvements were extraordinary. She was a mare possessed now that she had an objective to work towards. It was Radiant’s job to constantly move that goal post, to make her work for it. He would do it gladly, even if it did lead to this situation.

“Are you nervous, prince?”

Radiant tore his vision from the mirror and looked at Best Fit. He was going to tell him that they were not that close, that he should not be asking a prince such questions, but… Radiant could not bring himself to do that. ‘Am I nervous?’ Radiant asked himself, ‘It would make sense if I was. I am about to marry the most beautiful mare I have ever seen.’ He thought about it, for the first time since this all occurred, he thought about everything Firestar and he went through. Everything they experienced hoof and hoof together. He thought about how she made him feel, how great it was simply to be in her presence. How he would wake up to her every single morning, how he looked forward to simply seeing those blue eyes. How he would stay up as late as he possibly could simply so he could watch her sleep. The answer came to him clear as day. He was never more certain about anything in his life.

“No, Best Fit. I'm not nervous.” Radiant adjusted the medallion on his uniform with his magic. It was his final punctuation on the outfit. The same one his mom told him Shining Armor wore on their wedding day.

Best Fit smiled to the prince. He knew the answer to the question before he ever asked. He just wanted to help his prince know it as well. “She's a lucky mare.” Best Fit said as he gathered his supplies and headed out the door.

“On that I have to disagree with you, I’m the lucky one.” Radiant told him as he left.

“As the prince says.”

………………………………………….

Thirty miles south of the Crystal Empire

Ataxia loved the feeling of flight. The wind flowing through her scales felt amazing to the mare. Better than sex even… Ok, maybe sex was better, but this was a very close second. At times like this she truly felt free to be herself, to let herself go. Of course, there was one problem with being by herself. That problem was her thoughts; somehow they always knew when they could ambush the mare. Striking when she least suspected it. As they began replaying in her mind, it was easy for the mare to remember why she never took the time to consider things before, why she was a doer and not a thinker. Thinking SUCKS.

“You're the monster.”

Tirek’s words played through her head, that damn demon just had to leave its impact on her before he died. ‘I should have just roasted him alive.’ She thought for the hundredth time this week. As the strongest mare in the land who did not have any royal duties (and still had her memories intact), Ataxia was Equestria’s monster hunter. A term given to describe the Tartarus escapees that were free after the death of the God of Death himself, Tartarus. When that son-of-a-bitch was killed, all the worst of the worst were set free. As no one alive had an actual headcount of how many demons there were to begin with, a program was established to deal with the threats that came up.

Ataxia was put in charge of that program. Fortunately, her leadership simply involved being the leader of all hunts (something she had Shimmering Night to thank for). A task she was more than happy to do and more than capable of as well, for Ataxia was a dragacorn. If what Tirek showed her was to be believed, she was the promised creation of Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, whom she has only seen once in her life as the draconequus pulled himself one piece at a time from her mouth. That was an event that still caused her to gag when she remembered it.

Of course, it was never that simple, it turns out that Discord is actually the Occulous of the God Chaos, the first of the Primordial Deities, and they created Ataxia to be his Avatar in this world. The whole thing was ungodly confusing and hurt to think of. However, what she could not stop considering was Discord's words in the vision Tirek showed her.

“It will be its destiny to kill all the alicorns.”

That one phrase still sent shivers down her scales. What was worse, she had the power to do it. With the possible exception of Twilight Sparkle who lost her memories after being resurrected by the Gods, and Rainbow Dash who was not an alicorn, there was no being alive that had more power than she did. Ever since she was born ponies told her that her magic power was impressive. From a young age she could use spells that were known only by those who spent years in their craft. She never thought anything about it. For her, it was simply a matter of wanting to do something, channeling that thought through her horn, and watching as it happened. This has only increased over the last year.

In Warclaw she tapped into another source of power, her dragon side. This side of herself caused a transformation that completely changed her appearance and size. The first time she did it, she transformed into a creature twice the length of a pony, purple in coloring, with the features of a dragon: Scales, a tail, and dragon wings. Yet even though her face was changed, anyone who knew her would be able to see Ataxia in it. However, she still had her unicorn horn, her back legs still ended in hoofs, but her front legs were dragon claws. The Dragon Steel Armor her mom designed for her became a part of her form, granting her near immunity to most attacks and an increased flight speed that allowed her to perform the sonic rainboom.

It was a form that has only grown in size and power every time she used it. Her size would grow; her fire would burn hotter and brighter. To make matters worse, it seemed to be a part of who she was. After seeing what Tirek had to show, she gave the demon all the power she had. Yet, that was not enough to get rid of it. When her best friend in the world, Shimmering Night, went to sacrifice herself to save Ataxia. Ataxia found a new source of magic power, one that increased her magic several times over.

To save Night, she tapped into this power and managed another transformation. The damn demon burned to cinders in her fire. Now that was an event she liked to remember, but her stupid memories kept replaying Discord’s words.

“It will be her destiny to kill all the alicorns. To restore disharmony to a world overrun in harmony.”

She would never…. There was no scenario she could possibly consider that would see her hurting Princess Luna, Cadance, Twilight, or Night… She held them all in the highest respect. Especially Night. Shimmering Night was her friend for as long as she could remember. She knew the alicorn her entire life.

Of course, thinking of Night led to some ‘other’ problems. Ever since that hunt, Ataxia could not help but see the alicorn in a very different light. Shimmering Night was taller than Luna now, her flowing rainbow mane, and the lavender coat that seemed to always be perfectly brushed. Her cutie mark consisted of a griffin and a dragon holding up a crown, the subtle curves on her flank, her long, beautiful horn, her amazing fl-

‘Crap.’

“Think about something else, think about something else.” Ataxia spoke to no one in particular. That train of thought never made any stops at locations she wanted to go, well, not in situations like this anyway. Sometimes, at night she would willingly board that train, hoping that Luna was not paying attention. Now, with the wedding in a few hours was not the time to go ‘all-aboard’.

Of course, the Universe has a way of giving us the exact opposite of what we want at the worst possible times.

“Hey Ataxia!”

‘Shit.’

Shimmering Night flew around the dragacorn, performing a small loop around her friend as she did so. Ataxia tried as hard as she could NOT to stare at her friend's flank as she did so, but what her brain wanted and what her heart wanted were too very separate things, and it seemed as if her eyes sided with her heart in this regard. ‘Damn traitors’ she thought as her eyes went places they should not go.

“What… what are you doing here, Night?” Ataxia stumbled over the words as she watched her friend perform several more stunts in the air in front of her.

“Spike sent Princess Cadance a letter letting us know that you were coming early, and well Rainbow already caused enough trouble so Cadance asked me to escort you in.”

“Since when do we need an escort to fly to the Crystal Empire?”

Night laughed. “Well face facts, Equestria does not have the best track record with royal events. First with Cadance’s wedding then mine…”

That caused her to stop laughing. Ataxia could not help but feel bad for Night. Her husband, her ex-husband was lost to them. A revenant possessed the stallion and caused them all to turn against him. It was a mark of its subtlety that none of them even suspected what had occurred until it was far too late to do anything about it. Night accepted her husband, Bright Dawn, was gone. She would never get him back. That did not mean it hurt her any less.

“So Firestar herself oversaw the security to this event, and let me tell you, it’s a little insane.”

Ataxia laughed. “So that’s why Cadance thought I needed an escort, so I wouldn’t lose it and go on a rampage?”

“Was she wrong?”

“Probably not.” Ataxia conceded the point to her friend. If they stopped her enough times, she would get pissed after a while. Then things would simply escalate downhill from there. “So how are we going to get there?” Ataxia asked as the Crystal Palace came into view.

“Well, that’s the part you are not going to like.” Shimmering Night said as she gestured for the two to land near the outskirts of the empire. As they landed she looked over at her friend. “Can you transform back.”

A very confused Ataxia stared at her for a minute. “What are you doing?”

“Just trust me.” Night stared at her; regardless what was going on Ataxia would always trust her friend. However, after she transformed Ataxia suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Night… you’re not going to teleport me, are you?”

Night smiled at her, she was the one put in charge of the magical shielding around the empire. As such, she could teleport the two directly into the center. There was just one problem with her plan. Ataxia hated teleporting. Therefore, Night did not let her friend know, not until it was too late for her to do anything about it anyway.

“Night don’t you dare! Night… Night… NIg-“

In a flash, the two were gone.

………………………………………………..

The Crystal Empire Train Station

“How long has it been since you have been here, Rarity?”

“Over six months.” Rarity replied. She had not left Ponyville in all that time, her duties preventing her from traveling around. She had not wanted to go anywhere, not without everything being back the way it should have been, back before Tartarus started all of his shit.

Spike rubbed up against his wife, lending her what strength he could as the mare left the train. He knew there was another reason she had not left Ponyville in that time. His wife was tired; her age was starting to show in her actions and her ability to even travel around. She pressed back against him, transferring her weight against his. A soft coo left her lips as she felt his warmth against her fur.

As the two stepped off the train they were immediately intercepted by two-crystal pegasi. That alone was a rare event. Pegasi were a rarity in the crystal empire, only thirty-crystal pegasi actually existed in their entire empire, so to have two of them present was the mark of someone higher up causing it to happen.

“Mr. Spike, Miss. Rarity. We are here to escort you two directly to the palace.”

Rarity and Spike each looked at each other and smiled. “Lead the way, good sir.” Rarity replied.

The crystal pegasi directed the two to a shining crystal chariot for them to ride on. The similarities to Canterlot’s golden chariot was not lost on spike. ‘I wonder if they are enchanted with the same magic?’ In another time, one that felt like a lifetime ago, he would have asked Twilight that question. That seemed like forever ago now. Twilight knew enough to function in this world, but all her memories of her friends and family were gone. In truth, Spike did not know if that was a blessing or a curse.

Even if she did not remember them, Spike did. Memories of Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack still played through his head. In addition to memories of the little colt Spike had a hand in raising. It still seemed like only yesterday that he attended Dayspring’s graduation. That the little colt moved the entire crowd with his speeches. It hurt to think about him, to consider that he would never see the colt again. They never even found his body. The gravestone in Canterlot marked an empty plot.

That alone caused his melancholy to return. Rarity noticed this and rubbed up against his muzzle. They needed to stay strong for the others, and more importantly, for each other. Rarity was his rock; she was his reason for living. Spike was Rarity’s muse, her inspiration on what love truly was. They needed each other in every way.

Before they were even aware of it, the chariot came in for a landing. The two stepped off it and looked around. The wedding was to take place directly under the Crystal Palace. Allowing the two lovers to say their vows with the backdrop of the Crystal Heart right behind them. This event even corresponded with the Crystal Fair, ensuring that it would not only be a wedding to remember but that security would be a cluster fuck.

Or it would have been. However, Commander Firestar left nothing to chance in that regard. Every single pony was scanned and double-checked before being allowed anywhere near the wedding. It was only a mark of whoever sent for them that Rarity and Spike got this close without that particular security check being performed on them. Something that was being rectified now by two pegasi and a unicorn coming to greet them.

“Sir, ma’am, please stand to the side for a routine scan.”

Spike sighed. These things were never any fun for him.

…………………………………………………..

“Wait, you’re telling me that Daring Do is a real pony.”

“Yes Twi, that’s what I said.”

“But, that doesn’t make any sense, doesn’t her work always involve secrets? It would be stupid for her to write down everything she goes through. All her enemies would have to do is buy her book to learn everything they needed to know about what they did wrong and what her actions would be. That would be the equivalent of letting your enemies know your playbook ahead of time.”

Rainbow paused at that, she truly did not have a good comeback for why Twi was wrong. Why didn’t Ahuizotl simply read the books to learn what to do next time he fought Daring Do?

“Maybe her enemies were just really stupid?” Rainbow said sheepishly.

“All of them?’

“Hey look, do you want to continue reading or not?”

“Actually, I think we are out of time.”

Rainbow looked up at that; Twilight was right. Looking around she could see that just about every seat was filled to the brim with ponies. Ataxia, Spike, and Rarity had all taken their seats directly behind them. Looking over to her left, Rainbow saw the representatives of the Griffin Empire: Siros and Icarus sitting down with Aurora, who was holding a pamphlet out in front of them. The Princesses: Shimmering Night, Luna, and Cadance were all on the stage, standing next to Prince Radiant. Technically Rainbow and Twilight should have been on the stage as well, however, when Cadance asked them, both of them respectfully declined, for the least that it was already too crowded, but mainly because Twilight did not feel right about taking on such duties yet. She did not want to be known for such things yet.

“How did we miss this?” Twilight asked, flabbergasted that so many ponies could gather around them without noticing.

“What can I say? It’s a good book.” Rainbow laughed. She could never imagine a day where she would have to say that to Twilight.

Cadance smiled at the two, the bonds being formed between them stuck out like sore hoof to the Alicorn of Love. However, now was not the time for that relationship. Cadance was building that framework the right way; every brick lay down perfectly to ensure that it would last a lifetime. Now, now was the time for a different relationship to come to fruition. The one even she never expected. Now was the time to marry her son off.

“Hey, Rainbow.”

“What’s going on, Spike?”

“I just wanted to see how you two were doing?”

Twilight blushed and looked away at the comment. So many times these last few months everypony wanted to know how they were doing, how they were getting along. She knew there was a lot she did not yet know, but surely there was nothing important that was kept from her by now, right? Rainbow would not hide any secrets from her. She dismissed those unwelcome thoughts yet again. For what she had planned after the wedding they would simply get in the way.

Twilight turned to see Princess Luna step up to the platform. Knowing what was coming next, Twilight cast a quick sound dampening spell over the group of friends around her and Rainbow before Luna began to address the crowd.

“SUBJECTS! WE ARE TO BEGIN THE WEDDING AT ONCE!”

Fortunately a pink hoof stopped her from going on as Cadance took center stage. She waited a few minutes as every one's hearing slowly came back from the loud buzzing sensation of an amplified Royal Canterlot Voice going off in the center of the stage.

“Thanks Twi.” Rainbow whispered into her ear. Grateful for Twilight’s quick thinking in protecting her and her friend’s hearing. Just looking around she could see that some of the others had not been so lucky. Every member of the griffin delegation were shaking his or her heads. Trying to get back their ability to hear once more. The same action was being repeated throughout the entire crowd outside.

When it looked like everypony and griffin had regained their hearing, Cadnance began it anew. “As Princess Luna was saying, we are ready to begin the wedding.”

Luna stuck her nose in the air at that, she did not seem to understand that she had done anything wrong. It seemed no pony bothered to inform the princess that the microphone would magically amplify the speaker’s voice several times their normal volume.

The music began playing in the background as every head turned to the marked entrance of the Crystal Palace. First out of the palace came two cute pegasus fillies, each dressed in a pearl white dress with flower bassinets in their mouth. Twilight smiled as they made their way down the aisle, dropping flowers behind them for the bride. Not even Rainbow could avoid gushing when Firestar appeared out of the doorway.

The tan mare walked out of the entranceway wearing a pearl white gown laced with golden trim. A beautiful veil covered her face. Truly, only Rarity could have designed such a gown, for the work was that of a true artisan. Every step she took only seemed to enhance her grace and elegance. Even though she still walked with a slight limp, a testimony to her injury at the hands of Cronus. Her mother, Spitfire accompanied her daughter, allowing the mare to place some of her weight on her for support. While it was customary for the father to walk his daughter down the aisle, Firestar never knew her father. It did not matter to the mare; her mom was the one there for her every day. She would not want it any other way.

As she walked up the aisle, Cadance actually caught her son starting to drool before he was even aware of it. Using her magic, she shut his mouth for him. An action that caused him to give her a silent ‘thank you’ before anyone noticed.

When Firestar got to the front, Spitfire moved to the left to take her assigned seat as Cadance began the ceremony in earnest. It was her greatest honor to marry off her son in this way. The only thing she would change about this moment would be for Shining Armor to see it. She knew he would be proud of his son for everything he accomplished and for finally finding the most important thing in his life.

Cadance cleared her throat, a signal to everyone to be quiet. The entire empire complied.

“Before we begin, let’s take a moment of silence to honor the memory of those who are not with us today, but will always be with us in our hearts.”

If there were a pen dropped on the other side of the empire, the entire congregation would have heard it.

When sufficient time had passed, Cadance began in earnest. she had rehearsed this speech more times than she cared to count in the past few weeks.

“Welcome, one and all. How beautiful is the day that is touched by love? May we forever remember and cherish this moment. Marriage is a very special connection for two ponies united for a common purpose, bringing love and trust together into single focus. We've come together in the presence of Love to witness and bless the joining of this stallion and this mare in matrimony. The union of wife and husband in heart, body, and mind for their mutual joy and dedication; for the help and for comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity; and their nature in the knowledge and love." Cadance paused to catch her breath.

"Marriage is not to be lightly entered into, but reverently and deliberately, into this union Prince Radiant Star, my son.” Cadance smiled at him when she said that. “And Commander Firestar have now come to be joined. If any of you can show just cause why they should not be married, speak now; or forever hold your peace.”

Rainbow was sure if anyone spoke up, they would probably not live to see tomorrow.

Satisfied that no one would object, Cadance begin again. “Sooner or later we begin to understand that love is more than some silly word to be thrown around. We begin to know that love is here and now, real and true, and the most important thing in our lives.”

Twilight stole a few glances at Rainbow when she heard that part.

“For love is the creator of our favorite memories and the foundation of our fondest dreams. Without love, we merely exist. With love, we truly begin to live. It is the promise that we always keep, a fortune that we can never spend, and a seed that can flourish in even the most unlikely place. It is the radiance that never fades, this mysterious and magical joy is the greatest treasure of all – one known only by those who truly love.”

Rainbow's heart sank. She knew true love; but it was taken from her in the cruelest way imaginable.

“We're together as friends, relatives, and family to mark the end of one beginning and to recognize officially a new beginning which for Radiant and Firestar serves as a public affirmation of their friendship and their love. A smart pony once said: “The most wonderful of all things in life, is the discovery of another pony with which one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase.” This inner progressiveness of love between two ponies is a most marvelous thing; it cannot simply be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is something that we all must find for ourselves, as it exists both inside and outside us all at the exact same time. You must find both halves in order to become whole.”

A hoof reached to grab Rainbow’s, looking down she saw that it was a purple one. She glanced over to her friend. Twilight was crying while she held her hoof, an action that caused Rainbow to squeeze ever so tighter.

“They want this day to mean something special to not just them, but to you as guests. Those who are married may want to silently renew and reaffirm your vows today by gently taking the hoof of your partner during this ceremony. Others may want to also join hooves and think about what it means to be a friend, for marriage is first a friendship. There are no ties on earth so sweet, none as tender as those you are about to assume. There are no vows as solemn as those you are about to make. There is no institution in Equestria as sacred as that of the union you will form, for the true home is not only the place in which you will live, but it's the dwelling place where each lives in the heart and mind of the other.”

Rainbow realized at that point Cadance was right, all the pain she felt over the past few months, it was all for a purpose. It was all to build that foundation between her and Twilight over again. Cadance was building a steady, strong foundation that would last forever. Rainbow found a rogue tear falling from her eye at that realization. One she did not care if anypony saw.

“Radiant Star and Firestar, true marriage is the greatest of all unions. You should enter into it reverently, consciously, and with full understanding of its significance. The state of matrimony is true marriage only when you base it upon a deep, inner communion of two souls who find completion, each in the other. Today, your separate lives, each with your individual memories, desires and hopes, merge into one life - a new dimension. Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage, it does not just happen; two ponies who love each other create it. In the art of marriage, the little things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hooves. It is remembering to say, I love you, at least once a day, or being afraid to call your partner an idiot when he, or she, but mostly he, deserves it.”

Laughter echoed through the crowd, accompanied by a blush from Radiant, as everypony knew of the promise Firestar made when they got back together.

“It's never going to sleep angry. It's forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family. It's never taking the other for granted… for what you take for granted, disappears. It's doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in a spirit of joy. It's speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It's having the capacity to forgive and not bring it up later. It's giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. It's a common search for the good and the beautiful in each other. It's not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to have the wings of an angel.”

“Even though she does!” a scream called out from somewhere in the back, accompanied by another round a laughter, and this time with a blushing Firestar. An action that only caused the mare to look cuter.

Cadance smiled before continuing. “It's not looking for perfection in each other. It's cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding, and a sense of humor. It's not only marrying the right partner, it is BEING the right partner. Marriage can be a great adventure when it's the outward expression of a great love. Compassion, passion, and courage characterize such love. It allows you to see through to your partner's essence, to willingly be in total support of your partner's well-being, goals, purpose, and spirit; and unwilling for your partner to be less than all he or she can be mentally and physically. Such a love requires that you be totally honest with yourself and your mate, that you ask for what you want, take action even though you are afraid, share your feelings, and listen but leave your partner free to be who they really are. In other words, always love your partner for who they are, not for who you think they should be. Always remember, relationships are something that you must work on all the time, not only when they are broken. Never stop doing the things that brought you together in the first place.”

Rarity broke out in tears at that, Spike gently wrapped the mare up in his hoof and allowed her to cry out on his shoulder. Rainbow could not help but wonder how she held it in for this long.

“We, as your friends gathered here today, accept in you a love that brings out your magnificence, a love that gives you the courage to stand apart and the willingness to stand together. When times call for you to be apart, may you always return to your togetherness in the same spirit of love that you are feeling here today. Most of all, we want that, at the end of your lives on this planet, you will look into each other’s eyes and be able to say: ‘Because you have loved me, you have given me a faith in myself, and because I have faith in myself, I have loved my fellow pony. My life with you has been complete.’"

For Rainbow, those words hurt more then getting punched by a Titan. She squeezed Twilight's hoof even tighter and began crying out loud.

“Radiant and Firestar, will you release the past? Will you only bring those memories, desire, and hopes which will belong to each other, into your future life together?”

At the same time they both said. “We will.”

“Please turn toward each other.”

They both turned toward the other, to no pony’s surprise they were both in tears, or ‘liquid pride’ as Radiant would put it.

“At this time, Radiant Star and Firestar would like to make some personal promises to each other.”

“Radiant Star, do you reach out in love to receive Firestar and choose to share your life with her? Will you promise always to give to her your expression of your ever-growing love? Will you comfort her, be sensitive to her needs, express your feelings with her, listen to her, put your trust in her, and forsaking all others, be her intimate friend and honor her as your equal partner?”

“Every day of my life.”

“Firestar, do you reach out in love to receive Radiant Star and choose to share your life with him? Will you promise always to give to him your expression of your ever-growing love? Will you comfort him, be sensitive to his needs, express your feelings with him, listen to him, put your trust in him, and forsaking all others, be his intimate friend and honor him as your equal partner?”

“I promise, even if he is still an idiot.”

“These spoken commitments to each other are the alignment of your words, which speaks boldly of your intentions... and your actions, which speak louder than your words.”

A cute little pink filly came up from the side, she held a pillow up in a magical field from her horn, when it looked as if her spell was about to cause the rings on the pillow to fall off, Twilight used her magic to slightly straighten the pillow. She was grateful nopony noticed; she did not want anything to take away from this special day.

“These rings are circles and a circle is the symbol of the sun, the planet, the moon, the universe, of wholeness, perfection, peace, and of unity. Like circles, your rings have no beginning and no end, and in the sacred tradition of marriage, rings have come to symbolize eternal love and the endless union of body and mind. These rings will be worn by Radiant Star and Firestar to show to the world their love and commitment to one another. May the presence of these rings always remind you of the eternal love you have pledged and the devotion you willingly share with one another from this moment on. Let us pause at this time to offer these two our silent blessings.”

After a moment’s pause, Cadance began again.

“These rings, now blessed, are a symbol of your love and faithfulness. They seal the vows of marriage and represent a promise of forever love.”

“Radiant Star, please repeat after me. I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, with all that I am, and all that I have. I honor you from now until forever.”

“I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, with all that I am, and all that I have. I honor you from now until forever.”

“You may now place the ring on her hoof.”

As Firestar lifted her hoof, Radiant took the ring from the pillow with his magic and slid it over her hoof. Earning an, ‘awe’ from the crowd.

“Firestar, please repeat after me. I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you,”

“I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you,”

“You may now place the ring on his horn.”

Radiant lowered his horn as the pegasus picked up the ring with her hoof and slid it down, however, it did not make it all the way down. A little nudge from Cadance’s magic caused it go the rest of the way, earning a slight giggle from the crowd.

“Now that Radiant Star and Firestar have given themselves to each other by solemn vows, with the joining of hooves, and the giving and receiving of a ring, I now pronounce you wife and husband, in the name of the Princess of Equestria, and the harmony we all stand for. May those whom love have joined together, let no one put asunder.”

“You may now seal your promises with a kiss.”

Radiant lifted Firestar’s veil and lost himself in her eyes. Her light blue eyes were an ocean to the stallion, one he would willingly drown in every day of his life. He realized, at this time that this was the greatest thing he has ever done. No decisions would ever compare in importance to this one. Everything in his life would simply be a reflection of this event and he would not want it any other way. The stallion swept up his mare in a kiss. While it was nowhere near their first, it was the most important one of his life. Moreover, he made his feeling reflect this in the passion he placed in it. The Crystal Heart’s spinning increased ten-fold behind the two,

When it was over, when they finally broke apart and Firestar was able to regain her footing, even Princess Cadance looked impressed. She quickly found her words and continued the ceremony.

“Mares and stallions: It is my pleasure to introduce to you, Prince Radiant Star and Princess Firestar, for the first time as husband and wife!”

The entire congregation erupted in thunderous applause as once again, Radiant swept his bride up in his magic and kissed her. The light and love from everypony there caused the Crystal Heart’s spinning to increase yet again, as it reached critical mass it let loose all the energy it had absorbed. The power channeled through the Crystal Palace and spread its energy all throughout Equestria, Transforming every pony present (at least temporarily) into a crystal pony.

Radiant and Firestar ran down the aisle into the waiting chariot at the back of the coronation. The wedding bells began ringing in the distance, barely overpowering the shouting from the crowd. One of the flower girls passed Firestar a bouquet of roses she took in her wings. As they boarded the chariot, Firestar turned around and threw it with all her might.

The two took off into the sky. Fireworks accompanied their departure from several well-practiced maneuvers from the Wonderbolts, who refused to let their former captain get married without a proper send off.

“Hey, Rainbow?” Twilight whispered into Rainbow’s ear.

“Yeah Twi, what’s up?”

“Can I ask you something, in private?”

“Sure, let’s go upstairs.”

As the two got up and headed into the palace, Rainbow looked around and smiled when she saw that a blushing Ataxia had actually ended up with the bouquet of flowers. From the look on her face, she seemed to think it would bite her.

Rainbow and Twilight walked past the wedding reception set up for the VIP guests in the palace. It was an event for friends and family to enjoy when the wedding was over. She frowned as Twilight took her into a side room, one that would ensure the utmost privacy.

‘Oh, no… what did I do now?’ Rainbow started going over the list of things she did over the past few months that Twilight had yet to find out about and started crossing off things that she might have found out about by now… there was quite a lot on the list.

Twilight shutting the door behind them interrupted her thoughts. Had Rainbow been in a different state of mind she would have thought Twilight’s skittery behavior was actually cute.

“Well, Rainbow… I brought you here 'cause I wanted to ask... I wanted to ask for a while now actually but I could never bring myself to do it. I wanted to bring you here because I want to…”

Rainbow placed a hoof on the lavender alicorn’s shoulder. “Calm down Twi, just come out and say it.” She said with a comforting smile on her face, one that made Twilight’s day just to see directed at her. "You know you can tell me anything."

“Will you go out with me?”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped at that.

“Sorry, forget I said anything!” Twilight went into full on panic mode as she tried desperately to remember the teleportation spell to get away as fast as possible.

‘I blew it, she doesn't see me like that, why did I do that!’ she yelled at herself as she finally remembered the right sequence to cast it.

A slight flick on her horn from a blue hoof caused that spell to fizzle and die. Twilight looked up in shock as Rainbow’s hoof came away from her horn. “Twilight, it would be my greatest honor to take you out on a date.”

Twilight’s face lit up with an ear-to-ear smile as Rainbow hugged the mare with all her might. Tears started falling from Rainbow’s eyes as she whispered a silent ‘Thank you’ to Princess Cadance.

……………………………………………

“Can we go now?”

Aurora hit Icarus once again as he asked the same question.

“If you ask that one more time, I will tie your wings behind your back and throw you from the top of the palace. Now help me find my moms.”

“Fine.”

Siros simply smiled as he accompanied the two up the stairs to the palace. They saw Rainbow and Twilight enter the palace but did not know where they went.

“Remember son; do not make any mention of them being related to Aurora.”

“Yeah, yeah I remember.”

As the group rounded the corner they almost ran head first into Twilight and Rainbow who chose that moment to come out of the room. A permanent grin seemed etched into Rainbow's face.

One that fell away when Rainbow’s eyes fell on her daughter’s stomach, her eyes darted from Aurora, to Siros, to Icarus, back to Aurora, back to Icarus, back to Aurora, back to Icarus, and finally stopped on her daughter.

“You’d better be getting fat.”

Second First Date

The Crystal Empire

“RAINBOW DASH!”

SMACK!

“Rainbow you take that back right now! I cannot believe you would say something like that!” Twilight rubbed her sore hoof after bruising it upside Rainbow’s head. For Rainbow’s part, she rubbed her own hoof along the huge red mark on the side of her head. The hit had hurt her a little more than she wanted to admit.

“You need to apologize this instant.” Twilight glared daggers into her friend. She could not comprehend why Rainbow would say something so insensitive to this mare. Especially not in front of these two representatives from the Griffin Empire. Even Rainbow should know better to leave such an impression on foreign dignitaries.

“It’s ok, really.” Aurora tried to defuse the situation; one look at Twilight told her that she would not let Rainbow off that easy.

“No, it’s not ok. My marefriend will not go around calling mares fat. Especially not when it’s obvious that they are expecting a foal.”

Aurora could not help but notice one specific word Twilight had said. ‘Marefriend’, her look of confusion turned to a grin as she wrapped her hooves around Rainbow and squeezed tightly. “Congratulations!” she yelled out.

“Thanks…” Came Rainbow’s subdued reply to her daughter’s sudden hug. In any other situation, she would have been as happy as Aurora was. However, those situations did not include finding out that her daughter was several months pregnant, and having the cause of that pregnancy within ten hooves of her. Rainbow stared daggers over Aurora’s shoulder at the Emperor of the Griffin Empire.

At his best of times, Icarus was a loud-beak braggart. He always considered the griffin race to be superior to ponies, and while his views had been undergoing a paradigm shift as of late. Mainly due to the presence of Aurora Flash, who would not let him get away with any of the shit he would normally say. Some of those feelings did remain.

Despite that, Icarus could only meet Rainbow Dash’s gaze for two seconds before he looked away. With one look, that mare seemed to be able to spot every flaw he had and brought them to the forefront. He could easily see the hatred and contempt she held him in. It was as if she was staring into his very essence, grabbing every imperfection there and holding them in front of him for the entire world to see. Saying in no uncertain terms: ‘Look at how flawed you are, how dare you think you are worthy for my daughter.’ He would never admit it, but she scared the hell out of him.

The two mares let each other go; Aurora went back over and placed a hoof on Icarus's shoulder. An action that caused the griffin to somewhat recover from his funk. Rainbow looked sheepishly at Twilight, who was still not happy about her earlier behavior and looked quite confused about the hug.

Twilight stared daggers into her friend. “Rainbow, say you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry.” Rainbow mumbled.

“Louder.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Still can’t hear you Rainbow.” Twilight said as she started to get even more upset.

“I’m sorry, alright.” Rainbow spoke aloud this time.

“And what are you sorry for?” Twilight asked.

Aurora almost bit her tongue off to stop from laughing. She must have heard that phrase a million times growing up. Hearing it now, used by her mom who suffered from amnesia after her accident, directed not at her, but her other parent. It was both the funniest thing she ever heard and gave the mare hope for the future. ‘Maybe my mom is still in there.’

Rainbow shrunk down even lower at that, she could not believe how badly the situation had turned against her. Any other day and Twilight would have been just as mad as she was, even if she would have handled it better. However, that knowledge would not get Rainbow out of this. She gritted her teeth and turned to Aurora. “I’m sorry I said you better be getting fat. It was insensitive of me and I apologize from the bottom of my heart. Congratulations on your foal.”

Rainbow said all that, but her face said something completely different in a MUCH louder message that no one who saw could misinterpret. Thankfully for her, Twilight was standing by her side and could not see what that message said. It said, in no uncertain terms: “You two are up shit creek without a paddle and if you think for even a second that this is the end of this conversation, you are in for a world of hurt.”

Aurora took that as a win, Rainbow knew, and nopony… no griffin, died. Given the circumstances, she supposed that was the best result that she could reasonably hope for.

“Thank you for the apology.” Aurora said as she tried her best not to sound smug when she said it.

It did not work. Rainbow’s temper only increased. However, a soft hoof placed on her shoulder from Twilight threw a bucket of ice-cold water on that fire. Rainbow visibly relaxed as she sunk back on her haunches. Somehow, even after all this time; that one gesture never failed to calm the mare’s nerves, even in a situation like this.

Twilight smiled at her friend, she was still unsure what the hug was about, but she could let it go for now. “That was big of you Rainbow.”

For Rainbow, that smile made it all worthwhile.

“Princess Rainbow, Princess Twilight, why don’t we put this unpleasantness behind us and have dinner together?” Siros said, his comment punctuated by a loud grumble of protest from Aurora’s stomach from not having eaten in a while.

Both Rainbow and Icarus looked at him with an ‘are you serious’ look. However, Twilight and Aurora agreed. As such, the two were stuck going along with it. Regardless of the fact that neither of them wanted to be within ten hooves of the other at this time; one wanted to kill the other, and the other was very much afraid for his life.

As they walked down the hallway to the banquet table, Icarus could not help but cringe as Rainbow dragged a wing tip along the wall, producing a loud screeching noise as she did so. When he looked back, Rainbow’s wing was digging a small trench into the wall to her right. A clear threat of what she wanted to do with the griffin.

“Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow returned her right wing to her side at Twilight's words. She knew that was pushing it, and nopony would be happy about the scratch marks she left down the hallway.

“Rainbow, can I speak to you alone for a minute.” Twilight’s tone spoke volumes to the level of frustration she felt at Rainbow’s actions today. It seemed the mare was doing everything in her power to be offensive.

“You sure, Twi? We do have guests after all….”

“That’s fine with us, if you two need to talk go ahead.”

Aurora wanted to face-hoof at Icarus’s dumb statement. She vowed that Rainbow would not be the only one who had to answer for their actions today. She would make sure of that. Rainbow stared daggers into the griffin, a gaze he would not meet.

“Rainbow, now.” Twilight pointed to an adjoining room and started walking in that direction. Rainbow knew she was in trouble, the scratch marks down the hallway were a little too much, even for her. She lowered her head down and followed Twilight into the room. ‘Better to meet my fate head on.’

As she walked through the doorway, Twilight shut the door behind her. “Ok, what the hell is that about, first you insult that mare, then you leave scratches down the hallway?”

“You don’t understand.”

“What? What don’t I understand?”

“She’s too good for him.” Rainbow took the time to admire the carpet as she spoke; she wanted to tell Twilight the truth. She wanted that almost as much as she wanted her wife back. However, the latter was still greater than the former.

“Rainbow, he is the emperor of an entire country… I would say she did rather well.”

Ok, she had to give Twilight that... Of course, that does not mean she had to like it.

When Rainbow refused to offer up her own comments, Twilight asked the other question that was on her mind. “Why did she hug you?”

‘Crap.’

Rainbow looked for any reason she could to stall. Her mind played out every possibility that she could think of. There was nothing... nothing she could say that would defuse this situation without digging a bigger whole with Twilight. It was killing her; she wanted more then anything to tell Twilight the truth. To tell her why she was mad, or simply to tell her that they were going to be grandparents. This should be a happy moment, but she was anything but happy.

That realization hit Rainbow like a ton of bricks.

“Rainbow Dash, what’s going on?”

“Twilight, can we not?”

“Rainbow.” Twilight’s tone conveyed her annoyance with this. She wanted answers about Rainbow’s behavior.

Rainbow looked up from the floor at Twilight; she stared right into Twilight’s eyes. For a moment, for just a second, it all came back. Her memories overran her mind. The years they spent together hoof and hoof. Raising their kids, birthdays, holidays, the good, and the bad. They all flooded the mare's mind. However, the memories she most cherished was simply spending time with Twilight. Relaxing under the stars together, holding her at night, kissing her when she was sad, and simply being there for her during the good and the bad. It was all too much, too much to deal with at this moment. She considered, just for a second, telling Twilight everything.

At the last second, she stopped herself. She took those feelings and stuck them into the box marked ‘later’. She crammed it to the breaking point. Those would not solve anything right now. They would only make things worse, not better. So for the hundredth time this year, she put aside her emotions for the sake of the future.

Rainbow walked over and grabbed her marefriend’s hooves. Her eyes conveyed her pleading tone to Twilight more than any words could ever hope to. “Twilight, I… I can't get into this right now, there is nothing more in the world I would like to do than tell you, but… but I can’t, I just can’t right this second. Please… I will tell you everything, eventually. I promise I want to tell you, I need to tell you, but I can’t. Not right now… please, let this go, for now, for me… please.”

Taken aback by that, Twilight did not know if it was the conviction in Rainbow’s voice, the tone of her words, or the sincerity in her eyes. Those big, beautiful, pleading eyes, Twilight shortly forgot her own doubts and questions; in the six months she knew Rainbow, she never once heard the mare speak with such sincerity, or in such a pleading tone. “Alright, Rainbow… I trust you.”

Rainbow wrapped her in a hug. Squeezing Twilight as hard as she could, an action that caused the purple alicorn to blush, until she felt several drops of liquid fall onto her back.

‘Whatever this is, it’s big…’ Twilight thought. Rainbow wasn’t the sort to cry, not like this. “Just, be nice ok?”

“Whatever you want, Twi.” Rainbow squeaked out, doing her best to answer the request.

It was five minutes before they broke apart. For both of them, it was an eternity and far too short at the same time. Neither wanted the moment to end and at the same time, they were both unsure what it meant. Eventually, they were composed enough to rejoin their guests in the other room.

To everypony’s relief, when they rejoined the others, Rarity, Spike, Ataxia, Night, Cadance, and Luna were already there. The distraction of the others lessened a lot of the tension between Rainbow and Icarus. However, any pony that paid attention could not help but notice the tension between the two did not entirely go away. It was small, little glances here and there, but Rainbow would stare daggers into the griffin whenever he would glance over at her.

Night, Ataxia, Rarity, Spike, and Cadance could not get enough of Aurora’s pregnancy. Only Luna seemed to have already known. However, Rainbow was too busy thinking of all the ways she might dispose of a body to catch onto that.

“Is it a colt or a filly?”

“What are you going to name it?”

“Is it a griffin or a pony or something in-between?”

“Hey girls, she's probably a little uncomfortable answering all of these questions. Can you tone it down a little?”

They all stared over at Twilight, who surrounded Aurora in a magical aura which prevented Ataxia from rubbing the mare's stomach for the tenth time that day. That action earned her a silent ‘thank you’ from Aurora. Rainbow smiled as she watched her wife protect their daughter. ‘Even with her memories lost, she's still protective of her kids.’

Ataxia went back to her seat, pouting as she was no longer able to feel the baby kick. Shimmering Night grabbed her hoof and squeezed, all the while giving the mare a small smile, an action that seemed contagious as Ataxia’s face took on that smile when she looked at the princess.

“Well, we're going to call him Orion Knight, and he's a hippogriff.” Aurora smiled at everypony as they all added their own ‘awes’ in turn. Icarus grabbed her hoof with his claw and smiled at her, all the while avoiding the soul-piercing glare Rainbow was giving him.

However, with the talk of the new baby, not even Rainbow was able to keep up her sour mood for long. Even the cyan mare found herself gushing over her first grandkid.

“So, Rainbow, where are you two going on your date?”

Every set of eyes turned to Siros. Then back to Rainbow.

“You… you two are going out on a date?” Shimmering Night stumbled over the question, her mind still trying to wrap itself around the concept. When it finally did, her face grew to a huge smile. “YOU TWO ARE DATING!!!”

Night jumped up and hugged Rainbow with all her might. Too many months have passed, too much time since she last saw her parents together. When Night was younger, her parent’s affection for each other was a mark of embarrassment. Now? Now it was physically painful to see them apart. To have to lie to Twilight each and every day about who they were. She knew it was Cadance’s advice, it was her plan, but that did not make it easier. Now, it looked like all that was finally coming to an end.

“Thanks, Princess Night.”

Night suddenly realized that Twilight might misconstrue her actions; she pulled back and looked at Rainbow sheepishly. “Congratulations on finally asking her, I know you have been interested in her for a while and you two are always so cute together.”

“Actually, I asked her. Wait? You were interested in me all this time?” Twilight turned to Rainbow and raised an eyebrow at her. "Why didn't you say something?"

Rainbow smiled at the mare. “Twilight, you are one of the smartest mares in all of Equestria. Even with your accident, you still put most ponies to shame with your natural talent alone. As good as I am at flying, you're better at magic. How could I not be interested in you?”

“Why? Why didn’t you say anything sooner, Rainbow?”

“You were going through so much, I didn’t want you to feel pressured into going out with me, I didn’t want you to feel like you were somehow obligated to do it. I want you to be my marefriend because you want to, not because you feel like you have to.”

“So you waited until I got up the nerve to ask you?”

“What can I say, it was good advice.” Rainbow winked at Cadance, an action that did not go unnoticed by the lavender alicorn. Twilight dismissed it and planted a kiss on Rainbow's cheek. ‘How long was she holding her emotions in check for me? How long has she been putting herself out for me?’ That thought caused no small amount of concern to Twilight. She did not know the answer to that question.

Rainbow’s smile grew ten-fold at that kiss. It had been so long since they had a true moment of intimacy with each other. She hoped… She knew that this would be the first in a long line of such moments. She knew that in the same way she knew the sky was blue, that Equestria would always exist, and that she would forever love the mare sitting next to her. Until the day she crossed over into Elysium, she would love this mare. Even then, her Elysium would be an eternity with Twilight. After all, she knew from personal experience that she would settle for nothing less.

“So where are you taking her?” Siros asked.

Rainbow's smile left her in an instant. She had not considered that question just yet. She wanted; no, she needed this to be special. This needed to be the date that would end all other dates. It had to be, this date had to put her awesomeness to shame. It needed to be perfect, it needed to be romantic, and it needed to be…

“I know exactly where you two can go, I have a few friends in Prance. Why don’t you go there for the weekend?”

Rainbow looked up from racking her brain trying to solve this problem. She glanced over at Princess Cadance as if she was a gift from one of the Gods. It did not dawn on the mare that it was not far from the truth. Cadance had a unique ability when it came to love that allowed her to say the right thing at just the right time to help anypony. This was due in no small part to Eros, the God of Love that created Cadance as her Avatar.

Rainbow did not quite know what to think of the whole ‘Avatar’ situation. On one hoof, it seemed entirely stupid to the mare. Why would any God want to play around at being mortal? In addition, the whole deal has caused a flank-load of problems in the past forty years. However, on the other hoof, because of that Twilight Sparkle existed and spent the last forty years as her wife. She had given Rainbow three beautiful, talented, and generous kids. So yes, she was thankful for the Avatars. Without them, she would not have Twilight in her life. That alone was worth any amount of trouble.

“What do you think Twi? You want to go to Prance for the weekend?”

“Prance, for the weekend?” Millions of thoughts crossed through Twilight’s mind, ranging from the fact that she would have to leave her studies and classes for two whole days… Not to mention that it was incredibly short notice and a strange activity for a first date. However, the thought of going to Prance for the weekend overshadowed those. She could not imagine a more romantic place in the whole world. The stories she heard about it alone…

“I would love to go there one day; it would be great to study a whole new culture.” Aurora said with a grin as she knew exactly what her mom was considering and how to get her past it.

That settled it, if she could go to Prance with Rainbow on their first date AND study a new culture; it was as good as done. Twilight teleported behind Candace and squeezed the Princess with all her might. Shouts of “Yes, yes, yes!” accompanied her outbursts after she let her go and begun jumping around like a filly that just got her cutie mark.

Rainbow smiled at Twilight’s reaction. Regardless of what happened, how old they got, or what sort of responsibilities they took on. Twilight would always be Twilight. She would always be the mare she married. The one who gave up being a God for Rainbow, Rainbow smiled at Aurora, mouthing a silent ‘thank you’ to her daughter.

Aurora smiled back at her mom, no thanks was needed, not for something as important as this. She knew her mom’s proclivities from years of being in that household. It still amazed her how Rainbow never learned to anticipate Twilight's actions. Aurora was grateful that her siblings and her all seemed to inherit the best of their parents. It seemed as if they all got Twilight’s intelligence with Rainbow’s skill.

Her smile faded at that realization. Yes, it was true, but it did remind her that her twin, Dayspring Gleam, was not here anymore. Ever since she could remember they had a special bond with each other. He gave her his life; it was the ultimate act of love, the selfish, stupid, arrogant, jerk-face, noble, and honorable dork that he was. It still hurt. It always would, she knew that for a fact.

Icarus wrapped a claw around her shoulder and squeezed tightly. He did not know a lot about social interactions and politically correct behavior, but he knew when the mare he loved was about to break down. When her mind was about to go to a dark place. He could not stop it from going there, but he could support her through it. It was an action that was appreciated by Aurora Flash.

it was an action that did not go unnoticed by Rainbow.

“Perhaps soon, you two will be ready to reassume your royal duties?” Luna asked the two.

Spike facehoofed. Even after all this time Luna still did not quite understand social norms, or, for that matter, when NOT to ask a question.

“Dear, I think we should let them get to that conclusion on their own.” Rarity replied.

It seemed to get the job done. Luna did not press the issue anymore; however, it did nothing to help the awkward silence that fell over the group. After six months, it seemed that Twilight was no closer to regaining her memories.

At the end of the meal, they all went to their separate rooms. Both Twilight and Rainbow stopped on their way due to Rarity shouting for them.

“Twilight, Rainbow, you simply must come by my room before you leave tomorrow and let me do your hair and outfits for you!”

“I don’t know, Rarity. Rainbow really doesn’t like all that kind of stuff.”

“What time do you want me to swing by?”

Twilight turned and stared at the cyan mare, her mouth agape. “Rainbow, you don’t have to do this for me.”

“I know that, Twi.” Rainbow looked her in the eyes, giving her patented cocky grin as she did so. “I want to do it for you, I want this to be the best weekend of your life. Even if they might get messed up on the way over there, you deserve nothing less.”

Twilight blushed at that. “Thank you, Rainbow.”

‘I think I might know just the spell though…’ her mind started to trace back to a particular spell that would be useful in this situation.

“Twilight, why don’t you come by around nine, and Rainbow can swing by around eleven; that should give me more then enough time.”

“Thanks, Rares’”

“Thank you, Rarity.”

The old mare smiled at the two as they turned around and walked to their separate bedrooms. Her smile faded as she saw Rainbow look over from her door and watch Twilight enter her own room without her. In that one second, she had an idea how Rainbow felt, she knew how hard it was for Rainbow to be so close to her wife and yet a mile away at the same time. It was agonizing to the mare. That is why it came as no surprise to Rarity when a single tear fell from Rainbow’s eye as she entered her own room.

Rarity turned around and went to the guest room Spike and her were staying in. He did not know it now, but she was going to give him a present for being there for her. After seeing Rainbow and Twilight apart like that, she wanted to reaffirm her own relationship with the dragon.

Before she turned down the hallway, a voice stopped her. “Excuse me, Miss Rarity.”

“Yes?” Rarity turned around and looked at the griffin that spoke her name. “Emperor Icarus, what can I do for you?” She made to bow but a claw reached out and stopped her.

“No need for that, I just wanted to speak to you real quick and say thanks.”

“Thanks? For what?”

“Everything.” The griffin’s smile was odd to the unicorn. She could only stare on in confusion as he turned around and rejoined Aurora. Realization of just what he was thankful for dawned on the old mare as he followed Aurora into a room.

“You’re welcome.” She smiled.

……………………………………

Twilight paced back and forth on the balcony, she checked the clock for the tenth time that hour. It was a very old clock, one that stubbornly refused to tell time as she wanted it too, and worse, it was one that seemed to be making all the other clocks run slow too. It read 1:10… It had taken Twilight a little less than two hours to finish with Rarity this morning. She expected Rainbow to finish sooner.

Although, looking at her reflection, she had to admit, Rarity outdid herself today. Twilight never truly styled her hair before, but now. Her coiffure was breathtaking. It ran down both sides of her head, giving her the appearance of a seductress looking to wrap her victim around her little hoof. The natural stripe was duplicated down both sides of her head, accenting her beauty perfectly. And her eyelashes! Twilight never gave any thought about how eyelashes could make a mare just seem that much MORE. Yet, Rarity did it, and they fit her head perfectly. With one bat of her eyes, she could make the crystal guards swoon at her. (Something she tested one time for scientific purposes only.) Whatever shampoo Rarity washed her coat with almost caused the mare to glow. Truly she never felt prettier in her life.

If her coat looked good, it did not hold a candle to her outfit. On each hoof, she wore golden shoes, each with three encrusted gems in them, all surrounding a fourth gem in the shape of her cutie mark. Around her neck she wore a golden necklace with six embedded cyan gems. They surrounded a seventh gem in sapphire red. Her jewelry alone was worth a fortune, but her dress simply made the outfit. It was a dark lavender affair that highlighted her flank perfectly; the flowing end came up and off her tail, leaving just enough room to see her cutie mark. The chest piece came to her front two legs and left her necklace completely revealed. She did not know how, but Rarity made the fabric itself to resemble the twilight of the day, having both a star pattern and the setting sun at the same time. It made her jaw drop to simply look at it, much less wear it.

She had to admit, she looked hot.

While admiring her reflection she failed to notice somepony else admiring her too.

“Wow…”

Twilight almost jumped onto the roof. She was embarrassed at the idea of somepony catching her checking herself out like that. When she looked over at the pony that disturbed her, her face suddenly dropped in stunned silence at what she saw. If she thought Rarity made her look good, Rainbow looked gorgeous. She wore no makeup but she did not need to; Rarity highlighted all the different colors of Rainbow’s mane to stand out from a mile away. A rainbow sash held her hair in place, all the while keeping its unruly appearance. A see-through silk material made up her dress, it faded perfectly from purple to blue, to green, to yellow, to orange, and finally to red. All the while outlined in gold trim. It did not hug Rainbow's chest like Twilight’s did. Rather it simply came to the tips of her golden wings and was held in place by a golden latch that crossed her chest. An emblem of Rainbow’s lightning bolt cutie mark decorated the latch. The earring she wore on her left ear only duplicated that emblem. Plain white shoes covered her hooves, ones that highlighted the rest of her outfit.

“Rainbow you look…”

“Twilight you look…”

“Gorgeous.”

They said at exactly the same time. In a mirror image of each other, both ponies blushed and looked away sheepishly at the ground, Twilight due to the unusual attraction she now felt, and Rainbow due to some long repressed memories of exactly what she wanted to do to the mare in front of her.

After an uncomfortable silence, Rainbow was the first to say anything. “It’s a shame these outfits will be ruined on our trip over.”

“Oh, no. I found a spell that will protect them from the wind resistance of our flight. We can fly all the way around the world and look just as we did when we left.” Twilight was almost giddy with being able to share that knowledge. Rainbow simply smiled at her wife; seeing Twilight happy made her day, and based on what Cadance had just told her, this day was only going to get better.

“Then go ahead, egghead.”

“And do what?” Twilight questioned.

Rainbow laughed a little at that. “Cast your spell, we've got a big weekend ahead of us.”

“Oh, yeah, right…” Twilight faked a smile as she cast the spell, first on herself and then on Rainbow. She extended her wings and went to take off, only to find herself plucked up from the ground.

“No need for that, egghead.” Rainbow said as she flew forward and lifted Twilight off the ground in her hooves. “Prance would take several days to get to for a normal pegasus.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing you are anything but a normal pegasus.” Twilight smiled at Rainbow as the two flew out of The Crystal Empire’s airspace. She wrapped a hoof around Rainbow’s neck, breathing in the scent of the mare as she did so.

“Do you trust me, Twi?”

“Always and forever.”

“Then hold on tight.”

In a flash, Rainbow created her first sonic rainboom to get the two of them over water and away from any populated area. It was quickly followed up by four more as soon as they passed over the ocean. There was much to admire about the journey: The way the rainbooms reflected off the water, the ocean passing by at such extreme speeds. The flight of several native birds they passed in the blink of an eye. Twilight did not pay attention to any of that, she merely shut her eyes and placed her head against Rainbow’s chest. Nothing else mattered, as the warmth of Rainbow’s fur became her whole world. It did not matter to the mare at that moment if they ran into the side of a mountain. If she died right then and there, she would die happy.

Her consciousness started to drift away as she felt the warmth take over. The spell protected them both against the g-forces they felt from the flight. The added benefit of it kept away the cold wind also. For Twilight, it was nothing more than a trip held in the hooves of her marefriend.

She soon found herself in a blissful sleep.

………………

“Hey… wakey-wakey, Twi.”

Rainbow didn’t want to wake her. To Rainbow, there was not another site as lovely as the mare pressed against her chest, Sleeping soundly as Rainbow held her lovingly in her hooves. However, there was one slight problem. Twilight is an alicorn. That naturally made her bigger than Rainbow, and if she held her in place any longer, Rainbow was afraid she was going to drop her.

“Twi… Twi…” She cooed softly into Twilight’s ear.

“Rainbow, can’t you check on the kids this time?”

Rainbow almost did drop her at that. She knew Twilight was asleep, she knew that was not a conscious thought, yet somehow, Twilight knew about her kids… Risking everything, Rainbow kissed Twilight on the forehead. That one action caused the mare in her hooves to awaken. Twilight looked up at Rainbow, she smiled lightly at the mare.

Rainbow realized then that the spell had been a waste. Even if every strand of hair on Twilight's head was completely destroyed by the flight over here. Even if the outfits were ruined beyond recognition from the saltwater and wind. There would not be a more beautiful mare in a thousand miles. Not to Rainbow at least.

“Hey there sleepy head.”

“Hey Rainbow… are we there yet?”

“Yes Twi, we made it here about an hour ago.”

“An hour? Why did you let me sleep like that?” Twilight jumped down out of Rainbow’s hooves. An action the mare was happy and sad about at the same time.

“Quick question Twi… Do you remember what you said when I first woke you up?” Rainbow did her best not to get her hopes up. She could not help but feel a small flicker of the flame reignite though.

“I asked if we are there yet.”

Just like that, the flame extinguished. “Yeah… that’s it.”

“How long was the flight?” Twilight asked as she looked around, based on the sun’s position in the sky it should only be six o’clock here, but with the time change that would mean that it only took…

“About thirty minutes.”

‘It’s cute the way her jaw drops like that’ Rainbow thought as Twilight took in the full implications of that knowledge. Better yet, it was backed up by the facts.

“Rainbow, you never cease to amaze me.”

“What can I say? I’m amazing.”

“Yes… Yes you are.” Twilight smiled at Rainbow who returned it. They both simply stared into each other's eyes.

The whole of Prance was in the background, one of the most romantic cities in the world. However, Twilight could not care less at that moment. She had eyes only for Rainbow Dash, who in turn had her eyes squarely locked on her. They gazed into each other’s very soul. Finding their opposite in a world full of possibilities, it was a one-in-a-million chance of happening, but for two souls it happened, they both knew it, all they needed was time for it to become something more.

“Shall we get going?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow broke off and looked around. It felt like they were on this rooftop for hours. Yet the sun was still in the sky. She pulled out the schedule from her travel bag. “What time is it?” She asked Twilight

A glance up to the sky told Twilight they had only been up here for ten minutes, something that seemed impossible to the mare. “It’s six-ten Rainbow.”

“We have reservations at the Maison Balgian at six-thirty.”

Twilight’s mind went blank at that, according to the books she read last night, the Maison Balgian was one of the most exclusive restaurants in all of Prance. Even for royalty it was hard getting a reservation there. For Rainbow and her to have a reservation made last night… it was unheard off.

“Unless, you don’t want to.”

Twilight stomach answered for her, but she still did manage to find her voice. “Oh, no… I would love to.”

“Great! Let's get going!” Rainbow stretched her wings and took off. Flying a few hooves in the air before Twilight finally joined her. Twilight found herself actually wishing that Rainbow would carry her, but she knew that such an action would be preposterous….

‘I hope we get a seat with a view of the tower.’ She smiled as she followed her marefriend into the air; it was a fool’s hope, as nopony got those seats without a relationship with the owner. Even then, there was a waiting list a mile long. Twilight dismissed the idea and resolved to simply be happy that they were here at all.

Prance was amazing. It was the capital city of the country that it took its name from. Everywhere she looked screamed romance to Twilight, from the gondola boats in the canals to the beautiful landmarks dotting the land. To her left she could see the Louvre off in the distance. Her mind raced at the thought of checking out some of the magnificent works of art there. ‘No, Rainbow would never want to go there. Although, she has surprised me before.’

Despite the sights, sounds, attractions, and history all around her, Twilight found her eyes constantly drawn back to the cyan pegasus with the golden wings. She was everything Twilight wanted… She just did not know it before. Whatever they did, it would be perfect because she did it with Rainbow. She did not know why, but the Universe seemed wrong whenever they were apart. Everything felt... it just felt off. It was as if Rainbow and she were meant to be together and Rainbow not being next to her was akin to disrupting the natural order.

Twilight’s thoughts cause her to miss Rainbow stopping right in front of her. She almost flew directly into the mare. Only Rainbow’s experience with the years they lived together prevented that fate. As much of a muscle reaction as anything else, Rainbow spun around and caught Twilight in her hooves. Fanning out both wings, she stopped their forward momentum from taking them any farther.

“Sorry.” Twilight looked at her, for the first time noticing how close their muzzles were to touching, it caused her to start to freak out. Rainbow gently raised a hoof and ran it down Twilight’s face, gently caressing the fur down from the impact and goose bumps Twilight felt.

“Don’t be.” She whispered the words, letting the wind carry them to the mare she loved. An action that caused Twilight’s embarrassment to disappear immediately, replaced with a new feeling she was coming to know all so well.

Twilight placed her muzzle on the nip of Rainbow's neck, allowing the mare to carry her weight with her wings. Rainbow slowly started rocking them back and forth, letting Twilight relax from the sudden impact. “Why did you stop anyway?” She asked as her breathing returned to normal.

“’Cause we’re here.”

“Oh… right.” Despite that knowledge, Twilight was in no hurry to let go. She stayed like that for a few minutes. For Rainbow, the rest of the world could buck-off. She would hold Twilight in her hooves for as long as she could.

After a few minutes, Rainbow’s stomach broke up the two. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Twilight smiled at her. They both proceeded down to the entrance of the restaurant. Twilight had to admit, it definitely lived up to the hype. The building itself was along the lines of Cloudsdale architecture, with columns for support. However, the gorgeous windows overlooked the entire city, allowing its customers to dine with the city serving as their backdrop.

Rainbow led Twilight inside. Despite the formal attire of the entire restaurant, there was no doubt who stole the attention away from everypony. Rarity’s designs were known even this far away from Equestria. Something Twilight knew she took pride in.

“It’s not the dress you know.”

“What?” Twilight looked confused at her friend.

“They’re looking at you, not the dress.”

“How do you know?”

“’Cause I've been staring at you the entire time too.”

That comment earned Rainbow a kiss on her cheek and then a slap with Twilight’s tail as she walked ahead. “I think you’re getting a few looks yourself Rainbow.” Twilight said.

They were both right. Twilight’s spell held true the entire trip over. They both looked just as beautiful as they did when Rarity had finished with them. Not a strand of hair out of place, even the maître d’ was at a loss for words when Twilight walked up to him.

“Excuse me sir, I believe we have a reservation for six-thirty, for Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.”

It took the unicorn a few seconds to find his words, eventually his training did kick back in. “Bonjour madams, welcome to the Maison Balgian, Let me check the reservation... Ahh here we are, Princess Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight Sparkle. I see you madams have a reservation for our state dining room. Come; come allow me to show you to your seats.”

“State dining room….” Twilight’s mind went blank at that. Rainbow walked up and wrapped a wing around her.

“Only the best for my marefriend.” She planted a kiss on Twilight’s cheek.

“Rainbow… how did you?”

“Oh, it wasn’t me; Princess Cadance got with Spike last night and called in a few favors. Apparently she was responsible for hooking up the owner with his wife.”

“She… you… we… us.…”

“C’mon, egghead, you can practice more of your vocabulary later, we still got a big night ahead of us, and we're going to need our energy.

“But… but… but….”

“No buts.” Rainbow said with a smile.

She lead a stumbling Twilight past the crowd and up the stairs. The two were getting quite a few looks as they headed to the state dining room. It seemed as if every stallion watched them go past and even a few of the mares seemed to turn their heads, although they were a little more discreet about it. When they reached the top of the stairs, a huge set of double doors greeted them. Their maître d’ reached into his pocket with his magic and pulled out a set of keys. The door opened, revealing one of the most elaborate dining rooms either mare had ever seen in their lives.

The table was a round cider oak designed for two ponies to sit comfortably. A bottle of sparkling champagne sat chilled in a vase of ice. Two crystal wine glasses sat on either side. The table itself was covered in a sheer white cloth made of the smoothest silk. A pearl white carpet covered the floor, which accented the walls and decorations perfectly. Paintings hung all over the walls, each from different areas and time frames around the world. Rainbow cringed a little when she saw that the biggest painting was of Celestia, there were some days she envied Twilight’s memory loss.

Nothing in the room compared to the view out the windows. Rainbow watched as the one thing that proved her wrong ran to the windows and look out. ‘Ok, almost nothing compares to that view.’ The entire back wall was a huge window overlooking the city, elevated just right to give the occupants the perfect view. They could see every major landmark out those windows as well as a perfect view of the impending sunset. The glass was magically enchanted as to block out most of the sun’s light but to let them enjoy the view of the sunset all the same.

“I take it the room is to your liking?” The maître d’ asked.

“Almost.”

Both Twilight and the unicorn turned to look at Rainbow. She merely smiled and walked up to the table. Pushing one of the chairs next to the other, an action that earned a giggle from her marefriend.

“Ahh, perfect.” The maître d’ spoke. “The garçon will be in shortly, please. Make yourselves comfortable and enjoy the champagne.”

“Ahh… excuse me sir, but I don’t know if we can afford all this.” Twilight looked around at everything, her mind running through all of the calculations in her head. Just standing here, they have already exceeded the amount of bits she brought with her, never mind if they actually ordered anything.

“Nothing to worry about madam. It’s all c’est cadeau.” He paused as a strange expression crossed Twilight’s face.

“Free? How is that?” She asked.

Rainbow walked over and kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry about money this weekend. Just relax and let me treat you.”

The maître d’ smiled and left the two to settle in. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow took immediately to the champagne, an action that earned a small giggle from Twilight. What did surprise her is when Rainbow passed her the first glass.

“A toast to Prance?” Rainbow asked.

“How about a toast to the best marefriend in the world.”

“I can drink to that.” Rainbow smiled and sipped at her drink, an action that Twilight repeated as she smiled at the pegasus.

“You know, Rainbow, if we had to go home right now, this would still be the best date in the world.”

“Then the rest of the weekend will simply have to be icing on the cake.” Rainbow smiled.

As to interrupt the moment, at that comment the door opened. Causing both mares to turn and look at the pony that just entered. It was a unicorn stallion that wore a very fancy black suit. “Bonjour mademoiselles, I am Savor Maitre, I will be attending you two young madams tonight.” Rainbow smiled at the thought of somepony calling her ‘young'. “Have you had the chance to look at the menu yet?”

Rainbow looked at the table with a slight embarrassed look on her face. “Ahh… Not yet, one second.” She walked over and sat down on her seat, gesturing with one wing for Twilight to join in her in the other seat. Twilight just smiled and sat down. She was momentarily surprised when Rainbow wrapped a wing around her, an action that seemed reflexive as Rainbow had her nose buried in the menu at the time. Twilight did not mind, if she had to spend the rest of her life in that wing she would consider it a life well lived.

“We will have the Escargot a la Bourguignonneee…” Rainbow stumbled over the words.

Both Twilight and Savor looked at her. “Are you sure mademoiselle? That is an acquired taste.”

“What?” Rainbow looked up, unsure what in Tartarus he just said.

“Rainbow, you just ordered snails.” Twilight whispered to her.

“Oh… Oh… Ew, no thanks, Twi, why don’t you order something?” Rainbow handed the menu to her friend. Slightly embarrassed about not knowing what to get, in truth, she just picked the first item on the menu she had a chance of pronouncing.

“Savor Maitre, we will have the ratatouille with the chicoree-frisee salad.”

“Twilight, I don’t want to eat rats.”

Twilight merely smiled at her, “Trust me Rainbow, I wouldn’t want you too.”

“Ok, fine.”

“Very good choice madam, I shall be back to take your order in a little while. Please look over the menu and feel free to ask any questions you might have.” Savor Maitre bowed to the alicorn and turned to leave. A smile crossing his face at the two mares he left alone. Rainbow caught the look on his face and assumed the worst.

“He seems nice.”

“I don’t like him.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight hit her on the shoulder with a hoof. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He was too friendly with you.” Rainbow added; she couldn’t quite look at Twilight when she said that.

“It’s his job, Rainbow.”

“Above and beyond if you ask me.” She went to pout about it; she tried, anyway, but a hoof reached around her neck and brought her in for a hug.

“Hey, I’m here with you, I asked you out, not him. I wouldn’t want to spend the day with anypony else. Remember that, ok?”

“Ok, Twi… I’ll try.”

The two slowly started to sip on their champagne as Twilight began to review the menu. She passed on a few ‘that looks tasty,’ and ‘ohh’s’ to Rainbow, who, after the second time stopped asking. She simply told the mare to order two of whatever she thought they might like. Rainbow had no hope of understanding any of that stuff. As such, she spent her time staring at the one object in the room that would always hold her attention.

“Tell me Twi, how is it you understand any of that stuff?”

“What do you mean?” Twilight looked up at the menu, unsure of what Rainbow was referring too.

“I don’t recall you in classes to learn a second language anytime in the past few months.”

“Rainbow, you slept through most of my classes.”

“Hey, I get credit for going, don’t I? Besides, It’s not like I can do magic or any of that junk.”

Twilight laughed at that, she had tried a few times to get Rainbow to go do something else, but the mare insisted that she accompany Twilight everywhere she went, unless she absolutely had to be someplace else. If Twilight was being honest with herself, she was grateful for the company. It was intimidating trying to relearn everything she should already know, and while her professors were more than patient with her, they were not her friends. Not like Rainbow anyways. Somehow, having the mare by her side made all the difference in the world. Even if the first spell she mastered was a sound dampening spell for Rainbow’s snoring. Something she still venomously denies doing.

“Yes Rainbow, you get credit for being there for me. Thank you by the way. To answer your question, last night I did some late reading after we went to bed and picked up enough to get by.”

“You learned an entire language in a night?!”

“No… just the basics.” Twilight said sheepishly.

By ‘basics,’ Rainbow knew that Twilight could probably speak it better than some of the natives. “Twilight, you never fail to impress me.”

“Says the mare that flew several hundred miles a minute.”

“Twilight, as amazing as I am, you got me beat hooves down.” Rainbow placed her hoof on Twilight’s face. Holding her steady as she brought her own in closer. They each stared into the other’s eyes. There was no doubt between the two what would happen. Inching closer, Rainbow slowly bridged the distance. The mood was perfect, the mare was perfect, and the atmosphere was perfect. It was as if the Gods themselves had designed this moment. She laughed a little inside as she realized that was not that far from the truth. In a way, Eros, the God of Love had designed this moment. Twilight slowly closed her eyes and readied herself for her first kiss. In the background, the sun’s rays had shone through the window, illuminating the two mares in its warm glow. Rainbow closed her eyes and went in to claim those lips, the ones she dreamed about for the last six months. It was a crime to keep them from her for so long.

The doors opened up. “Madams, your appetizers are ready.”

“Motherbucker!!!” Rainbow tried to shout. Fortunately, Twilight used her magic to close Rainbow’s mouth as the second syllable left it. She did not want them to be kicked out of a restaurant. Such an action would no doubt ruin her weekend and it was going far too well for that.

Twilight simply smiled at Savor as he led two other ponies into the room, they each place a dish down on the table. Rainbow got the ratatouille and Twilight the chicoree-frisee salad.

“Are the Mademoiselles ready to order?”

“I think we are actually, let’s go with an order of your baked Aubergines au four lasagne and legume.”

“An excellent choice for the madams; I shall leave you two in peace for now, jusqu'à Ce que plus tard.”

“Gesundheit.” Rainbow added.

“Rainbow, it’s an expression. It means until later, or until he returns.”

“Why didn’t he just say that?”

“He did, Rainbow…”

Humph.’ “If you ask me he can stay gone.”

“Well, no one asked you did they.”

Rainbow looked down at her soup. ‘Ok, maybe that was a little far.’

“Sorry…” Rainbow said.

“Hey, lets just eat. We have a whole night still ahead of us.”

“Twi…are you sure there isn’t rats in this.”

Twilight smiled. “Yes Rainbow, I’m sure. If you like we can switch. You know, if you're not daring enough to try it.”

“Hey, I never said that!” rising up to meet the challenge head on, Rainbow begun slurping at the soup. She had to admit, it tasted great. The tomatoes and garlic went down smooth on her tongue. However, before she could drink any more Twilight lifted her head up out of the bowl. Somehow the lavender alicorn had the expression of someone humored and embarrassed on her face at the same time.

“Rainbow, we're in a nice restaurant. Please don’t slurp your soup.”

“What, no one is around. They won’t care.”

“I’ll care.”

“Oh, sorry…” Rainbow picked up a spoon and began digging in, doing her best to not make the offending noise. Twilight simply smiled at her. From what she knew of the mare, Rainbow attempting to do anything against her nature was a mark of the respect she held her company in. In a way, Twilight felt truly honored that Rainbow was even making the attempt, even if she was failing at it.

“What am I doing wrong now?” Rainbow asked. She noted the look Twilight was giving her.

“Nothing Rainbow.” Twilight smiled, she might have been staring a little longer then she meant too. Twilight went back to her salad. It was nothing special but she wanted to save room for the main course. Something she knew would be delicious. Besides, she did not know how late they would be out for tonight, or if they would stop somewhere else.

“Hey, Rainbow?”

“Yeah?”

“What did you think about the way Ataxia was looking at Princess Night? Do you think they might make a cute couple?”

Rainbow barely managed to spit her soup back into the bowl. “What?!”

“What, you didn’t see the way Ataxia looked at her at dinner last night?”

Rainbow stopped and thought about it… those two had been spending more time together as of late. It seemed like a shift had occurred some three months back. “Maybe… I don’t know Twi, Night just went through a very painful breakup, I’m not sure her heart is ready for something like that.”

“The heart wants what the heart wants Rainbow. It doesn’t consult with us and ask us if the time is right or if we're ready. It strikes when we least expect it to, and gives us the greatest gift of all.”

“I know, I just worry about Night is all…”

“Rainbow, she’s a big girl, and a princess. I’m sure she can take care of herself.”

“I know that… I do.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“It’s complicated…”

‘Isn’t it always?’ Twilight thought to herself as she started to move some of her salad back and forth on her plate. Rainbow began to mentally berate herself; this was definitely not how she wanted the evening to go. She started to rack her brain for any sort of conversation starter she could think of. Sadly, the only thing that came to mind was the food.

“So… What did you order us anyway?”

“Oh, that… Yeah we got a baked eggplant lasagna coming and a vegetable quiche.”

“A what now?”

“A quiche, it’s like baked tarts with a savory filling in it. I think they put in their stylized lily flowers here too.”

“Sounds great!”

“I think so too.”

“…”

“…”

A silence descended upon the room. They both wanted to talk but neither had anything to say. After a few minutes, it was Rainbow that finally broke it.

“Hey Twi?”

“Yeah Rainbow?”

“Do you think she's happy?”

“Who?”

“Aurora… Princess Aurora Flash… Do you think she's happy, with him?”

Twilight looked at Rainbow, she could tell that was really bothering her, the cyan mare did not even look up from her soup. Yet she seemed to be carrying the weight of all of Equestria on her shoulders right then.

“Honestly Rainbow, I don’t know.”

“What?” Rainbow looked up; a look of shock crossed her face that Twilight would not know… Twilight knew everything about everything. She had to quit keeping track of the number of times that mare seemed to be right. It was easier to keep track of the number of times she was wrong. So far, even adding the times after she lost her memory, Rainbow had counted six times in forty years.

“I don’t know Rainbow; I haven’t met her before yesterday. I will tell you this though, she looked happy, and Icarus seems to deeply care for her. She seemed to love him too. In the end, isn’t that all we can hope for? Someone to care about us as much as we care about them, I would say she is very well off. Plus, she did not seem like the type of mare to do something she did not enjoy.” Twilight smiled.

“You’re right about that.” Rainbow laughed, a whole slew of memories came back to her in that instant. “Well, unless you give her a cookie.” She silently vowed that if that was what caused it, she would personally skin the griffin alive, emperor or not.

“A cookie?”

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later.”

“I’ll add it to the list.”

At that moment, the glass changed spectrum, causing the setting sun’s light to shine through it in much the same way as it would through a prism. The ambient light in the room split into its component colors. Lighting up the table, floors, and walls with all the colors of a rainbow, Twilight stared on in amazement at such a simple, yet elegant display of magic. “Wow… that’s beautiful.”

“Yeah… you sure are.”

Twilight looked over to Rainbow. Even with the magical show in the room, Rainbow only had eyes for her. “You know what they say about rainbows, don’t you?”

“What’s that?”

“Rainbow’s shine in the sky; a promise of what’s to come, a promise of the future.”

Rainbow paused to let that sink in before continuing.

“You know what I always say, don’t you?”

“You’re awesome?”

“Well, that too… but no.”

“What do you always say?”

Rainbow leaned back in, her breath may smell like garlic, but she did not care and neither did Twilight. She whispered the next words as she sought after the prize lost from her earlier. “Rainbow Dash always keeps her promises.” She moved in for the kiss denied to her earlier.

“Dinner is served!”

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Hush you.”

Savor Maitre walked in front of a long line of ponies, each pushing a cart in front of them. Rainbow had to admit, the food looked amazing. Only at royal functions had she seen such a spread. The lasagna was quite literally steaming in its container. The bread looked to die for. Best of all, the servers cut all the food for them and added it to each of their plates in turn. Savor Maitre folded a napkin and placed it gently on Rainbow’s lap. Luckily, (for him) he let another pony do the same for Twilight. The final icing on the cake was two candles placed down in front of the two, as the setting sun had dipped below the horizon by the time the servers left. It left the room lit by candlelight.

“I shall leave you mademoiselles for the rest of the night. Please, enjoy your meal, and if you need anything, simply ring this bell.” He magically lifted a bell from one of the carts and placed it on the table.

“Thank you Savor, we will.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Bonne soirée.”

As Rainbow watched him leave, she could not quite remember the last time she wanted to hurt another pony this badly in all her life... well, that was not true. She would never forget her fight with Tartarus. She had wanted to hurt THAT pony quite a bit more, she promised it even, and Rainbow Dash always keeps her promise. Not that she would actually hurt this pony; Twilight would be upset about that.

“Well, dig in.”

…………………………………

“Sweet Luna, I’m stuffed.”

“I know the feeling.” Twilight added.

The two left the restaurant after finishing dinner, it was amazing. Rainbow could not remember the last time she ate so well. The texture of the food was divine. And the flavor! It was to die for. They both paid their compliments to the chef before leaving. Although, Rainbow let Twilight do the talking on that one as she could not understand a single thing he was saying.

After dinner, it was Twilight who suggested they walk it off. Something Rainbow was more than happy to do, as she felt too full to fly anyway. To her annoyance, even with the romantic atmosphere, candlelight, great food, even better company, and a promise that no pony would disturb them again, that moment never came again. The first two times had been perfect. It simply called for it. It did not happen again, but as Twilight said, the night was young.

Therefore, they went for a walk, right outside of the restaurant was one of the canals they followed for a while. As the wind swept over it, they got a scent of the water on the cool night’s breeze. It simply felt right.

“Hey Twi?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Have you given any thoughts about what you want to do once you finish your tutelage?”

“Aren’t I supposed to pick up being a princess again?”

Rainbow laughed. “I suppose, but is that what you want to do? Is that what will make you happy?”

“I… I haven’t really thought about it. It just seemed like that’s what I should be doing. After all, I am an alicorn and alicorns are royalty. It doesn’t seem right to go against that, at least not to me anyway.”

“Oh… ok.…”

“Why? What do you want to do?”

Rainbow paused from walking alongside the edge of the canal; she crouched low and looked Twilight in the eye. “What do you mean?” Rainbow asked the alicorn.

“You've got to have goals, something you want to do with your life, don’t you?”

“Goals. You know, I had something I wanted to do with my life. It was my dream to one day join the Wonderbolts.”

“Rainbow! You would make an awesome Wonderbolt!” Twilight began jumping up and down at the thought of the Wonderbolts getting a mare like Rainbow in their ranks. “I bet they would even make you captain if you wanted it.”

Rainbow laughed. “Twilight, I said it was my dream to become a Wonderbolt. One that I already lived.”

“Oh… what happened?”

“Simple, I lived it. It’s a hollow life, one full of bits and fame, but it never truly made me happy. I thought I was happy mind you, but it was a lie. Without even realizing it, I found a new dream to live, one with all my friends, with you.” Rainbow jumped down from the ledge and looked Twilight eye to eye. She reached a hoof out and grabbed one of Twilight's. “Twi, you are my dream now, one that I have been living for ever since I realized what was really important in life, and one that I have never regretted chasing after. I… I want to be wherever you are. I want to live my life for you, with you. That's my only dream now.”

Twilight gazed deeply into those magenta eyes. Rainbow's eyes were pools of water she could jump in to. She willingly dived head in, not caring if she ever found her way back out. Rainbow’s words, she never heard anything more profound in her life. This mare, she trusted Twilight with everything she was. Twilight was her dream now. It was a dream Twilight did not intend to ever tread on. It dawned on Twilight what that meant. it was an honor and a responsibility all at once. Rainbow would live her life for Twilight. “Rainbow… I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Then say nothing.” Rainbow smiled at her, she had been afraid that such a reveal might be too much, but everything about tonight told her it was time, and who was she to argue? Someponies often feel that the Universe conspires against them, almost as if everything in the world works to actively prevent whatever it is that they hope to achieve. However, the reverse is true too, it is rare, but in some moments, the Universe conspires to give us exactly what we want most in life. Rainbow Dash was having one of those moments now; as she went in for the kiss long denied.

Or so she thought.

A bright light turned on from the other side of the water as the Prance Carnival started up its operation. Several rides turned on at once and a pony got on the bullhorn to address the crowd. “Approchez, pas tout de suite! Venez, bienvenue à la légendaire Carnaval la France! Soyez l'une des premières juments et étalons à l'intérieur!”

Rainbow and Twilight bumped heads, each just as flustered as the other was, until Twilight heard the pony on the bullhorn that is. “Rainbow! That's the Prance Carnival! You know how lucky we are?! C’mon, let’s go check it out!” Twilight took flight to the other side of the canal.

“Lucky… right.” Rainbow took off after her. Unsure just how much more of this she could take before somepony would push her to do something she would NOT regret. Well, save for how mad that might make Twilight, that part she would regret.

Rainbow landed next to Twilight. “Don’t you think we might be a little overdressed for this?”

“I doubt anypony will care. It just means we might get a few extra looks.”

“If you say so.” Rainbow grunted.

As they walked up and bought tickets, Rainbow could not help but look around. The two had been to quite a few carnivals in their time, but those were almost always with the kids. She would always remember how Aurora got a kick out of the bumper cars, or how Night would simply die if she didn’t get any cotton-candy, something Pinkie would always be more than willing to get for her. She smiled as she looked at the biggest ferris wheel she had ever seen in the background. ‘Dayspring always loved those.’ Her smile turned to ash at that thought.

‘Not now, not now…’ She told herself over and over, as she felt the tears beginning to form. It took everything she had, but she was able to hold those emotions back. She took all of that and put it back into the box marked ‘later’ in her mind. Using all the willpower she possessed, Rainbow closed that box and locked it.

“You ok, Rainbow?” Twilight asked.

“I will be… Just some painful memories is all.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Concern permeated throughout Twilight’s voice as she looked on in worry at her marefriend.

“Maybe later.”

“If you don’t want to go, we can always find something else to do. I don’t mind.”

“No… it’s fine, let’s just enjoy the evening.”

“Oh, ok… If you’re sure.”

‘Rainbow, why won’t you talk to me?’ Twilight was racking her brain to find the answer to the million bit question.

“Yeah, I’m sure…”

‘Twilight, you have no idea how badly I want to tell you everything.’ Rainbow was crying on the inside.

Despite the ‘incident’ at the front gate, they soon found themselves having a blast. Twilight even caught Rainbow smiling much sooner than she expected she would. They went on a few different rides throughout the carnival, several that Twilight enjoyed, but even a few that she did not, such as the death drop. Even though she had wings, the thought of strapping herself into a cart and falling without the ability to do anything about it almost caused her to teleport out of her seat. The smile on Rainbow’s face was more than enough to keep her seated though.

Sadly, she could not say the same for her dinner.

“You ok, Twilight?”

“Rainbow, next time you want to go on a crazy ass ride like that again, I want at least two days’ notice.” Twilight spoke from behind the bathroom door. Rainbow simply laughed at that.

“Two days ago I didn’t even know we were coming here.” Rainbow said.

‘Sorry about that Twilight.’ Rainbow thought.

“What was that?”

‘Crap, I said the loud part quiet and the quiet part loud, didn’t I?’

“Nothing Twi.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Rainbow smiled as she heard the toilet flush. Twilight stepped out looking a little worse for wear, but it was nothing a little water would not fix. Rainbow handed the mare a water bottle as she went over to the sink and rinsed out her mouth. Rainbow had to admit, Twilight still looked amazing. She knew it was not just the spell either. Even at her worst of times, Twilight never failed to look that way to her. It was as if a glow simply surrounded the mare.

Once Twilight was decent, they left the restroom and began walking around the carnival. That is when Rainbow's jaw dropped. She saw it, the one ride she totally forgot about. The one she suddenly wanted to go on more than any other ride here.

“Hey, Twi?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Do you trust me?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course I trust you.”

“Then go on one more ride with me.”

“Rainbow, I don’t know if I can stomach another thrill ride.”

“Trust me.” Rainbow looked at her pleadingly.

“Ok Rainbow, I trust you.”

Rainbow grabbed her hoof and started leading Twilight through the crowd. She did her best to keep up, unsure exactly where they were heading. Until, at last, she saw the sign, Le tunnel de l’amour, otherwise known as: The Tunnel of Love.

“Rainbow, are you sure?”

She turned around and looked at the mare, “Twilight, I've never been more sure of anything.”

Twilight smiled a huge grin as they went and got in line. There were only a few couples in front of them, but that did not take away from the excitement she felt. When they reached the front, another boat came up for them. Lucky for Rainbow, the operator spoke both languages, he tried to help them in, but Rainbow was not having any of that. She helped Twilight in the boat and then got in after her, but not before Rainbow passed him a hastily scribbled note and a few bits first.

‘That’s weird… we already gave him our ticket.’ Twilight thought.

“Rainbow, what was that about?”

“You’ll see.” Rainbow’s cocky grin accompanied her reply; if this worked out, she might be able to give the universe a little push in the right direction. Isn’t that what they say, ‘Opportunity might knock, but it’s up to you to open the door.’

Twilight dismissed the thought for now and moved a little closer to Rainbow. As the boat started moving, she faked a shiver. As expected, Rainbow’s right wing stretched out and wrapped itself around her. Twilight smiled as she felt the warmth of the wing throughout her body, warming her up with the energy that went into their creation. Rainbow wrapped a hoof around Twilight's shoulder and squeezed her closer, to the point that you could not fit a piece of paper between them.

“Rainbow?”

“Yes, Twi…”

“Thank you. For everything, this night has been just perfect and it’s all because of you.”

“Even with the little event earlier?” Rainbow asked, she was not sure if that had ruined things or not.

“Even still. With a hundred do-overs, I wouldn't change a single thing about tonight.”

Twilight pressed her head against Rainbow's neck, fully relaxed as she heard Rainbow’s heartbeat. ‘I love that sound.’ She thought.

The music started playing in the background as the operator made good on his promise. It took him a while to find an Equestria version of the song, but for the amount of bits he was paid he made sure to find it.

‘Can you feel the love tonight?’

Twilight smiled. “Was this your doing, Rainbow?”

‘The peace the evening brings.’

“What would give you that idea? Wait? Have you heard this song before?”

“No, I can’t say I have. But I know this was your doing.”

‘The world, for once, in perfect harmony.’

“How do you know that?” Rainbow asked playfully.

“Because, it would be in Prance otherwise.”

‘With all its living things.’

“Oh, yeah, right…” Rainbow smiled at her. “What can I say? Only the best for you.”

After a few moments, Twilight thought about something Rainbow said, something she wanted to make sure that Rainbow knew. “But I already have the best, Rainbow.”

‘Stealing through the night’s uncertainties’

“What’s that?”

“I already have the best, because I have you.”

It is said that the Universe is out to get some ponies, and that is sometimes true, but not always. For those few lucky ponies, everything simply falls right into place. At this moment, at this time, Rainbow was one of those lucky few ponies. She was on a love boat in Prance, her wife; Twilight Sparkle was in her hooves. She could not ask for more if she had a million years to think about it.

‘Love is where they are.’

Twilight had other ideas though, reaching out with her right hoof she gabbed Rainbow's face and forced her to look her directly in the eyes. She jumped up and stole the kiss that had been denied to them all night. There was no more waiting for the moment to be right. She knew in her heart, that this was it. The moment would not be any more perfect than this right here. She savored the look of surprise in the cyan mare. It was her… victory.

Unfortunately, the unexpected contact was a horrible idea on a boat over water. The sudden act of intimacy caused a very expected, very BAD reaction from Rainbow’s wings. Both wings shot back, becoming very stiff very quickly. For most pegasi, this was no big deal, a little embarrassing yes, but nothing of note. Rainbow was not most pegasi. Her wings were made of pure magic energy, a God’s magic energy. When they became stiff, they became sharper than diamonds. Easily able to cut the strongest steel in half, or cut straight through a mountain if she wanted. The wooden boat they were in never stood a chance.

Both ponies splashed right into the water as Rainbow cut the boat in half. Twilight’s quick thinking teleported the two out of the water and to the outskirts of the town. As neither of them wanted to deal with a boat cut in two.

Rainbow slunk off to the top of a hill. Her head downcast.

“Rainbow, what’s wrong? Don’t worry about the outfits, they'll be fine, my spell is still going.” Twilight’s concern permeated her voice; she could not understand what was so bad to cause Rainbow to act this way. “Am I a bad kisser?”

Rainbow turned around when she reach the top of the hill. “What? No…”

“Then what’s wrong?” Twilight asked again as she walked up the hill and joined her friend, her marefriend.

“I… I wanted it to be perfect, to be something you would remember forever. You know, in a good way… not like this.”

Twilight reached a hoof around and brought Rainbow’s face to look at her. “Rainbow, it was perfect. It will be something I will always remember. I'm not a little foal, Rainbow. I never expected it to be some fairy book ending. What happened, it’s what made it perfect. It was perfect because it was flawed, and because it was with you.”

“Really?” Rainbow looked up; she gazed into the mare she loved. Twilight's eyes were full of love and affection, just as she always remembered them.

As a way of response, Twilight leaned in and kissed her again. There was no fanfare, no big romantic gesture, it was simply an expression of her love for Rainbow, and it was a kiss that Rainbow would remember for the rest of her life as Twilight’s bulk caused them both to fall back. They spent the next few moments like that, Twilight lying on Rainbow, their tongues finding one another after too many months apart. In the sky, several shooting stars passed overhead, a late present from Luna for the two.

When she had no choice but to come up for air, Twilight pulled back and smiled at the mare. She said just one word. “Perfect.”

Rainbow smiled back. “Just wait for what tomorrow brings.”

“Really?”

“It’s the promise of a rainbow.”

Author's Note

Somepony remind me to stay the hell in Equestria... Too... Much... Research...

Translations found online or by using google translator (for what that's worth)

The Honeymoon

Author's Note

As some of you may have noticed, this is the first story I labeled with a 'mature' tag. This is due to me wanting to try and write a sex scene in this story. I did my best to make it as tasteful as possible and relevant to the actual plot.

If you don't want to read something like that, then when Firestar says: “Shh… The time for talk is over.” simply skip down to the next scene break.

If this does not offend you please look it over and let me know what you think. (Is it any good? Should I keep it up? Never do it again?) As this is my first attempt at writing something like this, I am interested in any feedback you have.

Thanks in advance.

The Honeymoon

The Crystal Empire

Ataxia awoke to the light of Princess Night’s sun. She relished the warmth provided by that shining globe. Few ponies knew it yet, but Shimmering Night had started to take over the day shift from Luna, something the Princess of the Night was eternally grateful for. For Ataxia, that simply meant she could spend more time with Shimmering Night, which was something she was eternally grateful for.

Ataxia smiled as she rolled out of bed. She had personally requested a room with a view to the east just so she could have this moment. Stretching out in the sunlight, she arched her back and then relaxed. The combination of a good stretch along with the warm light was her drug of choice in the morning. One she would never get enough of.

Looking over to the window, she laughed as she remembered the one time she caught somepony staring in at her. She turned the little toad into his namesake for that. He spent two weeks as a frog, hopping from place to place until Fluttershy finally found him and asked her to turn him back. Of course, now she would never do something like that. The poor colt’s parents were worried sick about him. Not to mention how mad Fluttershy had been. She supposed that maybe, just maybe, his story about simply looking for a ball was true, something that had a little more credence by the fact that she found the ball the next day in her bushes.

“Live and learn.” She said to nopony in particular as she dismissed that troubling memory. Ataxia rolled on her back to let the sun hit her stomach. Much to her annoyance, as soon as she was comfortable a cloud blocked her source of warmth. Ataxia briefly considered blasting the rogue cloud to its component atoms and then finding out which pegasus was responsible for placing it there and making them pay for it. She held back on that though. The last time she declared war on the weather ponies it had not ended well for, well, anyone. It took them almost six months to repair the damage and get back on schedule. Still, the weather ponies in Ponyville now knew better and they had passed the word onto their comrades in Canterlot. Sadly, that warning did not seem to make it to the Crystal Empire.

As such, it was with remarkable restraint on her part that Ataxia did not do anything about it. She merely stoked the dragon fire in her chest and let that warm her the rest of the way up. She hated doing it this way, it felt too much like cheating. However, Cadance would not be happy if she made a scene. After their battle with Tartarus, the two of them had developed a mutual respect and admiration for each other.

She grunted in annoyance as the Cloudsdale pegasi team added even more clouds to the sky. She knew the forecast called for overcast today. That did not make the reality of the situation any easier. She already missed the sun. Well, that was not entirely true. She would never admit it, but it was not the sun she liked; it was the pony that controlled the sun.

Her subconscious kept trying to send her that message every single day for half a year now; she would find herself stealing unintentional glances at the newest princess. Her eyes would linger places that they should not be looking at for a little too long. Her heart would race every time she heard her laugh, or if they were simply in close proximity to each other for any real amount of time.

Unfortunately, it was a message totally lost on the mare; her experience with love came in the form of dragging whatever stallion or mare she found attractive from a bar and giving him or her the old wham, bam, thank you (even if they were not interested). Ataxia only had a few emotional connections in her life; while that number had been increasing of late, her first real one was with Fluttershy… Fluttershy was the mare that took her in, the one that seemed to know just what to say, the one who sincerely wanted to be her friend, and the one she let die.

She reconsidered teaching these pegasi why they should not block her light in the morning. It was a thought that she immediately lost when she saw a team of Wonderbolts doing a flyover.

‘It’s been awhile since my last hunt!’

By ‘awhile’ it had been a whole two days. Her smile turned to a frown when they pulled up and looped around. They were just getting in some practice. However, their stunt did knock the clouds out of the way, much to the enjoyment of Ataxia and the displeasure of the weather ponies that now had to move them all back in place. However, that brief glance of the sun did remind the mare of a certain somepony who was already up.

Ataxia found herself with a small spring in her step as she headed out the door and down the hall. ‘Night should be in the throne room with Cadance.’ She thought. Her mind then went to all the fun they could have today just hanging out, well, all the fun they would have if Night would actually go along with any of what Ataxia suggested. Somehow, the mare could be a total buzzkill and awesome at the same time. It was a conundrum worthy of an egghead to figure out.

Her thoughts almost caused her to walk straight into Emperor Siros.

“Pardon me, dear.”

“Watch where you're goin- …Oh, Emperor Siros… hi.”

The griffin smiled at the mare. The two of them had an odd relationship. He helped awaken her other side, her dragon side. The side she inherited from her father, Spike. However, that did not help the odd looks she got from every pony that saw her transformation. Not that she cared… but still.

“Please, just Siros. My son is emperor now.”

“Only because you don’t want the job.”

He laughed at that. “What can I say? The old guard has to make room for the young bucks at some point.”

Ataxia just looked at him odd; Equestria did not run that way, so why did the Griffin Empire do so? “I guess, seems kind of inefficient. What if your new leader isn’t any good?”

Siros smiled. “That’s the job of the old guard, to train their next leader.”

“If you say so.”

“Anyhow, where were you off to in such a hurry?”

“I was just off to see Night in the throne room.”

Siros nodded at her. ‘I thought as much.’ He thought to himself. “Allow me to accompany you; it will do these old bones good to get some exercise.”

“Sure. Tell me, how are things going in Warclaw?”

“You should see it now Ataxi-“ His sentence was cut off by a loud shouting noise coming from the side room.

“YOU BUCKING ASSHOLE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” A door opened up and a panicking Icarus ran out of it before slamming it behind him. They heard several loud banging noises hitting the other side of the door, including one that caused the entire wall to vibrate. Icarus looked at the two in the hallway, his breathing heavy and beak agape.

“What the buck?” Ataxia asked.

“So, I take it this is one of her better mornings?”

Icarus took a minute to catch his breath before replying to his father. “Yeah… you could say that.”

“What did you do?”

Both griffins looked at her with an odd expression on their faces. “You didn’t see at dinner?” Icarus said sarcastically.

“Ahh… ok, I get it. Wow... that’s a bitch, huh?”

“You could say that, I’m afraid it’s all part of the joys of pregnancy.” Siros laughed.

“You two going out, or anywhere? I don’t care where. If so, please let me come too.”

Just then, the door opened up and a pissed-off Aurora looked out. “I don’t bucking think so, get your flank back in here, now!” She grabbed the griffin by his tail and yanked him back inside. The other two watched him be tossed into the room as he cried out loud; “Save me!”

Aurora nodded at Siros before slamming the door shut, soon after the yelling picked up again; magnified several times over. Ataxia looked at Siros and noticed that he still had a smile on his face.

“He’s bucked, isn’t he?” She asked the old griffin.

“Oh yeah.”

“Are you going to do something to help?”

“You kidding? I may not have long left, but I do want to see my grandkid before I die.”

Ataxia laughed at that and continued on, and the two went the rest of the way in silence, although they both had a smile on their face as they walked. When they entered the throne room, Princess Night was sitting down to tea with Princess Cadance. Siros looked over at a disappointed Ataxia. He had seen that look on faces too many times to not know what the cause was. The wise old griffin walked right up to Cadance and started making small talk with the skill only a seasoned diplomat possessed. Siros expertly managed to bogart Night right out of the conversation without being rude or offensive.

Ataxia did not know why the old griffin did what he did but she was grateful for it. Seizing on this opportunity, she jumped up and went over to talk to Night.

“Hey Night! What’s on the agenda for today?”

Night laughed as she saw her life-long friend walk up to her. “Ataxia it’s Saturday, plus I’m on vacation until Monday.”

“Soo….”

“Nothing Ataxia, I have nothing planned.”

“Great! Come with me!”

“Ataxia!!!!” Night shouted as Ataxia dragged her out the room and down the hall by her hoof.

Cadance watched them go with a smirk; she turned to Siros with a knowing smile on her face. “You know that wasn't necessary, I wouldn’t have kept them apart.”

He grinned back. “I know, but how often does someone get to talk with a mare as pretty as you, especially when that mare is the Princess of Love.”

Cadance blushed at that. “You always were a flatterer.”

He bowed playfully at the princess. “What can I say? I know true beauty when I see it.”

Cadance smiled. “Siros, if I didn’t know better, I'd say you were trying to seduce me.”

Siros sighed at that comment. “No princess, that's a younger griffin’s game. My days of chasing tail are over. Me, I'm simply happy to be in the presence of someone as lovely as you.”

Cadance’s smile left her at that. She could not help but feel sorry for the old griffin. ‘He’s still pining over her.’ she thought to herself. Cadance placed a hoof on the old bird’s shoulder. “I know she means a lot to you.”

“Not really, she married me for my title you know, she never really loved me. Icarus took her death hard, but I never thought anything more of it myself.”

“I wasn’t talking about your wife.” Cadance said with a small smile. “I know how you feel about her, I knew it the first time I saw you two in the same room together.”

He glanced up at the princess, a small tear falling from his eye. “I never knew anyone… anyone as stunning as her before, but she loves another. I… I could never interfere with something like that. I… I may want her, but more than that, I want her to be happy, and Twilight makes her happy. I... I could never get in her way.”

Cadance embraced the griffin in her hooves. A few more tears left him when he finally faced his unreciprocated love. She slowly ran a hoof down his back. The griffin was the oldest of his race, wise beyond his years, and served as a symbol of the strength for his kind. Yet, at this moment, he felt as weak as a newborn foal. She could feel every shudder of his body as he let loose all the emotion that he kept bottled up over the years.

“You know, we are built to love, we love deeply and passionately. Enough that we wouldn't even hesitate to spend our own lives to save those we love. However, there is no safety if they don’t love us back. Such unrequited love can tear us apart faster than anything else in the world.”

“That’s where you're wrong, princess.” He spoke, his own pain temporarily relieved by simply being held in the hooves of the Princess of Love. “Our love is its own safety net, for if you love someone enough, you can let them go, and your happiness will come simply from seeing them happy.”

She laughed a little. “I suppose that’s true.”

……………………………………………………………..

Vanhoover Islands

Two ponies lay out on the islands of Vanhoover. Each spread out on the beach, simply relaxing and soaking up the rays of the sun. Of course, one pony lying on top of the other caused the latter to miss a few of the rays, but in his expert opinion, her warmth more than made up for it, even if his legs were going numb.

“So tell me, how does it feel to be Princess Firestar?”

Firestar lifted her head from her husband’s chest and looked at him, she smiled the warmest smile he ever saw and went in for a kiss. She tasted the stallion’s salty lips with her own. However, Radiant was not going to let her off that easy. The prince wrapped a hoof around her head and brought her in even closer. Radiant’s tongue left his mouth and began prying her's open. An intruder she was more than prepared for, rather than drag out the siege, she allowed this unknowing foe entry before her own tongue sought battle. After a few minutes of combat, she followed her defeated opponent back to its home and returned the favor. Radiant had no choice but to accept defeat. He let her head go and allowed the mare the victory, again.

She pulled back, a small trail of saliva continued to connect the two until he bopped her on the noise, breaking the string with a smile. One she was more than happy to return. “Does that answer your question?” Firestar asked.

“I don’t know… I might need you to explain it again.” He said with playful cattiness in his voice.

She gave him a very seducing look, one that promised hours of fun later that night. “You idiot.” She said with a laugh. “Guess I’ll just have to keep explaining it to you, won’t I?”

“What can I say? It takes this idiot awhile to learn anything.”

She laughed and went in for another kiss, one he was more than happy to receive. Unfortunately, at the last second she pulled up and simply pecked him on the horn. “Ahh.” Radiant said with disappointment in his voice.

“Hey, you quit being dumb and I might get in the mood again.” She said with a smile before returning her head to his chest. Radiant looked down and ran a hoof through her mane. He knew she did not spend a lot of time on it, settling simply to make it presentable in the mornings. However, to him, it felt smooth as silk. Somehow, simply touching it always sent shivers down his spine. He wrapped his other hoof around Firestar and squeezed her tightly as the two lay out and enjoyed the crystal-clear water lapping at the shore.

He felt her sigh in contentment at his touch. Through his hoof, he felt her breathing slow down, her heart was beating slower as she closed her eyes and drifted off in blissful slumber. With the warmth she provided and the waves washing up and down the shore, it was not long until he joined her. The stallion fought it off as long as he could, as he did not want to miss a second of simply watching the mare sleep on his chest, yet the sandpony waits for no one. Soon, he to found himself falling asleep.

……………………….

“Radiant! Radiant Star! Wake up!”

A smack upside his head caused the stallion to awaken from where he lay. Sweat poured down his brow and his horn let off small uncontrolled magical discharges in random directions. His heart felt like it was going to explode, every muscle in his body felt tense. He sat up and took in several deep breaths as his conscious mind sought to make sense of what just happened. The memories came back like a tidal wave in his mind, the horrors he saw in his dream.... The stallion began crying from the intensity of it alone. He started hyperventilating, his body demanding more oxygen to feed its starved muscular system.

A tan hoof wrapped itself around his shoulders and forced the stallion’s head against its owner's chest. Firestar held her husband as tightly as she could, allowing the prince to cry out on to her. Few ponies ever saw this side of him; he would not let them see this. This was him at his weakest, at his most vulnerable. She could not fault him one bit, not for this.

Firestar spoke when he was ready, when the tears and the sobbing finally stopped. “It was that dream again.” It was not a question. This was the third time her husband awoke in such a state in the past six months.

“Yes.” Radiant managed as he sought to slow down his breathing.

“Please… please tell me about it. I… I can’t help you if you don’t let me in.” She begged him. This was the third time it happened, and he still refused to talk to anypony about it. About just what he was dreaming of that caused him such distress.

It took a few moments before he replied, he allowed himself this time to collect his thoughts in such a way that he could articulate them to the mare, to try to get his message across. “Ok… I think I'm ready to tell you.”

She hugged him tighter while whispering a silent ‘thank you’ to the sky.

A few minutes later, they returned to the beach house they were staying in. Firestar walked into the kitchen, her limp still noticeable to the stallion as she did so. He knew it would have been easier on her to simply fly there, but she was never one to do things the easy way. Every moment she could, the mare would spend on her hooves. She was trying her hardest to get them back the way they were, before... before it happened…

When she returned, Firestar passed her husband a cool hard apple cider, a small gift for the two that Rainbow left them as her wedding present. That alone spoke volumes to the love Rainbow had for them. As their aunt, Rainbow cared deeply for both of them. He took the glass with a small nod of thanks and took a sip. Firestar watched him with care in her eyes.

“It was the Titan attack. I relive it sometimes… In my dreams that is.” She nodded for him to continue.

“During the, worst times It… It happens differently, I chase after you just like before, but… but Night and Luna down the Titan before I get there. I see you… I see you lying there, looking up at me with a smile on your face that I finally found you. But… but the Titan lands on you before I make it.” He began crying again, tears falling freely from his eyes. “I know it’s stupid. I know it’s just a dream, but… but I can’t help feeling as if I failed you. I’m… I’m sorry.”

Firestar walked up and hugged him again, allowing his tears to fall freely, all the while cooing softly in his ear. “It’s not stupid; don’t think that for an instant.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He cried into her chest. Firestar slowly rocked back and forth, taking more of his weight onto her as she did so. She ran her hoof along his back, softly running it through Radiant’s fur. She began humming to him, allowing the vibrations to travel from her to her husband. After a few minutes, it seemed to work, his crying calmed down and the tears stopped falling.

She lifted his head with a hoof. His bloodshot eyes spoke volumes to the mare about how he felt, about how much he was punishing himself for his supposed slight to her. Radiant stared up into her eyes. He expected to see a look of judgment, to be told he was stupid for letting something like this get to him. He was a prince for Luna’s sake! He should be strong enough that a stupid dream would not affect him like this.

He did not see any of that. All he saw in her eyes was patience, understanding, and love, an endless pool of love. Tears began falling anew, but unlike before, these were tears of happiness.

“Radiant, listen to me right now, you did not fail me. You saved me; you saved me from certain death by doing the impossible. You overcame your very nature to do so. I owe you everything I am, everything I will be; I’m only alive right now because of you.” The conviction in her voice conveyed her seriousness to the stallion.

She continued. “It’s just a dream; always remember in your heart, that whatever happens, I will be here for you when you wake up. Keep that thought in the back of your mind for all time. Make it a fact of life for you: Ponies need to eat, plants grow, and I will be here for you. Make it a part of who you are. Then, whatever you dream about, you will always carry that with you. You will always know it to simply be true.”

He listened to every word, every syllable the mare spoke. It was the last time he ever had that dream.

“I don’t deserve you.” He whispered.

She brought up her other hoof and held his head steady. “You idiot, you're the only one who does. It’s I that don't deserve you.” She went in for a kiss. One that he reciprocated, there was no grand gesture. The two simply let the act speak for itself. Letting the simple kiss convey everything they felt about one another. It was the single greatest kiss of their lives.

‘Radiant, you've been so strong for me; you've been my rock, my everything. Let me carry you now; let me carry the weight of your burdens. Your weight, your dreams, and your happiness; let me carry it for you. Even if it’s just for a little while.’

She proved her strength. The mare took her hooves off his head and stuck them under Radiant’s legs; she spread her wings and lifted him off his hooves. It had been a while since she last gave her wings a real workout. Her rehab primarily focused on her back legs. Of course, that did not mean she was slacking. As the former Captain of the Wonderbolts, Firestar would never let her wings go weak. She easily lifted them both in the air. Radiant was surprised by the action, but not enough to cause him to break the kiss. He merely wrapped his own hooves around her and hung on tighter as she flew them both up the stairs.

The next thing Radiant knew, he was being laid down on a soft blanket. As Firestar lay next to him, the bed easily conformed to the extra weight; they finally broke the kiss. He looked at her in all her glory. Never once did he imagine that he would see someone as breathtaking as her lay next to him, one who at that very moment looked at him with pure love in her eyes, not judging him, not expecting him to be anything other than who he was. Radiant counted every day of the past seven months as a blessing. He simply stared at her with his head resting on a pillow.

He now understood what true love was. For the first time he could remember, he was living with it in his life. Suddenly, the rest of his life seemed hollow, as if it was missing something.

It was missing something; it was missing her. Firestar was the piece of the puzzle that was left out, the one that completed everything. Regardless what he did, what he would do in the future, it would be meaningless if she were not there with him. This was it, this is what mattered, it took him forty years to find it, but now that he had, he would never let it go. Knowing what he knew now, Radiant would spend another forty… another hundred and forty years looking for it, looking for her, because... because it was worth it. Because she was worth it.

Firestar took her hoof and wiped a rogue tear away from his eye, an action that earned a smile from the prince. She took that hoof and ran it along his jaw feeling the soft, warm coat that made up the unicorn. Firestar did not stop there; she ran her hoof lightly down his broad chest, causing a shiver of anticipation in the stallion. Her hoof traveled up and down his stomach, lightly stroking his muscles.

“Firestar, what are yo-”

“Shh… The time for talk is over.” She covered his muzzle with her hoof.

Climbing on top of him, Firestar brushed her mane out of her eyes and connected their lips together. She slowly, gently caressed his head, the actions careful and deliberate. Their lips parted from each other and she begun a string of kisses up his forehead, ending on his horn.

The action caused a murmur of contentment to escape from Radiant’s lips. ‘You think that feels good? You haven’t felt anything yet.’ She knew his weakness, the one secret nopony else knew of, his ears. Firestar left his horn and softly blew into his right ear. Her breath carrying with it the promise of more to come.

Radiant’s eyes opened wide as he realized her intent. “Firestar… don-“ His sentence was cut off as she began nibbling on his right ear. It was an action that drove the stallion wild with desire. His one weakness that he made sure no pony knew about. Firestar discovered it their second time, and while she might have promised never to abuse the power; she never said anything about not using it again.

As far as Radiant was concerned the battle was over, the war was lost as soon as her teeth made contact with his earlobe. Every pony had a secret, every pony had something they liked more than anything else, and this was his. He would do anything she wanted right then. All she had to do was keep nibbling away. Which is why what came next surprised him; Firestar stopped nibbling and whispered into his ear.

“Take me.”

His earlier thoughts vanished, his dream forgotten; his worries over failing and losing the one thing that was the most precious to him were gone in the blink of an eye. Radiant’s broad smile crept over his face as he turned the tables on the mare. Sweeping her hooves off the bed, Radiant rolled on top of her. This was her secret. The side of her that she let nopony else see. Firestar was a type-A personality, always in control, always the one leading from the front, making the hard decisions. Her greatest turn on was when someone she loved, someone she trusted took that control from her. Most ponies would be far too scared of her to ever attempt such a thing. Not Radiant; he was perfect for her.

He looked into her bright blue eyes and gazed upon her very soul. What he saw was a mirror reflection of his own. These two lovers were each other’s opposites. The part of themselves that they were born without; the part they spent their lives looking for and despite the odds, finally found. He kissed her again, once more forcing his tongue into her mouth. This time the battle was a massacre. He found his strength, rallied his troops, and took ownership of what was his, of what he wanted more than anything in life. Her tongue never stood a chance.

The kiss alone was enough to rattle the mare, but it did not stop there. When Radiant let go, he began a trail of kisses down her neck, pausing only to leave his mark on her perfect fur coat. Firestar let out a gasp as the pain mixed with pleasure. She was never one for the more kinky aspect of sex, but she suddenly saw the appeal. It was not the act that mattered, it was the trust those acts implied. Putting yourself into someone else’s hooves and knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you were perfectly safe.

The kisses began to move lower as Radiant ran his tongue down her coat. He paused only when he reached her small nipples. Taking each one in turn, he switched between licking, biting, and sucking on each erect bud. His actions sent shivers into the mare as Firestar struggled to not cry out right then. She was almost disappointed when he stopped.

He moved lower, leaving a trail of saliva in his wake. Firestar trembled with anticipation when he reached the end of his journey, her anticipation turned to excitement then disappointment as he merely grazed over the area, continuing to each one of her hind legs instead.

Radiant knew what he was doing all too well. He purposely skipped over the honey bucket as it would drive her wild with anticipation. Instead of going straight there, he concentrated his attention along the inside of her hind legs, switching between kissing and blowing as he kept getting closer, then closer to her slit. Only to pull back at the last possible moment, judging by the movements in her legs and the profanity that left her mouth, it was having more than the desired effect.

“Radiant… don’t tease.” She said after the third time he switched legs.

“As the lady wishes.”

He moved up to the pot of gold, it’s moistening lips puffed up from the affection she felt, he could almost see the rose bud on top. ‘Well, I'll just have to make this worthwhile, won't I?’ Radiant started slowly, lightly blowing up and down the entrance to her marehood, causing a shudder in his wife as he did so. He loved that reaction from the mare; it was on his top three best things in the world. As he watched, he was amazed at just how wet she already was; and to think, he had not even gotten started yet. He nudged the edges open with his nose and inhaled deeply. It smelled like… like... like heaven.

“Radiant, I swear, if I haaa-“

Firestar’s complaint died in her throat as his tongue found its way inside. She quivered as it reached deeper and deeper into her. She felt every rough texture on it, every time he curved it and twisted. It sent waves of excitement into the mare. She began bucking up with her hips, trying to fit more and more into her all at once. It was all for naught, every time she would push back he would pull back.

Radiant smiled as he watched her go wild under his administrations. He expertly timed each one of her thrusts with a withdrawal. He knew what she wanted, but he was in control. He would not simply give her the release she sought just like that. Such things had to be earned, and he knew just how to do so.

After the next thrust she attempted, Radiant pulled all the way back and admired his work. She was close, very, very close if the stains on the bed sheets were any indication to go by. He looked up at her face; her normal stoic features and cool resolve were gone, replaced only with a look of wanting desire. “If only I had a camera.” He said softly.

“What did yo-“

Before the words left her mouth, he attacked. Going straight for the gold, he softly blew on her clit, causing the mare to scream in a mixture of pleasure and desire. He knew enough, the clit was the most sensitive part, save it for the end and get the motor working before you touch it. It will drive her up the wall.

Radiant proceeded to drag his rough tongue from the bottom of her slit all the way up to the button. He circled it, once, twice, three times before closing his lips around it. Firestar could no longer hold back, she screamed out his name as she wrapped her back legs around the stallion, pulling him in closer and forcing the prince to finish the job. A task he was more than happy to accomplish. He saved the coup-de-grâce for last. Radiant softly, very softly bit down a little, then dragged his upper teeth across her engorged clitoris.

For Firestar, the last action was the equivalent of a dam breaking in her mind. All of the pleasure he caused amplified in her many times over. She lost control of her nervous system as her body was wracked with waves upon waves of endorphins. Her back legs spread out, letting the stallion come up for breath. An option he did not take.

Radiant stayed put throughout it all, he clasped his lips over the entrance, drinking down every little bit of the sweet nectar she had to offer, what did not make it in his mouth simply splashed out on his face. It was a perfume he did not mind wearing. The prince would not let his princess off easy. He kept rubbing his nose on her clit. Radiant dragged out her orgasm as long as he was able and they both loved every minute of it.

When her vision finally returned to her, Firestar saw the stallion lying next to her, holding her softly in his hooves. His face was glinting in the light, his fur matted down from where it became too wet to stand up on its own. They smiled at each other as her strength returned. It was then she noticed that his member was fully aroused. She went down to return the favor, only to be stopped by a hoof.

“No need, you've already given me more pleasure then you could ever know.”

She nodded back and reached in for a kiss. He welcomed her with a smile. Her tongue darted into his mouth, enjoying the new taste that accompanied his usual flavor. Firestar never tasted herself before; she always thought the idea was a little gross, but now? Now she could not get enough of it, somehow her own flavor mixed with his formed a sweet ambrosia on her tongue.

When they broke apart, Firestar smiled a devious smile at him. While she may not go down on him, that did not stop her from going up. Firestar jumped up on the stallion. Sitting on his chest as she proceeded to grind herself against his abs. She dragged it out, moving back inch by inch as she did so, causing the fur on his chest to match that on his face. Until, at last, she felt her prize behind her.

Leaning down and reaching back at the same time, she kissed her helpless victim, all the while positioning his member just right. When she felt the head line-up, she pushed herself back. Moaning aloud as she took the first six inches all at once. It was indescribable to her, an intruder that came out of nowhere and forced its way inside. She paused, allowing the feeling to pass before she looked down, less than half of him made it inside. Slowly, ever so slowly, she began sinking down, taking the rest a moment at a time. Allowing her the time to adjust to each, new, inch.

Radiant smiled at her as a plan developed in his mind. He reached out with his magic and gently placed a grip on her shoulders. Without warning, he pushed down, causing the mare to gasp as she was hilted by the stallion without notice. Her face turned to a grimace as she grew angry with him for ruining her fun. It was an action that left her completely unprepared for what happened next. Radiant sat up and wrapped his hooves around the mare. His lips made contact with her's, causing a sharp squeal to leave her mouth.

They stayed like that for hours, days even. Radiant penetrated the mare from two locations at once, his throbbing member filling her from below as his tongue tasted every nook and cranny of her mouth. Slowly, she wrapped her hooves around his back and began lifting herself up and down, actions that caused his member to grow even bigger as it engorged itself to its full potential. She moaned in blissful harmony as she felt herself empty and fill with each movement of her hips.

Remembering what she said earlier, Radiant waited for the perfect time to strike. As she came back up, he squeezed her tightly, rolled her over onto her back, and pressed down, causing himself to hilt once more. She smiled as her stallion took charge of the situation. This was by no means their first time having sex, but it was the first time as husband and wife. Somehow, that made it all the more pleasurable.

He proceeded to buck his hips in and out at his own pace, all the while enjoying the feeling of being in charge, of being the one in control. For both of them, it was pleasure beyond description.

“Faster.” She moaned as his sack smacked once more into her.

“As the lady wishes.”

He sped up, causing her to rock her head back in delight, before long the entire bed moved with them, causing a banging noise against the wall. Neither of them cared, as far as they were concerned, they were the only ponies on the planet.

Before long, Radiant began grunting himself, causing his own moans to mix with Firestar’s. Firestar was in a blissful stupor. She had no idea how he had lasted this long, but somehow the stallion just kept going. Her mind was blank, overcome with her third orgasm in as many minutes. Until, at last, she saw the look in his eyes. He was reaching his breaking point and they both knew it.

Radiant looked down with a smile, he knew he was close, but he had one last trick to play. Through a supreme force-of-will, he reached out with his magic and took hold of Firestar’s feathers. He began to simulate the act of preening; an action he knew would drive her up the wall.

When the moment finally came, she wrapped her hooves around him, spun back on top, and screamed in blissful pleasure. Squeezing him as tightly as she could as she felt wave after wave of his spunk enter her, already full to the brim with his throbbing erection, she had no doubt that some of it would be forced out and onto the sheets. She did not care; that feeling combined with the sudden sensation in her wings caused her fourth and longest orgasm of the night. They lay like that for the rest of the evening, Firestar felt the stallion slip off into a blissful slumber, a sleep she soon followed him into, all the while she was enjoying the feeling of falling asleep with him still inside of her.

………………………………………….

Radiant awoke to the sunrise shining in the window. He yawned as the fresh smell of hay-bacon filled his nostrils. On this he had mixed feelings, he would have much rather awoken to the mare he loved still in his hooves, but he was hungry. He decided that was an argument he would not settle anytime soon and to just be grateful for small favors. When he went to get out of bed, he noticed that portions of his fur were sticking to the sheets, a leftover reminder of last night’s events. He smiled and headed for the bathroom instead of the kitchen.

…

Firestar finished laying out the plates when she heard the shower go off and the stallion she loved come down the stairs. As expected, he cleaned up first. Something she had done also and judging by the smell of sex in the bedroom, something they both needed to do to the room before tonight. Briefly, she considered leaving the room like it was, as it was just going to happen again, possibly a few times before tonight even. She dismissed that thought off hoof as Radiant walked over and kissed her.

They both sat down at the table to enjoy their meal, Firestar kept looking up at him, stealing glances as she did so. He smiled back every time he caught her. “What? What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing… well, something. I just have two questions, when did you learn to do that, and how did you last so long last night?” Her curiosity was piqued.

“Do what?”

“That thing you did last night… you know.”

“Oh…” He smiled at her. “Actually, I just remembered some pointers Rainbow Dash gave me on that one.”

She smiled at him. “And the second question.”

“I remembered my mom trying to give me those pointers first.”

Firestar laughed at that. “Really? Remind me to write them both a thank you note… I think ten or twenty should cover it.”

He looked at her confused. “Ten or twenty lines?”

She shook her head. “Pages.” Firestar said as she nodded seductively back up to the bedroom and proceeded to walk back up the stars. Swaying her hips in just the right way as she did.

Radiant watched her go with a grin on his face. He turned back around and downed the rest of his water before getting up. His appetite might have left him with the prospect of more sex, but he knew that he was going to need his fluids for what’s to come.

“As the lady wishes.” He smirked as he followed his wife up the stairs.

……………………………………………

Firestar laid out on the beach as Radiant finished his swim. She watched the white unicorn climb out of the ocean, water droplets falling down from his red mane. She knew, deep down, that this was what she wanted, or more precisely, this was who she wanted. Simply seeing him made her smile, this weekend, it was, is, perfect… in every way that mattered anyway. Sure, they would fight, they would argue, and she would be sick of looking at his stupid face from time to time. But, that was all bullshit. None of that would last. This would, her feelings for him, his feelings for her. Those are what mattered; those feelings are what was important.

“You should've joined me for a swim. The water feels great.”

“No thanks. Besides, how could I admire the view if I was in the water with you?”

“Oh, and here I thought the pretty mare was checking me out… Guess I was just getting my hopes up.”

She smiled as he came closer. That smile turned to a frown as she realized his intentions. “Radiant, don’t you dare!”

He grinned, and shook his body back and forth with all his might, causing water to spray everywhere from his wet coat. It was a masterful plan, one well executed and delivered. Unfortunately, in the game of war, the first rule is to know your opponent. While Firestar was many things these days, including but not limited to: A princess, his wife, Commander of Cloudsdale, and one of the top ten toughest mares in Equestria (quite the achievement when you consider the competition); she was also a former Captain of the Wonderbolts.

Firestar easily took flight, causing Radiant’s great plan to backfire. Instead of getting her wet (and not in the fun way), he only managed to wet all of their stuff and towels, but in war, there is always collateral damage.

“You missed!” She yelled out, flying small victory loops over the ocean.

“Did I?” He whispered.

“What was that?” Firestar stopped flying and hovered in place. Confused by the sudden grin that appeared on his face. For Radiant’s part, he just smiled at her as his horn came to life. Firestar suddenly found her wings locked by her side with magic energy. She looked at each in turn and then back at him.

“I’m so going to get yo-“ Gravity did not let her finish that sentence. The mare plummeted into the ocean. Radiant let her wings go, using them and her legs, she kicked to the top, her head breaking the surface of the water to find a grinning Radiant staring at her. She smiled back, unable to stay mad at him for long.

As Firestar made her way out of the water, Radiant had to admit one thing to the mare. “You’re right you know, the view is much better from the beach.” Soaking wet, Firestar looked amazing, her mane lay down in just the right way to ignite the fire in his loins.

She left the water and smiled at her prince. Admiring how even wet, he was still ‘excited’ to see her. She walked right past him and slapped him in the face with her tail. Leaving him with a, “You might want to take care of that.”

Prince Radiant Star looked around to see what she was talking about, after a few seconds it finally dawned on him. He knew it probably wasn’t going to happen but he shrugged and asked anyway. “Little help?”

Firestar looked back and grinned. “I would, but some total idiot dumped me in the ocean after getting all our towels wet. I gotta go dry off now. Bye.” With one final smirk, she took off, flying as high and as fast as she could go. Looking for clouds to fly through to soak up the water still on her coat.

Radiant watched her go, part of him was simply relieved that she was not too mad at him. Of course, that did not solve his problem of having no clean towels to dry off with, or his other problem of having too hot a wife. He shrugged and looked around, realization of his mistake dawned on him. ‘Wow, I really am an idiot, aren’t I?’

'Well, only one solution to his problem.' He turned around and went back into the water. Finding it a lot colder this time around.

……………………………………………………………………………..

The Crystal Empire

“Ataxia, I don’t think this is a very good idea.”

“Hey you lost the bet, which means you have to do whatever I want you too, or are you going to welch on the deal?”

‘Yeah, yeah.' Night grumbled to herself. It was not exactly a fair bet anyway, a race from the palace to the northern edge of the Crystal Empire and back. She had naturally assumed it was a hoof race. Unfortunately, that was one detail that Ataxia did not bother to share with the mare. As soon as she started off, the dragacorn transformed and took off to the north. A sonic rainboom following up in her wake, rather than waste time trying to catch her, Night spent her time simply trying to minimize the damage and repair what was already broken. With Luna back in Canterlot, and the griffin delegation left to return to their home with her sister. That pretty much left the job up to her and Cadance. The latter of which she did not want finding out about this mess her friend had created.

Of course, when Ataxia made it back two minutes later, Night chewed her flank off and made her help clean up. However, that did not change the facts. She lost the race and had to do whatever dare Ataxia made her, so here she was…

“You know this is totally foolish, right.”

“Quit stalling and do it.”

“You know I’m a Princess of Equestria, I can banish you, and throw you in a dungeon at the place I banished you to.”

“Yet, none of that will get you out of this situation. Now quit stalling and do it already.”

“Ugh… fine.”

Shimmering Night put on her best seductress look, brushed her mane back with her magic, and gave her coat a quick once over. She then proceeded to turn the corner and walk straight to her ‘unfortunate’ victim. Swaying her hips ever so slightly as she did. The crystal guard did his absolute best to not stare. Unfortunately, he needed another thousand years of practice to be half as good as what was required to achieve that. The sway of her hips, the way her coat sparkled in the light, and the slight way her mane covered her face only to be blown aside was all too much for anypony.

He ogled her, his mouth agape, and his mind blown. Shimmering Night smiled inwardly that she could still have this effect on ponies. After her whole incident with Bright Dawn, she had written off ever finding a special somepony again. She did not look at anyone like that, not anymore. So naturally, she assumed that no one saw her like that anymore either. She was happy to be proven wrong.

The crystal guard was not the only one who was staring. It was meant to be a joke, something that would make her friend embarrassed and uncomfortable, but seeing her now. Ataxia's jaw joined the crystal ponies on the floor. The way Night swayed her hips back and forth, the way her tail expertly went to the opposite direction of her hips. It all cumilated to give Ataxia a view that ponies would fight wars over. Part of her knew this was wrong, that she should not be staring at her friend like this. However, Ataxia quit listening to that part years ago. ‘I… I... do I like her?’ She asked herself.

“Hey there, big stallion. What’s your name?”

“Ma’am… I can’t remember my name right now, ma’am.”

Night laughed at that, his training would cause him to answer any question as truthfully as he could, but she had startled this poor stallion into a stupor so great he could not even remember something like his name. That was more than enough to settle the dare, but Night wanted to take this one-step further. She knew she could shove it in Ataxia’s face if she could make the stallion faint.

“Well, that’s alright by me, after all, what’s in a name?” She walked by him, gently running her tail along his chest, causing the stallion to visibly blush as she did so. “After all, I go by so many, many names myself. Some call me, princess.” She moved in for the kill. “Some call me, Night,” She whispered the next part into his ear. “Some call me, Mistress.”

Few ponies knew just how much Ataxia changed with her new form. It had heightened many of her senses well beyond the normal limits of ponies, and not just when she transformed. Ataxia doubted there was a pony alive that had a better sense of smell. She could see almost perfect at night. She could hear just as well too.

Ataxia rushed out from around the wall and grabbed her friend. Doing her best not to pull her hoof out of the socket as she did so. The crystal guard just looked on, confused at what happened. He was very grateful to be left alone, but now had to use the restroom to take care of the problem Princess Night left him with.

Ataxia opened a door and looked inside, when she saw that the room was unoccupied, she shoved a very confused Night through it. Night looked at her friend, Ataxia was red faced and fuming.

“Ataxia! What the buck was that about?”

“Why did you do that?!”

“What? It was your idea…”

“I… I…” Ataxia was lost for words, it was her idea. She dared Night to seduce a member of the crystal guard. Why was she so angry? “I never I… I…”

“Ataxia, what’s wrong?”

“I… I…”

“You what?”

“You took it too far!” Ataxia screamed it out.

“What? Did you just accuse somepony of taking something too far?”

Ataxia looked around, the room backfired, she was trapped. She did not know why, but that whole thing upset her to the point of feeling physically ill, she needed air, she need to escape… “I… I gotta go.” Ataxia turned to the window and disintegrated it with a blast of magic. She jumped out, transforming as she fell and flew off at top speed, doing her absolute best to put as much distance between her and her friend as possible.

Shimmering Night looked on horrified at what just happened; something was wrong with her friend. Ataxia was many, many things… However, this is the first time she had ever seen her act like this. She seemed like a caged animal, one that needed to escape at any cost. Destruction for the sake of destruction she was used to, but this is the first time Night saw her destroy something out of fear.

“Ataxia. What’s wrong?” She pleaded into the sky for her friend to return, there was no use going after her. Only Rainbow had any hope of catching her and she was on the other side of the world right now. Night turned around and went to talk to Rarity before she went home, perhaps she might know more about what was going on with her daughter.

……………………………………………………………

Vanhoover Islands

Firestar awoke to the smell of warm coffee. She smiled as the scent of it filled her nostrils. It was the smell of bliss personified. Of course, it was made even better by the feeling of the hooves wrapped around her, hugging her tightly. She looked up at the face that those hooves belonged too. Radiant stared down, casting a warm glow on her with his smile.

“How is my favorite idiot doing this morning?”

“Better, now that you’re awake.”

Radiant levitated a cup of coffee over to her. He knew exactly how she liked it, two spoons of sugar with a smidgen of milk. It had taken him a few tries to find out exactly how much a ‘smidgen’ was, but now he had it down pat. She kissed him before taking the coffee from his magic. Much to her displeasure, several strands of fur came off and stuck to the bed. While the memories of why they were stuck caused her to smile, the pain was not exactly welcome. Not this early in the day anyway.

“Sorry about that.” Radiant said as he saw her grimace in pain.

She giggled a little and lay her head back down on his chest. “Not your fault, well, not all your fault anyway.”

He sighed in content. “Well, if I can make you laugh I've done my job.”

“I think you can make me do more than laugh.” She said.

They lay like that just in time to see the sunrise in the east. It was an amazing sight to behold, yet, at that moment, neither of them cared. They had what they wanted, something as common as a sunrise did not matter. Only they mattered. However, it did remind Firestar of one unfortunate fact.

“It’s Sunday, isn’t it?”

“Eeyup.”

“That means we have to go back today, doesn’t it?”

“Eeyup.”

“I don’t want to go back.”

He hugged her tighter, noticing several spots on her coat that were matted together, even her wings looked bad. They had a lot of cleaning up to do in an ever-decreasing amount of time.

“C’mon, we'd better get started.”

“Or, and this is just a suggestion, I could move Cloudsdale over here and we can stay like this?”

He laughed at that. “I could only imagine the logistical nightmare that would make, all the weather ponies would have to scurry clouds to the other side of Equestria and back… Besides, how are you going to move the Crystal Empire?”

“Your mom’s got that.”

"I’ll tell you what, let’s take a quick shower first and then we'll get started packing.” He knew it was a bad idea, but if she kept pushing he'd go along with it anyway.

“And the bed?”

“That will probably have to be burnt after last night.” He joked. “Hey, we're on vacation, let somepony else clean up.”

Firestar gave him her best, ‘Are you bucking serious' look. “No way am I letting someone else see this mess.”

He kissed her again, “Relax, we'll take care of it after the shower.”

“Ok,” she smiled at him. That smile quickly became a frown as he rolled over and got out of bed. The sudden lack of warmth seemed to pierce the mare’s very bones. She slightly shivered as he left.

Radiant turned around and winked. “The shower will warm you up, you know.”

“I would rather you do that.” She hinted.

“We can do that too, although…” he rubbed his hoof against his mouth. “Although I might be getting lockjaw.”

“Well, we'd better make it count then.” Firestar left the bed. Feeling no desire to stay in it as Radiant was not there. Radiant was heading into the bathroom so that is where Firestar wanted to be.

As they entered the restroom, a realization dawned on the stallion. He smiled as an age-old question was answered in his mind.

Firestar looked at him, “What? What are you smiling about?”

“I just figured out why my aunts spent so much on a big shower.”

She laughed at that, “You know we're getting one when we get back, right?”

“Oh, have no doubt about that. I will personally find the biggest one in the palace.”

“Or, we can just tear down the wall to the next room and have them make it into a bathroom.”

“I love you.” He pressed his head against her coat. Closing his eyes and sighing.

Much to his dismay, she brushed his head off her coat and started walking forward. “Hey, you promised me a shower.”

“As the lady wishes.”

………………………………

It took the better part of the morning after their extra curricular activates to pack up and clean the house to the point where you would not walk in and immediately smell sex in the air. While Radiant did not see anything wrong with it, Firestar vowed to give him some flying lessons if he did not help. So, help he did. As expected, they had to burn the sheets, but the bed was salvageable.

The two waited outside for their ride to get in. They were expecting a crystal carriage to arrive around noon. However, neither of them really wanted to leave, this weekend… It had been magical. Sadly, they both had duties to attend too. Duties made all the easier simply by knowing that the other would be there for them, as husband and wife, forever. Firestar smiled at that realization.

“I'll miss this place though.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Tell me something. Why don’t more ponies come here? You'd figure a place this nice would be on top of everypony's vacation list.”

Radiant thought about that, in truth, he did not know why there were not more ponies around here, but he did have a theory. “I think it’s due to the climate.”

“What? The weather was perfect.”

“Yes, now. However, for most of the year it's a lot colder. Unless you want to rearrange the weather patterns.”

She thought about that, on one hoof it would be a bureaucratic nightmare, less clouds here would mean more somewhere else, she would have to have her advisers reschedule all of winter just so she could enjoy this island a little more with her husband. On the other hoof, that meant she could enjoy the island a little more with her husband… “Tough call.”

Radiant smiled, wrapped a hoof around her and kissed her on the forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you.” She said back as she started to trace a hoof up his chest. “How much time do you think we have?”

“Not enough.” Radiant sighed as he watched the chariot appear in the distance. Firestar looked in that direction with a disappointed glare in her eye.

“We can still do a quickie?” She whispered.

He laughed, “I’m not that quick.” Ok, she had to give him that. Radiant was definitely a stallion that liked to take his time.

“Later tonight?”

He nodded as the chariot came in for a landing. Two crystal pegasi pulled it from the front. They both looked at him and bowed, a sign of respect. Of course, what they did not expect to see was Commander Firestar with a grin on her face and a spring in her step as she got on board. They looked at Radiant with an eyebrow razed. Radiant winked back causing each one of the pegasi to blush, a reflex that spread through their whole face due to the nature of their crystal coats. Radiant laughed as he got on board with their bags in his magic. The two pegasi took off as soon as he was on; hoping that the air on their faces would cause the redness to go away.

………………………………………………………

The Crystal Empire

“Ok Ataxia, what was that about?” Using Rarity's advice, Night finally cornered Ataxia in the guest room she was staying in. Thinking ahead, she placed herself between the mare and her window. While Ataxia could simply blow a hole in the wall and escape out the hallway, doing so would cause a lot of structural damage and possibly hurt several ponies. Night knew Ataxia would not take it that far.

Ataxia looked at the floor, noticing for the first time the intriguing designs in her carpet. “I’m sorry.” She said to that very carpet.

“What was that?” Night asked, she heard what Ataxia said, but she did not believe those words came out of her mouth.

Ataxia looked up, a look of hurt plastered over her face. “I said I’m sorry. That was a stupid idea and a stupid prank… with everything going on… Radiant’s marriage, Rainbow’s date, and now Aurora’s pregnancy I… I… never mind.” To her surprise, a tear fell from her eye; she tried to wipe it away before Night saw it, but that very action only served to highlight it instead.

Night looked at her friend in shock. She had never seen this side of her before. Not even at Fluttershy’s funeral. This was Ataxia at her most vulnerable, at her weakest. The side she showed to nopony, ever. Realization dawned on the mare at just what this meant. “Ataxia, are you worried about me leaving you?”

Ataxia looked at her, more tears started to fall as she nodded at her friend.

Night was heartbroken. She ran forward and wrapped Ataxia’s head up in her hooves, pressing it against her chest. As she did so, she felt Ataxia start to sob in her grip. “Ataxia… Listen to me, we've been best friends forever. I… I would never leave you, we will always be friends. You have nothing to worry about, you will always have me.”

“Really?” Ataxia barely managed to say the word.

“I pinkie promise.”

That caused a small giggle to escape from the mare; she stopped crying but nuzzled softly into Night chest. “Thank you.”

“I did nothing worthy of thanks, Ataxia.” Night said as she ran her hoof down her friend’s mane.

“Yes you did, you were my friend, even when I wasn’t at my best.”

“Only because I saw who you could truly be when you wanted to.”

“Thank you.” She softly said again as she sat there, her face buried in her friend’s chest. Night running a hoof along her mane, a realization dawned on the mare. She had not been truthful with her friend; she was not upset that Night might leave her. She was upset that she was looking at somepony else. She had always been mad about Night and Dawn’s relationship. Yes, she was a troublemaker at the best of times, but it did not get bad, not really bad, until they started seeing each other. She liked… no, she loved her. That thought made her smile as she nuzzled deeper into Night's coat, breathing in through her nose and savoring her smell. How to tell her would come later, she did not want to deal with that right now. For now, she simply wanted to continue being held.

For Night’s part, she was none the wiser. She simply held her friend in her hooves. Partly saddened about seeing such a strong pony brought so low, but also honored that she would let her guard down around her.

…………………………………………………………………………

Prance

“You ready, Twi?”

Twilight nodded as she tightened her grip around Rainbow. She was happy and sad at the same time; their weekend was over… that she was sad about. However, she found something more; she found her true feelings for Rainbow. She could not explain why, but somehow she just knew that this was the mare she should spend the rest of her life with. They had a connection, beyond the physical, that simply said they should be together. It was something that definitely required more research if she was motivated enough to look. However, that did not interest her one bit. They were together, that is what mattered.

Rainbow took off, heading back to Equestria as fast she thought was safe for the two, although her constantly stealing glances at the mare in her hooves probably made it a little less safe. She was not worried; her brain caught everything when she flew. It cataloged and logged every little detail. A little factoid she knew of thanks to that very same mare.

Of course, seeing something and registering it are two very different things, Rainbow’s brain taught itself through multitasking. She registered every little thing around her and stored it all at once. However, just like any such process, not all the information comes to the forefront. Several times information is taken in, stored, and acted upon without her even knowing it. This was one of those times.

Rainbow ‘saw’ a second shadow on the water. However, her brain also saw that there was no pony around to make that shadow. Subconsciously, she put on a little extra speed, causing the shadow to lag behind. It tried to keep up, tried anyway. Again, she added more speed onto their flight, an action that caused the shadow to lag behind, until, at last, it fell out of view. Without any immediate sense of danger, her subconscious mind did not inform her conscious mind about it, as that part of her brain was far too busy enjoying the feeling of her wife being in her hooves yet again.

The two reached the Crystal Empire in record time; it was a mark of the power of Twilight’s spell that they still looked as great as they did when they left. Of course, they were not wearing the same outfits. Those had been stored away in their packs. A sign of how gorgeous they were that neither mare wanted to ruin them.

Rainbow placed Twilight on the ground as she levitated the bags off Rainbow’s back. Twilight tried to tell her that she could carry a few of them but Rainbow insisted that she had them.

“Thank you, Rainbow. I had a great time.”

“You want to do it again next weekend?”

Twilight laughed at that. "Sure, but how about we stay in the country this time around?”

“Twi, wherever you are, that's the only place I want to be.”

Twilight walked up and met Rainbow's lips in a kiss. The mare fell out of the sky at that. She landed a little awkwardly but did not break the kiss. The feeling was… magical.

When it finally broke apart, Rainbow was amazed that the sun was still out, somehow, that did not seem right to the mare. Her mind reached the only logical conclusion that Luna was slipping on her duties.

“Are you going to bed?” Twilight asked as she gathered her souvenirs and photos. Including the two special ones from the Tunnel of Love and the one taken in front of the Louvre. Those two events would always have a special place in her heart.

“Actually, I have to go see Rarity, she made me promise to swing by Ponyville and tell her all about it as soon as we got back, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it.” Twilight said with a smile as Rainbow took off into the night sky. She headed south, straight for Ponyville.

A thought occurred to Rainbow along the way; she remembered a certain pegasus and griffin that still needed to be dealt with. As soon as Rainbow was out of line of sight of the Crystal Empire, she altered her trajectory a few degrees to the left and put on an extra burst of speed. She had something to tell these too, it would not be a long conversation, but it may cause some bloodshed.

…

Twilight watched her go with a sigh, she knew it was stupid, but somehow seeing her leave, not having her by her side, it sucked. Almost like if her right hoof detached and went somewhere by itself; even if it did promise to return, it would be far too distracting to do anything without it.

Twilight looked back in the direction Rainbow left in; she knew, without a single shred of doubt that they were meant to be. It almost seemed like they were each other’s opposites in life, as if they completed what the other was lacking. All they needed was time, and just like a flower, something wonderful would blossom.

“Miss… can you spare a few bits?”

Twilight stumbled and nearly dropped her bags. She glanced around and saw a pony walk up to her. He was a purple unicorn with a cloak wrapped around his features, from what she could see he looked to be in his mid twenties. While his mane was covered by his cloak, Twilight did get a quick glance at his square academic cap cutie mark.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “What is it you want?”

“Beg your forgiveness ma’am; I was hoping you could spare a few bits for the train. You see, I was out here on business and I spent all the bits I had to get back. I really want to see my family again soon.”

Twilight had never seen someone like this before, something seemed off… However, it was not in her nature to turn away from somepony who needed help. “Tell me friend, what is your name?”

“Sunshine ma’am, Sunshine Spring.”

“Come with me, I'll make sure you get on the first train out of here and back to your family.” She said with a smile.

“I couldn’t ask you to do all that, I'm sure that a princess has far more important things to do then to take care of a lowly subject like me.”

“Nonsense, a princess's first duty is to her subjects. Come, I insist.”

“If you’re sure about that, ma’am? I don’t want to be a bother.”

“I'm sure, let’s get you home.”

“Thank you, ma’am… for everything.”

“You are more than welcome, Sunshine.”

Only two blocks away from the train station, Twilight happily hummed a small tune she picked up from Prance as Sunshine walked behind her, when they got there, Twilight spoke to the operator and went to order him a ticket before she realized she had no idea where he was from.

“Hey, Sunshine?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Where is your home anyway?”

“Ponyville, ma’am.”

She was taken aback by that. “But, Ponyville was destroyed. Are you sure your family is still there?”

“I’m not worried, ma’am; my house was the only one to survive the destruction. Besides, even if they're not there, I know in my heart that they will return. After all, it’s our home, and that's where we belong.”

“Wow, your home survived all of that?”

“My mom built it with her magic, it's her special talent after all.”

She smiled back and ordered him a first class ticket all-expense paid on behalf of the crown. She took the ticket and gave it to Sunshine.

“A pony whose special talent is building homes, they've got to be famous.”

“Thank you ma’am, it means so much to be able to see my parents and family again, and you're right, she is very famous.”

“Say nothing of it, Sunshine. I'm happy to help.”

“If you ever find yourself in Ponyville you must swing by. I would love to give you real thanks for all of this and you could meet my mom while you're there.”

“I would love to.” Twilight said as she turned around and left to head back to the palace.

“Just ask for the house that survived the attack! Everypony will know what you're talking about, and watch out for that bee!” he shouted the last part.

Twilight felt herself be stung in the back of the head. “Ouch!” she shouted as she rubbed it with a hoof. She turned around and yelled back. “Will do!”

‘Even if his warning did come a little late, I think I will pay him a visit, maybe next weekend me and Rainbow could check out Ponyville. We can even visit Rarity while we're there; I always meant to see where she lives.’

That night, her dreams were full of images of a quaint little small town, one that seemed to grow larger as her dream pressed on, when her dream came to an end, she suddenly knew the name of this town.

Twilight Sparkle awoke the next morning an hour before the sunrise. She wanted… no, she needed to go to Ponyville. Everything else became secondary to that end.

Sorrowful Truth

Warclaw

Six months ago, the dragon war finally came to an end. The capital of the Griffin Empire, Warclaw, was almost completely destroyed. Indeed, it was only because of the intervention of an envoy from Equestria that it was saved at all. The envoy from Equestria was made up of a group of ponies riding on the back of a fully-grown dragon; the sight alone was strange enough. However, the dragon was not the griffin’s savior. Their savior came in the form of a certain one of those ponies, the half-pony, half-dragon hybrid, Ataxia.

Ataxia was the most unlikely of saviors. A total brat on her best of days and an absolute terror on her worst, but due to her nature, she was also a magical powerhouse. Yet against dragons, whose natural resistance to magic was legendary, no amount of magic would save them that day. When push came to shove and the lives of her friends and father were on the line, Ataxia tapped into a side of herself that she had denied all her life. Her dragon side. With one magically imbued fire breath, she lit the skies on fire, killing numerous dragons in the process.

That one attack was enough to end all hostilities. The dragons were impressed, very impressed. When their ancient dragon went in to find out what happened, he revealed that the mare was the dragon of legend, one that was foretold in their history, something he called a dragacorn.

The griffins knew only a little more about this legend than the ponies of Equestria, which largely meant that they simply knew that it existed. That did not stop them from erecting statues of her all around the Griffin Empire, with the largest and grandest one in the center of the palace courtyard. The irony was if Ataxia ever saw that statue, she would personally tear it down herself and liquefy the pieces, as the mare would never consider herself some sort of hero, and certainly nopony worthy of a statue.

That did not stop the surviving guards from rubbing the statue's head with their claws each and every night. There was not one griffin in all of the empire that went unaffected by what occurred, each and every one of them came to see the statues as a blessing, as symbols of the strength and endurance of their kind.

As such, no griffin batted an eye when one of the night patrol stopped and rubbed his claws along the statue’s muzzle. It was nothing more than a common occurrence through their ranks. This time around though, it did alert them far quicker than normal to an impending threat.

As the griffin raised his claw to her snout, he spotted a speck of light in the distance, right above its muzzle. One that seemed to get brighter. Almost as if a shooting star were falling out of the sky, and with the speed it was traveling that was not far from the truth. The light grew bigger and brighter. Both guards looked on, dumbstruck. One of them finally called out a cry of alarm, alerting every guard on duty that something was amiss.

Before the cry could mobilize any griffin, the light did the oddest thing, something no shooting star should ever do, it changed direction. They could only stare on in amazement at the cone of rainbow and gold light that seemed to be emanating from it. The light then took a hard left and sped up, heading straight for the palace doors. The general alarm began to sound, but it was too late, far, far too late for that to do any good.

The light crashed into the top of the palace doors with such force that both doors broke off their hinges and slammed to the ground. Every griffin in the palace was promptly awoken by the noise. Those standing guard in the main room readied their spears and instantly made to move out and meet this new threat head on. They did not have to go far. The one who was responsible for it was standing on top of the twisted and bent doors. To every griffins’ surprise it was a pony, one with a distinctive rainbow mane and tail. One with huge golden wings that easily surpassed the wingspan of any dragon they ever encountered in the recent war.

Rainbow Dash looked around at the mess she caused. All around her more griffins were running up, brandishing spears and blades in her general direction. She knew, at any other time, this would be the equivalent of declaring war on the Griffin Empire. However, at this moment, she had far more important business to take care of. Something that required such a statement no one here would ever forget.

The thought of war made her laugh as she considered someone actually trying something against Equestria. ‘Heh, good luck with that.’

She grew her wings out several-fold. Nowhere near their maximum size (she was not even sure there was such a limit) but it seemed to get the point across all the same. The griffins were staying back, each far too afraid of such a small pony with such a threatening posture and huge wings. Rainbow separated each feather of her wings, easily pointing six or seven at each individual guard in the room, with more than enough to spare for however many more guards showed up. With a cocksure grin on her face she spoke to no griffin in particular. “Now, where is my daughter? Where is Aurora Flash?”

…

When the doors hit the floor of the palace, Icarus and Aurora were sleeping peacefully in each other’s hooves and claws. The sudden impact caused Icarus to quite literally, jump out of bed. Aurora let off a slight squeal as he did so, not so much from the noise, but from the sudden movement of her partner.

“What in Tartarus was that?” Aurora asked.

“I don’t know… stay here.”

“Buck that.”

“Aurora, please stay here.”

“Oh, you said please, sure, I’ll stay here.”

“Really?”

“You really are a dumbass. You know that?”

Icarus sighed; he should have expected something like that. “Fine, but at least stay behind me.”

“I don’t think that’s physically possible.” Aurora added, with a small glance down to her stomach. She could see that Icarus was starting to get a little pissed off with her comments and he had already given in to her coming along, so she added a small caveat. “But, I’ll let you take the lead.”

He nodded a slight thanks as he finished putting on his armor and grabbed his weapon. It was a spear unlike any other, forged in lava, its tip was said to be made out of a dragon’s tooth, one of the oldest of its kind. It had never failed him in battle.

“Is that all really necessary? We don’t even know if it’s hostile.”

He glanced back over to her, more specifically, at her stomach and his kid growing there. “I’m not taking any chances.”

She merely shrugged as she followed Icarus outside into the hallway. Several guards were running past, they were heading in the direction of the throne room. The empire had stepped up recruitment as of late, but they were nowhere near full strength, not yet anyway.

“Son, do you know what’s going on?”

Aurora turned and saw Siros walking down the hall towards them, he seemed as stoic as ever. Although Aurora could not help but notice that Siros had not donned his armor. It seemed the old griffin knew better than to always treat every single unknown as a new threat.

“Not yet, but we were just heading to find out now.” Aurora chose to ignore the slight insult from the way he said 'we', for now; she would make him pay for that later. Siros just nodded at her, he never expected any less from the mother of his future grandchild.

The three of them headed down to the throne room. When they rounded the corner it seemed as if every single guard was there. They were surrounding something, something massive. Whatever it was, it had the biggest pair of golden wings any of them had ever seen.

Well, that was not entirely true, Aurora had seen wings like that, she knew of only one being in all of Equestria with those wings. Taking flight before any griffin could stop her; she got a better angle to verify her suspicion. Just as she suspected, those huge pair of wings, which were just now passing back and forth, threatening the entire griffin army, were connected to a tiny blue pegasus sitting in the center. Aurora was so dumbfounded that she almost fell from the sky.

“Mom! What are you doing here?”

Rainbow looked up at her daughter. “There you are, it’s time for us to have a little chat.”

Needless to say, not a single griffin got much sleep that night.

………………………

Rainbow sat in the dining room as a servant griffin brought in some tea for them. She never considered that tea might have different textures native to each land. For her, she always simply drank whatever Twilight gave her, although she had to admit, this stuff was good.

“Remind me to take some home with me; I think Twilight would like to try this.” She told Aurora.

“That reminds me, how did your date go?”

“Aurora… It was…” She looked at her tea with a downcast expression on her face.

Aurora’s heart almost broke at that, she could not believe things between them could ever go bad. Her parents were just too good together. “Mom… I’m so, so sorry.”

“It was magical.” Rainbow looked up with a smile on her face.

Aurora’s expression changed from sad, to shocked, to mad, and then to happy in the blink of an eye. For Rainbows part, she simply looked pleased that her daughter fell so easily for her ruse. “It will definitely be one that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

“Does that mean?”

Rainbow shook her head; she did not need to hear the rest of the question to be able to answer it. “Not yet, however, there was a subtle hint that she mig-“

“Enough of this!” Icarus yelled at them, his temper finally getting the better of him as he sat there stewing in his anger. “You make a huge public incident like that and you simply come in and start this prattle!”

With one glare from Rainbow, Icarus shut up and sat back down, suddenly realizing that his life was not in his own claws right now. Siros walked up behind him and smacked his son on the back of the head.

“I think, what my boy meant to ask, is that while we enjoy your company, your arrival was a tad unorthodox, Rainbow.”

Rainbow took one more sip of her tea and stood up. Stretching out her wings, they easily covered the length of the rather large dining table. “Well, if the pleasantries are over.” She glared at Icarus with that comment. “I guess we have no choice but to get on to business.”

“Mom.”

“In a minute, Aurora.” Her wings shrunk down to a smaller size, enough where she could tuck them back to her sides. She started to walk around the table. Each guard she passed took a step back as her glare found them wanting. “I’m not happy.” She said with certainty in her voice.

“Mom!”

“In a minute, Aurora.”

She continued speaking as she walked around the table. Taking in every picture hanging on the wall as she did so. As she passed by the seat that Siros was sitting in, she granted the old griffin a small nod.

“Like I said, I’m not happy. I’m not happy that this was kept from me. I’m not happy about whom you chose to be with Aurora, but mostly, I’m not happy that you felt like you had to hide this from me.”

“Mom.”

“Aurora please, let me get this out. I realized something this past weekend. Well, Twilight made me realize it. Aurora, you've grown into a beautiful mare over the years and I've always been proud of everything you are, everything you've accomplished, and everything you will accomplish in the future. Your life is your own to live, and whatever decisions you make are yours to make. As such, it doesn’t matter if I'm happy with the choices you made.” She laughed a little at that. “I don’t need to be happy with your choices, I'm simply happy if you are. You see, my happiness comes from you being happy. Therefore, that's what I've come here to find out. It’s what I need to know for this all to be ok. I just want to ask you a single question: Aurora, are you happy with him?”

Aurora looked on, dumbstruck. All of this, this whole scene, it was all to ask her if Icarus made her happy. Then again, she should not have expected any less from her mom. This is 'The Rainbow Dash' after all. Her mom did not know the meaning of subtle. Aurora glanced over at Icarus, she thought about it, really, really thought about it. Her mom deserved the truth after all. Anything less would be an insult. Just looking at the big idiot answered her question in a way that no amount of self-reflection ever could. It was answered in the way she felt just looking at him, in the smile that came to her face as she saw him, really saw him, even with all his faults.

“Yes, he makes me happy.”

“That’s all I need to know.” Rainbow said with a smile as she flew over and embraced her daughter in a hug. A lone tear fell from Aurora’s eye as her mom hugged her, she was careful not to place too much pressure on Aurora’s stomach as to take regard for her growing foal.

“Trust me, I’ll tell Twilight everything before Orion is born. She will be there for you both before that happens, and I know she will be excited for it.”

“Thank you.” Aurora sobbed out.

When they finally let go, Rainbow’s face went from a smile to a frown in an instant as she saw the grin on Icarus’s face. “What are you smiling about?”

“Nothing ma’am.” His happiness turned to ash with one look from the mare.

“I have a question for you too; did you bribe her with a cookie?”

“Mom!”

“I need to know, Aurora.”

“No, I would never do something like that.” Icarus said with a worried expression on his face. As he realized that Rainbow was very serious about this.

“Siros, did he?”

“No. I know my son, he's many things but he would never take advantage of her like that.”

“That’s what I needed to know.” In a flash, Rainbow shattered the chair Icarus was seated in; she caught the griffin in her wing as he fell.

“I… I didn’t, I swear!” He shouted, trying to save his own tail.

“I know.”

To everyone’s surprise, Rainbow brought the emperor in close and wrapped a hoof around his shoulders. She squeezed him in a hug with all her might. “Thank you.”

“What?”

“Thank you for making my daughter happy again. After her brother died, I... I was worried that she would never feel that way again. You did it though and you gave me my first grandchild. Thank you.”

Everyone stared on, dumbstruck, until Rainbow finally let him go. With a more serious tone she added. “That being said, when is the wedding?”

Aurora almost choked on her tongue at the mention of that. Icarus looked up at Rainbow. “I… I… we…” they had yet to discuss if they even wanted to get married.

In the end, it was Siros that stepped in to save the day. “Rainbow, perhaps we should let them decide that for themselves. After all, it’s their life to live.”

She glanced at Siros with a small smile on her face. “Perhaps you're right, although I do expect a LOT more letters now. Ok Aurora?”

“It’s a pinkie promise, mom.”

“The only kind.” Rainbow said with a laugh.

“Will you stay for the night?” Siros asked.

“I can’t, sorry, I've got to stop by Ponyville and then get up early tomorrow to see Twilight to her lessons.”

“Well, send her our best.”

“Will do.” With that, Rainbow took off. She left out the door and flew off out of the giant hole in the front of the palace. Several of the guards, who were busy trying to clean up, cringed as she flew past.

Icarus looked around, amazed at all the damage. “Did that really happen?” He asked no griffin in particular.

“Yes, I'd say we got off rather well myself.” Siros added with a laugh. “We should go back to bed, tomorrow comes early after all.”

“Sleep? Really?” Icarus looked at his dad with a disbelieving tone in his voice.

“Well… If you can’t sleep, I know something else we can do.” Aurora spoke softly as she walked out of the room, running her tail along Icarus’s beak as she did so.

“You're right dad, we should definitely get back to bed.” Siros chuckled to himself as he watched his son’s demeanor do a one-eighty at that little invitation.

…………………………………………………………………

Ponyville

Twilight’s hooves stepped on Ponyville soil for the first time in six months, the sun was rising in the distance. She glanced around as she got off the train, taking in all the sights and sounds of the quaint little small town. She could not explain it but she felt an attraction to this place. It was amazing to her, the sights, the sounds, and the simple smell of the place. In a word, it felt almost like… like home.

She stepped off the train platform and started walking towards the center of the town. From the looks of things, a good portion of the town looked freshly rebuilt, but there were still signs of construction going on. Ponies were already heading from their homes to their shops, getting everything ready for the coming day. She couldn’t help but notice that a few of them seemed to be giving her strange looks. Almost as if they recognized her, which after some consideration she decided was not that unusual, she was a princess after all.

“Hey, Twilight!”

Twilight spun around as an orange earth pony ran up. The spunky colt could not have been more than thirteen years old. He had a yellow mane, red freckles and an applesauce cutie mark.

“I’m sorry?”

“Twilight it’s me. Applesauce!”

Twilight made a mental note to ask Princess Luna of the correlation between pony names and their cutie marks.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember… I got into an accident a few months ago and haven't been able to remember anything before then.”

“Oh… Is that why Rainbow Dash isn't with you?”

Twilight nodded.

“Odd, I would never guess she would let you come here by yourself. You two were always inseparable. I still remember the stories my mom would tell me about coming over to your house to fix all the stuff Aurora would break.”

“Wait? What?” Twilight asked.

“And you probably didn’t know that… sweet Luna Twilight, what did they tell you?”

“Applesauce, get your flank over here now!” A scream came from down the road as a yellow earth pony with red hair called out his name.

“Oh shoot. Hey, we'll have to catch up later ok.” The colt took off down the road after the old mare.

“Wait! One second!” Twilight called out, causing the stallion to turn around real quick. “I’m looking for the house that survived Ponyville’s destruction, I was told it was the only one that did!”

She could hear his laughter at her unintentional joke. “Your house is down the street, to the left side. Trust me, you can’t miss it!”

“My house?” Twilight asked. It was too late though; the colt was gone, chasing after his mother, a pony with the oddest cutie mark of a hammer and nails. One who also wore a red bow tie in her mane. However, they were heading in the opposite direction that the colt told her to go in.

She could barely make out the start of their conversation as they walked out of hearing range. “Hey mom! Guess who I was just talking too.”

“Tell me later dear, we're already behind.”

“But mom.”

“Later.”

As Twilight headed down the street, several more ponies gave her odd looks; these became increasingly noticeable as she got closer to her destination. The colt was right; she could not miss the house. It was the largest house on the street, on one side of the two front doors was an exact replica of her cutie mark, on the other was a replica of Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark.

“C’mon Aurora! Faster! Higher!”

Twilight could see them playing on swings. Sitting in the middle of the front yard was a small swing set. A unicorn colt was riding on it while a pegasus filly pushed him with all her might. From the looks of things they were siblings, and having the time of their lives.

She blinked and the images were gone. There were no foals playing outside. There was no swing set. She shook her head clear, open the door, and walked inside.

“Mother, Night’s crying again!”

Rainbow Dash walked out from the other room, she stared at the small, tiny alicorn filly bawling her eyes out on the couch. The unicorn colt did his best to try and comfort her, but it was to no avail. “What happened this time?” Rainbow asked as she picked up the little filly in her hooves and proceeded to rock her back and forth, doing her best to calm the crying filly.

“She just started crying.”

“Day… Night has never just started crying. What did Aurora do?”

“Nothing, mother.”

Rainbow smiled down at the little colt. “You’re a good brother you know that, but you're a horrible liar.” Rainbow proceeded to take the little filly into the other room. Just as she turned the corner, a small pegasus flew down from the rafters.

“Thanks for not ratting me out.” She said as she spit the baby rattle she had stolen from her sister out of her mouth. "That noise was driving me nuts."

The vision faded.

It was enough to creep Twilight out, this entire house seemed to echo something. It echoed her past life. Almost as if somepony had snapped her reflection into a mirror, making it permanent, and then shattered the thing into a million pieces. She was looking at events in her past and was starting to put the pieces together.

“Over there, Aurora took her first steps.” Twilight said to nopony as she looked over to the living room, a vision of the filly walking across the floor for the first time appeared and then disappeared.

Twilight proceeded to walk through the house, arriving at the dining room. “That’s where Dayspring cast his first spell; Rainbow almost had to call the fire department.”

She walked into the kitchen. “Aurora puked all the way down the refrigerator after eating a whole jar of cookies. Twice”

Glancing into the backyard. “That’s where I… I told Dayspring I was pregnant.” She almost fell onto her flank at that realization. “I’m a mother.”

Another memory came to mind, something important, something she had to know. Twilight ran up the stairs. Passing by several pictures on the wall, but she did not pay them any attention. She knew exactly where to go, she did not know how she knew, but she knew.

Another vision-memory awaited her up the steps.

“Mom! I hate this place!”

“Night, what happened?”

Twilight chased the young alicorn princess into her room. Shimmering Night lay on the bed crying into her pillow. “At… at school, the kids were all making fun of me.”

“What? Why?”

“They… They said I had fillyfooler parents.”

Twilight smiled as she sat down next to her daughter. She remembered this conversation with Dayspring all too well, Aurora was the only one who took it different, she got expelled for kicking the offender in the face, breaking several of his teeth in the process. Twilight rubbed her hoof through Night’s mane, doing her best to comfort her. Shimmering Night reached over and hugged Twilight with both hooves.

“Night, let me ask you a question. What does that term mean?”

“It’s when two mares fool around?”

Twilight laughed at that. “Yes, that is somewhat true. Ok, why would two mares fool around like that?”

“Because they love each other?”

“Exactly, so if it means that two mares love each other that much, why is it a bad thing?”

“They made it out to seem so…”

“Night, it’s just a word. Words only have the meaning that we assign to them. If you let it be a bad thing, that's what it becomes. Regardless what any pony says, be proud that you have two wonderful parents that love their family with all their might.”

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Can you… can you not be a fillyfooler though?”

Twilight was taken aback by that. However, rather than be offended, she smiled at her daughter. “We don’t choose who we fall in love with Night, it just happens. I didn't fall in love with Rainbow because she was a mare, she just happened to be a mare that I fell in love with. Do you understand?”

“Somewhat...”

“That’s all I can ask for.” She leaned down and kissed her daughter on the head. “Now, if they give you any more trouble, just tell them your mom will banish them to the moon, or heck, I might teach you that spell soon if you keep improving like you have.”

“Thanks mom.”

When the vision faded, Twilight turned the corner and headed straight for the master bedroom. Opening the door she saw exactly what she expected to see. The final piece of the puzzle that made everything else fit. Above the bed were three picture frames, each of a different wedding involving the same couple. She gasped at the sight of her and Rainbow in their wedding dresses.

…………………………………………………

The Crystal Empire

“Twi! Yo Twi! Wake up!”

Rainbow banged on the door for the third time, silently cursing Rarity for not letting her leave Ponyville earlier. Yeah, she woke them up in the middle of the night, but only because Rarity had absolutely positively insisted that as soon as she got back she would tell her every little detail about the date. Little did Rainbow realize that every little detail meant every. Little. Detail. She had yet to get any sleep herself.

Of course, she could always sleep through Twilight’s classes, if the mare would ever answer the bucking door that is. “Twilight c’mon, you're going to be lat-“

She stopped mid-sentence,

‘Wait… Twilight is never late, for anything… ever.’

With a flick of her wings the door was sliced in two. She no longer cared about a little thing like property damage; something was wrong. Something was wrong with Twilight, nothing else mattered; that had to come first. She would accept whatever flank chewing she got after she made sure that Twilight was ok.

What she saw inside surprised her: An unmade bed, an open window, and no Twilight. Three things she would never expect to see on a day such as this. On a day when Twilight had lessons.

“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow called out from the window. She doubled back, unsure what to do or who to get.

“Rainbow, what’s going on?” Radiant opened his door and poked his head out, along with a very groggy Firestar.

“Guys… I can’t find Twilight.” Panic and fear was evident in her expression.

“Relax, she's probably already at her lessons. I tell you what, let’s go down together.” Radiant had never seen Rainbow so frantic, so nervous in his life. It was almost as if the mare was going to jump out of her fur with worry.

“I’ll come too.” Firestar added. The three of them walked down to the training room. They did their best to try and calm the cyan mare so she would not cut the palace into pieces looking for her wife. What they saw made them all panic, the professor was in the class, but there was no Twilight.

“Professor, where is Twilight?” Firestar asked.

“Sorry princess, but Twilight Sparkle is late to class today, I haven’t seen her.”

Rainbow graduated from anxiety and worry to full on panic mode. Twilight Sparkle and late were words that had no business being in the same sentence together, unless they were separated by 'is never'.

“Firestar…” Radiant looked at his wife.

“On it.” She took off out the window and headed directly towards Cloudsdale. Radiant did his best to calm down Rainbow. He might as well try to stop a tidal wave with a thimble. Rainbow took off; she proceeded to personally check every single room in the palace. Not caring which doors she busted open or whose privacy she violated.

Firestar initiated the largest pony hunt the pegasi have ever been involved in. she organized the entire Cloudsdale militia to search every single building and question every pony that they could find.

It was an extensive hunt, involving thousands of ponies, but it was by no means long. Within twenty minutes, several confirmed sightings made there way to the palace. Including an eyewitness the pegasi brought to the palace for questioning, the train ticket seller.

“And you’re sure? Princess Twilight bought a ticket and boarded the train this morning.” Cadance asked, doing her best to stay calm and keep Rainbow Dash in a magical shield at the same time. Two tasks that were quickly becoming mutually exclusive.

“Yes, princess.”

“Where did she go?”

“Ponyville ma’am, she said it was important that she get there as soon as possible. Something about a house she just had to go visit.”

At that point, Rainbow shattered the shield Cadance trapped her in and flew off. She knew not why Twilight would go to Ponyville, but this was bad, very, very bad. The vacuum created in her wake caused everything that was not tied down to move several hooves closer to the new hole in the wall.

Cadance took in the damage in a second. Despite it all, she could not bring herself to care. This was important, more important than an impromptu window added to the side of the palace. It was far too early for Twilight to learn the truth. If this went bad, everything she and Rainbow worked for would be destroyed.

“Should I chase after her?” Firestar asked, unsure what to do now.

“There would be no point, she'll be there in less than a minute. You'd never catch her.” Cadance shook her head at the pegasus.

Rainbow flew with all her might, she beelined it straight for Ponyville. Fortunately, she had enough sense not to create a sonic rainboom in the Crystal Palace. However, that did not stop her from creating two over the Crystal Empire. There was not a pony in the empire that needed an alarm that morning. The shockwave alone was enough to wake up the heaviest sleeper.

On and on she went, traveling at insane speeds to cover the distance between the two towns. Before she realized it, she was coming up to Ponyville fast, too fast.

“Oh, horseapples.”

While she was the fastest mare in the world, that did not mean she could stop on a bit. Rainbow plowed into the main street of Ponyville, relying on the dirt itself to slow her down. Something it accomplished, but not without leaving a trench from one end of the town to the other. The action almost caused her to black out from the impact.

“Rainbow Dash?”

She glanced up at the mare that just spoke. “Hey Applebloom, what’s going on?”

“You mean besides the fact that you added an irrigation trench down the center of Main Street? Not much and you?” Applebloom reached a hoof down for Rainbow to take, an option she greatly accepted as she pulled herself out of the hole.

“Twilight's in town, I… I have to find her. Have… have you seen her?”

“Oh! I have!” Applesauce said with a grin. As he ran up to see what his mom was looking at.

Rainbow flew over to the colt, her dizziness forgotten. “Where is she?! Where did she go?! What did she say?!”

“Wow, one question at a time. She simply asked to know where her house was is all, it was odd though; she did not seem to know that it was he-“ He never got to finish that sentence. Rainbow took off down the street, straight to the last place she wanted to find Twilight, but the one place she knew that she would be.

“Maybe, she hasn’t been here long, or she hasn't put it together yet? Yeah, that’s likely, and maybe Sombra will rise from the dead and grant me three wishes.” Rainbow said to herself as she arrived at the front lawn of the house… their house.

Rainbow went to open the door, and then paused… She collected herself, taking in several deep breaths as Cadance taught her. Raising one hoof, she grabbed the doorknob and opened it.

As soon as the door opened, a purple energy surrounded her and pulled her inside. Twilight shoved a picture in her face. One she recognized all too well, it was their wedding photo from Ponyville. She glanced away from it; it contained too many memories, too much that was lost.

“How could you?!” A very familiar voice shouted from nearby.

Rainbow looked up; Twilight was sitting there crying in the corner. “We are… were married! How could you Rainbow? How could you lie to me like this?! I… I trusted you! This… this is what we were! And you lied about it! Why?!”

“I… I… I…”

“Well! Say something, dammit!”

“I…” She could not say anything, briefly, she considered trying to place it all on Cadance, but she dismissed that idea in a second. Even if it was Cadance’s idea, she went along with it. She lived the lie, it was her fault. That very thought caused a catastrophe in her mind.

It was all her fault.

Each pony has a way of compartmentalizing things that they are unable to handle, unwanted emotions and events that are just too painful to deal with at the time. Rainbow Dash is no different. In her mind, there is a box, one that she had been slowly filling over the past few months. Her own emotions, her thoughts, her feelings, and her most sincere desires were all put in to this box, a label marked ‘later’ was slapped on it and it was locked away. All so she could be there a hundred and ten percent for Twilight. So she could provide her wife with all the support that she could give her. So she would not have to deal with her own emotions at this time… However, its time had come. No longer could she put it off.

It was all her fault.

That box exploded open in her mind. She had put everything she wanted, everything she felt, she put it all on hold for far too long. Rainbow’s emotions played throughout her mind, every thought, every feeling she put aside was suddenly thrust to the forefront. Every memory of missing her son, every memory of holding her wife at night, and every motherly instinct she had to repress. It all came back with a vengeance.

It was all her fault.

Rainbow's mind was incapable of thought. Too much was happening too soon. She could only fall back on basic instincts, fight or flight. There were only two options to choose from, and even now, even in this state, she would never hurt Twilight. Therefore, with only one option remaining left, she flew.

It was all her fault.

Or tried to anyway. Rainbow tried to fly out the door. A task she completed a million and one times before, both with the door open and not. She spread her wings and took off, slamming her head into the door for her troubles. She got up, unsure just what happened, her wings… she looked at her wings; they were glued to her side. Nothing she could do would open them. She tried to force them open with her hooves, nothing changed.

It was all her fault.

Rainbow turned around, scared of everything and anything… her world, it shattered around her. All the memories of the house seemed to be taunting her; they all said the same thing. “You lied!” Twilight still sat in the corner, an accusing glare on her face and tears falling down her eyes. She had been with the mare for too long, been around magic for most of her life. She knew the signs of someone who used it and when it was used on her. This was not Twilight’s doing. For the first time since she was given these wings, they would not obey her command.

It was all her fault.

Her mind was not her own, it was racked with emotion, with the reality of the situation. Her body took over. Rainbow took off up the stairs, as fast as her legs could carry her. Every photo she passed… she did not want to look at them, but they each seemed to demand her attention for their second in time. They all screamed at her, calling her names, calling her a liar, telling her she blew it.

It was all her fault.

Rainbow ran, she ran to the farthest corner of the house she could get too. She ran directly into an oversized shower and collapsed, her endurance spent from her mental and physical exhaustion. She tried to sit up, she tried to recover; however, all her hoof managed to do was turn on the showerhead. Rainbow was sure that there were tears falling down her face even with the water going, but at that moment, she did not have any care left in her body. She curled up into the fetal position and began sobbing out, silently grateful that the water was on. At least this way no pony could hear her cry.

It was all her fault.

“Twilight hates me. She's going to leave me.”

It was all her fault.

………………………………………

Canterlot

Shimmering Night finished raising the sun… her sun. It still felt weird to think of it that way, but she supposed that it would become more natural in time; that she would be more comfortable with this whole ordeal, but that would be for later. For now, she had to accept that this was her responsibility. Everyone seemed happy with this arrangement, especially the nobles who could now deal with a leader that they deemed to be ‘more civil’ than Princess Luna. By which they were referring to Luna’s habit of simply wanting to cut everything in half to solve whatever dispute came up, even if that ‘something’ was something living.

While Night found she had a penchant for dealing with matters of court; that did not stop the occasional dispute that came up that she could not figure out how to handle. Oddly, those seemed to settle themselves when she would suggest that they wake up Luna to figure out how to settle the issue.

She laughed at that. Although she had to admit, if the nobles were happy with this change, Luna had them beat hooves down. The Princess of the Night was overjoyed to not have to raise the sun anymore and to have her night back. Something Shimmering Night decided she could keep. Night was never the night owl that Luna was.

Night flew off the balcony as soon as she heard a servant come and try to get her for the morning briefing, she would deal with that later. For now, she wanted to take a walk, and there was nowhere better suited for that task then the Canterlot Royal Gardens.

She landed in the Gardens and enjoyed the feeling of the wet grass under her hooves. The weather ponies made sure to water it each and every night, simply to keep it looking beautiful. Such feelings could almost cause her to forget her own troubles.

Like Ataxia.

Night was still not sure what was going on with that mare, given that figuring out Ataxia on a good day was a challenge worthy of a God. Lately? She doubted that even one of the three could figure out what was going on with her. Ever since Ataxia’s breakdown in the Crystal Empire, she was going out of her way to be a nuisance…. No that was not right; she was going out of her way to spend time with Night. Only the spotting of another escapee caused her not be at Night’s side right now. In fact, the more Night thought about it, she realized that it was the complete lack of bad behavior from her that really caused Night to worry. It almost seemed like Ataxia wanted to be good…

Her thoughts were intruded upon by a quiet sobbing noise in the distance. "That’s odd, who's out here at this time of day.”

Night began to head towards that sound, she knew that something was odd, that something was amiss about this. When she traced it to its source, she saw that her feelings were justified. Princess Luna was sitting underneath the statue of her sister, the one that was situated in the center of the former elements of harmony. Or those that have passed on that is. The Princess of the Night lay with her back facing Night. Crying into her hooves.

“Luna…”

Princess Luna looked up, glancing in Night’s direction, her eyes puffy from their exertion. “We wish to be left alone right now, Night.”

“I gathered, but why aren’t you out with Ataxia?”

“She sent us back.”

“What? Hunts are two pony teams!”

“It’s fine, she's been going on hunts solo for a while now. She's more powerful than you know.”

“That’s not the point, Luna.”

Luna looked down, her hooves suddenly more interesting then this conversation. Night dismissed her earlier thoughts and walked up to the mare, she would chew out Ataxia later, for now Luna needed some help.

“What’s wrong, Luna?”

“We… I miss her.”

Night lay down next to Luna; there was no need to ask whom she was talking about, as there was nothing she could say. Luna did not need hollow words about how it would get better or easier in time. She simply needed to deal with her grief, something she had largely avoided up until now.

After a few minutes, the old mare seemed better. Almost as if this was simply something she needed to do, like it was a requirement for her at the end of each night. That thought bothered Night more than she cared to admit.

“Tell me Princess Luna, how many days have you been doing this.”

“W-… I have been coming out here ever since I took back the night.”

“Luna?”

“Don’t get me wrong, dear Night. I’m glad to have the night back, moving the sun… It felt wrong. Like an insult to her memory… although, the night… it gives me time to think, too much time it seems.”

“Luna, why haven’t you said anything about this before now?”

“I thought, I thought my time on the moon would have been sufficient to help me deal with it. I was away for a thousand years and while I may not have been myself, I did experience it without… without her. However, there is a difference to being locked away from one you love and them being gone. A difference it seems I was not prepared for.”

Night looked at her, really looked. For the first time in her life, she did not see the strong silent princess, the one that always sat on the sidelines, lending her strength only when it was needed. She saw a mare that simply missed her sister. One who would give it all away for another day with her. In truth, Night felt the same way.

“I understand, princess. While I can’t know what it’s like for you, I miss my brother too. I may not have know him as long as you knew Celestia, but he was always there for me. He was a constant in my life, a pillar that always stayed by my side. Now, he’s gone, it feels like… like the world should have stopped, like it’s an insult that everything simply continued moving.”

It was Luna’s turn to comfort Night. “It’s the same for me, regardless how old you get, or how long you have known somepony, their absence… it will always be there. It will always simply be wrong.”

“How do you move on?” Night asked with a pleading look in her eyes.

“Let us figure that out together. We shall rely on one another to find the answer, and maybe, just maybe, we can solve the unsolvable.”

“Maybe we already have.” Night added as she leaned into the hug Luna gave her.

“You know Night; We think you might be right about that.” Luna said with a smile.

……………………………………………….

Ponyville

Twilight Sparkle watched Rainbow run up the stairs, in the six months… forty-seven years… in all the time she had known that mare, she had never seen her so… so afraid, something was wrong, something was fundamentally flawed. She should have been gone; she should have broken the door in two and flown right out. She did not; it was almost as if she could not fly at all.

Twilight tried not to care; she tried to hold her grudge. Too much had happened though, she could not separate the visions… the past memories from the ones of the last six months, from their time in Prance. They all told the same story, the story of a mare that would do anything for her. The one that loved her so much that she would give up everything for her, the one that would have willingly spent an eternity doing penance for Twilight’s crime.

She… she could not… she could not-not care. It was too much, even if she was mad at her, even if she hated her for the lies. Rainbow was still her wif-, her marefri- still her friend, and she needed help.

Twilight got up and wiped the tears from her eye with a hoof. She heard the water on upstairs.

“Is now really the time for a shower, Rainbow?” That made her stop. She knew Rainbow too well, too much time had been spent with the mare, not even counting the visions. “Rainbow, what are you doing?”

Images of Rainbow trying to punish herself came to Twilight’s mind, Rainbow could be burning herself with scalding hot water. She might be doing something drastic that she could never take back…

Twilight did not know the extent that Rainbow’s wings could heal her, but she knew that they were not working right now, if worst came to worst, Rainbow might actually do something reckless, thoughtless, and stupid. There were many sharp objects in the bathroom after all.

Twilight ran up the stairs, chasing after the cyan mare. Visions of the past began flashing before her eyes as she took each step.

“Twilight! Guess what? Our son got accepted into the University!”

Rainbow spun Twilight in the air as she celebrated her son’s accomplishment.

“Twilight! Aurora got the modeling gig!”

Rainbow ran up and kissed her wife passionately, it was the sort of kiss that only one who truly loves another can give.

On and on they went, visions of the two of them assaulted Twilight’s senses. To the left she would see Rainbow giving Aurora pointers on some flying maneuvers. To the right she would see Rainbow and her making out on the couch while the kids shouted ‘Ewe.’

Twilight stopped as she arrived at the bathroom door. “Rainbow!”

“…”

She could hear the shower, and something else…

“Rainbow Dash!”

“…”

“Rainbow, I’m coming in!”

“…”

Twilight opened the door with her magic, what she saw simply aggravated all of her fears, Rainbow was curled up in a fetal position over the shower drain, unmoving…

Twilight ran into the shower, as soon as the water hit her she was very relieved that Rainbow was not burning herself. She slid down and picked up the mare in her hooves. After a thorough once over, she was again relieved that there did not appear to be any physical injuries.

“Twilight?” Rainbow opened her eyes, staring at a face she expected to be filled with anger; instead, she only saw a face full of worry. Somehow, that only made her feel worse, not better.

“Rainbow.” Twilight whispered back.

Rainbow grabbed ahold of the mare with all her might. She wrapped her hooves around Twilight and squeezed. Crying while she buried her face into Twilight's coat.

“I’m sorry!” she cried out. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Her cries became more and more unrecognizable as she sobbed into Twilight’s coat.

Twilight simply stared down, she could not remember once in her life seeing Rainbow brought so low. Lying here, crying out into her coat, it was the mare at her most vulnerable. The cocky mare that would swing into action at a moments notice… It was that mare that now had tears in her eyes, and a sore throat from yelling out apologies.

There was nothing Twilight could do. Her argument died simply from seeing Rainbow like this, from her total breakdown. Twilight slowly put a hoof on Rainbow’s mane and began brushing it, she wanted to be mad, and she had every right to be mad. However, she could not do it. Her anger left her, her rage forgotten. There was no amount of yelling that could cause Rainbow to feel worse than she already did, and seeing the mare in such pain only caused Twilight to feel worse.

“It’s ok, Rainbow.” She cooed softly into Rainbow's ear. “Let it out.”

That was one order Rainbow complied with, her tears increased ten-fold as she released all the weight of the past year at once. Rainbow cried, she cried like a newborn foal, she did so for over ten minutes. All the while Twilight held in her hooves, slowly brushing her mane in the shower as her friend… marefriend… wife finally let go of everything she was holding onto.

Twilight did not know how long it had been, but it was Rainbow who finally said the first words.

“Twilight?” she barely managed to say the words, her throat sore from the effort of speaking.

“Yes Rainbow?”

“Are… are you going to leave me? I… I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“No Rainbow, I'm not going to leave you.”

“Pinkie promise?” She glanced up hopefully at the mare.

Twilight raised her head and looked up. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” The words flowed back from her visions to her, she had never heard them before, but somehow, she just knew what they meant.

Fresh tears fell from Rainbow’s eyes as she watched her friend go through the age-old motion. She snuggled her head deeper into Twilight’s chest. “I’m sorry.”

“So you said Rainbow.” Twilight said softly back to her.

“I mean it I… I never wanted to lie… lie to you.”

“Will you tell me the truth now?” Twilight responded, her tone took a serious note, but it did not display any judgment on her part. She could not stay mad, but she still wanted to know.

“Always and forever.” Rainbow replied.

“Why?” It was a simple question, yet that one word conveyed everything Twilight felt about the situation, her confusion at why, her frustration, her hurt, and her betrayal.

“Twi you… you didn’t have an accident.”

Twilight nodded for her to continue, not once did she stop brushing her hair.

“Twi you… you died.”

“What?” She stopped brushing.

“You were killed, right next to me, too. I… I wasn’t fast enough to save you I'm… I’m sorry.”

“Shhh… Rainbow, it’s ok.”

“I… I still wake up at night to that experience, your blood covering my face. I see your face, the look you had on it. It haunts me to no end, you know. Knowing I was there, that I might have… that I could have… that I couldn't do anything to save you. The blade, I still see it sticking out of your neck. That... that look that was on your face, I… I still see it when I close my eyes.”

Twilight resumed trying to calm down Rainbow; her heart rate was pulsing from simply telling the story.

“You know… I can’t even use a knife anymore. Every time I see something sharp, I freak out. I... I just want to take you and hide under a bed, so nothing can happen to you again. I… I was the one who cut Equestria in half you know. We were fighting a… a Titan, he… he was going to hurt you. I… I went the speed of light to save you. The shockwave almost destroyed the entire world in the process. Yet, even with my speed I… I wasn’t fast enough, there are forces out there Twi, ones I cannot protect you from, and it kills me.”

“Rainbow…”

“No… let me finish, Twi. We have… had three kids, each of them is gifted beyond compare, yet we lost one already. It’s our job to protect them, to keep them safe, and I couldn’t do it.”

“Aurora is our daughter, isn’t she?”

Rainbow nodded.

“So is Shimmering Night?”

Again, Rainbow nodded.

“Is that why you said what you did to Aurora?”

Rainbow looked down. “Yes. I… I went to talk to her though, after we got back, I told her I was happy for her as long as she was happy.”

“So… wait… does this mean… am I going to be a grandma?”

Rainbow nodded her head.

“How old am I? Really? I cannot be a grandmother and be twenty six.”

“You’re sixty seven, Twilight.”

“But… but… but… how?”

“The legends were true, the gods of old exist. There were four of them at first, Gaia, she created you as her Avatar, and you... you tapped into her power, and shared some with me. We'll live a long time Twilight, longer than any other pony on the planet.”

“Your wings?”

“They were… are your gift to me. Queen Chrysalis cut mine off, but you gave me new ones. You told me to fly, what choice did I have but to obey.”

“Rainbow... you're telling the truth, aren’t you?”

For the first time since Twilight joined her in the shower, Rainbow sat up; she turned and looked Twilight dead in the eyes. “Twilight, I swear on my life this is all true. This is why I didn’t tell you before. The story is unbelievable, but I swear it’s all true.”

“Whose idea was it?”

“What?”

“Whose idea was it to lie to me? Somehow, I don’t think it was yours.”

“It was… Cadance’s, but I went along with it, she told me that this was the best way to do it, that’s how I could get you back. Trying to tell you everything all at once would drive you away…”

“Cadance huh?” Twilight considered this news as Rainbow looked at her in the shower. She stared at those big eyes of her marefr-… wife before coming to a decision, well; more precisely, the decision came to her. It did not matter that her wife had lied like she had; she could forgive all of that. What mattered was the certainty in her voice, the expression on her face, all of her non-vocal cues. They all spoke of a mare who was torn up inside, one who put aside everything she was, everything she felt, all for the sake of the one she loved. One who could no longer do it anymore; one that wanted… needed somepony to return the favor so that she could be given a chance to heal. With that realization in her mind, there was only one decision Twilight could make.

“Well, remind me to write her a thank you card.”

There are several sights that can represent true happiness, these sights include, but are not limited to: A mother holding her foal, a sunrise overlooking a lake, a rainbow shining brightly in the sky. Not one of those held a candle to Rainbow’s smile at that point. It shone with such intensity Twilight was almost afraid she would go blind.

“Twilight!” Rainbow shouted as she jumped on her wife, hugging her for all her worth. At that moment, Twilight felt the Universe right itself, somehow, everything was simply wrong in a way she simply could not explain, almost like something fundamental was off.

Now? Now it was simply right, like a painting that was just slightly tilted one way. Not enough to notice, but enough that her ceramide function in her brain was simply put off by it. Her world corrected itself, for the first time since she woke up from her accident, everything simply felt right.

It was another thirty minutes before they let each other go; it was only due to the water getting cold that it happened so soon, each of them was simply content to be in the other’s hooves. A feeling they both knew all too well and did not want to be without any longer then they had to.

As with all good things it had to come to an end, they left the shower and dried off, a process that was rushed a little as it required them to be apart.

When Rainbow wrapped her wing back around Twilight they were both amazed. It happened on reflex, instinct, almost like it was always meant to be.

“What the?” Rainbow looked down at the rogue appendage. Not in shock over where it was, but that it moved at all.

“You told me once they respond to your will, is that correct?”

“That’s what Night said.”

“Maybe they didn’t work earlier, because… because you didn't want to leave… not really.” Twilight rubbed her muzzle against Rainbow’s. Rainbow could not stop herself as she let out a yawn.

“Tired, Rainbow?”

“It’s been a long day. Twi… if it’s not too much trouble will you… will you hold me until I fall asleep?”

Twilight smiled. “Ok.”

Rainbow smiled at her as they crossed the threshold into the bedroom, without any fanfare Rainbow crawled onto the bed with Twilight getting in behind her. She noticed for the first time just how small Rainbow was. The mare lay over on her side as Twilight lay against her back. She wrapped a hoof around the cyan mare.

“Goodnight, Rainbow.”

“Goodnight, Twilight.”

After another ten minutes, she could feel Rainbow’s pulse begin to slow; her breathing came in slower breaths. Until, at last, sleep came for the mare.

Twilight tried to join her in sleep… a thought she had to give up on after an hour. She would not move from the spot. Too much had happened and she did not want to be away from Rainbow for any amount of time unless she absolutely had too.

Her mind began to wander from picture to picture on the wall, several times she would smile as she saw pictures of her kids playing outside as visions returned to accompany them. They were not all good, but that did not make it any less sweet. For Twilight, it was like seeing her life played out in front of her. With each picture would come a new vision, with each vision would come a new memory. With each new memory would come a new picture. She found herself falling in love with these ponies all over again. In a way that only a mother could love her family.

“Hey mom!!!! I did it! I figured out teleportation!!!” Night yelled as she bounced around like an excited filly who just got her cutie mark.

“Hey sexy…” Rainbow walked out of the bathroom, dressed in lingerie that only seemed to enhance her natural beauty.

“Aurora, no more cookies!!!” She saw Rainbow chase her daughter around the room, flying after her and trying to get the bag of cookies from her hooves. Aurora was smart. She was using her small size to her advantage by flying around and under every bit of furniture in the room. Until, at last, she hid under the bed. All the while stuffing her face with cookies.

Twilight smiled at that memory, she finally understood Rainbow’s cookie comment about the mare.

“Mom, they made me headmaster!” A purple stallion walked into the room, he was dressed in a professor’s robe as he shouted out his victory to his mom. “I can’t believe it!”

“Way to go Dayspring!” She saw Rainbow sit up, the pride she felt evident by the look on her face.

Twilight paused; she looked around the room, looking for something, anything to confirm what she suspected. Eventually she found it. Using her magic, she levitated a picture from off the wall over to the bed. She knew this stallion, she had seen him before, but he did not go by the name Dayspring Gleam, he called himself Sunshine Spring.

“Rainbow… Rainbow, wake up.”

“Five more minutes.” Her wife spoke in her sleep, almost on reflex.

“Rainbow, this is important, please.”

Rainbow rose her head, unsure what this was about or if she was still dreaming. “What’s wrong, Twi?”

“This is Dayspring, isn’t it?” Twilight asked while she held a picture of her son to Rainbow’s face.

“Yeah…” Rainbow’s mood instantly went sour. It was not the sort of question she was expecting to hear and definitely not an image she expected to see after just falling asleep.

“I’ve seen him.”

“Of course you have, he was your son.”

“No, I saw him last night, at the train station.”

Rainbow’s grogginess left her as she sat up, she looked at Twilight with a disbelieving glare on her face. “Twilight, if this is a game, it’s not funny.”

“It’s not a game, Rainbow. I… I saw him after you left, he led me to the train station that night, I… I bought him a ticket home, to Ponyville. He told me this house was his, he said his mom built it. I… I think he was talking about me. I… I started to get my memories back after meeting him, but he did not go by Dayspring Gleam, he called himself Sunshine Spring.”

“Twilight…” Rainbow paused, she did not know if it was the delirium from sleep deprivation or what, but she did have an answer for Twilight. “Twilight, Dayspring gave his life to bring back Aurora, he’s dead… I've come to accept that.” She rubbed a hoof over her wife’s back. “Listen to yourself, do you think that maybe, just maybe you were starting to get your memories back and you just happened to put in a pony named Sunshine Spring as the catalyst for it?”

“No, he was real!”

“Think about it, Sun-shine Spring, Day-spring Gleam. Is that not a little suspicious? Don’t you think that it might just be a way for your mind to process the emotions after our date? That maybe your memories started to return from that experience and Sunshine was simply a way for your mind to make sense of it all on a deeper level?”

“Well… maybe.”

“It’s hard, I know. I've lived with it for the past six months; you have to deal with it all at once. Sleep on it ok, and if you still believe that it might be him. I will personally turn Equestria upside down to look for Sunshine. On that you have my promise.”

Rainbow rubbed up against her wife, a show of comfort and love. “Rainbow… I guess that makes sense.”

“Now come on, lets go back to sleep.” She laid her head on the mare’s lap, easily able to fall back asleep.

Twilight thought about this for a while. It was likely that Rainbow was right; still, she was so sure that the pony was real, that it was this pony in the photo. She returned the photo to the wall. She would follow Rainbow’s advice and sleep on it. Nothing else could be done for tonight.

It took awhile, but she was able to eventually join her wife in blissful slumber. That night, her dreams were full of the memories of the love that they shared in the house. The memories returned to the mare, allowing her to live out past events, the good, the bad, and the sexy, almost as if she was watching it on a screen.

She knew, with every fiber of her being, she had made the right choice. This is where she belonged; nothing else mattered as long as she was with Rainbow.

…………………………………...

Galloping Gorge

Ataxia frowned as she chased a little rat under another rock; she blasted that rock to pieces and watched it scurry under another, then another. It was… frustrating to say the least. This was a minor creature, one that was not worth this headache. Ataxia had taken to classifying the threats by her own unique branding. Rats were low-level creatures, ones that she did not even need to transform for. Wolves were the next class, ones that she would transform to fight, but they were only a threat in massive numbers. Needless to say, she had never felt threatened by a wolf class.

Bears were a little more deadly, sometimes they could be a major threat. The last bear class was Tirek. That hunt had been her worst, something she did not like remembering. That hunt had made Night mad at her…

Ataxia transformed and toasted the entire area. She smiled as she heard the little rat scream in pain. Whatever this creature was, it was now dead, her hunt was over.

“Commander, was that necessary?” The Wonderbolt flew up and asked as his team surveyed the carnage. Everything in a hundred yards was burning from her fire. No amount of water could put out her fire. It was magically imbued with her own personal power. There were no options for putting it out; they knew from experience that they could only let it do its damage. Letting it consume everything in its wake.

Ataxia glared over to the Wonderbolt, upset that he would question her so… then she looked around. The devastation was extreme…. Something she had no doubt would make Shimmering Night upset.

“Oh… my fault.”

He just stared at her; dumbstruck about Ataxia offering such an apology, such an event had never occurred before. Ataxia looked at him, a pleading expression on her face. “Can… can we not mention this to Night?”

“Ma’am, she will need to know, the damage alone has to be reported.” He said, a professional tone in his voice.

“Great…” Ataxia said back, her expression downcast at Night having to know that she bucked up such an easy hunt.

“But, you can tell her yourself, if you want.”

“Yeah, let me do that. I might be able to explain things better.”

The group took off, heading back to Canterlot, the large dragacorn leading the way.

……………………………………

Ponyville

“Ah! That was so sweet of you, Grim Night! Or should I call you, Sunshine Spring?”

Sunshine looked over at a shadow that joined him as he sat on top of a neighboring roof to the Sparkle household. To his infinite displeasure, Blood Dawn had joined him.

“Hello, Blood.” The black pegasus was grinning at him. His grin turned into laughter at Grim Night’s new form.

“You’ve got to transform back, I cannot look at you like that without busting a gut!” he managed throughout his giggling.

Grim Night glared at him. “If it will get you to shut up.” Black magic emanated from his horn, the energy surrounded the stallion, covering him from head to hoof. “Is this more to your liking?”

It took a few minutes for Blood to recover; something Grim had no doubt he was dragging out as long as possible. “Much better! I tell you, seeing you in that form was hilarious.”

“Indeed… What are you doing here Blood? I thought you were after some pony overseas?”

“I was, but then I heard about you feeling so homesick and missing your mommy, I just had to come back and see it myself.” He tried to stop himself from laughing. Even if his attempt had been serious, he doubted it would have worked.

“You truly know nothing, Blood. Don’t ever presume to know my plans or why I do what I do. To truly hurt someone, they must have hope, they must have something to lose, something precious. Only when you give them that, only when they have hope can they know true pain, true despair.” Grim’s rage was coming to the front. Something Blood picked up on and immediately made him that much happier, a mad target was a stupid target.

“Are you sure, Grim? You didn’t just miss your mommy and want them back together? I think you did.” He poked Grim in the side as he taunted him.

The touch was a mistake, as soon as his hoof made contact black energy engulfed it. Capturing Blood in its grip. No matter what he tried, he could not get it off or get away from Grim.

“You… you’ve gotten stronger.” Blood commented, impressed about Grim’s new abilities.

“Indeed, I've not been idle as you play your games, Blood. The power I got from Tirek was amazing, although I have my sights set on bigger game now.”

“You sure you weren’t just feeling bad about your mommies not being together anymore?” Blood teased.

Grim lifted the arrogant pegasus with his magic, he was tired of this game already. “Tell me Blood, how did your race against Rainbow Dash go?”

The smile immediately left Blood’s face. He could not deny that fact. “She's faster than me, A LOT faster than me. She didn't even know we were racing and she easily left me in the dust.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Grim asked.

“There is nothing I can do… If I fought her, she would win, there is no way I coul-“

“What if I told you there was?”

“What?”

“I can increase your speed, Blood. it will take some work on your part, but you can be fast enough to regain your honor, if you want it that is.”

“What will this cost me?” Blood asked, intrigued, but wary of any ‘gifts’ that Grim might give, he would never willingly give something like this without it helping him immensely, or it being a trap.

“Oh, it will be high in price, you will have to do the one thing you never thought you would ever do. Then kill someone, but if I know you, that is simply a perk of the job.”

As a show of faith, Grim let Blood go. The pegasus rubbed his hoof, trying to get the feeling back before his dark magic simply overtook it. He was impressed that Grim did not simply kill him, if he was still alive that spoke of a much bigger game. While he had no doubt that none of Grim’s plans were good news for him, he would be lying if he said he was not intrigued by the offer.

“What… what would I have to do?”

“You would have to trust me first off.”

“Trust you? You're joking right?”

“Blood, if I wanted you dead, I would have killed you already.”

Blood thought about this. It was true, if Grim wanted him dead, he would be dead. As it stood, he could not win against Rainbow. That meant he was not the fastest. That stain on his honor was far more than anything Grim could do.

“I don’t trust you Grim, but do what you have to do.”

Grim smiled. “Stay still, Blood.”

Grim Night gathered up his dark magic at his horn, channeling it to the very tip and multiplied it several times over. Every instinct Blood had told him to run, told him to flee and live to fight another day. He kicked all those thoughts to the curb.

The magic blast from Grim struck Blood Dawn dead in the chest, causing him to lift up into the air, the energy soaked into every fiber of his being, imbuing every cell of his body with its power. It was not a pleasant process; the pain was so intense that he could not even scream. When it ended, Blood fell back to the ground.

“What… I don’t feel any different Grim.” He asked, confused by this very unexpected turn of events.

“That’s only step one Blood, it’s up to you to complete step two.”

Blood stretched his wings out, unsure just what in Tartarus he agreed too. “Alright… what’s step two?”

“You will enjoy this one Blood, it’s right up your alley.”

“Just get on with it.”

“All you have to do is drink the blood of the innocent.”

“What? That’s it?”

“Well, it’s a little more complicated than you might expect, it has to be a pure innocent. Someone who has never even had an impure thought in his or her life.”

“So, a wild goose hunt?” Blood said, disbelieving at this turn of events.

“Would I do something like that to you?”

“Yes.”

“And you would be right, but not today. I know exactly where you can find someone like that.” Grim said with a smile.

“Where?” Blood began pacing back and forth, eager to get the benefit of whatever this power up did.

“You will find the one you need in Warclaw.”

As soon as the location came out of Grim Night’s mouth, Blood was gone. Laughter followed the shadow’s wake, he knew the location, and even if he had to spill every drop of blood in the capital city. He would find the one he needed and reclaim his title of the fastest being alive.

“Someone is going to die tonight!” Blood Dawn yelled out as he left Ponyville’s airspace.

Grim smiled as the arrogant whelp left. If he succeeded, Grim could up the timeline of his plans. If he failed, that simply meant that Grim would have one less annoyance to deal with. Either way, win-win.

Grim Night's laughter attracted the attention of the ponies on the nearby streets.

Author's Note

Blood is about to make a move on Warclaw, how will they fare against a revenant of his power?

Sinister Actions

South Equestria

Blood Dawn flew as fast as his wings could take him. Ever since he lost his unofficial race to Rainbow Dash, he could not take any enjoyment from the things he used to. Cutting and slicing just did not have the attraction it used to hold over him. The feeling of blood running down his hooves… it just did not do it for him anymore, not like it once did. He was the fastest; that is what mattered to him. Now… now he had lost that title, and worse, he did not just lose it, it was stolen from him by that upstart with golden wings. One that was carrying another pony, their bags, and did not even know they were even racing, Yet, she blew him out of the water with ease.

Maybe that is why he was going along with Grim Night’s plan?

Doing anything Grim Night planned was a bad idea on a good day and this was definitely not a good day. He hated Grim Night; he hated him with the very fiber of his being. Everything about Grim Night just set off every single alarm Blood had, from the way he possessed his hosts, to the ever-increasing power of his magic. On any other day, at any other time, Blood would slice him in two with his own hooves.

Those times did not see Blood Dawn dethroned though.

Blood was always the fastest, it was simply who he was. There was no one alive faster than him. It was a fact of life. One Rainbow Dash, one pony, one mare, dared violate. While Grim Night was many things, he was not a liar. Blood was sure this would all be to Grim’s benefit, and that the moment he turned his back, the moment he dropped his guard, Grim would kill him. It would happen when it was the most beneficial to Grim and at the absolute worst time for Blood.

Until then, Blood would play along. He did not need to be a magic user to know that the spell Grim Night cast on him was powerful, very powerful. Whatever it was, it might just give him the edge he needed to kill this Rainbow Dash and reclaim his title. That is what mattered to him more than anything else.

So Blood flew, he flew as fast as he could, heading straight to Warclaw: The capital of the Griffin Empire. In that city was his target, the one that he had to kill. The one that would die tonight by his blades. He did not know who it would be… yet, but it was only a matter of time until he found them, and did exactly what he wanted... needed to do.

Blood Dawn received his name from his master… former master. It is a title given to him for his favorite method of killing, spilling the blood of those he fought, drop by drop. He would use his speed in order to gain the advantage. From there it was a simple matter of death by a thousand cuts. Not that this target would enjoy such a death. Whoever it was, he would kill this one quickly.

He did not know if this spell would last, but knowing Grim Night, he did not have long. He had no doubt that the spell would punish him if he did not kill his target quickly. Blood had seen the results of those who failed Grim Night before… it was not something he wanted to duplicate.

That being said, Blood could not help but notice a small Diamond Dog community to his right as he crossed the border from Equestria to the Griffin Empire. Part of him said not to, it told the revenant not to waste time, not to draw attention to himself by doing something stupid and foolish. That part lost; after all, in life you have got to enjoy the little things, else, what is the point?

“Lets see if I can get the spark back,” Blood said to no one in particular. He did his best work at night, and that was still a few hours off. So for the sake of the mission, what choice did he have? For the mission, he had to go play, at least until nightfall.

…………………………………………………………

Warclaw Throne Room

“It’s your turn to deal with them, Aurora.”

“Buck you!”

“We agreed!”

“Yeah, but you’re not carrying a foal now are you?”

Icarus had to admit, Aurora was getting damn good at playing the ‘I’m pregnant, you do it’ card. The worst part is he had yet to find a successful argument against it. It was hard to argue against the mother of your child, especially when she was also the sexiest mare in the whole empire, and had a penchant for the more erotic activities in the bedroom.

So, with no real choice otherwise, he stood up and went to greet their honored ‘guests:’ Two of the most annoying diamond dogs this side of Equestria, Bark-tooth and Snout.

At the halfway mark to the door, he turned around and looked at her one more time a pleading expression in his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want to take this one?”

She returned his puppy dog eyes with a set of her own. Her face pouted up and eyes began watering with tears. If Icarus thought he was good at guilt tripping others into doing what he did not want to do, her skills were on a total different level. One that far exceeded anything he might have thought possible. His heart broke seeing that face.

“You… you would make me get up and see them?” Aurora said with a slight inflection in her voice as she suppressed a sniffle. Her wings went flat on the chair as she seemed to lose all the strength to hold them up.

“No… no, I’ll do it! Don’t worry about it.” Icarus almost tripped over his apology as he swiftly tried to calm the mare down.

“I… I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want too.” She began tearing up again as she went to get up and move to the door.

“No! No, I got it. Don’t worry, sit back down; I want to do this for you.”

“You sure?” she asked as she held back tears.

“Yes I’m sure, sit back down, please, for me.”

“Oh, ok, but only 'cause you want me too.”

“Anything for you.”

Icarus turned back to the door and raised a claw to open it.

“Oh! Bring back some oatmeal cookies when you’re done!”

He turned around, one look at the playful expression on her face told him everything he needed to know, a master just out-played Emperor Icarus of the Griffin Empire. There was no way out of this now; he dug his own grave by walking into that trap.

“Yes ma’am.” It was all he could say.

…

Aurora watched him leave with a slight smirk on her face. No griffin could guilt trip like Aurora Flash, and if he thought that was all she had in her repertoire Icarus was in for a world of hurt. Not that she would ever abuse such power… well, she might abuse it a little bit.

Her smile went away as she thought about what Icarus would have to deal with now, Diamond Dogs. She did not mind them, per se; but the smell. That she could not deal with right now. They always reeked. Right this moment her stomach really was not up for it. She slowly ran a hoof down around her belly as she felt little Orion Knight kick.

“You don’t like those diamond dogs either, do you?”

Another kick.

Her smile returned at that. “You're going to be so much like your father, such a strong fighter and not even half way to your birth yet.” She could only assume that last part. Ponies had a twelve-month pregnancy cycle, and griffins had an eight-month pregnancy cycle. If she had to guess, her little hippogriff, little unborn Orion Knight would probably be somewhere between them, but there was no real way to know. Only one pony might be able to see in the future and that pony was currently suffering from amnesia. Once more her mood got worse.

She missed her mom.

This was wrong, this was wrong on every level she could think of. She should be happy, she should have her parents with her helping her every step of the way. Shimmering Night should be here with her, going on about how lucky she was to be pregnant. She should have her brother here…

The tears slowly returned. Twilight was still suffering from amnesia. She did not even know that Aurora was her daughter, or that her son had saved her life. Dayspring Gleam, her twin brother, was gone. Her brother: The smartest, most talented, gifted, funniest, egocentric, annoying, jackass, honorable, humble, and loyal brother any sister could ask for..

She stopped trying to hold back; it was rare enough to have this time alone, without anyone else being around. So she did something that she needed to do for a while now. She cried. She cried her heart out for her missing brother, for her mom, for her broken family, and for everything else that she had lost.

Aurora laid her head down on the cushion and let them flow. It was not always this bad. Most days she would simply bottle up her emotions without issue, she could go through all the motions of living a normal life... well, as normal a life that a foal of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash could ask for. However, it was at times like this, the times when she was left alone with nothing more then her thoughts that the tears came. She missed her brother. . For their entire lives the two were together, they trusted each other with everything; every little secret, thought, dream, and desire was shared between them. There was no stronger bond than the one they shared. It was simply enough to be around each other to make them happy. When he died… when she died, it killed the other. Aurora did not have the magical knowledge to bring her brother back, not in the way he brought her back.

“It’s not fair,” She said in tears.

“I was the one that was careless. I was the one that died… why do you have to suffer for my mistake?”

…

Icarus sighed as he closed the door to the throne room and turned to meet his guests. “Ambassador Bark-tooth, Ambassador Snout. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit today?” He said with a small smile on his beak as he tried to hold back his disgust at the smell in the air.

That smile alone earned him some very odd looks; the emperor had a reputation of not wanting anything to do with the other races. Indeed if it were not for the severity of the situation, they never would have come here to ask for his help in the first place.

For Icarus’s part, he could truly say he did not want to do this. He did not want to talk to these two creatures, and he most assuredly did not want to extend them any sort of pleasantries. However, Aurora would be happy to hear that he made a good impression on them, and very unhappy to hear if he failed to do so. So there really was no choice in the matter. He would play the diplomat to make her happy. That was what mattered most; her being happy made him happy.

He looked at these two; Bark-tooth was the taller of the pair. Gray in color and sporting a red coat over his dirty fur, he looked like he spoke, old, aged, and dirty. Snout was the shorter of the two, with a brown coat and a punched in noise. Icarus briefly entertained the thought that he made someone very mad one day. It was a thought he had to dismiss though, some of their race was just born that way. Although none of their features could hide the stench. Mud pits smelled better than these too.

“Emperor Icarus,” spoke Bark-tooth, his voice dry and raspy as he slurred his words, “we have come to ask for your aid in a matter most dire.”

“Oh, is that why you sent no prior notice of your arrival?”

“We are afraid that there was no time for pleasantries.”

“Tell me, what happened?”

“We… lost contact with the small community you so graciously allowed us to have on the northern border of the Griffin Empire.”

Icarus glared at Snout, he knew what community was there, it was only because of the ‘aid’ from the diamond dogs in rebuilding Warclaw that the empire had agreed to let them set up a digging site for their gems. Icarus had protested that decision strenuously, but Aurora said to let them do it, in that alone he was outvoted.

“When was the last time you heard from them?”

“This morning,” Snout admitted.

“So? It hasn’t been that long. What makes you think something happened?”

“They should have dropped off their load of gems two hours ago; diamond dogs are never late with their gems. We sent a team to see what happened, but they never came back. Emperor, our nearest military reinforcements are over a day away, if you could send out a patrol to investigate, we would be in your debt.”

Icarus thought about this, it was true that they owed the dogs a lot after their help rebuilding, but that did not mean they could spare the resources to launch a military campaign of their own. Most of their soldiers died during the dragon attack, the few remaining were posted all throughout the empire in an effort to help the citizens rebuild, or to guard the rulers. They simply did not have the numbers available for such a mission that did not affect their own citizens.

“I’m sorry, we're still rebuilding our forces from the dragon war, and we simply do not have the numbers to spare at this moment.”

“Emperor, please…”

“I said no.”

“Oh I think we can help them a little.” An old voice said as Siros turned the corner and walked over to join the conversation. At his words the diamond dogs each had a smile on their face, the exact opposite reaction occurred to his son.

“Father, we cannot spare the troops to send for a recon right now.”

“I never said anything about sending troops.” Siros said with a grin on his beak.

“Then… who will you send?” Snout asked the former emperor.

“I shall go myself, I’ll simply take my own personal guard and recon the area to see if it’s anything that might pose a greater threat to the empire as a whole.” Siros replied.

“Father, your personal guard make up twenty percent of the palace defense. We cannot spare that many troops, what if we get attacked again?”

“Let me ask, would Warclaw be left undefended?”

“No…” Icarus did not like where this conversation was going.

“Would the remaining forces have less to protect?”

“Yes.”

“Are they well trained?”

“Of course they are, I trained them myself.”

“So if thirty-three percent of the family is gone at only a cost of twenty-percent of the guards, what’s the problem?”

“That’s not the point.”

“What is the point, son? That we should stand by and do nothing while our allies are possibly under threat in our own territory?”

Icarus hated losing arguments, but he was growing accustomed to it more and more each day. “Fine, if you want to go and risk your life then I won’t stop you.”

Icarus went to turn around and head back into the throne room. As soon as he reached a claw to the door, he stopped and slammed his head against it.

“Aurora’s cookies,” he said aloud to no one in particular.

Siros could only just hold back a small chuckle as he watched his son make a one-eighty and turn towards the kitchen instead. Any other time, under any other circumstances, Siros knew that Icarus would have done a lot worse. Despite his brash demeanor and xenophobia, he was changing, and for the better at that. Siros owed it all to that mare, Aurora Flash. She was making his son a better griffin every single day, and perhaps, maybe, just maybe, a better leader.

‘Thank you Aurora, I owe you everything.’ He thought to himself.

“Diamond dogs, feel free to head back home, I will personally oversee these matters and let you know what I find. You have my word.”

“Thank you emp- former Emperor Siros. Consider us in your debt.”

“No thanks are needed; I simply consider it the neighborly thing to do.”

He watched as they both bowed to him and turned to leave. Once they rounded the corner and went out the giant hole that Rainbow Dash left in the front of the palace, Siros let out a huge breath he had been holding. Not even he could claim some immunity to that stench. “Do they even have toothbrushes?”

“My lord?”

Siros turned to the head of his personal guard, a black griffin by the name of Midnight. “Nothing Midnight, ready your troops and get my finest armor.”

“Siros, do you want ‘that’ armor?” Midnight said with more than a hint of concern in his voice.

Realization of just what Midnight was asking crossed his mind. “No, I don’t think it will be that bad, just my normal plate will be fine.” He shook his head. Only Midnight and Siros knew what they were talking about and it was not anywhere near that bad, not for that anyway.

…

Aurora felt a claw run through her mane, she smiled at the feeling as there were only two griffins that would dare touch her like that without asking her first and Siros would never take such liberties. “Back already, Icarus?”

“Yes Aurora. How long was this one.” When the young griffin spoke, his unusual bravado was gone, there was no hint of his ego or pride. It was only concern for the mare he loved, the one who did him the greatest honor of his life. The mare that would give him his first son, first of many he hoped. He could not imagine a greater showing of someone’s love for him than that alone. Yet somehow, she kept surprising him. It was rare to find someone who you love so much. Yet that paled in comparison to finding someone who loved you back, someone who loved you not in spite of your flaws, but because of them. He would never tell anyone this, but she was not changing his behavior, not in any literal sense. He wanted to be a better griffin, a better ruler, and a better husband simply because he knew it would make her happy. There was no better motivation in the world than when you see the one you love smile at you simply because they are proud of you.

For that, he would move mountains. All she had to do is ask and whatever she wanted would become his mission in life.

“I… I don’t know; I lost track of time.” A claw softly wiped away the last of her tears as she spoke. When she could finally open up her eyes again, what she saw was the face she had known was always there. Yes, Icarus was a loudmouth ass at the best of times, but he was her loudmouth ass. The connection she felt for him, the love they shared… it was beyond description.

“Dayspring?”

She nodded at his question. As if on cue, Icarus flew up and landed right next to her. He placed a bag from the kitchen near her head and began massaging the muscles between her wings. There was nothing he could do about the pain she was in now, nothing he could say would bring back her lost brother. All he could do is comfort her, do his best to remind her that there were still souls out there that loved her, that would be there for her. That is what she needed right now, not some quick platitudes about how things would be better, how it would heal over time. She needed a reminder that there was still something to live for.

That and the fact that no one could give a better massage than Emperor Icarus.

When his claw touched her wing's joints, Aurora melted into a puddle. All the stress of the day was gone in an instant. She had a career as a famous model growing up and was the de facto cover for any and all photo shoots. Several times a day she would receive requests from one end of Equestria to the other. As such, when she wanted a massage all she had to do was let her agent know and a masseuse would be there in the hour. Yet not one of them ever compared to this.

How ponies had not discovered the joys of someone with opposable digits working the knots out of your muscles she would never know. Aurora was sure that griffins and the like would run every spa in Equestria if it ever did become widely known. His claws were magical. Each and every digit worked her muscles in a way that magic just could not reach. Yes, a magical massage was more thorough, but it was less personal. Nothing beat feeling someone reaching into your back and releasing the tension that was there.

Maybe it was less about the digits and more about the owner?

The best part came when her front hoof fully relaxed and bumped into a bag Icarus placed on the floor. Despite the pleasure coursing through her body, Aurora looked down and saw what was in there.

“You brought the cookies?”

“Oatmeal raisin just as you asked,” Icarus said with a smile.

She looked in the bag. “With rainbow chocolate chips.”

“I remember you saying those were your fav-“ he never got to finish that sentence. Aurora swept his legs out from under him and captured his tongue with hers. The poor soldier was taken into immediate custody and held there without bail. When she finally let it go, she looked at him with a glare of wanton desire in her eyes.

“Bedroom?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Here, now.”

“Yes ma’am.” It was all he could say.

…………………………………………………………………………….

The Pen

The Pen was the name given to the new enactment that the griffins let the diamond dogs setup. While originally a term of disrespect, the dogs had taken it and made it their own. Officially, the land was simply a nice gesture from the griffins as a way of saying thank you for all the help that the dogs provided in the rebuilding efforts of Warclaw and every other city hit by the dragon war. That was the official story anyway. The truth was that it was payment for their services; negotiated between the representatives of the Diamond Dogs, Aurora Flash, and Siros himself. Icarus had ranted and raved against it, but as he was quickly learning, when your marefriend is happy you are happy. As such, it was in his best interest not to make her upset. So, in the end, even he went along with it.

As far as Siros was concerned, the Griffin Empire got the better end of the deal. Yes, the gems they mined out of the land were valuable. However, the griffins lacked any of the resources to get at them. The area was rocky and rugged. There was no shade for miles. In the past they had to rescue the few griffins that tried to get the gems due to the heat stroke they suffered before getting the first cartload of gems out of the mines.

So when Aurora offered the land to them, Siros agreed. There was no down side that he could see. The diamond dogs were natural miners; they would be able to work the dirt far more effectively than any griffin ever could. In addition, it would put them much closer to the griffin cities that still needed their help, their natural digging skills made getting water to the citizens a breeze, something that was desperately needed.

Thinking about that now, he could not help but wonder just what happened to the dogs. They would never ever simply abandon gems. Siros turned to Midnight. “Captain, what do you think of our mission?”

“Sir, most likely a natural disaster or something similar. I don’t expect to find anything of real value.”

“You’re probably right.” Siros remarked, even though he did not share the captain’s optimistic view on this particular occasion. To him, something seemed wrong, very wrong. He could not explain it; it was like a gut feeling that they were indeed going to find something. That was part of the reason why he wanted to come out here for himself, if he could confront it here, they would not have to fight it at home.

They flew into the sunset, arriving at the small diamond dog encampment just as the sun was going down and the moon was coming up. Landing in the center of the town, the first thing they noticed was the complete lack of anyone around, not a sound could be heard anywhere. “Siros, is this usual?” Midnight asked him, as the former emperor, Siros had some experience with the diamond dogs before now.

“They mostly stay underground; however, we should see at least a few on the streets.” Siros stroked his beard as he thought about it. The gut feeling came back ten-fold. He was now positive that something was wrong here.

Midnight had been the captain of Siros’s personal guard for the last ten years, during that time he learned how to read the former emperor better than anyone else, he saw the signs that Siros expected a fight

“Teams one and two take the north side, three and four you got the south. Everyone else, you're going underground.” Midnight spoke with the authority and drive he was well known for. Siros just nodded, this was a military mission now, while he may be the former emperor, he would obey Midnight’s commands, doing otherwise would simply put them all in danger.

“You should ready yourself Siros, we do not know what to expect.”

“Not all situations require violence captain, sometimes a diplomatic touch is all that is required.” Siros smiled at his captain, in truth he did not entirely believe that, there were some things that did require violence, some acts so horrible that someone would have to die for them. However, he had sworn to see every situation through a diplomatic viewpoint. Ever since the war he almost started with Equestria over the selfish desires of his citizens to see vengeance carried out against Princess Luna. It was not even the right princess. He would never see that happen again, not as long as he lived.

“I wish I had your optimism.”

‘Me too.’ Siros thought.

They began the long wait for the teams to make it back and report. In truth, Siros felt even more uncomfortable with this situation as time went on. Unconsciously, his claw made its way to the hilt of his sword as time marched on.

“Is that?” Midnight asked, gesturing with his claw.

Siros looked down where his right claw lay; he looked up and nodded at the captain. “Yes, it’s Dawnbringer, said to have lit the darkness when the empire needed it the most. Carried by the first of the Griffin Emperors.”

“Is such a weapon needed?” Midnight asked, if Siros brought that weapon, this mission just went from bad to worse.

“I doubt it captain, but it would show that we take any threat to our kingdom ver-“

“Captain, emperor, we found something!” A sergeant came up and cut them off, the look on his face excused his rudeness in this situation. Whatever they found was bad, very bad.

“What?” Midnight asked.

“Sir, I… I don’t have the words. You’d have to see it to believe it.”

“Lead the way,” Siros said.

As they were lead down into the mining tunnels, it was the smell the two noticed first, on their best days, diamond dogs were not the most pleasant of creatures to be around. This place stunk, it’s smell was so appalling to the senses that Siros wished he could cut his nose off right now; the pain would be preferable to the smell. However what they saw next would leave a mental scar on their psyche for the rest of their lives. They found the diamond dogs: They were all still here. Someone had positioned them in a very odd design for whoever would find them; they cut off their skin and laid them out in the largest cavern underground. Whoever did it knew what they was doing. Every eye, every tongue, lay together in an odd pattern. They had lain the eyes out in a circle together, almost as if it was a dot on the ground, the tongues lay on each side of line of bodies.

Siros had a sinking feeling about what this was, taking flight, he ordered his guard to light the area with their torches. Just as he suspected, he was right. This was no random slaying, the bodies did not fall where they were killed, they were laid there, someone left them a message, and someone had fun doing it too.

From up in the air, he could see two things, first was what the message said:

Warclaw is next.

Their remands were positioned in just such a way, almost as if some disgusting parable, the eyes were the dot of the I. The tongues crossed the T. However, that was not the part that truly made him sick to his stomach, the truly disgusting part was that most of the bodies were still moving, writhing in agony, with every tendon cut to ensure they would not be able to disrupt the message. The sacks of muscle where squirming by the sudden sensation of light on their exposed tissue.

“Captain!!! They're still alive!”

“MEDIC!!!” Midnight yelled.

Siros landed next to him. “That won’t do any good, Midnight”

“What are you saying?” He looked at Siros, unsure just what the old griffin was implying.

“They’re dead, they just haven’t died yet… the best we can do is offer them a quick death. However, that is not our only concern, this was nothing more than a message, one left for us.”

“What sort of sick freak would leave such a message?” Midnight’s anger became a palpable thing, something real.

“That we will find out, they told us where they are heading next.”

“Where?”

“Warclaw.”

The griffin’s left the town five minutes later, even with the threat of this creature; Siros could not leave those poor dogs suffering like that, he left half his guard behind to deliver mercy to them and burn the cave. Giving the order to kill the diamond dogs could lead to war in the worst case scenario; however, whatever political fallout came from that action he would face with his head held high. Knowing that he at least did the right thing, a philosophy he tried to live his life by. However, right this second, he was needed back in Warclaw. He had no doubt in his mind that his son, future daughter-in-law, and grandson were in grave danger.

…………………………………………

Warclaw

Icarus walked into the treasury and looked around. He did not know where the object he sought was, only that it was somewhere in this room. It was too important, too precious to be anywhere else in the empire. Of course, none of that made finding it anything less than trying to find the proverbial needle in the haystack.

However, this was worth it, she was worth it. He had put this off for too long, it was something he thought of ever since Aurora told him she was pregnant. That was still and always would be the greatest day of his life. Although, he hoped to make tomorrow a close second, all he needed to do was find what he was looking for.

“Why do we have so much bucking treasure?!” Icarus yelled to no one in particular, his frustration with this task growing as he searched for the one item he needed. He had considered getting some of the palace staff to help search for it, but that would involve letting them know what he was after and he had no doubt that information would get back to Aurora. Something he did not want to happen. She was, barring none, the most popular pony in all of the empire. The way she… how she… he could not narrow it down, everything about her was special. Just thinking about her caused a smile to cross his face.

He redoubled his efforts looking for the item in question. Until, after three hours of searching, it finally paid off. He found it in a small chest at the side of the wall. Imbedded there under a large poster of one of the old emperors, not one whose name he knew, but that included just about most of them.

“Now for the hard part, acting normal and trying to hide this until tomorrow.” He wanted to wait until his dad got back; He knew Siros would want to be there for this, for when he finally asked Aurora to be his wife.

…

Blood flew into Warclaw with a smile on his face. The fresh slaughter of innocents always made him happy, and while it had not worked before, it did the trick now. He did not know if it was as simple as not upping his game like that before, or if it was because he at last had a mission to complete, a way of accomplishing his goals. In truth, he did not care what it was. He was happy and things were dead. That is what mattered.

Blood felt adjuvanted by his actions, such muder, such carnage; for Blood, it was a driving force for him, the reason he got out of bed, not that he ever slept. ‘No.’ he told himself, this was not the time or the place to raise such an alarm, he was not worried about getting caught, he was far too fast and too skilled for that. No, his worry was that his target would escape. He knew Grim Night all too well, there was someone here who he sent Blood after. It was someone special, someone important, and that someone was in the palace.

Yes, it was becoming obvious. This spell, whatever it was would only activate with the death of the right griffin; someone had to die. Someone specific, and there was no doubt in Blood’s mind that someone would be of grave importance. “This is the catch, isn't it Grim. You want me to kill someone important, someone who might cause you trouble.” He laughed at that. “All you had to do was ask, you know.”

With a smile on his face and a spring in his step, Blood sped from shadow to shadow, the grin never leaving as he thought of all the ways that this could go. None of them went bad for him. After all, there was only one being alive that was faster than him and she was all the way in Ponyville reuniting with her long lost wife.

“Was that part of your plan too? Keep her busy with something that would take her undivided attention?”

“Who goes there?”

‘Crap.’

Blood faded into the shadows as a night guard came up. Any other day, any other time, he would have killed this griffin as opposed to simply hiding like a coward. That thought did not sit well with him, he wanted to move, and he wanted to cut this bastard’s head off. It would be easy, quick, and clean. However, he came too far, and too much was on the line to screw it up by revealing his presence.

Not because he was worried of being challenged, but he did not want his quarry escaping, and hunts tended to increase in difficulty if your prey knows you are coming for it.

So he waited, he waited until the griffin found nothing, despite shining his light directly at Blood’s shadow. The griffin shook his head, turned around and left. Blood continued as soon as the griffin was out of sight. He would have to be more careful. Therefore, he kept to the side streets, not that they would ever spot him, but he did not trust himself not to do something fun, or stupid depending on your point of view.

“Faster Alex, faster!”

‘Crap.’

His journey to the palace took him across a small playground, where, it would seem, two little griffin children were playing that night unsupervised. It was as if the world itself was testing him. He longed to slice the delicate flesh of children. The youthful skin, so smooth and unmarked. To defile that pure/purity was the most satisfying pleasure in the world. These two were testing his patience, if he didn’t… He paused. There was a gentle sound of a swing being pushed.

“Just a little higher,” the young female called out.

‘Screw the plan!’ he thought with a smile. These little creatures deserved his attention. To simply ignore them would be a waste of his talents. And besides this… this was too good to pass up.

Before he even realized it, Blood was moving closer, and closer. His hoof transformed into a blade. He was close now, so close he could smell them. His mouth started salivating at the thought. This was perfect, too perfect. He could take them both at once… maybe, just maybe there was a way to take them alive, take them somewhere… quiet, and really have some fun. He would leave one alive, someone to tell of what happened later. That would really be interesting.

“Alex! Anna! Time to come home!”

“Coming mother!” The two kids hopped off the swings and flew to their mother’s waiting claws. Blood transformed his blade back into a hoof and gave the mom a little salute. ‘That was stupid…’ he told himself, ‘I risked everything on something so fleeting with so much at stake.’ He watched as the mom led her two kids away with a smile on his face. ‘Well, maybe after I’m done here I will come back and pay those two a little visit.’ He took special note of just what house they went into.

Blood took flight again and went to the palace, this time he did not stop, he really did not trust himself anymore, not after that anyway.

As he looked, he could not help but notice how massive the palace really was. It easily put Celestia’s Palace to shame in sheer size. However, that was to be expected. The Griffin Empire was old, far older than Equestria. Given, it did not know the prosperity of Equestria, but the griffins had a certain tenacity that the ponies did not, that is why they were able to survive and thrive out here for such a long time, in such harsh conditions.

Getting in, that would be difficult. The walls were well guarded, lit, and had formidable weapons placed over them. Blood heard the rumors, the dragon war was still recent in their minds, it made sense that they would prepare for them to come back, such things were hard to forget, and you would naturally make yourself ready for the worst. Of course, that was his issue right now, how to get in without tipping his hoof far, far to early. It would not due to raise the alarm too soon.

When he saw his way in, Blood almost did give away his position with the volume of his laughter. Someone left the front door open for him. The large doors that should have acted as the main gate were gone, the hole in its place was well guarded for sure, three teams of griffins stood watch; however, there were blind spots. Spots in their defenses that might as well been gigantic signs saying ‘sneak in here’ to someone like him. Not that there was another soul like him.

So blood made his way inside, he stayed in the ceiling, watching, and waiting... waiting for the one who he needed to kill, or for whatever opportunity presented itself. The truth was at this moment, he did not care. Grim Night’s game was such that a simple slaughter fest should be sufficient, provided he got the right griffins. Or… should he say, pony?

Blood watched as the most beautiful dark blue pegasus with a diamond cutie mark walked underneath him. He paused when he saw her; somehow, he knew she had to die. She was important; he could sense it in his very bones. Another memory tried to come up while he followed her into a huge kitchen, he did not fully remember events of his old life, as Bright Dawn’s memories were being overshadowed, but he could not shake the feeling that he knew this pegasus. That thought almost made him laugh again.

The pony herself looked like she had seen better days, scars down her flank and sides told a tale of a tragedy that had occurred to her. Someone else had already taken a piece of her; Blood could read those scars all too well. He waited; there would be a time to strike, sometime soon, as after all, there was an art to this sort of thing.

…

Aurora went into the kitchen; a feeling of dread seemed to follow the mare. She shook it off; she had been feeling something like that ever since Siros left earlier that day. She missed having her uncle in the same building. Not that his son did not provide his own special brand of company for the mare.

“Miss Aurora, what can we make for you tonight.” The chef asked, to say they were used to her late night requests would be an understatement. There were more cooks in the kitchen at night than any other time in the history of the palace right now. It seemed as if the mare would visit six or seven times each evening. They tried to tell her to send down a runner instead, but she did not want to be such a bother.

“Oh, Can I get a daffodil sandwich?”

“Of course, anything else?”

“Maybe, hay fries and a large glass of tea. Oh, and some no-bake cookies.”

“Absolutely, shall we send it to your room?”

“No, I’ll take it now and eat it on the way to the throne room. I kind of feel like stretching my legs for a little while.”

“Yes ma’am.” They said, Aurora took her food and turned to leave before they could see her face start to blush, that expression was quickly becoming tied to something else, thanks to Icarus. She would have to remember to get him to stop saying that; else, she would never live it down.

…

Blood followed the mare into the throne room; he noticed something was off about her, something not quite right… he just could not place it right now. So he waited; it was the most self-control he had ever shown in his long, long life. However, this was important, of that he was sure.

He smiled as it finally clicked, this mare was pregnant, that just made killing her all the sweeter.

When she reached the throne room, he watched as she began walking around the huge room in a circle, apparently with the need to stretch her legs. There were only three guards in the whole room, each stationed above her watching as their charge walked around. Killing them was easy, they were guarding her, but no griffin was guarding them. He made it quick, quicker than he would have liked, but there was no need to scare his prey, not yet anyway.

When the last guard died, blood slipped down behind the throne. She would get tired soon, would want to take a break, or she would want to rest her legs. That is when he would strike, a quick slit to her throat and it would all be over. She would be dead and he would be free to move on, killing everyone he found to ensure that he got the one he needed, assuming she was not that one. If she were, he would simply empty the palace for the fun of it.

Hiding behind the thrones almost cost him his life, a spear came down and cut it into two, the point of it millimeters from his face. Blood jumped back; shocked that someone had the skill to detect him so easily without him knowing.

Aurora stared on in shock as Icarus jumped down from the rafters with his spear in claw; he cut the old throne in twine with one blow. “What are y-“ She did not finish that sentence as a black shape darted from behind the throne.

“An assassin.” Icarus said.

Blood smiled, “I suppose that’s true. I must ask though, how did you spot me so easily?”

“You killed three guards.”

“Yes.”

“There were four.” He pointed a claw to the ceiling, revealing the fourth’s hiding spot.

“Careless…”

“Yes, yes you were.”

“No, I mean you, you were careless coming after me yourself, young emperor.” Blood recognized the medallion on Icarus’s neck all too well.

“Who said I was by myself.”

With that declaration, Icarus’s honor guard jumped down from the rafters, each in full battle plate and holding weapons. All of them pointed at the black pegasus in the room. For Blood’s part, he just laughed. “All these little griffins, and I didn’t get you anything.”

“Your head will work.”

“Indeed, if you can take it.”

At that the soldiers moved in for the kill, each of them acting as a well-oiled machine, guarding their brother in arms from any move that the creature in their midst might make; it was quick, clean, methodical, and textbook. However, none of them stood a chance of living this night.

Icarus could only watch as this creature decimated his forces. He did not know what to call it. It moved as if it were the serpent of darkness, of shadows, jumping wherever the light was the weakest only to lash out with strange and exotic weapons he seemed to grow from his hooves. It was almost as if his blades were an extension of his own body.

Despite it all, all the death and carnage of his men, Icarus’s mind was on one thing and one thing only, Aurora. He turned around and faced her. “Aurora, you need to run!”

“No.”

“Aurora, this is not the time or the place, get out of here!”

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“Dammit Aurora, go!”

“She's not going anywhere.” The creature appeared right behind the pegasus, he inhaled deeply of her scent, as there was something there, something he was starting to remember. Blood just could not place it yet. It would come, in time.

Icarus did not waste any more time with words, he attacked. Stabbing his spear directly for the creature’s chest. He knew it would not connect, he saw that much earlier. However, that was not the point, this shadow, he was a cocky son-of-a-bitch, and that is something Icarus knew all too well.

As expected, the shadow easily sidestepped the blow, laughing as he did so. Icarus lashed out with a claw and left three gashes into his shoulder.

Blood held a hoof up in shock as Icarus’s back leg made contact with his chest, sending the creature flying across the room with all his might. Blood slammed into the wall, leaving a loud bang in his wake.

Icarus should have capitalized, but for him winning was not killing this creature, his victory came with Aurora’s survival. “Please Aurora, for me, for you, for us, for Orion, please, please, get out of here. Leave him to me.” The tears in his eyes spoke volumes to the mare.

Those tears spoke to her. “Okay, but only if you promise to come back to me.”

“I promise.”

She kissed him one last time, and then took off, heading straight for the window. Almost flying head first into Blood as she did so.

“What part of she is not going anywhere did you miss out on?”

Aurora stared in shock as the wounds Icarus left on him were already healing. Icarus did little more than stare, he charged at the shadow with all his might. It did not matter if he lost his life in this fight, if she lived, he would win the only thing that really mattered, her safety. Let her hate him forever, as long as she lived.

Blood easily parried the attack and kicked Icarus in the face for daring to hurt him as he had. Aurora took off to the other side of the room, seeking another window to fly out of. However, the pregnancy made her slow; she could not fly as fast as usual.

Blood waited for her in every window, enjoying the look of horror in her face as he did so. It was fun catching a little birdy in a trap and watching as realization slowly dawned on it that there was no escape.

After the fourth such attempt, it was Blood that found himself outplayed. Aurora received a slight hint at what to try next, she immediately took to it. Choosing the window in the middle of the north wall to try, she flew straight for it. Once more she was stopped by the shadow. “Give up yet? Little bir-“

A spear stabbed down, directly through his right shoulder as Icarus sprung his trap. Blood looked up, enraged that he fell for something like this. He transformed his right hoof and cut the spear in twine, causing a surprised shock to come from the griffin at the sudden loss of his favorite weapon. “Well, I think I've had quite enough of this game.”

Blood kicked the pegasus in the chest with all his might. Aurora landed on the ground, badly. Icarus jumped down, seeking to gouge Blood’s eyes out with his own claws at the rough way he just treated Aurora.

Blood threw the griffin off him. “Let me guess, you’re the father, aren’t you?”

Icarus stood up, he glanced to the other side of the room, relief flooding into him as he saw Aurora start to stand back up, she was shaken, but nothing seemed like it was permanently injured.

“You will die for that.” Icarus growled at the shadow.

“Humph, I thought so. I think I will kill her first, and I will do it with the tip of your own weapon too.” Blood pulled the spear from his shoulder and brandished it like a sword. “But please, try and stop me.” He made for the mare at his top speed.

Icarus was a good flyer, but he was by no means the best. In his prime, Aurora could easily beat him, right now, he was tired, he was hurt, but he had someone to protect. That gave him all the strength he needed to come to Aurora’s rescue.

He intercepted the shadow at the last possible second. Well, part of him did. He protected her, but at the cost of his left wing.

Blood Dawn just cut it off.

The pain was immense, not even Ataxia’s blast hurt him that much, yet it only served to focus him on what was important, the battle was not yet over, not by a long shot.

Icarus kicked back and tried to strike the shadow’s chest, he put everything he had into that blow. It was all for naught. Blood was used to his tricks at that point. He sidestepped the kick and slammed the spear tip into Icarus’s chest. Causing the griffin to fall back, clutching at the new wound.

Icarus managed one more word before he hit the ground. “RUN!”

Aurora wanted to do many things at that moment, on the top of them was to run, to save her… their foal, but she knew, without having to be told, that running was not an option. This creature would not let her get away. She was the one he wanted. All of this, all the death and pain was nothing more than his way to get to her. Once more, others had to pay for her mistakes. This was Dayspring all over again, at least this time she would pay the price as well.

Blood looked at the mare, a look of pure, unadulterated hunger in his eyes. The forces against him were decimated, not that any of them stood a chance anyway, not against him. Their new emperor, this young upstart, he had put up a fight, but the rest never stood a chance. Staring at the pregnant pegasus, the true target just dawned on him on just who Grim Night was talking about. It was not the pony, it was not someone active, it was her unborn child. He knew it would involve the royalty of the empire, just not an active member.

“Grim was right, this will be fun,” he said with a smirk as his front hoof transformed into a long sword.

“NO!!!” the shout came from the wounded emperor. Blood wrote him off as dead, there was certainly enough of his blood on the floor that he should not have been able to move. He smiled at that, the emperor’s moves were sloppy, this was not the actions of someone who was legitimately a threat, as these were the actions of someone who was desperate, someone weak and fearful, someone that deserved to die.

Aurora could only watch in horror as Icarus threw himself back at the shadow pegasus. The black pony impaled him with a hoof-blade, cutting into his shoulder and out the side. This creature, this nightmare made real, this shadow, he was everywhere. Every time she had tried to flee, he stopped her. He was toying with her. Worst yet, he seemed to enjoy taking his victims apart one piece at a time. Icarus, the stupid, brave, noble, idiot, he had already lost a wing to this creature, but now… now he would lose his life.

Icarus coughed up blood as the blade cut right through his body, he knew that a lung had been punctured sometime during the fight. “No!” Aurora screamed at the sight.

“You’re as pathetic as they come, the griffins were once mighty warriors yet you let yourself get beaten time and time again, all to save a little pony. You do your race shame, false emperor.” Blood spoke venom into Icarus’s ear. “You never stood a chance, why did you throw away your life like this?”

“She’s worth it.” Icarus responded as he raked a claw over Blood's face. Blinding him once more, Blood threw the emperor against the back wall, Aurora cringed as she heard a sickening snap come from his direction.

“YOU BASTARD!” Blood yelled as he held a hoof to his eyes, concentrating his magic on trying to heal his eyes and regaining his vision.

Aurora flew over to Icarus, she did not want to believe what her eyes showed her. When she landed, she held her ear to his chest. Relieved that he was still breathing.

“Aurora…”

“Don’t speak, save your energy.” Aurora pleaded with him to save his strength, to not die, not as Dayspring had; she was not worth another death.

“Aurora, please... run.”

“No, I won’t leave you like this,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“RUN!!” He reached up a claw and held her as tightly as he could. The emperor looked her in the eyes, for the first time she could ever remember; it was the look of fear. He was afraid, not of dying, but of losing her.

“You still think you can escape me, don’t you.” Blood would not let his prey escape that easy, yes his vision may not be a hundred percent right now, but he would still be able to kill her easy enough.

Aurora turned around in horror as the black pegasus stood back up; the wounds around his eyes were already closing as he glared at her. “You're my ticket, little pony. I'm going to enjoy this.”

She did not see it; she did not feel it, not at first anyway. However, when the blood splattered against the ground, the feelings returned. The pain shot through her side, forcing it’s way into her brain where it became all consuming in her mind. She cried out as she felt it, as she felt every single agonizing second of it. Worse, her mind put together the long term ramifications of what it meant.

Her stomach… her son… she placed a hoof down to try to apply pressure. It was too late… Blood stood by her side, his blade covered in blood; it sickened her to her core because, deep down, she knew that blood was not her blood, it was her son's blood. She could only watch in horror as he licked the blade.

“The blood of the pure, I've never tasted anything sweeter. With this, I can kill Rainbow Dash.”

Black energy emanated from the pegasus, swallowing all of the light from the moon and torches that lit the room. It radiated off him in waves, causing pain to every being it touched.

Blood laughed through it all, he finally understood what Grim Night had done to him. He made him into a God… Well, that was not exactly true; he made him into a demon, a demon that would feast on the blood of every living thing in this world.

Of course that would have to wait, first things first, he wanted to feast upon the blood of Rainbow Dash.

While he laughed, Aurora screamed. She screamed her impotent horror at everything that had happened, at the death of her son, and her powerlessness to stop it. She screamed out in agony at such a horrid event happening to her, again.

………………………………………………………………………

Canterlot

Ataxia landed with a heavy heart, in truth, she had taken the roundabout way back. That alone caused her to feel guilty, yet she also had to explain why a huge tract of land in Equestria’s northern half was now on fire, and would be for quite some time. Worse yet, she had to explain it to Princess Night. That alone made her think this was a bad idea.

No, she would not run from this. The Wonderbolts were nice enough to let her tell the story. Provided it was told. That meant she had to face the music, so she would see this through to the end. Even if it would leave Night mad at her for a while. She was sure that would not last though.

An assurance that was fading with each and every step she took. It seemed as if the closer she got to Night’s bedchambers the less certain she became. Her uncertainty stopped her dead in her tracks half way there. So, with few other options remaining, she thought of a different strategy, one that would be sure to see her the rest of the way there without difficulty.

“I get to see Shimmering Night in her bedchambers.”

…

Knock, knock.

Shimmering Night groaned as she got up out of bed. Someone was at her door; someone wanted something other than for her to sleep. That was rude on more levels than she cared to count.

Knock, knock.

“I’m coming!” Night shouted as she tried to focus her vision back on the real world. It was not easy; she had just fallen asleep too. That annoyed her to no end. However, they would not wake her up for just any reason; it had to be something important, something that might need her immediate response.

That thought got her up. She walked over to the door and opened it to a very flustered looking Ataxia on the other side.

“Ataxia, what’s wrong?”

“Why would you ask?” her face was covered in a blush that only seemed to get worse. “Nothing’s wrong, well, something wrong, but nothing is wrong with me anyway, not that you asked that of course, I mea-“

“Hold up girl, I only followed half of that right now. Come inside and start over.”

“Come inside…” Ataxia’s coat could be mistaken for red as she heard that comment.

Night chose to ignore that odd behavior as she gestured with a hoof for Ataxia to take a seat on the bed. This only seemed to make things worse for the mare.

Ataxia gulped and took a seat on the bed; very different visions began playing in her head about what would happen right now. She did her best to try to fight those off; it would not do any good right now. However, it distracted her so much that she missed the question Night had asked.

“Ataxia?”

“Huh, what did you say?”

“I said you said something was wrong, what happened?”

“Oh, that.” She got a small break from the ‘other’ thoughts, but of course that came with the requirement that they visit what she had been trying to put off. Telling the truth about what happened.

“I… Night, something bad happened, I did something bad.”

Night’s concern increased several fold, she was not sure what was going on, but Ataxia had been good lately, like creepily good. If she did something wrong, something to cause her to wake up her friend in the middle of the night, this could only mean the worst kind of trouble.

“Whatever you did, just tell me. We'll deal with it together.” Night said softly as she sat down next to the mare and placed a kind hoof on Ataxia’s shoulder.

Ataxia smiled at the kind deed. Several of her fantasies started this way but she pushed those to the side, for now anyway. “Night… Let me ask, do you know Galloping Gorge?”

“I know of it, can’t say I have ever been though.”

“Yeah, about that. I kind of… well….”

“Ataxia, what happened?”

“I kind of… burned it to the ground.”

“What?”

“There was this rat, I was chasing it but the damn thing kept hiding under rocks, I got pissed.” Ataxia looked down sheepishly at that admission, what really stung was not what she did but the fact that she was lying about it. That was not the reason why she was pissed, her thoughts had betrayed her. However, she could not bring herself to admit to that little reason, not yet anyway.

“So you burned down a large stretch of Equestria because you were after a rat? Like a metaphorical rat or a literal rat?”

A confused look from Ataxia told Night she needed to specify that question. “I mean was it an actual rat that you were chasing?”

“Oh, no, it was an escapee. I started classifying them for myself just so I would not make ‘that’ mistake again.”

Night understood just what she was talking about. It still upset her friend how she had let Tirek trick her like that. It seemed that this new classification system was her way of gauging the threats that these creatures represented. “So, you were hunting an escapee and lit a fire that engulfed all of Galloping Gorge.” Night restated the problem in a slightly different context.

“Yeah, but....”

“Ataxia, we send you out there each and every day to do this job that only you are capable of. Now we usually send someone with you to help make the best decisions when they come up like this, but that did not happen this time. I wasn’t there; I’m not going to second guess what you had to do in the field.” She smiled at the mare, somehow that made Ataxia feel worse.

“Yeah, but it was just a rat, there was no need for that level of force. I… I let my emotions get the best of me.”

Night laughed at that. “It’s not the first time and I doubt it will be the last. Let me ask, do you know what went wrong?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to let it happen again?”

“No.”

“Then there is nothing more to be done on the subject. We need you Ataxia; I need you for this job. I'm not going to punish you for doing it. We will get the fires dealt with and ensure that from now on you have someone there with you, not because we don’t trust you but because you should have someone you can talk to on these hunts.”

Night’s smile made Ataxia smile as well. “Ok.”

Night went and hugged her friend; they embraced each other and simply enjoyed the warmth the other provided. Although Ataxia did hold on for a little longer than was normal. Night found that she did not mind all that much, something about Ataxia choosing her to finally open up to felt right to the mare. Like an honor she never expected or wanted but was grateful to have anyway.

When they finally let go, Ataxia had a smile on her face. “Thanks Night, it means a lot that you would put your trust in me like this.”

“You came to me and told me the truth, you did not try and hide it, and you admitted it yourself. I could not be mad at you for a mistake, for a stupid accident, and besides, nopony lives there so there was no real harm done. Always remember Ataxia, regardless what may happen otherwise, I am your friend, and that will never change. No matter what you might accidentally burn to the ground.”

Ataxia laughed a little at that.

“Now get out of here and let me get some sleep, I've got a long day tomorrow.”

“Sure, thanks Night.”

“Oh and Ataxia.”

“Yes?”

“Do try and be a little more careful in the future, for me?

“Sure.” She turned and left her friends room with a smile on her face.

Night sighed when Ataxia left. This was a problem, a big one at that. Ataxia’s fire could not simply be put out, that meant containment, a long process that would take several hours to complete. She readied a letter to send to Firestar. Only Cloudsdale had the resources to deal with this issue. However, telling Ataxia the truth would not solve anything, she meant what she said, they needed the mare and seeing her this upset hurt Night in a way she did not fully understand.

“Sorry about waking you up, Spike.” Night said aloud as she sent the letter to the dragon. He would get it and pass it along to Firestar. Many ponies were about to lose sleep over this. Fortunately, Night was not one of them. She would personally inspect the damage in the morning, but there was not much she could do about it tonight. Even if she left now, by the time she arrived, Cloudsdale would have the work already done, Firestar would see to it herself.

…………………………………………………………………………

Warclaw

When the lights came back on, Blood stood over the sobbing mare. “Don’t worry, I don't plan on leaving any survivors.”

“KILL HIM!” as the shout came from across the room, it was accompanied by a dozen arrows shot by the finest archers. Blood may be one of the fastest beings alive, but you cannot dodge what you cannot see. Every arrow struck true, embedding themselves into the pegasus’s back.

He grunted in pain before the dark magic caused the arrows to fall out of him and began healing him. “So, the old one has returned? Tell me, did you enjoy my present of the doggies? I left that just for you.”

Siros had never been a griffin of rash action, preferring to analyze every situation with a calm cool head. Given, there were times in his past that he was not proud of, when he had to do something that he knew in his heart was wrong, but even in those times he could always say he stood by his principles and did what was good for the empire.

Looking at his son lying on the ground bleeding out from multiple wounds across his body. The little girl he owed everything to laying at this creature’s mercy. Siros finally understood what true hate was, what it was to truly wish someone dead. Never before had he wanted someone dead like this creature that hurt his family.

Siros drew Dawnbringer, “Light our way,” he spoke to the blade causing it to glow with arcane energy. Siros flew at Blood with all the rage in his heart, his son was lying on the floor, missing a wing with a claw bent at an impossible angle. Aurora, Rainbow Dash’s daughter, she lay at this twisted freaks mercy, desperately holding onto her stomach to try to trim the flow of blood from her womb.

After the Equestrian war some forty-odd years ago, Siros studied every form of martial practice imaginable. He did it just as an excuse to spend more time with Rainbow under the guise of ‘fostering relations’. She matched him step for step, of course, she made it into a competition with her weapons of choice, her wings, and of course, he lost. However, because of that he was easily one of the most dangerous sword fighters in the Griffin Empire.

That was in his prime, now he could no longer make that claim. Blood grasped the former emperor by the neck and blade. He snapped Dawnbringer, the ancient sword in two, causing his victim to gasp in horror as such a legendary blade was so easily felled by this creature. “You know, it would be easy for me to kill you right now, but I see the true horror in your eyes, the pain, the fear, the indignation of knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are simply too weak to stop any of this. How does it feel to be so old, to be so useless that you could not save anyone? You should just die old one; you should lie down in a pit and let them cover you in dirt. After all, feeding the worms is all someone like you is good for.”

He spun the old griffin around and held him tightly in his hooves. “I think… instead of killing you, I will simply make you watch.” Growing out a wing, Blood ran a feather through each and every one of Siros’s guards, killing them all one-by-one. When it was over, and Midnight, his oldest friend fell to this creature's attacks. Siros could only scream his frustration out into the world.

Blood laughed at his new abilities, it was almost as if he were the polar opposite of Rainbow Dash right now, he could grow and shrink his wings at will, he knew, without even having to test it, his speed would be limitless. He would win with this power. He would kill her with this power.

“Now the real question… should I finish her off?” Blood spun them both around, facing the fallen mare yet again.

“Yes or no? Yes or no? Tell me old fool, what you would have me do. Answer truthfully; I'll know if you’re lying.”

“Just kill us both and be done with it, monster. I refuse to play your game.” He spoke with conviction in his voice. “But, whatever you were planning, I can promise you this, you will fail.”

“Oh? Why's that? It seems to me that I have all the advantage right now.”

“Because you killed her grandson and are about to kill her daughter. Rainbow Dash will track you to the end of the world for that; your death will come soon enough after ours.”

Blood dropped Siros and stood with a shocked look on his face. He looked at the mare on the ground as some very old memories came back. He knew this mare, he knew her from Bright Dawn’s early life. This was his ex-wife’s sister… his shock was quickly overcome with a smile and then by laughter. “You mean to tell me the one you sent me after was the grandchild of Rainbow Dash?! Grim, I could kiss you right now. You know what; I will leave you both alive, just so you can tell her who did this; the one that was responsible for the death of her grandson. Tell her, I will be waiting on the tallest mountain in the Griffin Empire. If she wants revenge, she can find me there.”

In a blink of an eye, the demon was gone.

Siros’s mind went blank; so many conflicting emotions happened all at once that he went dead inside. His body began moving on its own, walking over to the young mare and began dressing her wounds. Aurora did not even fight it, the pain of her loss… it took her normal spunk away, she simply lay there, allowing Siros to do whatever he wanted. That alone caused one emotion to trump over all others in the old griffin.

The former emperor of the Griffin Empire, Emperor Siros, one of the most levelheaded rulers in the entire world, was pissed.

Siros wanted to give chase, he wanted to spend the rest of his life hunting down that monster and make it pay for this.

There were other priorities though. So for now he forced all of that to the side, in his mind he made a checklist of the most important things that had to be done. He needed to get these kids to a doctor; he needed to send a letter to Aurora’s parents, letting Rainbow Dash know what happened. Then, the last item on the checklist, he needed to kill that motherfucker. If he died doing it, he would meet his death with his head held high.

Siros would get his revenge after the kids were safe, and he knew the perfect tool to use: the Oathkeeper Armor.

Author's Note

Siros is after Blood.

In his anguish, what will he do? What can he do?

Blood Oath

Northern Griffin Empire

They called him Hermes.

It was a term of affection, a nickname, one given to him early on in his military career. As a young griffin in the military academy; he was the fastest in his class. His natural skill shone through, his speed in the air was unmatched in all of the empire, he was easily a favorite for fastest creature alive, or he would have been if not for Rainbow taking that title. It was a joke name, one given to him in jest at his insane speed. As with all such names, it fit, it defined him so nicely that it stuck. They called him Hermes and so, to anyone who spoke to him, that is what his name became.

He flew as fast as his wings could take him. This message was to be delivered directly into the hooves of only a select few individuals. He had to give it directly to a member of Equestria royalty or to one of their close friends. He was told to take it directly to Ponyville, as it was the closest town where one of those individuals could be found, preferably the one known as Spike. If he could find him, the message would deliver itself at that point.

He was given sixty minutes to fly a distance it would take a normal griffin two days to fly. For anyone else it would have been impossible, a task that could not be completed in the time given. However, they called him Hermes for a reason.

Yet even for Hermes, it would be taxing. He would not be able to fly again for some time after this if at all. It would stretch him to the limit, tearing several muscles in his wings and back as such that flight would be impossible for several days, perhaps longer, perhaps forever. Yet this message demanded such action, it was too important, it carried too much weight for anything less.

Orion Knight was dead, he died before he took his first breath. Emperor Icarus was in intensive care. Princess Aurora Flash had yet to speak to anyone ever since the event happened; it seemed as if she just gave up, like everything that made her who she was simply died inside. Former Emperor Siros was cold, aloof, thinking… he had only spoke once after dropping off Aurora and Icarus to the hospital. He did it himself, not letting anyone help. Afterward, he wrote this message and gave it directly to Hermes, with the instruction that it would be delivered to Equestria in sixty minutes.

Hermes had never seen Siros like that, it seemed as if the old griffin was dead inside, he did what he had to do, what the situation called for, but it was almost like he was on autopilot, like he was not really there, not in any sense of the word other than the literal one. That was not the part that made Hermes’s fur crawl. It was the last words, the caveat to the instructions that accompanied his task. As Siros handed off the message, he grabbed Hermes’s claw and pulled him face to face, as to look him directly in the eyes.

“Sixty minutes, or your head goes on a pike.”

Siros had never threatened anyone before. He was not the type. He was calm, cool, collected, never one to use his position in such a way. Never before had he executed someone. However, Hermes also knew that Siros was not one for idle threats, if this was not delivered in sixty minutes, Hermes had no doubt he would lose his head over this. So he flew, he flew as fast and as far as he could and then beyond it. He pushed himself to the breaking point, beyond the point of simple fatigue. Part of him knew he was done after this, he would be lucky to ever fly again, he would never fly at full speed again. He'd be lucky to fly again at all. However, the message was worth it.

He would make it in fifty-nine minutes.

After all, they called him Hermes for a reason.

……………………………………………………………

Warclaw

Siros walked, he did not know where his destination would be, he did not even know where he was at this moment, his only thoughts were on that creature, that thing, it was all he could think of, and it was all he could do to put one claw in front of the other. Each step seemed to be leading him somewhere, somewhere he wanted to go. Somewhere away from where he was.

The blood trail followed him.

Every step he took left the blood of the… the children that creature hurt, the baby that creature killed. That alone was enough to cause him to hate it more than he ever hated anything in his entire life. Yet it was worse, much, much worse. That creature… that thing, hurt and killed the children under his care. His son… Icarus was in intensive care, one wing cut off, several broken bones, a punctured lung and kidney. Aurora… the foal of the mare he loved. She had been run through, like a fish with a pike…. Her son, Siros’s grandchild, he was killed by this creature, before he even took his first breath.

It did not just kill Orion Knight; it killed Aurora’s will to live. The mare was alive, but only because she was still breathing, she had not said a word to anyone since… since her son died. Rainbow Dash trusted him with Aurora’s safety. It was not said, it was implied… Siros betrayed that trust and she got hurt. According to the doctors, it was permanent, her womb, what was left of it anyway, had to be removed. The doctors were doing it now, the condition this creature left it in… it was nothing more than shredded meat inside of her body.

Part of him remembered being focused on something, a cool calm collective he had after it was over. That was before he was covered in the blood of the young, the blood of the innocent. The blood of his family.

Tears joined the blood trail behind him.

Siros almost stumbled into the next room he walked in. tripping over several boxes of treasure in the process. He looked around; somehow, he ended up in the treasury. He managed to unlock the doors and walk in without even consciously being aware of it.

It was the room he wanted to be in. However, he also knew that it was also the last room he would ever see in the palace. They kept the Oathkeeper Armor in this room.

Siros shook off the melancholy of the events. He had accomplished every item of his checklist. The kids were safe; neither of them would die from their injuries of the night's events, even if his grandchild was beyond saving. He sent the letter off to Equestria, knowing without a doubt that Hermes would get the letter to Rainbow Dash; when that happened, the world itself would know her wrath; although, if the next part of his plan worked, there would not be anyone left for her to vent it on.

That brought him to the last item on the checklist; the one he knew would see him dead. The one item on the checklist he would sell his soul to accomplish. He would kill this creature that dared to hurt his family, the one that dared to call him worm food.

The Oathkeeper Armor would see to that.

They kept it in the back, hidden beyond the normal treasure of the empire. He hoped, he wished that he would never have to look at it again. It was a disgusting reminder of the old ways, the way in which things used to be done in the empire. An archaic system which demanded an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, and blood for blood. In some ways, the last part was more fitting than even Siros knew at that moment.

Only two griffins even knew it existed; although, with the death of Midnight, only one knew now, and he would be buried with it soon enough. Siros’s mind refocused on the last item to the checklist. The one he knew would cost him his life.

It was a price worth paying.

A new found strength coursed through the old griffin at that thought. He would do this. It would be his final act, but he could go out with his head held high, he would die knowing he fought against the impossible, even if he failed, it would be known that he stood up. After all, that is what truly matters.

You do not have to win, you simply have to stand up for what is right.

At the back of the treasury room, hidden behind several secret panels he would find the object he desired, the one that would give him the power to try to fulfill his oath. Fulfill his wish for vengeance on this… this thing. After all, that is how it got its name. The Oathkeeper Armor was waiting for him.

The passwords and codes came back to him like second nature. They seemed to want to come out, almost as if the armor knew that its time had come, his claw ran though the keys and ancient spell rituals without fail. He was possessed to this end. Several times the security challenged him. Age-old spells that were meant to protect the armor from anyone who might have nefarious uses for it. Each time the correct word, phrase, or code deactivated the system before anything happened. Walls slid back with each successful barrier that he removed, until, at last, he was standing before the armor itself, the most powerful relic in all of the Empire.

The final seal was not like the others, this one required two things; two objects to deactivate before the final barrier would remove itself to allow him access to the armor. The first object he had in his bag. The medallion that was still covered in his son’s blood, Siros was not even sure when he pulled it off his son’s body, but sometime when he took his son to the hospital he picked it off his neck, even on a subconscious level he knew what would happen. He knew that this was his fate. Oddly, he was strangely ok with it.

He wanted this fate, he chose this fate.

Siros cleaned the blood off the medallion before placing it on the pedestal in front of him. It would not do to confuse the magic spells in the next part. As Siros placed the medallion on the pedestal, the golden edges on the medallion popped open, revealing the last seal. This one called for the blood verification of the user. Something that had to be programed to open, something he had never done with his son’s blood.

Siros held a claw out and cut it open with his beak, he let the blood drip out of his open palm onto the medallion. Old spells came down, the magic reading the blood as they fell. The final seal was removed; the Oathkeeper Armor was his to wear at last, for the first time in over two thousand years it would find a bearer.

Siros immediately hated it.

The armor itself was nothing special to look at. Several centuries of dust coated its gray surface. It sat upon a griffin mannequin, unmoving, unadorned, and unwanted. However, it was needed, there were no decorations on it, as every surface of it was plain, as if the one who made it was simply satisfied with its look and did not require it to stand out in the crowd.

Form over function this was not.

Siros saw the plain decoration and lack of ornamentation for the lie it was, this armor screamed death incarnate, its very presence left a telling impression on his old bones. The weight of its history, the weight of the crimes it committed permeated the air. As if the armor itself should never have existed and its very being was an anathema to reality itself. As if the universe itself was trying to reject the existence of this armor.

Siros hated it, he hated every inch of it, but he needed it. As such, Siros did the only thing he could, the only option left open to him. He began removing each piece of the armor one by one from the mannequin and placed them on himself. He started with the back piece.

It was not heavy, per se. However, the presence of it on his fur made Siros’s bones ache. Piece by piece he equipped the armor, until, at last, he stood fully clothed in it. Siros was now armored in the terrible secret of the Griffin Empire. After all, Equestria was not the only land with its share of relics. Although he wished that was the case.

Siros flapped his wings and took off in the air; he was not surprised to find that the weight of the armor barely affected his flight, when the time came, when he said the words that would all change. His abilities would be magnified a hundredfold, this creature, this shadow, the one who dared hurt his family. He would feel what an old fool could do. He would pay for hurting Siros’s family. It was the final oath Siros made, and now, at last, he had the tools to keep it.

For now, he flew out of the treasury room and then out the nearest window; he knew his destination without even looking. Every griffin knew where the tallest mountain was; after all, one had only to look out the window towards the east to see Skyclaw Mountain.

……………………………………………………………

The Crystal Empire

Prince Radiant Star flew on a crystal chariot to the sight of Ataxia’s latest ‘mess up’. The late night letter still irked him, even if he did understand the importance of getting it to them as quickly as possible. Ataxia’s fire… if it could even be called that, they had yet to find a way to extinguish it. The magical properties made it burn hotter and brighter than anything else burned in the world. It was a small blessing from Luna herself that the fire did not consume the entire planet.

It seemed to be on a time limit, only lasting for a set amount of time before dissipating into nothing. During that time, it required no fuel or oxygen to keep going. Of course, its dissipation would only occur if it did not spread, if it did not duplicate itself.

That was what Firestar left to go do. Radiant went to join her of course, but even in the chariot, he was no match for her raw speed. As the former Captain of the Wonderbolts, Firestar was easily one of the five fastest flyers in all of Equestria. Therefore, Radiant had no choice but to play catch up as his wife fought to keep magical fire from spreading to populated areas.

He could already see the blaze. It burned in magical green energy, releasing smoke up in to the air as it did so. As they flew closer, Radiant knew exactly where Firestar would be. He did not even need to be told; he simply directed the pegasi pulling the chariot to where the fire was at its worst. To the last place any pony should ever be. That is where he would find her.

As the chariot banked to the right, following his instructions, his target came into view. Sure enough, a soot-covered pegasus was standing on top of a hill, directing the others around her to where they were the most needed to end this quickly. It was just part of who she was, to be at the absolute worst spot imaginable in the hope to turn the tide. Stupidly, so far, it always worked too. Radiant sighed to himself; it was a fight not worth having, as she would never listen anyway. It was just a part of who the mare was, while he would never try to change her, that did not mean he had to like it.

As the chariot landed, Firestar wasted no time in commanding the pegasi pulling it to where she could use the reinforcements.

“You two, clear the brush over there and then help with the firewall in the west.”

To their credit, the pegasi did not even stop to question her orders. They sharply saluted and then left in a haste to follow through with the princess’s commands.

“Keeping busy I see.” Radiant said to his wife with a smile on his face. One that quickly turned into shock when she bowled him over and kissed him on the lips. An action he was more than happy to return.

“What took you.” She said seductively when their lips parted. Soon, full-on laughter replaced her stoic expression when she saw the soot stains she left on her stallion.

Radiant looked confused at first, he then noticed what she was laughing at and could not help but chuckle a few times himself. “What can I say, not all of us can fly you know.”

“Oh I know. Besides, I like having a husband who is grounded.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I can always leave you in the dust if you smart off to me.”

Radiant was taken aback by that. “Oh, sorry. What’s the sitrep here anyway?”

“Nice way to change the subject.” She smiled and rubbed flanks with him, causing a small shiver of delight to come from Radiant and cleaning off some of the build up from her own coat. ‘All’s fair in love and war’ Firestar thought to herself, ‘Although, I'll still need a dozen showers when I get back.’

“The fire is mostly controlled on all sides, we had a small re-burn on this area, but quick action got that under control.” Radiant could see by the looks of her what sort of quick action that took.

“I still can’t believe that she is going to get away with this.” Firestar added. Her own frustration evident on her face.

He looked confused at that, “Who?”

“Ataxia, this is her fault after all.”

Radiant sighed, this was not their first discussion about her and he doubted it would be their last. “Firestar, you know she didn’t mean it.”

“So, how much of Equestria will we let her burn to the ground as long as she doesn’t mean it?”

“Firestar…”

“No, I'm sick of this, Radiant. You know how many troops I've lost due to that mare, how many Wonderbolts have died accompanying her on her hunts?”

“Firestar…”

“Why do you do this? Why do you always defend her? Why are you taking her side?”

“First off, I’m not taking her side, I’m on your side, nopony else’s. I do trust her, because Twilight trusts her, so does my mom, and that is good enough for me.”

“Blind trust leads to a dark road.” Firestar pointed a hoof around to the fire that was still burning in the background. “This is what happens when she doesn’t mean it, what would happen if she ever did?”

“Firestar!” Radiant yelled. “You don’t mean that.”

“That’s just it, Radiant. I think I do. That mare is strong, her magic alone is easily on par with any I have ever seen before, and her transformation puts her on a whole other level. I wouldn’t ever want to be on the wrong end of her on a good day. However, if she ever had a bad day… If that ever happened, we would all suffer.” Radiant could not help but notice the perspiration on his wife’s face as she said that.

“Firestar, she's Shimmering Night’s best friend in the world, she's a friend of the family, she would never, never do something like that.”

“How do you know? She is the Avatar of Chaos after all.” Firestar said with a slur in her voice, as her steps became a little more wobbly.

“Because, she has friends, we will all be there for her every step of the way. Yes, things like this may happen from time to time, but it changes nothing. She is still our friend, mine and yours, it’s our duty to try and forgive her.”

“Some things cannot be forgiven, Radiant.” Firestar looked a little off to Radiant as she said that last part, there was something there, something he did not yet know. However, what concerned him more than that cryptic comment was the sweat pouring from her as she paced back and forth. Yes it was hot, but she should not be sweating that much.

“That may be, but we haven’t seen that bridge yet, much less crossed it. Let’s not invite such trouble ourselves. Are… are you alight?”

“You might be r-“ Firestar fell over, collapsing on her side as her stomach began convulsing where she lay.

Before Radiant could reach her, she began vomiting and passed out. “MEDIC!!!” Radiant yelled at the top of his lungs as he ran forward and slid next to her.

“Firestar! Firestar! Wake up!”

He shot a magical pulse of energy up in the air; the force of it dispersed the clouds of ash and cleared the sky for a mile in every direction. Several teams of pegasi saw it and immediately headed to its origin as Radiant desperately tried to revive his wife, but nothing he did would wake her up.

……………………………………………………

Skyclaw Mountain

Blood Dawn watched as the city of Warclaw went into panic mode. He could see it clear as day, even from these hundreds of miles away, even at this late hour. Every single sense the pegasus had was heightened to levels that he did not even know were possible. It truly fascinated him to no end.

“Is this how you see the world, Rainbow Dash?”

He was impressed, very impressed. It made sense, to move as fast as she does one must have the reflexes to match. To fly at speeds unseen before, you must be able to turn on a bit, you have to see thousands of hooves ahead and plan accordingly. A split second wrong decision would spell disaster.

He had been trying to get used to it. Needless to say, it was starting to look like he would need more practice. Yes, he could grow his wings out to any size he wanted, however, when you fly at fifty times the speed of sound, clipping your wing on a random tree would send you into a nosedive, one you would not be prepared for.

He was beginning to think that he should have waited before challenging Rainbow Dash.

‘No, the damage was already done; she would find me now anyway.’ He thought. It was true, with what he did, that mare would search the entire planet for him. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. He had backed himself into the corner and now he had to pay the piper. Not that it mattered, even if he were not used to these new abilities, he would still put her in the ground. That thought made him smile.

An object approaching from the city interrupted his thoughts. It was a griffin, an old one at that, wearing some form of dull gray armor. Blood recognized the former emperor less than a second after spotting him.

“Someone wants to die. Well, I guess I do have some time to kill.” He smiled at that, who knew that the empire provided its guests with entertainment?

As he waited for the griffin to arrive, Blood Dawn gave serious thought to simply picking him up and carrying him the rest of the way to the mountain. He laughed at his own impatience; it was never easy to wait. However, it would make the act all that much more enjoyable when its time came. That he knew from experience. Still, that knowledge did not change the wait though…

“Oh well, I will have to make flaying him alive all the more fun when he does get here.” Blood Dawn said to himself with a smile on his face and a spring in his step.

…

Siros was not afraid, he was not scared, and he was most assuredly not frightened about what awaited him on the top of this mountain. He knew he would die up here, but he knew this was his best opportunity to kill this… this thing. His mission in life was simply to end it… the thing that had killed his grandson before he was even born, before he had even taken his first breath.

Siros was not afraid at all.

Siros was pissed.

When he landed at the top of the mountain, it did not surprise him at all to find the shadow creature immediately spoke to him, and unsurprisingly, it was taunting him.

“Come to die, old one?”

‘Young ones, always so impatient.’ Siros thought.

He simply sat back on his flank. “Show yourself.”

Blood smiled as he gave Siros that one little request, he flexed his wings, imitating the act of a demon as he flew down from the opposite side of the mountain. He could feel the chill in the air; however, he was surprised about one thing. He could not see any fear in the old griffin. It seemed as if the old one was a bigger fool than Blood took him for. As only a fool would not be afraid of Blood Dawn.

“You want to start digging your own grave? I’ll be glad to put you in it.”

Siros glared at him. “Before we began, tell me what your name is.”

“I have had so many over the years, but the one I go by right now is Blood Dawn.” He smiled a toothy smile as he spoke.

“Blood Dawn… a fitting name for one the likes of you. Tell me Blood Dawn, why did you kill my grandson?”

“Two reasons, first and foremost, it was fun. The second was to draw her out.”

“Her?”

“Rainbow Dash, the mare who dares to take my title, I'm the fastest. ME, not her.”

“So you want to challenge her to reclaim your title?”

“I'll kill her and wear her skin as a trophy.” Blood laughed. “That much was already decided when I tasted the blood of your grandchild. I must say, it had a sweetness to it I have never known before.”

“I see… there is just one small problem with your plan.”

“What’s that?”

“You won’t be alive when she gets here.”

Blood laughed, he laughed long and hard, his laughter echoed throughout the mountain. It cascaded down the hills to the point where if you listened well enough, you could actually hear it in Warclaw. “You… you're going to challenge me? An old fool like you? With what army?”

Siros waited for Blood Dawn to calm down before he spoke, the stoic expression never left his face. “Tell me, have you ever heard of the Oathkeeper Armor?”

“No. Should I have?"

“Really? That surprises me. Tell me, how long have you existed, creature?”

“About five thousand years.” Blood responded coolly. It was a rough estimate, truly, he could not remember that far back, but it changed nothing.

“Ah, that explains it, it was only recently renamed in the past two thousand years. Before then, it was called something else. It was called the Blood Oath Armor.”

Blood’s face immediately went into a grimace. “No…”

Siros looked at him. “Yes, the armor of the blood, the armor that kills its bearer, the one that drains its bearer’s blood to fulfill at all costs the one oath he swears.” Siros bit his claw and splashed his blood across the breastplate of the armor.

“Blood Dawn. I. Siros. Former Emperor of the Griffin Empire, swear a blood oath to see you dead, at the cost of my own life. I willingly pay this price.”

As Siros said the words and his blood touched the armor, Red light encompassed the griffin, blinding all those who looked in his direction for miles around. Blood Dawn was speechless, his mind replaying the legends he heard of this armor over the years. There was a time long ago when he sought the armor himself, but he never found it. That this griffin had it on, and was using it against him, that defied all logic.

When Blood’s vision finally returned, the first thing he noticed was a blood red barrier surrounding the mountain; no one would enter or exit. He could tell what it was made of simply by looking at it, blood. The old fool had trapped them both in a sphere of blood.

“Getting cocky old fo-“

He never finished the sentence, a glance at his opponent confirmed all his fears to be true, the armor transformed upon activation. Gone was the old, crippled griffin that stood before him in raggedy old armor. In his place stood a proud griffin, one with a look of resolve, one who knew his purpose in life and was armed to fulfill it. The armor itself had changed too. Where before the plates were unadorned, old and grey. Now it was emanating red energy, the pauldrons transformed, each side taking on an emblem of a blood filled chalice, The color changed also, before it was a simple grey, now it was fully red. A resemblance to its namesake.

The breastplate had a thousand names scribbled on it. He could see his own written on the bottom. “So it’s true then, the armor adds to it each name of the one it kills. Although, this time it made a small mistake, I‘m not dead yet.”

“Oh no, you are, you’re just too stupid to realize it.” At that, Siros flicked his claw out, sending droplets of his own blood in every direction. Blood Dawn watched as not a single drop fell to the ground, each one hovered in place. His fascination turned to fear as the blood drops began changing in midair, they transformed… becoming something else before his very eyes. They became something very, very dangerous.

Each droplet formed a molecular spear in the air. He could only just make them out. No one needed to tell Blood Dawn what would happen next, on instinct he extended his wings and wrapped himself up in a cocoon of black feathers.

The spears attacked. The thousands of spears flew at the black cocoon, embedding themselves into his wings. Blood’s eyes grew wide in disbelief as several of the blood spears managed to penetrate his wing barrier. The tip of one spear was barely stopped less than an inch from his eye. He opened his wings and brushed off the blood.

“So, this will be interesting after all.” Blood said coolly.

“Only if you find your death interesting. Personally, the world will be better off once you’re gone.” Siros added as he cut his other claw. He flicked out both claws, tripling the amount of blood in the sky.

“Keep that up old one and you will do my job for me.”

“That is the price I'm willing to pay, as long as you die too.” Siros glared at him as the new blood he spilt into the sky began transforming into spears themselves. Blood’s eyes grew wide as several droplets merged together into one huge spear, thousands of times bigger than the other ones.

Blood knew he could not stop these like the last ones, there were too many. He had two choices, attack or run.

“Let’s do this.”

…………………………………………………………….

Ponyville

Hermes did not land in Ponyville, not by any definition of the word. He crashed in Ponyville. Flying beyond the point of muscle exhaustion, Hermes left a crater in the street where he fell. In any other town, in any other city, this would have been unusual. For Ponyville, it was simply another night. However, what was unusual was that it was a griffin who left the crater in the ground this time, an event normally associated with a certain cyan pegasus. That, and the late hour it occurred; fortunately a stallion was walking to a friend’s house at the time and quickly ran to the griffins assistance.

“Are you ok?” A voice spoke as it ran to the edge of the hole. Hermes looked up into the kind eyes of an orange earth pony. The concern over the griffin’s well being was evident on his face as he looked at him.

“Is… is this Ponyville?” He did his best to avoid coughing up blood as he spoke.

“Sir, do you need a doctor?”

“I need to find Ponyville. I have a letter to deliver to Princess Rainbow Dash. I was told that Spike lived here and he could send it the rest of the way.”

“Actually, Rainbow arrived in town this morning, in much the same way as you did. If you want I can take it to her for you.”

“NO. Thank you, but I have specific instructions to deliver this to only a select few ponies.” Hermes tried to climb out of the hole, much to his chagrin, it was easier said than done, as on crashing in this town he sprained his back leg. He did not even want to look at his wings, but judging by this ponies expression, they were in bad shape.

“Can I at least help you?” The pony asked.

“If you would be so kind, what do they call you anyway?”

“Applesauce. And what about you?”

“They call me Hermes.”

“Why do they call you that?”

“Because you will not see anyone faster than me.”

“Oh, I might have seen one faster than you.”

“Who?”

“We're going to meet her now.”

……

Rainbow was dreaming, she knew she was dreaming because she could smell the scent of lilacs in the air. That was the scent of Twilight’s favorite shampoo. That meant that she was right next to Twilight in her dreams, she did not want to rush this moment, she knew that Twilight was only there for her, only truly there in her dreams.

She moaned softly as she blinked her eyes open, it was then she knew something was off. Rainbow had dreamed of her wife many, many times in the past few months but none of those dreams had been like this. Twilight was indeed right next to her, but the mare was sleeping peacefully at her side, with a content smile on her face as she slumbered softly. While they had done quite a lot in Rainbow’s dreams before, she had never dreamed of the mare simply sleeping.

That is when it came back to Rainbow, she now knew it was not a dream, it was real. The events of earlier that day replayed in her mind. Twilight was back, she knew it all and somehow, someway, she even forgave Rainbow for lying the way she had. Twilight remembered it all or at least the most important parts. She remembered her kids, and she remembered their life together. It was… it was better than a dream, because it was real.

Rainbow felt a few tears leave her eyes, she could hardly believe it. She wanted this moment more than anything else in the world. Her friend, her wife, her Twilight… she was back. She was hers once more. Rainbow had dreamed of this moment for the past six months, but even she could never actually get her hopes up enough to consider that it might one day come true.

She nuzzled her nose into Twilight’s mane and inhaled deeply, wanting to savor every waking moment of this… this miracle. Despite herself, more tears started to fall, but these were tears of joy. She did not care, she had her Twilight, the rest of the world could jump off the tallest bridge.

Rainbow lay like that for seconds, hours, days… time had no meaning, as long as she could lay next to her wife, she was content. As such, it came as a surprise when a lavender hoof began stroking her mane.

“Hey, Rainbow.”

“Hey, Twi.”

Rainbow looked to the side to see a warm face smile back at her. She knew that face; it was the one in all her dreams. It was the face of the nerdy bookworm that chose her over everyone else, the one that gave up Godhood to save her. The one that gave her three beautiful children, the one that somehow, someway, loved her more than any other on the planet. The one she loved more than any other on the planet.

Those eyes, she would die a happy mare if as long as she got to see those eyes every day until then. It was rare enough to find someone you love, someone who you would do anything for, someone who just by being happy made you happy, but for them to love you too? That was a blessing.

“Twi…”

“Yes, Rainbow?”

“I-“

A loud knock came from the door down stairs, it carried enough force to identify its urgency to both ponies in the house. “I'm going to kill whoever that is.”

“Hush you.” Twilight smiled as she rolled over and got out of bed.

“It’s gotta be after midnight, who could that possibly be?” Rainbow asked, annoyed at whoever would come over this late at night.

“It’s gotta be important if they would come so late.” Twilight added as the knocking intensified.

“We’re coming!” Rainbow yelled as she followed her wife down the stairs. She could not help but steal some glances at Twilight’s marehood as she walked ahead. A fact Twilight quickly caught on to and began to tease her a little with. Twilight put a little more bounce in her step, an action that caused her tail to bounce to each side a little more than normal as she walked in front.

When they reached the front door, Twilight smiled as she saw the look of wanton desire on her wife’s face. She used her magic to shut Rainbow’s mouth for her. “Later, let’s deal with this first.”

“Is that a promise?”

Twilight smiled and kissed Rainbow on the cheek. “What do you think?” she said seductively.

Needless to say, Rainbow was not paying much attention to anything at that moment, her mind running along everything she wanted to do to that mare right now. Therefore, it came as a shock when Twilight opened the door and a griffin ran inside directly to her.

“Princess Rainbow Dash, I have flown here from Warclaw to deliver this message straight to you!” The griffin spit the words out as fast as he could. Exhaustion and relief both evident in his voice as he spoke.

“You want to run that by me one more time.” Rainbow said, taken aback by this new development, as she looked at the dark blue griffin in shock that he was even here.

“I think he has a message for you.” Applesauce added.

“Oh, that’s all?” Rainbow took the message and opened it up. She began reading aloud.

“Princess Rainbow Dash.

It is my solemn regret to inform you that the capital city of Warclaw was attacked tonight; we came under threat by a hostile force. It took the appearance of a pegasus clouded in black magic; when I engaged it, the shadow shared in your abilities to grow and shrink its wings at will. Its ultimate intention seemed to be drawing you out, as it left most of us alive to carry that message to you.

However, most of us did not include Aurora’s foal.... The creature stabbed her in the stomach after cutting my son’s wing off. The doctors say she will survive, but nothing can be done for the baby. As far as my son’s fate, I do not know. They gave him a fifty-fifty chance to pull through.”

As Rainbow read on, the tone of her voice grew dark. She did not stop reading, but her appearance began a subtle shift. Her anger was taking hold.

“While its intention may have been you, I can promise you that it will never live to see the fruits of its labors. I have left to engage this creature in combat, and although it will cost me my life, I vow to see it dead before I go.

You left your daughter in our care, she was hurt, and her son was lost. For that, I cannot apologize enough, but with its death, and mine, I will start to make amends.

Siros”

Rainbow did not read the next part aloud. It was marked specifically for her.

“PS. I never told you this, but I have always loved you. As this is my final letter, I have no qualms about saying this now. However, your happiness has always been what I wanted most, and I know in my heart that Twilight can give you that in ways I never could. I would not want to come between such love. May you forgive an old fool his ways, and live long Rainbow Dash; make your life an inspiration to all of those who come next, in the same way you have already inspired me with mine.”

Rainbow placed the letter down, ripping off the part that was just meant for her; she slowly rolled the rest back up and gave it to Applesauce, with one set of instructions.

“Take this to Spike, tell him to send it to Princess Night, She deserves to know what happened to her sister.” Applesauce took the letter with a nod.

“What do they call you?” Rainbow asked the griffin.

“Hermes.”

“Hermes, how long ago was this written?” the calmness in Rainbow’s voice was unnerving to all of those who heard the contents of that letter. It did not match the expression in her eyes, or the twitching of her wings. Anypony who knew her, knew that she wanted to take flight, she wanted to find this… this shadow and take out her vengeance. How she had held back so far was a mystery for another day.

“An hour ago, princess.”

“And where is Siros now?”

“He left to engage the shadow creature himself. At the top of the tallest mountain in the Griffin Empire: Skyclaw Mountain.”

Rainbow nodded her understanding; she knew that mountain all too well. She turned and looked at her wife, Twilight was crying… Rainbow reached up a hoof and wiped the tears away. “I know… I know it hurts, but now is not the time. I need you to go to her; I need you to make sure Aurora is ok. Can you do that?”

Twilight looked up at her wife; she could not speak, not yet anyway. Therefore, she simply nodded in response.

“I'd go with you, but I have someone to see. If that old fool thinks I'll let him do this on his own, he has another thing coming.”

Twilight reached up and wrapped Rainbow in a hug; she put all her strength into it. It was an action that squeezed a lone tear out of Rainbow’s eye.

“Do what you have to do, but know that I'm waiting for you to get back. Promise me; promise me you won’t keep me waiting long.”

“I promise, and Rainbow Dash always keeps her promises.”

With that, Rainbow was gone, none of the souls in the house saw her go; it was as quick as the blink of the eye. Not even the wind gave away her position. However, the loud boom heard to the south was evident enough of her destination.

Hermes looked scared, he had never seen such speed before, such power come from one pony… it was almost too much to take. However, what he felt from her was nothing compared to what happened next. He turned to the alicorn.

“Is it wise to let her go alone?” Hermes asked.

“This creature… this shadow, he attacked Warclaw, maimed Emperor Icarus, and killed our grandson to draw her out. There was just one flaw in his little plan.”

“What’s that?”

“It worked.”

With that, Twilight cast an enhancement ritual on the ground, she knew her destination but it would still take a lot of magic to accomplish over such a distance. She began drawing up the old spells in her memory, summoning as much magic energy as she could. To her surprise, it came back as easy as walking. It seemed some things once learned could never be forgotten.

“What are you doing?” Applesauce asked.

“I need to see my daughter. You have your tasks, what are you still doing here?”

Applesauce nodded and took off, running straight for the Carousel Boutique, straight for Spike and Rarity.

Hermes took two steps back. “How are you going to get there?”

“Like this.” in a flash of light, she was gone, he shook his head at the implications, that a pony could teleport such a long way, with such little preparation was astounding. Truly, if Equestria had ponies this powerful, he did not know why anyone would ever risk getting on their bad side.

………………………………………

Skyclaw Mountain

Blood found himself in a situation he did not believe possible. He was losing and badly. The red sphere began closing in on the two of them, serving to limit his options of dodging. He attempted to break out of it, but to no avail, like it or not, he was stuck. So he had to dodge.

Every fiber in his body refused to call it for what it was; he was fleeing for his life.

Just because you will not admit to something, does not make it any less real.

It was only his speed and the reflexes that came with it that saved him. Every time he would dodge, the griffin would simply create more spears and the sphere would close inward ever so much more. At a rough estimate, he guessed there were about a hundred thousand after him. He was quickly running out of room, and options. This needed to end soon or he really would die.

Blood flew around the sphere at breakneck speeds, while he ran into a few spears as he did so, he shook off those wounds as simply a cost of war. He dodged several large groups, causing them to chase him at odd angles, until, at last, he had them where he wanted them, or should he say, he cleared them out from where he did not want them.

Blood cleared a flight path straight to the griffin. The opening was only a hair’s breadth wide, and for someone, anyone else, it would have been impossible. Blood made it look easy; he pulled into the opening and sliced out with his left wing at the old griffin.

Siros bowled over from the impact. The armor prevented him from being cut in half, but the exposed gashes along his flesh told the tale all too well. He was bleeding from several more places.

“Careless.”

“Yes, you were.” Blood smiled as he taunted the old fool.

“I wasn’t talking about me.” Siros added as blood began pouring out of his new wounds. The flow began forming millions of new spears as the blood sphere shrunk in size by half.

“Horseapples.” Too late did Blood realize he just made this fight a whole lot harder for himself. As he looked at the sheer number of spears now facing him, he could only wrap himself up tightly in his wings.

His final thought before he became swiss cheese was, ‘This is going to hurt.’

………………………………………………

Warclaw

Twilight teleported dead center in the Warclaw's Palace Throne Room, several guards rushed out, all of them on high alert after the events of earlier that night.

“Identify yourself!” The lead griffin shouted.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, I'm here to see my daughter, Aurora Flash.” Twilight replied matter-of-factly.

“How do we know you're telling the truth?”

Twilight stared at him, her eyes glowing white as she contemplated all the different ways she could prove it, she levitated a little off the ground, spreading her wings wide as she did so. “Trust me commander, if I wanted to do damage, there is not a single soul in the empire that could stop me. Now if I were you, I would take me to see my daughter before I get really upset.”

The commander had been through a lot in his time, but this is the first time he had ever known what true power was, and as a result, it was the first time he ever experienced true fear. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this mare’s threat was no boast. She could tear apart the palace brick by brick with a simple thought.

“As you say, princess. Please, follow me.”

Twilight landed back on the ground, her eyes resuming their normal purple hue. “Thank you commander. Please, tell me, is she ok?” Twilight asked as they started walking down the hall.

“I don’t know, princess. The rumors are that they are both in intensive care, we are simply waiting for the doctors to finish before we have any more information.”

They walked in silence after that, neither willing to say another word to the other. During the journey, Twilight’s mind went over the layout of the palace, or what she could remember of it. Most of her memories were back, but while there were still a few that seemed to elude her, she knew they would come back in time. Her mind was still putting together all the pieces.

When they finally arrived at the infirmary, Twilight saw a griffin dressed in scrubs with a surgical mask on. He was leaning against the wall, with his head in his claws.

“Doctor, what’s going on?”

The doctor looked up as Twilight ran the rest of the way. “Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight nodded.

“You’re here to see Aurora I take it.”

Again, Twilight nodded.

“She just got done with surgery, you can relax, she pulled through without issue. Although there was nothing that could be done for the baby.”

“What are you not telling me?” Twilight asked, she knew something was up, something was off about his stance, he was hiding something.

“I suppose you will find out eventually. The injury, it destroyed her womb, there was nothing we could do. She will never have another foal.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide at that. “It was that bad?”

It was his turn to nod.

“Where is she?”

“She’s resting; it can wait until the morning.”

Twilight turned and walked into the room on the side.

“Princess Twilight, I must insi-“A magical spell locked his beak in place.

“No, I must insist. This is my daughter and I will see her now.” Twilight opened the door and shut it behind her. She was amazed when she walked in; both Icarus and Aurora were in the same room. Their beds placed right next to each other. She could see the damage done… the bandages they were wrapped in. it looked as if Icarus had given everything he could to save her… judging by his wounds, he had almost given his life.

What really shocked her was that Icarus was still awake and watching Aurora. Somehow, the griffin would not shut his eyes, almost as if to do so would cause him to lose her.

The doctor came in after Twilight. “Fine, if you insist on being here I want to make sure nothing happens.”

“Doctor, why is he still awake?”

“Oh, that… he refused any sort of anesthesia, threatening to behead anyone who dared put him out. I think he blames himself for this… this travesty.”

Twilight was touched; she never knew that Aurora found someone who loved her like that, someone who would put himself through so much just for another hour to see her. “Is… is he still in pain?”

“Yes, how he is managing to hold it in this long I will never know.”

“I can fix it.” Twilight said with no amount of sarcasm in her voice.

“What?”

“I can fix them both.” She began concentrating, summing up the power of life, the power of magic. This was her daughter, this was her future son-in-law, she could do this for them. If she could not save them from the attack, she could at least repair the damage done.

Magical power began emanating from the mare, Twilight’s wings turned golden, their light emanated from each wing tip as beams of energy. Carefully, she aimed a wing at Icarus, and the other at Aurora, Twilight channeled her own energy to the tip of her horn. Using it as a focusing rod, she shot out two beams of magic to the tip of each wing. The energy continued to the two lying in bed. Surrounding them both in a golden magical light.

Icarus looked shocked as he levitated out of bed from the magical power. His wounds began to close under the bandages, the broken bones in his claw reset themselves, reforming stronger than ever. His wing began regrowing, first the bridge, then each feather sprouted along the way. However, through it all, he never took his eyes off Aurora.

Aurora’s wounds closed too, but the real healing for the mare took place inside. Her womb regrew itself, every muscle and fiber reforming into a new, fully functional organ.

When it was over, when the light faded from the two of them, Twilight wiped the sweat from her brow. The doctor’s lower jaw was stuck on the floor at the event he had just witnessed. “How did yo-“

“Shhh, she's waking up.” Twilight stopped his question dead in its tracks as she walked over to her daughter. Aurora’s eyes were coming open, her vision slowly returning.

“Twilight…” She spoke.

“Please, call me mom.” Tears began falling from Twilight’s eyes.

They did not match the ones that poured from Aurora at that proclamation. “MOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!” she yelled at the top of her lungs as she reached up and hugged her mother for all her worth. Twilight returned the hug with one of her own. She held it forever, letting her daughter cry out on her shoulder.

When it was over, when she was ready, Twilight let her go. Aurora stared down at her hooves, it was then she noticed that the scars on her side were gone. “Mom, what did you do?” Aurora asked, there was no judgment in her voice, it was a simple question.

“When you got wounded, it destroyed your womb, I used my magic and rebuilt it by harnessing the ambient energy in the air and creating a temporal magical inversion to turn back space time and reestablish what should have been there. From that point it was a simple matter to have your body make a copy of it while fueling it with exocentric magical energy from my own personal reserves.”

Aurora just looked at her. “What?”

“I healed the damage you two sustained with my magic.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?”

“I thought I did.”

“Yeah, well not really, besides I was talking about my old scars.”

“Oh, yeah, that's a side effect of the spell, it doesn’t discriminate wounds.” Twilight did not understand why Aurora was upset, she knew, on some level, those scars were important to her, but she could not place her hoof on why.”

“She was saving those, as a reminder of her brother.”

Twilight turned around and stared at Icarus, the griffin was pulling the bandages off himself as he sat up in bed.

The memories came back, “Oh, yeah, sorry about that.”

“It’s fine… I think I’m alright now… thanks.” Aurora looked herself over once more. It had only been a few months since she got those scars, but she had gotten so used to seeing them she could barely recognize herself anymore. “I think they served their purpose.” She held a hoof to her stomach as a thought occurred to her. “The baby?”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m sorry; there was nothing I could do about him. Even my magic is not that powerful.”

Aurora looked at her, her mind replaying the events. She knew, deep down, she should be grateful that her mom healed everything she could, but all she could feel was sadness and loss. The tears began again.

“This is… this is my fault.” She cried.

“What? Don’t ever think that!” Icarus walked over and hugged her.

“It’s true, had I left, had I gotten out of there when you said to, I never would have lost him.” She sobbed into his chest. “I’m a terrible mother, I should never have kids.”

Icarus placed a claw on her chin and lifted her head to his. Even through her tear stained face, he had never seen a more beautiful mare in all his life. “You listen to me right now; listen like your life depends on it. You will be a wonderful mother and any child would be lucky to call you so. Believe me when I say I would not want anyone else to be the mother of my children and there is no one else I would ever want to call my wife.”

Aurora and Twilight both looked shocked at that statement. Icarus reached down and removed a metal box he had hidden on his body. The griffin had not let anyone see it. He held onto it through everything that had happened.

Icarus bent down on one knee and opened the box. Inside was beautiful diamond ring, layered in rich sapphires. “I wanted to do this with my father present, but this is the right time. This ring was made from the bones of the first emperor, ever since then it has only been worn by the truly worthy. Those who have everything it takes to be the greatest of leaders. Aurora Flash, I want you to be by my side. I want you to be with me throughout everything, I cannot imagine anyone more suited to wear this ring. Time and time again, you have proven worthy of the crown, I may have been born to it, but you are the natural leader. The one the empire needs. Not me, I could never do this without you. So I ask you, Princess Aurora Flash, would you be my wife, my empress?”

She looked at the ring, then at him. Her tears began again. “Why would you want a wife that cannot protect her child?”

“Auror-“Twilight’s sentence was cut off by a claw raised up from Icarus.

“Aurora, what happened was not your fault. It was mine, I was the one too weak to protect you, I was the one who let that happen. That is my shame to bear, but I promise you that it will never happen again. I will get stronger to protect you. This I vow.”

“But you told me to run and I didn’t. How do you not hate me?”

“I know, but that is simply who you are. I could never hate you for being you. I love everything about you, not in spite of who you are, but because of it. I could not imagine a life lived without you, nor would I ever want to try. Please, say yes. Let me carry your burden with you, let us live our lives for the other.”

In his eyes, Aurora saw only her reflection. Not the reflection of her physical self, but the reflection of her soul. They were not the perfect couple, they would fight, they would argue, and of course, she would win. However, he had eyes only for her. He loved only her. His happiness came simply by seeing a smile on her face.

“Yes.” It was the easiest word she ever said. The syllables flowing from her mouth as natural as water flows down a creek.

“Yes?”

“Yes.” She smiled again. Icarus swooped her up in his claws. Hugging the mare for all his worth. Before either of them was aware of it, Twilight joined in; tears were falling from her eyes as she celebrated the new addition to her family.

“Rainbow is going to be so happy!” Twilight shouted.

“Speaking of her, where is she?”

“Oh, yeah, she went after Siros.”

“What did my dad do now?”

“He has a plan to kill the creature that attacked you. I don’t know the details but Rainbow went to stop him before he got himself killed.”

A sinking feeling overtook Icarus. “Where…where did they go?”

“Skyclaw Mountain.” Twilight said.

Reluctantly, Icarus let his fiancée go and walked over to the window. He glanced around the corner and saw the tip of the mountain covered in a red circle. Even from this distance, he could see the bright blood red circle contrast against the night sky.

“You old fool, what did you do?”

…………………………………………………

Canterlot

Ataxia found Princess Luna right where she expected to find her. She was at the top of Celestia’s Palace examining her night in great detail. It did not surprise Luna in the slightest to find Ataxia coming up to talk to her. Although, she had expected this conversation a little earlier.

“Ataxia, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Still using the royal we?”

Luna shrugged, “What can we say, it’s… fitting.”

“If you say so.” She looked worried about something to Luna.

“Something on your mind?”

“You mean besides the fire I started.”

Luna chuckled a little, “Yes, besides that.”

“I… I think… I don’t know how to say this Luna, but I'll lose my mind if I don’t tell someone.”

“Why don’t you talk to Princess Night about it?”

“It’s about her, actually.”

“We know.”

Ataxia looked shocked at that, ‘Princess Luna knew?’ she thought. Some part of her expected the princess of the night to judge her; however, all she saw in the old mare was patience. Patience and understanding, both in equal measures.

“Ataxia, we are the Princess of the Night. We have walked in many, many dreams of ponies in love. We know what you have been dreaming of; we know what your fantasies are. We know how much you love Shimmering Night, how much you have always loved her.”

“I… I… why didn’t you say anything?”

“It’s not our place; we do not go blabbing the secrets of the ponies whom we walk in dreams with. It would be, unseemly to do so.”

“However, we stand by what we said; you should talk to her about it.” Luna added as an afterthought.

“I… I cannot. What if she rejects me? What if she doesn’t like me like that? What if she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore? I... I couldn’t take all that.” Ataxia almost broke down into tears talking with Luna. The pain of just saying those possibilities was enough to make her cry.

Luna walked up and raised a hoof up to Ataxia’s head; she lifted the mare’s face to look her in the eyes. “What if she says yes?”

“You…. She does love me like that?” Ataxia’s frown turned upside down at the thought that Luna had all the answers already. That she might know how Night felt about her.

Luna simply shrugged. “Truthfully, we don't know, Princess Night is an alicorn, as such we do not walk in her dreams unless they call for me. Even if we did, we would never reveal the secrets of one pony to somepony else. It would not be right for us to do so.”

Ataxia looked downcast at that news. “Then why did you say that?”

“Because, you attribute too much of your own imagination to your friend, you've already built up the worst case scenario in your mind to such an extent that you cannot bear to ask the simple question. The only one who can tell you how Princess Night feels about you is Princess Night. Yet you act as if you already know the answer before she has even heard the question.”

“But… but… but…”

“Trust in your friendship, Ataxia. Believe in her, as she believes in you. Don't assume you know what is in her heart. She deserves to know how you feel, you deserve to not have to live with such a burden in your heart. It is… unfair to both of you to keep it locked inside. Tell her, even if she does not feel the same way, even if she rejects you, trust that your friendship is strong enough to see you through. Trust that she would never simply leave you like that.”

“You think so?”

“I know so, after all, she is the daughter of Princess Twilight.” Luna smiled as she spoke.

Ataxia wanted to reply, but at that time, they both heard a shout coming from the staircase as a pony was coming up. “Princess Luna! Ataxia!” Night flew up the stairs as fast as her wings would carry her. In her magic she carried a letter.

“What’s wrong?” Ataxia asked, more than a little concerned for her friend.

“It’s Aurora, she’s been attacked.” Night said the words, her face streaming with tears as she did so. “The attacker killed her foal.”

Ataxia and Luna’s mouth dropped at that.

“I… I have to go see her. I have to make sure that she's alright.”

“Go.” Luna spoke aloud. “We will hold down the fort while you are away.”

“Thank you.” Night cried.

“I’ll give you a lift.” Ataxia transformed, her bulk almost causing the others to have to take flight. She was easily the size of a fully-fledged adult dragon now.

Night climbed on as Ataxia began to beat her wings. She took flight from the top of the palace, the building itself seemed to relax when her weight left it.

“Remember what we talked about, Ataxia!” Luna shouted up to the mare. Ataxia just nodded to the princess as she flew off. It was a considerable mark of restraint that she waited until they were outside of Canterlot’s airspace before creating her first sonic rainboom, the two mares headed in the direction of Warclaw.

Ataxia heard Princess Shimmering Night crying out on her back, her words poured from her mouth as she did so. “Please… please… please be ok.”

Her pain became Ataxia’s pain. Ataxia put on an extra burst of speed, in the hopes that maybe; possibly, getting Night there quicker would help. It was not likely, but it was all Ataxia could do for her friend, for the mare she loved more than anything else in the world.

“Hold on Aurora, we're coming,” Ataxia said to herself as she created a second sonic rainboom, breaking her own speed record in the process. Not that she cared about that right now. Her only thoughts were of the mare on her back and the tears she felt fall from her eyes.

...........................................................

Skyclaw Mountain

Blood was in pain.

Part of him could not believe he was still alive; he could not count the number of times he had been struck, as those damn molecular spears pierced every single inch of his body. His new wings did their job, they deflected and blocked over ninety-five percent of all the spears Siros hit him with, but that still left five percent that got through, five percent that either went straight through his wings or found the smallest of cracks in his defense.

Five percent of five million.

Blood was in a lot of pain.

He could no longer open his wings, they were stuck closed by the spears that pierced him. Every bit of the magic energy that coursed through his body was working overtime to keep him alive. That armor, it was the real deal. He knew of the legend surrounding it, the damage it had caused in the past. The sheer amount of death it caused. Never did he expect to be on the receiving end of the Blood Oath Armor.

“Are you still alive, creature?”

Blood Dawn was beginning to hate that voice. This griffin, he should have killed him when he had the chance, he should have done it back in the palace. It would have been easy, like snapping a newborn’s neck.

Should'a, would'a, could'a, but he did not; it was too late for that anyway. As soon as Siros found out he was still alive the old griffin would end him. There was nothing Blood could do to change that fate.

Much to his chagrin, the extra magic he got from Grim Night was working overtime. Thousands of needles popped out of him all at once, causing his wings to flap open and his eyesight to return. The griffin was lording over him. At that moment, he looked like a vengeful angel, a creature sent down to end Blood once and for all.

In ways that Blood did not fully understand, he was content with this. His existence was a fun one, of that there was no doubt, but it was one of death, one of murder. You cannot be around that for as long as he was without wondering what it would be like to be on the receiving end one day. So what if he was going to die here? It would simply be one more death. Besides, the look of peace on the eyes of some of his victims as he killed them, he could not help but wonder if he would experience the same when he died.

“You got the balls to finish me, old man?” Blood taunted the griffin, already he could feel his strength beginning to return. While there was nothing he could do to save himself right now, if Siros took long enough, he would be back to normal in minutes. “Or, are you as worthless as I said you are?”

Siros did not reply to the taunt, he did not even blink an eye. His only response was to hover the huge spear from earlier right above Blood’s chest. It was the largest one he created, the one that would end the reign of Blood Dawn forever in this world.

“Do it, you fucking pussy.” Blood spit the words out.

“For my grandson, die monster.”

The spear slammed down. On reflex alone, Blood shut his wings before it hit. Dark magical energy met blood magic. The spear was winning. It cut right through the wings, leaving a gaping hole as it did so. The tip of it met Blood’s chest, first impacting against the black magical barrier that surrounded the pegasus. Again, the blood magic met dark magic, but the Blood Oath Armor was the strongest. While Blood Dawn had spilt thousands of gallons of blood in his life, it was nothing more than a drop in the bucket compared to the oceans of blood the armor was responsible for.

The spear pierced the shadow creature’s chest. The pain of it caused Blood to scream out in pure unadulterated agony as every cell in his body lit up in pain. It went down slowly, inch by inch directly into his body. Siros was dragging out every second of this execution.

That was his mistake.

The spear collapsed in a pool of blood. The component drops no longer able to hold their form. Blood Dawn looked up in shock at this new development. His opponent, this old griffin he made the mistake of letting live, fell down on his back. No longer able to stand, no longer able to continue the attack. The sphere surrounding them collapsed in the background. No longer supported by the magic in the armor.

Blood lay on his back for a few minutes. Laughing as his body finished healing the wounds that had been inflicted on him. “And you were so close too, you almost had me! Tell me, how does it feel to be two times the failure?”

“Shut up.” The words were weak, the last words of a dying griffin.

Blood just laughed, he laughed as the final needles popped out of him. He laughed as he stretched his wings and took flight; he stopped laughing as blood proceeded to flow from his chest when he flew. His hoof pressed against the wound, only to find it forcefully pushed away. The wound from the spear, it would not heal. It rejected all the magic in his body. The dark magic could not close over it. His body could not heal it. “What?”

Siros looked up at him and grinned.

“What did you do to me?” Blood asked the old griffin. Frustrated beyond belief that there was still one more trick the old fool might have played on him.

“I won.”

“You did no such thing, you failed old one, and you are nothing more than worm food now. I won.”

Siros started to laugh; the very action seemed to piss off Blood more than he could explain, for he knew that laughter was directed at him, it was the condescending tone that he would often use on others, for the very same reason. “What!” Blood shouted.

“I knew I would not be able to kill you, not in this body. Twenty years ago, hell even ten years ago, I would have done it. You’re right about one thing, I am old, and I have lived a life full of love and happiness. Full of family and friends. No you dumb shit, I won. Because I was able to injure you, I stood up to fight you, I stood against you. That's what truly matters, not that you win, but that you stand for something.”

“Pretty words, they won’t mean much with you in the ground.”

“Let me ask you a question, Blood Dawn. Do you think I put up the sphere to keep you in?”

“Of course you did!”

“You’re wrong; I put it up to keep someone out. The fact it was shrinking was because I could no longer maintain it at the level it was.”

“Just die you old fool.” Blood transformed his hoof and hovered over Siros. He raised it up and went to deliver the killing blow to the old griffin.

The blow never landed.

A cyan blur hammered into the revenant with the force of a meteorite. It sent the pegasus through every mountain in his path, slamming him with enough force to cause several avalanches. Blood felt the impacts break every bone in his body, every organ turned to mush. His body went through the crust of the planet, impacting the mantle, and finally came to a stop in a magma pocket. The pocket exploded outward in a huge gust of lava. Flying half a mile in the air as the built up pressure finally found release.

Siros’s last sight was of a cyan mare with golden wings hovering above him. In a transformation that had not been seen since the death of Applejack, she had somehow accessed her rainbow power. Her mane was several times normal size, lighting bolts in the shape of her cutie mark covered her hooves.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the damage she had created with a smile on her face. She knew that would not end him and waited for the creature to dare show its face again.

“My angel of death.” Siros spoke with his last breath. He died with a smile on his face. He never had any real chance of winning, but at least his death had a purpose, it helped the mare he so loved.

Author's Note

Icarus's proposal is dedicated to Somepony Unstable 3224 and his successful proposal!! Gratz man!

Ten Seconds Flat

Skyclaw Mountain

It was a small miracle that he regained consciousness at all.

Blood Dawn’s awareness of the situation came after the fact. He came back to consciousness on the top of a tree. He had no idea how he had gotten there or what happened to forcefully put him there. However, that was not the first thing on his mind. What occupied that spot was that pain. The never-ending pain from the damage his body sustained.

His magic was working overtime trying to heal his wounds. His internal organs were rebuilding themselves at an insane rate. He was getting good at repairing damage to his body. That was something that irked him. That he was taking this much damage at all after his power up was insane.

However, it was his legs that really hurt him, or more precisely, it was the lack of his back legs that really, really hurt him. They were no longer there. Yes the magic was rebuilding them, but the pain… it was unlike any other he had ever known.

Blood Dawn was quickly getting used to pain. It seemed to be his lot in life the past few minutes. First, that damn griffin with the Blood Oath Armor, something that should never have happened, and now this. This new pain, he still was not sure at just what had hit him. What had crushed his bones and caused him to lose his legs. Although, if he had to guess he would say it had something to do with the lava that was even now shooting up into the sky from a new geyser in the ground.

He knew he was lucky to be alive. A cursory glance around showed him what happened. He looked up at the top of the mountain and could see the holes that were left from where he passed right through them. That explained the damage done to his organs and bones. The lava, which was still coming up from the ground. That would be what caused him to lose his legs. His mind quickly put the pieces together. Something hit him; something hit him with enough force to slam him through every mountain peak in his way. The strength of it caused him to continue on, down into the mantle of the planet.

The lava spit him back out. Had it not been under pressure, had it not spewed outward with the force it had, he would have died right then and there. Boiled alive in a magma pocket, so for that, he had to consider himself lucky.

His legs were quickly regenerating. In a moment, he would be back to normal, well, save for the hole in his chest left by that dumb old griffin. But there was not anything he could do about that right now. Of greater note was what had caused the hit in the first place. Just what could have hit him with such force; in such a way that one blow would have been enough to kill him. With only blind luck coming to save him.

He could only think of one thing that could have hit him like that, only one pony that could have caused it. Only one mare that had that sort of speed, that sort of ability. It had to be Princess Rainbow Dash.

That thought made him smile. Her time had come, so he would finally have his fight with the one who took his title. Of course, he could only take her on once he was back to normal. Well, as normal as he could be with this blasted wound in his chest.

So he waited, he lay still and endured the pain of his missing legs, of the third degree burns over his entire body. Yes, it hurt like hell, but it was worth it. It helped that his body was getting extremely good at repairing damage. All thanks to that blasted griffin who dared use that armor against him.

He smiled at what was to come, his one on one with the great and mighty Rainbow Dash.

……

Rainbow scanned the area to the best of her abilities. She knew not where that creature would reappear, so she kept up her guard. In any other situation, on any other day, she would have found that thing easy enough. But those days did not include several avalanches happening all over the area and a geyser of lava spewing out.

‘Of course, I may have gotten him with that first blow. I am that awesome after all.’ Despite herself, she could not help but smile at that idea.

She dismissed that thought; while there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was that awesome, things like that did not happen in the real world. No one ever gets that lucky. Plus, this creature would not have called her out the way it did if it could die that easy. So she did not count it out just yet, that being said, there was the matter of the other one here that she needed to see. The one she wanted to slap upside the head for being this stupid. She needed to find Siros, or at the very least find his body.

She found Siros’s body easy enough. The old fool looked… peaceful. He died with a smile on his beak. He looked tranquil, serene, unreal, almost as if he were only sleeping. If it was not for the paleness of his body and the blood all around, she could have almost believed that. It was obvious to Rainbow that he died of blood loss. What did strike her as odd was the dull grey armor he was in and the nature of the majority of his wounds. They looked self-inflicted and not one of them looked like it was that bad to cause him to bleed to death. Yet all the blood around the area told a very different tale.

Rainbow landed next to him and looked down, she could not believe that he was actually gone. He died before she got to yell at him for that last bit of the letter, he died before she got to call him an idiot for facing this creature on his own. He died before she got to tell him how she felt about him.

So she did so now, it was better late than never, or that is what they say anyway.

“You stupid idiot. Why did you do this? Why did you take that creature on all by yourself?” She shook her head at that. “I’ll never understand… but, perhaps, I don’t need too. If I was in your place, I would have done the exact same thing.”

Her anger was taking hold again as her mind started to replay just why she was here and what that creature did. “You should know, I do love you.”

“Not as you loved me, I’m sorry, I don’t feel that way about anyone other than Twilight. On that you were right, she is the mare for me, the only one I want, the only one I ever need. However, I love you like a father, I've always enjoyed our time together. And… and I don’t blame you for Aurora.” That last part was hard for her to say, she still did not know her daughter’s fate. However, it was true, she truly did not blame him for Aurora, or for Orion. After all, there was no need to blame him, not when the one truly responsible was so close to her.

“I blame him.”

Blood Dawn was surprised that Rainbow noticed him. At first, he thought it was simply a coincidence, a chance that she was looking up at the shadow he had hidden in. However, those eyes told a very different story. They were staring right at him, and the hatred, the anger, the rage… there could be no doubt. She saw him clear as day and she wanted to kill him.

Only a handful of ponies have ever lived to see the Grim Reaper, the physical personification of death itself. For when you see him, it means your time has come. At that moment, at that time, had someone asked Blood Dawn what the Grim Reaper looked like, had they asked him to describe the Grim Reaper, he would have simply pointed at Rainbow Dash.

For the first time in his long, long existence, he felt a new feeling; there was something in him he had never experienced before, something he could not name because of how new it was to him. How do you describe the color blue when it is the first time you ever see it for yourself?

It was… intoxicating to the revenant; he had never felt anything like this. This feeling he felt… he knew that others had felt this before. It was not a new feeling for the world, it was simply a new feeling to Blood Dawn. It caused strange sensations in his body… he could not put a hoof on what it was called though. It was too new, too exciting for him to think about it right now.

Not even his time with Grim Night could ever compare to this. That creature was disturbing even to him; Grim was calm, cool, and collected. Everything Rainbow was not, everything Blood was not. Blood could not help but see himself in this mare across from him. Maybe… just maybe, that is why he had this new feeling, this… thing he could not explain.

So with the new and exciting feeling in him and the mare he wanted to kill more than any other in the world. He grinned. It mattered not that she looked different now than the last time he lay eyes on her, that her mane had grown several sizes larger than before. He did not care, he wanted more, he wanted to know just how deep the rabbit hole goes, but mostly, he wanted to drink her blood and compare it to that of her grandson, just to see if age makes a difference or not.

So he stepped out of his shadow and faced the one who caused him this new feeling, who caused such a reaction in him.

“At last, I stand before the great Ra-“

“Shut up.”

He was taken aback by that. “Wh-“

“So, you're dumb too, I said shut up.” The look in her eyes… it caused him to shut his mouth. There was no comment he could say, there was no smart-ass remark ready for her. All he could do was obey.

“I will kill you for what you did to my daughter, for what you did to my family.”

“I-“ He tried to get a word in.

“Ten. Seconds. Flat.” The time for talk was over, Rainbow had said all she had to say, she did not want to hear a single word from this creature, this shadow… after all, she was about to kill him. What is the point of talking to a dead stallion?

At that proclamation, Rainbow Dash engaged Blood Dawn.

The world would forever carry the scars of their battle.

…………………………………………………

The Crystal Empire

Cadance could only watch. She could only watch as Radiant Star paced back and forth in the hospital's waiting room. He wanted to run to his wife. He wanted more than anything to go to her, to make sure with his own eyes that she was alright, that she would wake up.

The tears on the ground were a testament to that fact.

It was only Princess Cadance’s presence that stopped him from busting down every single door in his path and finding her. When she was informed that Firestar had collapsed on the ground, Cadance made all haste to the hospital. Only to find her son brandishing magic blades at the orderlies that tried to get him to settle down, that tried to tell him that the doctors needed to work without him standing over their shoulders.

It was easy to see that she had arrived just in time to prevent him from killing anypony. On any other day, at any other time, she would have reprimanded him for such actions. Now... now she could only sympathize with him. His love was lying in the next room and the ponies that kept them separate would not tell him why. It was not the orderlies fault. They simply did not know, however, for someone who was hurting, for someone whose love was in danger, such excuses were unwanted at best.

Radiant was more like his father than she had ever guessed. Shining Armor, he was much the same way when Cadance was pregnant. That… that had not gone well for anyone involved. The doctors had to magically put off Cadance’s delivery, for that was when the incident happened. When Equestria and the rest of the world suffered after the death of the Grim Reaper. Cadance did not like remembering that time, it only brought back pain.

Of course, it had ended well for her. Well, somewhat well anyway. She gave birth to her son, Radiant Star, the apple of his parent’s eye. It had come at a cost though, the ‘complications’ of his birth… she could not have any more foals. It was, ‘unsafe’ for her to do so. Or that is what the doctors said anyway.

Now… now with Firestar in the hospital for Luna knows what reason. She felt as helpless as she did back then. In truth, she wanted to rush in there and find out what was wrong with her daughter-in-law as much as her son did. It was only for him that she had not; she needed to be strong for her son.

It was easier to be strong for someone else, had he not been here, had there been someone else to play the adult, she would be in the exact same situation as he was. After all, she wanted more than anything else to know just what happened to Firestar.

“I can’t take it, mom.” The pain in his voice was almost unbearable to Cadance; he was hurting, and badly. It was… it was the anguish that hurt the most, the powerlessness, the not knowing. It was killing him.

“I know son, but we can’t interrupt, it will do more harm than good, if they need us, if they have any information for us, they'll let us know.” She grabbed him in her magic and sat him down on his flank. Wrapping a hoof around him she squeezed her son for all her worth.

Radiant did not fight it, he did not resist, or say it was improper to have such public displays of affection… he just cried. He let it all out, right into his mother’s fur.

Cadance cried too. Their family had suffered so much, with the loss of Shining Armor, Dayspring, and now… now she did not know what would happen, but her mind could not help but go to the worst-case scenario. It was only natural for someone to fill in the blanks.

Their hug was interrupted by a sound of an orderly clearing her throat. Radiant immediately let his mom go and ran up to her. Upon seeing who it was, he felt guilty; this was one of the orderlies that he had threatened earlier. He had threatened to behead her if she did not let him pass.... Radiant made a mental note to personally apologize later.

“How is she?” Radiant managed through tears in his eyes.

“She’s resting right now, b-“ her message was cut off, Radiant ran right past her and through the double doors. Taking off down the hall he sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him.

One thought played through his mind. It was the same one that put a smile on his face at a time when he could not stop crying. ‘Firestar is alive.’

It was that one thought that kept him going, the one thing he needed to know before anything else. He did not care what else there was, that was what he wanted to know. Everything else could jump off a bridge until he verified that with his own eyes.

Radiant made it to her room in record time. Only bowling over four ponies on his way, when he got there he was completely out of breath.

“Firestar!” Radiant shouted.

“Shh.” The doctor told him from around the corner. Accepting his mistake, Radiant calmed down and walked the rest of the way. His wife, his mare, his everything; She was lying in bed, peacefully sleeping on her back. Just like he has seen her a hundred other times. Only this time, this time she was in a hospital bed and he was not lying by her side. That part felt wrong to him. That was not the natural order of things. It felt… wrong not to be sleeping next to her.

Still, he could not help but smile as he lightly brushed a hair out from her eyes. “What happened?” he asked nopony in particular. He knew the doctor would be in; he had made far too big a ruckus for nopony to follow him in here.

“She fainted from exhaustion, it was too much for the commander. The combination of the heat, the stress, and the smoke was all too much for a mare in her condition. To be honest, I don’t know why she was even out there.”

“Her condition?” Radiant turned from her face for the first time since he came into the room. The doctor was holding a chart out in front of him while he looked over it. Cadance was just coming into the room, having just caught up with her son’s frantic running down the hall.

“She's pregnant, prince. About one month along now. Did you two not know?” The doctor stared at him with a confused look on his face.

Cadance’s jaw dropped on the floor as Radiant looked back at his wife with a smile on his face. “Pregnant…” He said the word, hoping that it would make it real, that by saying it would bring it down to something that he could get his head around.

It did not work.

“Mom… I’m going to be a dad?” it was both a question and a statement. For the second time that day, Cadance came up and hugged her son, although, this time, it was for the opposite reason.

“I’m going to be a dad.” Radiant smiled as he digested this news. “I’m a father.” His smile was bright enough to light up the room.

“Prince, princess, you should both know the amount of smoke she inhaled along with the lifestyle she has led, it has caused some, complications.”

Cadance felt her heart jump into her throat at another doctor using that word when referring to a pregnancy. She could not help but feel a sense of loathing for someone who would even say that, again. Radiant and Cadance both turned and glared at him. The doctor could not tell just which one of them looked scarier. While the royalty of the Crystal Empire had a reputation for kindness and love, he could easily see that his next words might change that. That he might become the example of what not to say to a member of royalty.

“What do you mean, complications?” Cadance asked with venom in her voice.

“There was some… complications with the baby. The commander’s body is not handling the stress of pregnancy well. Her catecholamines are at a record high. It has caused a high level of adrenaline and dopamine in her body. They are having an adverse effect on the pregnancy.”

“I’m sorry doctor, what are you talking about?” Radiant asked, he suddenly wished more than anything else that Twilight was here, so she could translate for him.

“Catecholamine is a stress hormone, her body is at two times the normal level, it has caused issues with the pregnancy. Her pregnancy is at risk because of it.”

“What does that mean?” Cadance asked, sure just what he was saying.

“I have no choice but to prescribe her strict bed rest, she must stay in bed at all times. I cannot stress that enough. She must not leave that bed for any reason.”

“Doctor… for how long?”

“Until the fetuses come.”

“Babies?”

“Yes prince, all the tests show that she is carrying twins. As you may be aware, carrying twins to term is a high risk in and of itself, that provided with her normal tendencies, we have to take every precautionary measure to protect the fetuses. Not to pile on bad news, but you should also know, that regardless if she successfully carries to term or not, it is highly unlikely she will ever be able to conceive again.”

Radiant fell down on his flank, he turned and looked at his wife’s sleeping form. ‘Twins?’ His mind went through all of the possibilities of this. He put that off for later, somehow, someway, he had to convince Firestar to stay in bed for the next eleven months… He had to convince a mare that did everything herself, the one that would personally attack any issue head on without a second thought that she had to stay in bed for the next eleven months. It was an impossible task. However, they had no choice, not if they ever wanted to have a family.

“Can I at least take her home?” Radiant asked hopeful.

The doctor shook his head. “Prince, if she leaves this bed, there is a fifty-fifty chance that she will miscarry. Again, I cannot express enough that she must stay in bed.”

“Can we… can we use magic?” Radiant was grasping at straws now.

Again the doctor shook his head. “The amount of magic it would take to reverse this situation would have risky implications on the pregnancy.”

“Doctor… how am I supposed to tell her that she cannot leave this bed?”

It was a maddening prospect to say the least. How do you tell the sea to stand still, the wind not to blow, or the sun not shine? He could not think of any scenario where this would go well.

The doctor merely shook his head. “I don’t know, prince.” Everyone knew of Firestar’s eccentricities, for that mare eleven months of bed rest would be a new kind of hell. “If you want, I will tell her.”

Radiant shook his head; he knew this should come from him. They may not have talked about having foals before, but if this was their one chance, he should be the one to tell her. It should come from him, no pony else.

He looked back at the mare he loved. Radiant noticed that she was beginning to awaken. In desperation, Radiant turned to his mom with tears in his eyes. “Mom, what do I do?” He cried.

Cadance shook her head, no one had the answer to that question, not even Twilight would be able to find a book on what the right thing to do was in this situation. So she fell back on the only thing she knew, the one truth in the world that had never failed her. “Follow your heart son, let your love tell you the right answer. Do that, and you can never go wrong.” She hugged him for all her worth. “I'll stay by your side if you want.”

He turned back to his wife, who was even now beginning to stretch as she woke up; however, her eyes were still closed. “No, you two get out of here, this should come from me alone.”

“Whatever happens, know that I am proud of you, I always have been, and I always will be. I love you, son.”

“I love you too, mom.”

Cadance and the doctor turned and walked out the door, leaving the stallion alone with the mare he loved, the one he now had to tell would not leave her bed for the next eleven months. Not if she ever wanted foals anyway.

“Hey idiot…” Firestar said through a groggy haze in her vision.

“Hey yourself.” Radiant said. He interrupted her yawn with a kiss to her lips, one she returned. As such was their morning routine.

“Where am I anyway?” Firestar asked as her eyesight refocused on the room around them after the kiss broke apart.

“Before I answer that, let me ask you one quick question. Have you ever wanted to have foals?”

……………………………………

Skyclaw Mountain

One second

Rainbow Dash flew at Blood Dawn with a murderous intent in her eyes. Blood had seen that look a million times, in the eyes of parents of foals he would kill, of vengeful lovers who wanted his head for killing their significant someponies. All of those times, he would laugh at them, it was the last actions of somepony who simply wanted to die, somepony who was no real threat.

Rainbow Dash was a real threat, this mare, she would kill him in a second, in less than a second if given an opening. For ponies like them, a second was a long, long time. Much could happen in a second, and much did.

Blood Dawn dodged to the left, just in time to avoid a decapitation blow from Rainbow’s left gold wing. However, that action just put him in line for a right wing swipe. He grunted as the golden energy from Gaia made contact with the black energy protecting him. While the cut left in his skin was small, the fact that he was cut at all was telling.

However, Rainbow was not done. She immediately cut ninety degrees in the air to his location. Slamming into him with such speed that Blood could barely see it coming. He coughed up blood as several ribs broke yet again in his chest.

Her hoof landed on his head with enough force to drive him back several yards. He landed on the rock crop behind him, almost impaling himself on one of the sharper ones.

Blood regained his bearings in an instant; he flew at Rainbow with rage in his heart. This was his fight, the one he wanted more than anything else. He would not simply roll over, not like this. Blood angled both wingtips at her like spears, seeking to impale the mare on them like a shish kabob.

It was a amateur maneuver to one as skilled as Rainbow. She ducked low and grew both wing tips out to intercept the pegasus before he made contact. She impaled Blood with both primary feathers and flipped him over her. Taking flight, she threw the pegasus directly into the rocks below her, slamming him down into the ground with enough force to create a small avalanche on the mountain they were on.

Blood groaned with the pain and pulled himself out of her wings. Losing several ounces of blood in the process, an action he was unconcerned with as his body was already healing the wounds.

His callous disregard for his own well being actually surprised Rainbow, which gave Blood the upper hoof.

Blood Dawn flew straight up and into Rainbow’s gut, it was her turn to groan in pain as he struck her several times with his hoof, transforming his right leg into a blade he tried to eviscerate her after the fourth impact.

Rainbow rolled free of his punches just in time to avoid the blow. However, it earned her a gash across her flank for her trouble; one that bled out without any time for her wings to wrap around and heal it.

Blood saw than the difference in their abilities, that one gash told him all he needed to know. Despite the extra power and speed he got from Grim Night, Rainbow was indeed still faster than him. However, he healed much quicker than she did. All he had to do was drag out the fight long enough and he would see her dead.

‘Ten seconds indeed.’ Blood smiled at that new knowledge as the clock ticked two seconds and the fight continued.

..

Two seconds

Growing out her wings several hundred yards, Rainbow flew straight up and spun in the air, forming a small cyclone as she did so. That was not the threat to Blood Dawn; the threat was her wings. Each wing tip cut down in his direction at speeds that left huge gashes in the mountain. He did his best to dodge them.

His best attempt did not work, as Rainbow was simply too fast. Several times he would have to raise his wings to block her attack, each time cost him precious speed, which in turn caused another part of him to be struck. Yes they would heal, however, each time left more and more pain. Which caused him to lose more and more speed. Blood did not know if there was a limit to what his body would heal, but he had a feeling that there was indeed such a limit. One he did not want to test.

Blood ducked low and under. Seeking to avoid the dreaded blades for all his worth. Rainbow simply followed his path. Each twist causing more and more rocks to be cut free from the mountain, which in turn caused one more thing that Blood Dawn had to avoid. With limited options, Blood fell back to his old fall back plan, if dodging does not work, simply attack. After all, a dead enemy cannot attack you.

Blood flew up and into the cyclone Rainbow was creating with her spinning. She could not angle directly below her, not without setting off a very bad reaction in the air pressure.

He sought to spear her from below on his wings, it was the one thing he had going for him that she could not do anything about.

Or so he thought.

Rainbow immediately shrunk her wings back to normal and left the cyclone, an action that surprised and shocked him to no end. Blood realized too late that he had fallen into her trap; he was stuck in this attack, overcommitted.

Rainbow lashed out at where he was going to be. Cutting deep gashes into the pegasus with every feather on her left wing. It left a trail of scars down his stomach, one cutting right across the wound Siros had given him.

To his horror, it spread along the new gash, un-healing and bleeding. As the blood magic used to hurt him coalesced with the magic of Rainbow’s wing, empowering it with magic that repelled Blood Dawn's own.

Rainbow noticed this too; she had finally found a way for her attacks to do real damage, for them to actually cause this creature real pain.

Blood knew then, that the fight just got a whole lot harder, and he cursed his own stupidity at letting the griffin live in the first place. If he had just killed the old fool when he had the chance back at the palace, he would not have had this issue.

Of course, there was nothing to be done about that now, the past is in the past and he did not have anywhere near enough time to complain about it. In a game like this, every second matters.

…

Three seconds

Rainbow Dash grinned as she saw the new wound on this creature, she almost laughed as she realized that she still did not know its name. Not that it mattered; it had seven seconds left to live. She was keeping track. She had made that promise and Rainbow Dash always keeps her promise.

Rainbow shot straight up and around the creature, trapping it behind a barrier of golden magical energy, it had been awhile since she had last pulled off this maneuver, but it’s effectiveness could not be denied. She even thought of a way to make it even stronger than before.

Blood Dawn saw it coming a mile away; however, that knowledge would not save him. Rainbow flew around him in a giant sphere; the energy from her wings would not let him leave. Every direction he tried to fly in to escape would see her there instantly before he arrived. Blocking him off from any escape.

Flight not an option, Blood turned to fight. He tried to destroy the magic golden barrier, his black wings, granted increased power and strength from Grim Night’s spell, lashed out against the golden energy from Rainbow’s wings. It availed him not; Blood’s magic was strong, easily on a level that no alicorn could ever hope to match, but it did not compare to the God magic Rainbow Dash possessed.

Rainbow completed the sphere and flew a mile back, this next part would require perfect timing, but when it came to such things, no pony was better than Rainbow Dash.

She flew to the center of the sphere, in the center... in the dead center she created four sonic Rainbooms back to back. Recreating the sonic rainbomb not seen since her battle with the shadow creatures over forty years ago in the depths of Tartarus.

This time, this time it was on a completely different level. Back then she was new to all of this, new to her powers and abilities. Rainbow had the last forty years to get used to it. She was an expert now.

The energy released shattered the sphere designed to hold it. For miles around, every soul saw the energy of the four rainbooms released in one glorious rainbow circle. It was the first of many legends created that night.

It was over as quick as it began, when the energy dissipated from its epicenter, Skyclaw Mountain was no more. The entire mountain chain had been destroyed from the explosion of raw power.

For a second Rainbow thought the she might have given a conservative estimate of just how long this creature had to live, that the battle was already over in just three seconds.

The blade that inserted itself though her chest told her the opposite, it told her that it had only just begun.

…

Blood saw the danger coming, there was no way to escape it, and her flight left him in the dust, that part still irked at him. No matter what he did, she was still faster.

He could not think of that right now, right now he was a millisecond away from dying. He watched as she broke through the sphere she put up, it was then, at that moment that he saw his way out. It was slight, just a small blur on the edge of his vision, but he saw it.

When the explosion cleared, he took his opportunity and jumped out of her shadow, immediately stabbing her through the back with a blade. A very satisfying grunt of pain came from the mare. The blood that splashed on his face was intoxicating to the revenant. It was a shame, two inches to the left and he would have cut her spinal cord in two. He mentally berated himself for such bad aim.

….

Four seconds

Rainbow kicked back with all her worth, she felt her hooves make impact with a satisfying crunch from the two objects that were the weak points on every stallion she had ever met. This one proved to be no exception.

After all, if he was not above such dirty underhanded tricks, why should she be? However, that last blow she had suffered cost her, she had no choice but to land and wrap one wing around her. She would be unable to fly as fast as she could with a punctured lung, and against this creature, that would mean her death. She had to heal. That meant she had to land.

Blood immediately went back into flight. That last blow hurt, a lot. Although, compared to the pain he had suffered recently it was more of pain to his pride than anything else.

He grinned as he saw her land and immediately flew into the shadows of the outcrop of rocks next to her; she was grounded for the time being. Now was his chance to capitalize, to make her pay for everything she had done, for everything she dared to take from him.

Rainbow scanned the shadows to the best of her ability, her wound was healing, but it would take a few moments, and unlike her opponent, she lost the ability to fly when she was healing. That meant she was vulnerable.

The attack came from her own shadow again. That was stupid of it, it was too predictable. Rainbow jumped back and lashed out at the rock with her other wing. It struck nothing but dirt.

Looking on in shock, too late did she realize that was this creatures intention, he traveled along the shadow cast by her wings length and lashed out for her neck, she dodged, but only just.

Rainbow felt the blade bite lightly into her neck, another scar, another lesson about never underestimating your opponent; she could not help but smile at that. ‘You figure by now I would be very knowledgeable about such subjects.’ She laughed at her own thought.

That’s when she saw it, a huge rock cropping left over from the mountain’s destruction. That is where she would turn the table.

Blood Dawn could not believe this turn of events as Rainbow hid in a huge shadow. It was a trap, his mind told his body that much, but his instinct was in control now, it had to be, in a fight like this, stopping to think, to reason, and to analyze would only see you killed.

He jumped into the shadow and went to attack the mare, to finish the job.

Rainbow’s wings shone brightly, blinding the stallion as she lashed out with both of them. She temporarily ignoring the wound that she had been trying to heal. Rainbow channeled all her power into those wings, imbuing them with her magic. The golden magic emanating from her wings took away the shadows he was hiding in, allowing her to strike him without difficulty.

Blood screamed in agony as the power imbedded itself into him, spreading the wound from Siros even farther as he felt a part of him cut off from his very being. Some portion of him no longer worked, not in the way it should have.

He found out just what that was when he tried to escape. Tearing himself free he attempted to jump into the shadows again. He only succeeded in slamming face first into a rock.

He lost his affinity for the shadows, no longer could he shadow jump.

…..

Five seconds

Blood Dawn lashed out in a blind rage, attacking Rainbow with two blades and both wings. Unable to fly, unable to use her superior maneuverability, Rainbow could only dodge, she wrapped her chest back up with her left wing and used her right to block as many attacks as she could as she kept taking steps back from this berserker.

She even went as far as to tear a feather loose from her wing and use it as another form of defense. Yet for each attack she dodged, for every attack she blocked or avoided another would get through, another would cause a small cut that she could not heal, not without letting down her guard.

It was only a matter of time until something happened, until something turned the tide. Unfortunately for Rainbow, what happened turned the tide further in his favor. Backing away from the creature took all of Rainbow’s attention. She did not see the rock behind her hoof, and did not feel it until it was far too late to avoid. Rainbow tripped and fell backwards.

The sudden action caused her to lose balance. Which was both a blessing and a curse, it saved her from a sudden attack from Blood’s left wing, one that would have decapitated her otherwise. However, it did guarantee his victory.

Blood immediately capitalized on this sudden unexpected development. Slamming both blades into her right wing, Rainbow realized all too soon that what he wanted to do was drag this out. It was in his nature to do so, Blood then proceeded to impale her front legs with his wings. Trapping her against the ground, she was unable to move.

He sniffed her, smelling the sweat from her brow as he did so. Blood wanted to savor this moment, he wanted to remember this for as long as he lived. It was then that Rainbow truly saw the damage done to him from Siros, the black blood leaking from his wounds. She also realized two important factors at that moment:

Her left wing was still on her side, he did not lock it down

Her lung was healed

Rainbow lashed out at the bleeding wound on Blood Dawn’s chest. He screamed in pain and released her limbs as he did so. Rainbow did not get away scot-free, those wings embedded themselves into her stomach, in a sick parody of the wound Rainbow caused on him.

He fell back in agony as Rainbow cried out in pain. He looked down at the feather still sticking out of his chest, somehow the mare had magically detached it and left it imbedded in him. A trick he could not yet duplicate. That fact made him smile, he still had so much to learn about his new powers and he could not think of a better teacher, or a better way to learn.

His smile faded when he tried to pull it out, the magic energy surrounding the feather… it would not let him touch it. To make matters worse, Rainbow was back in the air.

‘Let’s finish this.’ Blood thought. He was in bad shape; several new wounds covered his body that were not healing. However, Rainbow appeared to be in a similar situation. He could recognize the effects of blood loss all too well, the slight drop in her limbs, the loss of color, and the fatigue. They were all tell-tale signs that Blood had seen too many times. Blood Dawn could easily see that she did not have much left either.

Regardless of its outcome, the fight would soon be over. Although it could only end one of three ways: one of them would die, or they would kill each other.

Had someone taken the time to ask him, had he had the time to answer, Blood would have told them he was good with all three outcomes.

……………………………………………………………

The Crystal Empire

For the first time in her life, Firestar simply listened to every word she was told. She did not second guess, she did not try and take over the conversation, she simply listened.

That did not change how she felt.

She wanted to rage against it, she wanted to say no bucking way and kick and scream and punch and fight and cry. She wanted to cry. This was too much; she had never considered such a fate. She had fought so hard against her injury, pushing herself beyond any safe levels to get back the use of her legs, to get back her ability to walk, to prove herself worthy of Radiant….

‘Is that why I did it?’

She could not answer that question, not if she were being completely honest anyway. Of course, had anyone asked her, she would have said hell no and then proceeded to beat the hell out of anyone who would dare imply that she would do all of that for some silly way to prove that she was worthy of a prince.

Yet, she could not say that to herself, because she did not know.

Now, here she was… she was pregnant…

The word did not seem to fit, she knew, intellectually, what it meant. She knew that there were now, not one, but two other lives that she was responsible for.

Not that she had to keep them…

She would have given that thought more credence if it were not for the next thing he told her.

“Firestar, the doctors say this is your… our only chance to have a family.”

That realization… she did not know what to think about that… did she want kids? Did he want kids? Ever? It was too big; to big of a concept for her to take it all at once, they had not even discussed having kids yet, they had not even talked about it. She did not know…

Or did she?

Even with everything that had happened, even with all the news that had been dropped on her lap, that if she did keep them, if she went through with it, she would be bedridden for the next eleven months…

Her hoof found its way to her stomach. Before she was even aware of it, she was rubbing her stomach.

‘Why am I doing that?’ Firestar thought to herself.

Did she have a right to even make such a decision? Were these not Radiant’s kids too? Were they not a part of him?

“Firestar, I want you to know I'm ok with anything you decide. I know you, this is asking too much, this would make you too miserable, for you this would be a new kind of hell. I… I don’t want to see you like that, whatever you decide; it changes nothing between you and me. I love you Firestar, I always will.”

The dumb idiot was crying.

She needed to know something before making a decision “Do… do you want kids? I know we never talked about it, but I guess our hoofs kind of got forced here.”

He looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “I want you… I want you to be happy.”

“That’s not answering the question, you idiot, I asked if you want kids. Yes or no?”

He gulped at that, she was right, he had not answered the question. “Firestar…”

“Yes or no?” She interrupted before he could try and weasel out of it again.

“Yes.” He answered her.

“Well then, you will have to do something about the decorations in here.”

Radiant smiled his widest smile. “You mean?”

Firestar nodded her head. She ran a hoof over his eyes, wiping a tear away as she did so. “They're a part of you too after all. How could I do anything else?”

He hugged her, he kissed her, and he never wanted to let her go again.

“You better get them to bring in another bed though.”

“Why?”

“I can’t fall asleep each night without you by my side, so we need to push two beds together… what? Did you think you wouldn’t be moving in here with me?”

He looked her in the eyes. “It would be my honor.”

“Besides, you think I’ll let just anyone give me a sponge bath?” Firestar winked at him.

Radiant smiled back, he knew they were in for a very long, very hard, very taxing year; one that would test their relationship to the breaking point. But they would be stronger for it and he loved her enough to overcome even an obstacle of this size.

“Oh, someone has to tell my mom about all of this.”

Radiant cringed at that, Spitfire was not the easiest mare to get along with on a good day, and the day someone delivered the news that her daughter had collapsed because of complications with an unexpected pregnancy that would leave her bedridden for almost an entire year was definitely not a good day, not by any definition of the word anyway.

He quickly thought of a way out of it. “I’ll ask my mom to do it.” Radiant said with a grin.

…

Out in the waiting room, Princess Cadance had just finished debriefing with the doctors about all the possibilities of what was to come, some of them broke her heart to consider, but it was not her choice.

Others left a smile on her face as she considered the full implications of becoming a grandma.

Suddenly, a small shudder spread down her back, almost as if someone had trotted on her grave.

“Are you alright, princess?” the doctor asked.

“Physically, yes.” Cadance replied, although she had a funny feeling that might not be true for long.

.....................................................

The former location of Skyclaw Mountain

Six seconds

The fight degenerated down to a brawl, to the two of them simply trading blows. Rainbow was easily twice as fast as Blood Dawn, yet Blood Dawn had twice as many weapons to attack with. The battle was quickly becoming a stalemate for the two. With neither side gaining an upper hoof over the other, both too worn out for anything new, for any big play that might turn the tide in their favor.

Until Rainbow noticed an opening.

It was small, it was slight, for anyone else, it would have been impossible. However, when this creature attacked with his right hoof blade, he was unable to bring it around fully due to the feather sticking out of his chest. It would take some work, but she could capitalize on it with the right set of moves.

Her years of training were coming back. Ever since she started training with Siros she had taken a new interest in most combat techniques. With no need to practice her flying, Rainbow devoted her free time to that end alone.

Her mind played out the pattern as clear as day, just how to maneuver her opponent into position, how to get each of his weapons exactly where she needed them, her body simply followed her mind’s eye and traced the path it lay out in her head perfectly.

Before he knew it, before he was even aware of it, Blood Dawn felt his arms go weak. He looked down at the mare’s cyan hoof, noticing it’s position and the look on her face as it pressed the feather in his chest deeper inside. Causing him to go limp as it severed his spinal cord with its magic.

“You bitch.” He spat.

She responded by kicking with all her might, causing the feather to go right through Blood Dawn and fly out the other side. He coughed up blood as it left his body. Rainbow could see it clear as day, the damage done, the hole left in his body as he flew in place, unable to raise his hoofs. She stared on in surprise, no blow had caused this much damage to him before, and only a few would not heal. All of those seemed to spread from the one that he already had before the battle began, the wound he sustained from Siros. She mentally thanked the griffin, whatever he had done, it have given her an advantage in this fight, it was a way to wound this creature that she would not otherwise have had.

Her surprise almost cost Rainbow her life.

Blood Dawn lashed out with his right wing, Rainbow ducked down, but only just. She saved her head from being cut off but she grunted as the tip of her left ear left her body.

Blood grinned at the damage he caused; he left his mark on her, something she would never forget, regardless if she won.

Rainbow’s anger started taking hold; she drew upon that anger to access the power she had put off so far; the rainbow power.

Blood taunted her. “What’s with the look? You should be thanking me, I just made both sides match now.”

Rainbow lashed out with the rainbow beam, striking the gloating pegasus in the chest with the magic she got from Gaia’s Occulous.

…….

Seven seconds

Blood Dawn wrapped himself up in a tight cocoon as the magic rolled over him. He had not expected this, he had not known about this power. Nothing had told him this was a possibility, that she could do this… it was insane to even think of.

He had no comeback for this, no response, and no counter. All he could do was ride it out, hoping that he could survive simply through raw force of will and trusting in his magic to save him. Although, he was starting to think that Grim might have known about this possibility, that Grim had set him up to fail.

The longer that thought played in his head the surer he was becoming. Grim knew all of this, he knew Blood would still be slower and sent him here to his death.

Although, if that was his goal, why did he not simply do it himself? He had plenty of chances to do the deed himself over the last few months, and Grim Night was never one to avoid bloodying his own hooves.

At least they had that in common.

Whatever Grim Night’s reason was, Blood knew that there was nothing to be done about it now, all he could do was protect his body, and hope that the magic attacking him would give out before his protection failed him. If that happened, there would not be any reason to worry about anything else. After all, he would be dead, and the dead have no worries.

…

Rainbow focused her magic on this creature and blasted him with all her will. Over fifteen years have passed since any of them had been able to access their rainbow transformation. Twilight had said it was due to the death of Applejack, that since they were all tied to the tree… the Occulous. That AJ’s death severed that link. Rainbow was not so sure. Yes, Twilight was normally right about these things, but she knew her wife well enough to know when she was not a hundred percent sure about something. Twilight would use words like ‘sure, maybe, I suppose.’ Those were her tells, her giveaways that she might be wrong.

Of course, it hardly ever happened, but this was one of those times. On her way here, Rainbow underwent that transformation. Her mane grew several times its original size, her cutie mark emblems appeared on her face and hooves. She knew why too.

It was because of Twilight. She wanted this creature dead. Because she wanted him dead, Gaia wanted him dead. So follows that Gaia’s Occulous wanted him dead too. It was using Rainbow as a funnel for that want, for that need. A task she was more than happy to comply with.

So Rainbow used their strength, focused her anger at this creature, and hit him with all the energy she had, all the energy she had from her transformation.

When she was spent, her mane returned to its original size. Rainbow saw a black cocoon fall out of the sky and impact the ground with a loud bang sound. She flew down, unsure if he was dead or not, but she was unwilling to give up the fight without physical verification. She wanted to see his dead body for herself. It was the only way she would be able to live with herself after the death of Orion, her first grandson, the one she failed to save.

……..

Eight seconds

Blood Dawn spread his wings wide open as he lay on his back. They no longer resembled pegasus wings in any definition of the word. That attack had created several holes in them, which in turn left several holes in him. He was missing a foreleg and back leg. In several places on his body, blood poured freely, Blood Dawn’s enhanced magic was unable to heal everything all at once. Not that it mattered, he could only fight on because his wings were not controlled by his brain, simply by his will.

The injury to his spinal cord was absolute, that would not heal, not by him anyway. It did not matter, he was alive, he had his wings. As far as Blood Dawn was concerned, the rest of his body was dead weight anyway.

He glared at his attacker, unwilling to admit that she had won, that whatever that last attack was, all she had to do was do it one more time and it was over. It was then that he realized she had changed. Her mane had shrunk in size. She, at last, resembled the pony that he knew.

Whatever ‘that’ was, wherever that last attack had come from, it got rid of whatever power she was using. That meant she could not do it again, that meant he could still win.

On pure willpower, Blood shut out all the pain of his missing limbs and bruised body, he concentrated on one thing and one thing only, the pure pleasure of what he would do to this mare. In that thought, Blood found his strength, he found his second wind. Blood Dawn shot straight up and grabbed Rainbow by the throat with his wing tip. A second ago and she would have been able to avoid it. Now they were on equal hooves in terms of speed. Now she could not avoid it.

Yes, he could not use his one remaining hoof, but he made up for that little drawback with raw aggression. For he no longer cared if he lived, as long as she died too.

…

Rainbow was shocked when her target caught her in his wing, she could not believe that he was able to move that fast. Her mind replayed the event over and over; it was than she realized that he was not moving faster, she was moving slower. The use of her Rainbow power cost her in terms of speed.

“Bastard.” She gargled out through shorting breaths.

“I take that as a compliment.” He snarled back at her, with a grin on his face.

She tried every trick she could to escape his hold, even trying to fly him into the energy release still expanding from her sonic rainbomb, but in this case, it was will vs will, and, right now, his was the stronger. His one all-consuming desire to see her dead won out. Rainbow was forced to try to get one lucky cut on him.

Blood Dawn proceeded to choke the life out of the mare, all the while she cut at him with her wings, but it was no use though. These attacks cut deep, but she was unable to strike his head. With his spinal cord cut, Blood could not even feel the damage she was doing.

The last thing Rainbow heard before she blacked out was the laughter of her opposite as he strangled her into losing consciousness; the black magic in his wings causing her to black out faster than should have been possible.

‘I’m sorry, Twilight.’

………

Nine seconds

Rainbow opened her eyes to the sound of running water. She was not sure what happened or where she was at, but that sound was familiar to the mare, too familiar. It took a few seconds before she realized what it was but her brain soon caught on. That was the sound of running water in the shower.

Someone was taking a shower in her bathroom. Most likely it was Twilight.

That was good news, which meant everything was fine. She focused on her surroundings and found them to be exactly what she suspected. Rainbow Dash was lying in her bed, which made sense, as she did just wake up.

“Rainbow? Are you awake?!” Twilight shouted from the shower. Unsure if her wife had finally woken up or not.

“Yes Twi!” Rainbow shouted into the next room.

“Why don’t you come join me?!”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide at that offer, she was unsure just what she had done to earn such an invitation, but she was not going to look a gift pony in the mouth. Spreading her wings she flew off at top speed into the bathroom.

The sight of her wife in the shower never failed to impress the mare, Twilight stood there, in all her glory. The water soaking her mane and tail, causing them to lay flat down her back. In Rainbow’s opinion, nothing could make Twilight look hotter than when she was soaking wet. When her hair lay down just the right way, it only served to highlight all the sensual curves of her wife.

Of course, Twilight was not wet in the way Rainbow liked her, not yet anyway. Rainbow would soon fix that. That was one instrument she loved to play. One that nopony could ever hope to master, not in the way that 'The Rainbow Dash' had.

“Coming, Rainbow?” Twilight asked seductively.

“No, but you will be soon, Twi.” Rainbow replied. She went to close the distance, only to find that no matter how much closer she moved, the distance remained the same, Twilight was always just a few hooves away from her, no matter what she did.

“Twi, what the hell?”

Twilight looked at Rainbow. “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to join me?”

“Twi, this is not funny.” Rainbow took flight, only to find the exact same thing happened.

“I thought you wanted me back more than anything else?” Twilight asked her wife.

“I do! I did!”

“Didn’t you promise to not keep me waiting? Doesn’t Rainbow Dash always keep her promises?”

“I do!” Rainbow shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Then why are you still playing with him?” Twilight’s face changed at that comment, the seductress disappeared. The bathroom was gone, it was just her, just the mare she loved.

“Are you going to let him win, let him take you from me, after everything you went though to get me back? Would you really put me through the pain of losing you?”

Rainbow stopped flying. She fell back on her flank as the realization of what all of this was. What all of this meant, what failure means if she lost to this… this thing. Twilight would be alone, forever. Her losing would force her wife to live her life alone. That… that was unthinkable to the cyan mare, she could never hurt Twilight, not like that.

“Don’t you want to avenge your daughter? Your grandson? Don’t you want to come back to me?”

“Of course.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Finish up and come home, after all, you do have a promise to keep.”

“And Rainbow Dash always keeps her promises.” Rainbow replied as the world went black and Twilight’s image faded from view.

……….

Ten seconds

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and kicked out with all her might against this creature. Her back legs struck with the force of a rampaging minotaur as they made contact with Blood Dawn’s face. She felt his jawbone break into several different pieces as the attack came without warning. His left eye pulped in its socket, half way blinding him.

The impact caused him to lose his grip on Rainbow. The mare immediately took flight, flying above him and slamming into his body with all her might. She forced him down several yards into the ground, breaking numerous ribs in the process.

“But, you were dead.” Blood Dawn managed to say with the last of the oxygen in his lungs. His mouth hung open as he looked at her, the golden energy of her wings spread throughout her body. As Rainbow accessed the true power given to her all those years ago by Twilight.

“Sorry, I can’t play with you anymore, I have a promise to keep.” Rainbow replied.

When Rainbow flew back up, Blood lashed out with his wings. Expecting to catch her off guard. It was a fool’s hope. Rainbow impaled both of his wings with her own. Her power outstripped his in every way imaginable. She tossed him up into the air, as high as her strength would send him.

Blood screamed as the pain in his wings caught up to his brain, they would protect him from a lot, but this was the first time they had been individually targeted like that. His screaming never ended as Rainbow flew up at him, slamming into his chest with several sonic rainbooms behind her.

Rainbow followed him up and hit the creature’s chest with all her might, for what she had planned, this would take perfect timing, however, she had made several promises this day, and she would keep all of them.

As soon as they were high enough for what she had planned, Rainbow saw what she was looking for, Shimmering Night’s sun was coming up on the horizon, and Rainbow angled herself just so. She willed herself at this creature with the same frenzy that she attacked the Titan with all those months ago. This time, she controlled it better, as it would not due to go missing for months. Twilight would never forgive her for that a second time. Therefore, she put on the last burst of speed less than an inch from final impact with this creature’s chest.

It was then that Blood Dawn finally knew what he was feeling earlier, looking at her now; he knew without a doubt what it was he felt. What she made him feel.

Fear.

He was afraid of her. Blood Dawn smiled at that realization; he finally knew what all his victims had felt, what he caused them to feel. It was… intoxicating.

When the mega-rainkick struck his chest, Blood Dawn was dead; his mind simply did not catch on to that fact until his body impacted with the sun. The last thing he noticed was the magic in his body leaving him; as such energy cannot be created or destroyed. The force of her kick exploded out into space, directed where it would do the least amount of damage to the world at large. While such maneuvering saved the world from any real damage, the shock wave cut into the moon, causing a large chunk of it to separate from the main body. The gravity of the moon kept it in place, although in time, several meteor storms would find their way to the planet.

Luna cringed over in pain as that event occurred. She did not know why it happened, but was immediately aware of what had caused it.

For everyone else, their fight had taken all night; the damage alone caused the destruction of Skyclaw Mountain, the surrounding area, and broke the moon. Only a single other creature in fifty miles survived the release of energy from their fight.

For Rainbow Dash and Blood Dawn, from the moment the fight started to the moment Blood Dawn’s body impacted the sun was exactly ten seconds.

…………

Grim Night sat in a magic bubble at the edge of the mountain chain and smiled. This was perfect; every single thing had gone according to plan. He knew, without a doubt that Rainbow would be victorious. Although he had not expected it to be so close, it seemed to him that something was holding the mare back, at least, until the end, until she found her resolve. Then it went exactly as he expected it to.

It was over with an epic finale. The mare struck Blood Dawn with such force that his life was ended in that one blow. That was when Grim Night hatched the last of his plan. He knew Blood Dawn did not trust him and he was right not to. Black magic was indeed powerful, but it did not hold a candle to God magic. Still, every little bit helps, at least for what his end game was.

He would normally not trust this to one the likes of Blood Dawn, but there was the little problem of Rainbow’s vengeance, whoever did it, whoever killed the foal would suffer her wrath. That meant he could not do it himself. Not if he wanted to live that is.

The spell was very specific. It had to be a hybrid, a cross breed. While he was sure that if he looked harder he might find another that would meet that criteria, this was simply a chance to kill two birds with one stone. It would get rid of the pain in the ass that was Blood Dawn, and throw the ‘heroes’ off his trail. They would all think that it was over, and he would let them.

So when the blow hit and Blood Dawn’s life came to an end. Grim cast the last bit of the spell, the add-on that he attached at the very end. Blood Dawn’s power did not dissipate into the sky, it all went to him.

The power of Blood Dawn, the power of the dark spell, it swelled Grim Night’s already considerable magical properties to gigantic proportions. He was close, very, very close to having the power he needed. The power that he felt once in his life, the power he wanted back.

“Just one more to go and I will be strong enough to take your power, Twilight Sparkle.” Grim Night smiled a wicked smile as he teleported away. Soon many, many creatures would arrive to look for survivors. It would not do to be caught, not yet anyway.

……………………………………….

Warclaw

Ataxia and Shimmering Night arrived in the middle of the night, if it could even be called that with all the lights and explosions happening on Skyclaw Mountain. They were greeted as returning heroes, something that simply embarrassed Shimmering Night and confused Ataxia. Neither of them wanted such treatment and only one of them was in any way used to it.

It was a small miracle that Ataxia did not see a single statue on their way to the infirmary. That would have caused problems of its own.

When they arrived, Shimmering Night ran right to her sister. Unwilling to comprehend what happened, she asked a million questions, and much to her chagrin, the answers were the same as what she was told. Orion was dead… Warclaw had been attacked.

Two things she really, really did not want to believe. However, she could count one blessing, both Aurora and Icarus were fine, better than fine, they were perfect. How that could be, she did not know.

However, that knowledge did not stop Night from trying to banish her older sister from the Griffin Empire forever. It was not done in malice; Shimmering Night simply did not want Aurora to leave her sight ever again, under any circumstances.

Twilight, who Night had yet to notice in the room, went to override that command, however, a hoof from Aurora stopped her. That same hoof held the ring Icarus had given her that very night.

With the knowledge that her sister was engaged, Shimmering Night immediately forgot about the whole banishment thing and began fretting over her upcoming wedding.

In the end, it was Ataxia that killed the mood.

“So, what's going on with the mountain?”

“My wife is fighting the one who is responsible for all of this.” Twilight replied.

In that one reply, Shimmering Night finally noticed Twilight’s presence in the room and two bombshells were dropped on Night and Ataxia, the first being that all of those explosions, all that destruction was caused by Rainbow Dash, who was even now fighting an unknown foe. One that seemed to be able to hold their own against the likes of Rainbow Dash, which in and of itself was unheard of.

The second was implied, not explicitly stated but Shimmering Night could not help but latch on to it. ‘My wife.’ She dared give voice to what she was thanking.

“Mom?”

Twilight turned and smiled at her, an action that was reciprocated around the room as the new comers all learned the truth, Twilight had her memories back, which explained how Aurora and Icarus were fine, she was back.

Twilight Sparkle was back.

Shimmering Night ran up and hugged Twilight for all her worth, she squeezed as hard as she could. Never wanting to let go. At that time, at that moment, there was not a dry eye in the room for the reunion of mother and daughter.

The conversation took an upbeat tone after that point, with Twilight wanting to catch up on everything her daughters had been up to. She knew all the facts already, but it was the details she wanted. The ones you would only share with close family.

Ataxia could not help herself; she ended up growing a little uncomfortable with the personal direction this conversation was taking; fortunately a loud explosion from Skyclaw Mountain interrupted their discussion.

“I’m going to go help Princess Dash.” Ataxia declared to everyone in the room.

“No.” Twilight replied.

“Why not?”

“I have no doubt you could help her, but she's not the type. This was her grandson after all; Rainbow will want to do this alone. Besides, judging by the noise, you might end up doing more harm than good.”

Ataxia did not like that reason, but she really could not fault it. Rainbow Dash… in many ways she was just like her, strong and fierce, proud and loyal. Ataxia would not want anyone interfering with her battle if someone hurt one she loved, like Night. She could see how Rainbow would feel the same. So she sat on her flank and waited, just like the rest of them.

Twilight, Ataxia, Shimmering Night, Icarus, and Aurora watched the eventual destruction of Skyclaw Mountain from the safety of the palace. Once it fell not a one of them spoke a single word. They all knew who was up there, who was fighting that… that creature. The one who had hurt them all, Rainbow was fighting for all of them; they would offer her their support, even if they could only do it by watching.

Rainbow was strong, the best… however, none of them could see what was happening up there, and not a one of them could make out in any detail just who was winning. When you don’t know what happened, what is happening, your mind tends to fill in the details. Normally with the worst-case scenario, even if logic tells you something different.

It was too dangerous to get any closer. Icarus could not even send out guards to warn the town. Random shockwaves would cascade down from the mountain. Rainbooms and explosions would light up the night. Several times the city itself would tremble with the energy of the combatants were putting out.

Halfway through the night, the mountain itself collapsed. Shedding rocks and debris as far as Warclaw. Icarus cringed as the thought of the damage to his kingdom played through his head. All the dead… all the injured, it all weighed heavily on his mind.

Despite all of that, Twilight never gave up hope; she was like the rest of them, reduced to watching and waiting. She held fast to her wife’s honor, she would not go up there; she would not interfere. When asked she always replied with the same response.

“There's no need. Rainbow promised she would not keep me waiting.”

It was an hour after sunrise when they saw it, a golden meteorite crashing down in the distance. Twilight immediately teleported in range and caught it with her magic. She slowed the descent enough to teleport the golden cocoon directly into the infirmary room.

They all stood around as the golden wings unwrapped themselves around Rainbow, Rainbow was not done healing but she had kept her wife waiting long enough.

She looked at her wife with the cock-sure grin she was famous for. “Hey, egghead.”

“Hey yourself, featherbrain,” Twilight cried as she said the words.

“Told you I always keep my promises.”

“I know you do, Rainbow. I never doubted it. Not even for a minute.”

Author's Note

I finished this way, way earlier then planned. so enjoy it!

Of note, ch 8 may be a little while in coming, August is not going to be a good month for me work wise and I won't be able to put as much time into writing as i am used to.

In case you were wondering, I'm planning on 20 chapters of around 12.5k words per chapter.

A Return to Normalcy

Author's Note

Well, I had not intended to do any writing this month but I had some great ideas for this chapter and could not resist.

You will note that this chapter is unusual for me as it jumps into first person perspective for a little bit.

Also, as with The honeymoon, this chapter does contain sex between two ponies. Again if you don't want to read that stop reading when you see "Times up!" than do a control find command for "You win." Although you will miss some good jokes.

As always let me know what you think down below.

A Return to Normalcy

Ponyville

Princess Twilight Sparkle laid her head back on her pillow for the first time in four months, and it had been a long, long four months. Part of her still could not believe everything that had happened. Part of her did not want to, it simply wanted to enjoy the feeling of being back in her own bed, of being back in her own house. Not counting the few moments she had with Rainbow here four months ago, it had been over ten months since she had last been here. Ten months since she… died.

That part was still hard to get use to. She did not remember that, but according to her wife Rainbow Dash, the God Tartarus had killed her. Tartarus sent them both on a mission to retrieve Cronus’s sickle; it was a ruse though, as he wanted to use the sickle to kill his siblings. Tartarus was starting with Gaia first, the God that created Twilight as her Avatar. However, being an Avatar to a god has its benefits too. Because of it, she was able to save Rainbow from death, and the power… on a lesser pony they would have taken over the world with it.

Come to think of it, she almost did. That still seemed more like a dream than real life to her.

What was definitely real life was a golden feather running up and down her stomach, slowly brushing against Twilight's fur as it did so. It felt… nice to the mare. It seemed someone was in a playful mood. Twilight was too, but she wanted to get some work done first. However, if put like that she knew she would not win that fight with Rainbow right this second, as her own desires would soon get the better of her. So, she chose a strategy of avoidance in hopes that Rainbow would take the hint and let her finish her notes before they began something that neither of them would want to stop.

Twilight wanted to organize her thoughts about everything that happened. Replaying the events of the last four months as to not lose any details. Such things may seem trivial, but often events happen without ponies putting the pieces together, and if she had learned one thing over the years, it is that she was a magnet for such events. Twilight concentrated her magic on a quill and a scroll sitting over on a nearby table. Using them, she began to take notes. It did not matter that she could not see what she was writing down, in truth she did not need to see. For her, such a task came as naturally as breathing. Although, her quill did occasionally slip off the scroll when a certain somepony began softly blowing into her ear. That became a little harder to ignore but she did her best.

‘I suppose the logical place to start would be Warclaw. Blood Dawn had just been defeated, or should I call him Bright Dawn?’

Warclaw

Four months ago

We did not know it at the time, but the creature that had killed Aurora Flash’s son, the one that Emperor Siros gave his life to help stop, went by the name Blood Dawn. Of course, that was not his original name, that was the name inspired by the being that possessed the body, the revenant that had existed for thousands of years. His original name was Bright Dawn and he was once my son-in-law.

It was only after he was killed that we learned that, when Rainbow told everyone the story that day, the day after her titanic battle that saw the complete destruction of Skyclaw Mountain, the largest mountain in the Griffin Empire and the breaking of the moon. Our daughter, Shimmering Night, filled in the blanks for everyone; apparently she had met the creature three months prior.

“His name was Blood Dawn, and he is… was my husband.”

I simply stared at her, I knew about the breakup, but only now that Night had said something was my mind putting those pieces together. My memory was still very fragmented at the time. “Wait, that creature was Bright Dawn?”

Night just nodded. “When Bright Dawn refused to give back your essence, mom. It wasn't his fault, the shadow creatures, when they kidnapped him from the hospital they implanted that thing in him. It corrupted him, mind and body to do what he did. It wanted him isolated and alone. It wanted us to hate him, and the easiest way to do that was to have him turn against you.”

We all listened to her tale; only Ataxia knew all the details. The two of them had spent much time together over the last few months. It seemed as if they can and did share everything with each other, leaving nothing out. Well, almost nothing. Ataxia still had one thing she wanted to tell my daughter, one thing she had kept from her. Her true feelings for the mare. If it was obvious to me, I wondered how Night could not yet know, but it was not my place to say.

“When he left… when I made him go, it took over, it destroyed everything that he was and corrupted him completely. There was nothing left to save.”

Shimmering Night put up a brave front, acting as if she were unaffected by Rainbow killing her husband… ex-husband, but I knew better. I walked over and hugged my daughter for all her worth. That one action crumbled Shimmering Night’s resolve. She began crying out into my coat. Yes, she knew what was done was done, and that Rainbow not only had no choice, but that Rainbow did the right thing. However, words alone cannot heal a broken heart. Only time can do that. No amount of knowledge can change the fact that somepony she cared about was dead, that somepony she had loved for over ten years was no more. I have to admit, I cried too.

Rainbow just looked on as two of the three mares she loved the most in the world consoled each other. Any other time, any other place, she would have joined us. However, she could barely move, much less walk over and try to give comfort to others. That battle with the creature known as Blood Dawn, it had taken its toll on the mare. For her it was the longest ten seconds of her life. For me, it was one of the longest nights of my life.

So Rainbow looked on at us and smiled. She told me later that she realized then what her mistake had been. Rainbow went into the fight with the intent to kill the one who had hurt her daughter, the one who had killed our grandson. Yet, her power came from my power, it was a gift from me, and my power came from Gaia, the God of Life and Magic. It was little wonder the fight had been so close. Rainbow had fought with the intent to kill, the intent to seek vengeance. That was the opposite of the source of our power. The power of life.

It was only after she almost lost. When that bastard had her by the throat and was strangling Rainbow to death that she found her true power. She realized that her true purpose was not as a vessel of vengeance. Not as a pony who sought to kill, but one who wanted to protect. It was then that she was able to defeat Blood Dawn, when she realized that her motivation was to save life, to protect life, and to return to me.

When I next looked at Night; she looked different, almost as if a huge weight had been lifted from the mare. My daughter told me she had always meant to track down that creature, her husband… Blood Dawn. Ever since Appleloosa, all those months ago it had been an unfulfilled vow to put Bright Dawn to rest. As such, she was able to take solace in his… death. No, that wasn’t true, he had died months ago; she could take solace in the fact that his body was no longer being used by that evil. At last, she could finally close the book on a chapter of her life. She could finally say goodbye to Bright Dawn. It did help to have good friends and family. Part of me still thinks that she wanted to do it herself, but I for one will always be grateful that Rainbow took care of it. Judging by the story that Rainbow told me, had it been Shimmering Night instead of Rainbow, I would have lost my daughter to that monster.

I don’t know what I would do if I lost another member of my family like that.

Speaking of family, Shimmering Night turned to her sister and smiled. “So, when is the wedding?”

Icarus and Aurora turned and stared at each other, the blank stare on Icarus’s face was all Aurora needed to know, the dumb idiot had not planned anything beyond asking for her hoof in marriage, as usual. Aurora turned to her sister and replied. “A month from now.”

I simply smiled at my daughter. I knew just as Aurora did that arranging a royal wedding in that amount of time would require the greatest organizational minds they could find. Which largely meant Shimmering Night and I. Both of us were more than happy to help and I have to admit, I have been getting really good at wedding planning lately. Maybe it is all the practice I have recently gotten?

Icarus turned to Rainbow with a solemn expression on his face, an action that confused the mare. “Rainbow, where is my dad?”

Every set of eyes turned to Rainbow, waiting expectantly for her answer. The expression on her face told the tale before any words were needed. Yet she would give him a response, Siros deserved that at least and Icarus deserved to know just what happened to his father and the heroic actions he took before he died. “Icarus, I’m sorry. Siros died before I arrived; he engaged the creature (Rainbow still refuses to call him by a name) and died in combat. His actions gave me the opening I needed to win. He... he died a hero.”

The expression on Icarus’s face broke our hearts. Yet it was quickly replaced when Aurora came up and hugged him. That minor physical contact was all that he needed to overcome the melancholy that was quickly overtaking the griffin. Rainbow saw then and there that the two really did love each other. As did I, whatever doubt I may have harbored about leaving my daughter in his care was erased from my mind at that moment. Yes things might happen, but I could never get in their way. Not in the way of something like that.

“Thanks Rainbow.” Icarus said, “That means a lot to me, I’m… that fool.” He fell back on the opposite bed; Aurora soon joined him and lay his head down on her lap. Despite himself, Icarus began crying; all the while Aurora softly ran a hoof down his fur.

Little else was said that night.

The funeral was held a week out. Not much was communicated during that time, as we all seemed to know exactly what to do and when to do it. It was… it felt as if something simply guided me, in much the same way as the annoying pinkie sense; I gave up trying to figure it out and I was not the only one. It only took Rainbow two days to dig up the body. To our amazement it was in pristine condition. None of the rocks had done any damage.

The funeral itself went off without issue. Everyone in the empire came out to pay his or her last respects to a noble leader, father, and friend. It would never be the same without him here… before the casket was lowered into the ground. Icarus placed a picture of little Aurora with the body. It showed her in all the different colors Dayspring had turned her all those years ago. She had even signed it for him.

Icarus added his own writing before the lid closed. I managed to sneak a peek at what was written before the lid was closed.

To the greatest dad that ever lived,
Know that I always loved you, even if I might not have shown it as much as I should have,
I vow to do you proud, Dad.

The wedding itself would normally not have been that difficult to plan, not with Night’s help anyway. What made it difficult was the rebuilding of the entire east side of the Griffin Empire. It is simply my nature to help as many as I could. As such, I could not turn a blind eye to the plight of the griffins. In the words of Rainbow Dash, “Twilight put that big beautiful brain to work and did in three months what would have taken half a decade.”

I hate to admit it, but she has a point.

Every day, I would wake up at the crack of dawn and work until the late hours. Pushing myself to plan my daughter's wedding and rebuild half an empire all at the same time. While Rainbow was more than happy to give me the lion's share of the credit, if someone asked, I would have said it was all thanks to two ponies.

The first was Shimmering Night. With my son gone, she is the second best organizer in all of Equestria. A talent she no doubt inherited from me. With my help in teleportation, Shimmering Night would spend every weekend in the empire, assisting with any area that was not performing to standards. Each Sunday night, I would teleport her back to Equestria, so she could resume her normal duties as the day ruler of the land. For anypony else, it would have been too much, for Night, she took it in stride, “Simply repaying the debt I owe my sister.” I knew the lie for what it was, but I was not going to call her on it. She was simply happy to help her family, as for the first time in months; we could finally be counted as that again.

Rainbow Dash would never accept it, but she is the second pony I have to thank. For in all that time, we never had a true moment to ourselves, I was out of bed and working at the crack of dawn, I would only go to sleep when exhaustion forced me. Many such times, Rainbow would actually have to carry me to bed. A task she always did with a smile.

I did it all thanks to her; it was waking up to that face each day that got me going. I wanted this done, I wanted this task completed, so we could get on with our lives together. Something I was growing more impatient for each and every day. I owed Rainbow that too, the mare was the definition of supportive. Never judging my actions save for when my health was at risk. Rainbow kept me focused, kept me from becoming too bogged down with the details of any one specific action, and more importantly, she kept me from forgetting to eat. Something I failed at the first week I was there.

When the day of the wedding finally came, almost everyone was in attendance. Including Princess Luna who had refused to talk to Rainbow or I after the former broke the moon. Something she took as a personal insult. The only absences of note were that of Prince Radiant Star and Princess Firestar. Both of whom were stuck in the Crystal Empire’s hospital due to complications with Firestar’s pregnancy. It was then that I vowed to pay them a visit to see if I could do anything for Firestar. A look at Luna told me that I also needed to pay the princess a visit, if only to apologize face to face.

A well-placed feather running up and down her nethers rudely interrupted Twilight’s reminiscing. She somehow managed to ignore most of Rainbow advances but when the feather gently brushed across her clit Twilight’s train of thought jumped several tracks all at once. The conductor bailed out and the train itself careened into a wall, almost destroying all of the cargo it was carrying and causing the quill Twilight was using to leave an ink stain across the table.

“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted, more annoyed about losing her place than the actual contact.

Rainbow just grinned at her, that stupid, self-absorbed, arrogant, loveable, and cute grin that seemed to be her ticket out of any trouble Twilight might want to blame her for. “C’mon Twi, let that wait for tomorrow.” She purred seductively into her wife’s ear as her hoof took certain liberties with Twilight’s body. None of which were unwelcome, even though they were all immensely distracting and an assault on Twilight's self-control.

“Rainbow, I want to get this done tonight. The longer I put it off the more I might forget.” Twilight brushed away Rainbow's hoof from her nipple. One that was currently over sensitized as Rainbow’s hoof knew just how to get its motor going, and while she would deny it at the moment, Twilight’s motor was beginning to kick into higher gear as well, a fact punctuated by the undeniable heat coming from her loans and wetness between her legs.

“You sure it can’t wait?” Rainbow asked playfully.

“Take a cold shower or something.” Twilight grinned, an expression she quickly lost with the pouty face Rainbow was giving her… It had been a long time for either of them. “Tell you what, give me ten minutes to finish then I’m all yours.”

Rainbow jumped up for joy and left to go make a quick snack, she would need her energy later and did not want to be caught on an empty tank. Twilight simply smiled as she closed her eyes, picked up the quill, and went back to her notes. “Lets see, where did I leave off. Ahh, yes the wedding.”

Warclaw

Three months ago

I cried when the wedding occurred, it was a solemn event, fueled with the loss of everything the Griffin Empire held dear, the loss of the old emperor, and the death of thousands of citizens. Few truly knew if the empire would survive the future. The wedding was a tribute to all of that and more, for it was their hope.

It was the greatest symbol of hope for every griffin in attendance. As every griffin knew of the contributions of Aurora Flash, there was not a doubt in anygriffin’s mind that they would be much worse off without her. Her presence was always a cause for celebration. That day simply sealed it for them; Aurora would be their empress.

Rarity of course, insisted on helping out. Despite her age and health the mare would never see Aurora wear anyone else’s clothing as long as she still lived. She poured her heart and soul in each and every dress, her husband Spike never left her side. The big lug was getting good at sewing himself, always knowing exactly what she needed before even having to be asked.

When she was done, when the dresses were made, they were the finest works ever known in either country. In reverence, Aurora only wore that dress one time; it was all she could do to bring herself to simply touch it. She feared that something so beautiful would shatter under the touch of anyone. After the wedding, the dress was placed into a magical airtight vault, to be viewed by the generations to come as Rarity’s finest work.

No king, emperor, princess, or dignitary would ever ask to wear it, as they all simply wept at the dress itself and the picture of the mare that it was made for.

No pony knew it at the time, but it was the last time Empress Princess Aurora Flash would ever pose for a photo op. It would go down as the most beautiful photo ever taken, several artists would spend their lives trying to duplicate that photo, regardless how close they came they would all trash every single attempt they made as it simply failed to capture perfection of the mare or the dress. The combination simply made the task an impossibility.

It was also the last article of clothing Rarity ever made.

It still breaks my heart, but I suspected Rarity had another reason in mind for making that dress for Aurora, a suspicion that was all but confirmed in my mind when Rarity presented the mare with fifteen years worth of clothing of all shapes and designs. When asked about it, Rarity simply smiled and said, “I may not make it down here for a while, so I wanted to make sure the dear looks her best for every contingency.”

I would have pressed farther, as even I could see through that flimsy excuse. However, I did not want to hear the truth, not yet anyway. Rarity’s constant exhaustion and fatigue were all the translation I needed, Rarity may not have said the words, but her body communicated it in ways her words never could: “This may be the last time I get to make her clothes; I want to make sure she is well dressed after I die.”

Twilight lay the quill down with her magic before wiping a tear from her eye. A talk with Spike confirmed it; Rarity was not doing well. It would not be long now before this world would continue on without her. Twilight was about to lose the last of her friends from all those years ago. Her only saving grace was the mare that would always be by her side, for she knew that Rainbow would be here with her. Without her, without Rainbow, Twilight was not sure she could handle this life… it was all simply too much to deal with alone.

She pushed that thought to the side and continued writing.

Politically the wedding was a match made in Elysium. Aurora was a princess of Equestria. Marrying her to the current emperor was simply smart. It would effectively merge the two countries for generations to come. There would be no worry about pacts, treaties, or even trade negotiations anymore. The ruling families of the two countries would be connected by blood. They would have a stake in the wellbeing of each neighboring country more so than simply mutual defense.

No one who was involved whatsoever with those two could give a rat’s ass about any of that. Not at that point anyway. This was not a marriage of convenience or a political marriage. This was a marriage of love. For while the two might both be scatterbrained in their own right, they were perfect for each other, they were each other’s yin and yang, the two opposing forces that came together to form something better, something greater than the sum of their parts.

The wedding reflected all of this and more. It was my greatest gift to my oldest daughter. I worked with every faction, all the senators in both the Griffin Empire and Equestria. Using my magic I arranged everything, anything I needed, I got. It was the standing rule for both countries. None of this gave me any time to deal with my ‘other’ issue though, including a wife that was as patient as she could be.

I still feel bad about that, but Rainbow understood. She was truly the element of loyalty for a reason. To this day, I have never met a soul who is more dedicated to their friends and family than my wife. She thinks I saved her? The truth is the exact opposite; she saved me.

Sadly, even after the wedding my work was not done. I could not just leave my daughter's new kingdom in such a sorry state. Therefore, while the newlyweds got to their honeymoon, something put together exclusively by Princess Cadance (as she insisted that ‘that’ be left to her). I went back to work, organizing repair crews, food shipments, aqueducts, hospitals, and trade pacts. As well as any other duty that come up. Sadly that included smoothing things over with the diamond dogs.

That last part still sent a shiver down her spine.

I remember those meetings all too well. The diamond dogs did not take kindly to the loss of an entire settlement’s worth of citizens being killed off. Those at The Pen should have been under the protection of the empire. Without the one responsible to take it out on, they were trying to pin the blame on the former Emperor Siros. Saying they would dismiss the event completely with a public statement condemning Siros for ‘killing’ all the dogs that lived in The Pen.

Rainbow almost assassinated both members of the committee, two dogs who went by the name Bark-tooth and Snout. I thought at the time that it was my shield brought up around the two dogs saved their life by a hairs breath. I did not have time to form a strong shield, Rainbow’s wings broke through the one I raised and only stopped a centimeter away from their necks. In truth, now I suspect that the shield was actually unnecessary and that it was simple self-control on the part of my wife.

‘You’ve gotten better Rainbow.’ Twilight smiled at that thought.

“Understand this Dogs, No one and I mean NO ONE will besmirch the name of Emperor Siros while I draw breath. I read the reports and so did you, what he did in The Pen was a mercy not a killing. If I hear one word breathed against him. One syllable uttered against his good name, I will take your tongues, and that’s if I’m in a good mood. Consider that a promise.”

They both gulped without saying another word. Even the diamond dogs knew of the Wonderbolts, and the story of why their current commander was mute. Rainbow Dash had a reputation all around the world. The events of two months ago with the destruction of the largest mountain in the Griffin Empire: Skyclaw Mountain, only added to that. I have no doubt that Rainbow’s legend would live on well past the mare herself, something that would exist for as long as there was someone around who told stories. After all, as the old saying goes, ‘heroes get remembered but legends never die.’

‘Maybe Rainbow has figured out the secret to immortality?’ Twilight smiled at the irony in that thought, ‘That someone like Rainbow would figure out the greatest scientific achievement. Well it's not a real achievement… on the other hoof, is that a real achievement? I have no doubt that Rainbow’s legend will be immortalized in song and story… but that’s not real-.’

Twilight moved on, she was starting to go full circle with her thoughts.

It did not surprise anyone when the diamond dogs shut up after that point. Of course, I was never the type to simply take from others, so I arranged for reparations, cleaning up the town and respectfully returning all of the bodies. That last part was a little morbid but necessary and the diamond dogs were grateful for everything. Or at least that is how it appeared to me, of course that could have simply been the threatening posture of Rainbow.

I tried to talk to Rainbow about it later, but it was a touchy subject for the mare. Her response was, “Maybe, one day Twi; when I'm ready, but not now.” It was the honesty in her voice, the sound of loss and of hope that kept me from pushing the subject like I would normally do. We slept poorly that night, despite the fact that it was our first real night where we could enjoy each other; it was just that neither of us was in the mood.

Twilight scratched out that last part; that was knowledge she did not want to share with whomever might read these one day. In addition, it made her feel bad about the fact they still had not been together since, not physically anyway.

Aurora and Icarus came back a month later; it did not surprise anyone to learn that she was pregnant again. The glow she was emanating would have given it away far quicker than any words. When they told everyone Icarus was unable to keep the shit-eating grin off his face about it. I could tell it was something in which Icarus was immensely proud of.

For that last month, Aurora helped me with all of the planning and operations. I loved the time I got to spend with my daughter. We have always been close, but never this close. I always knew Rainbow was Aurora’s favorite parent. For try as I might, I had never penetrated that special pegasi only club the two had shared. So I enjoyed every moment I could get.

Speaking of Rainbow, she kept busy in another way.

Icarus was a male possessed. Every second of every day he would be with Rainbow training his flank off. It seemed as if the griffin would make good on his promise, he would get strong enough to protect his family. Rainbow enjoyed putting the griffin through his paces. She took every second of it as a way to ensure that her daughter would never be hurt again.

The training was the most brutal regime ever imagined, pushed well beyond the limits of any non-deity alive. Something achieved only by my magic. Rainbow had Icarus up at six am each and every day, and she would work the griffin to death by noon and drag him to me for ‘repairs', then repeat the process over and over again. Only letting him rest when it hit one am, about an hour before I would normally call it a night or have to be dragged to bed by Rainbow anyway.

Only once, only one time did I suggest to Icarus that he take a break, that he take one day for himself. Icarus took it as a personal insult and did not return to me for healing again that day. An action that almost cost him his life as that was the day Rainbow forced him to do a sonic rainboom.

Icarus became the fourth soul to accomplish that feat. When it was over, Rainbow found his body buried under the rubble of the tower he crashed into. She rushed me over to him in the blink of an eye.

It took me well over an hour to heal those wounds; the griffin stood up and looked at Rainbow. For the rest of my life I will always remember what he said: “Again.”

Rainbow just nodded, if he wanted to continue, if he wanted to improve, she would make sure it happened. She would not leave him without knowing that her daughter would be protected. Although she would make sure he did not skip another session with my magic. After all, Rainbow did not want her son-in-law to die on her watch.

After two weeks training, Icarus was able to perform two sonic rainbooms consecutively. Rainbow decided that was enough and moved on to combat skills. Rainbow would use her wings and Icarus would train with his spear, a weapon forged by the finest armors in both countries, we imbued it with mine and every other alicorn's magic and renamed his spear Siros’ Vengeance. In honor of the greatest leader the Griffin Empire had known in a thousand years. Icarus took the spear up with pride in his heart, he vowed he would do his father's name justice and would never raise it up in anger, only to defend those whom he loved.

It was a vow he kept to the day he died, and one repeated by every emperor who took the throne.

I soon found my workload increased when Icarus began his new training. Icarus had been doing a little better each day; when they started he would be dragged to my side at noon and one am, near the end of the flight training, Icarus made it to one pm and two am. Now? Now he was before me, or I found myself whisked by his side every other hour. The wounds and blood loss the griffin suffered still haunt me to this very day. As Rainbow was not letting him off easy, she would continue training the griffin every single day until he landed one blow against her. It was a task that took Icarus two weeks to complete.

Rainbow is not the type to let anyone off easy, I know that he earned that blow, it was small, I have seen and had paper cuts that cut deeper, but it counted. No one was more grateful than Aurora that it was finally over. Seeing her husband try to kill himself each and every day was physically painful to the mare. However, Icarus would not quit for any reason in the world. He at last found something worth protecting and he would make damn sure he would even if it cost him his life.

Of course, that was all training, the real test would come the day we left the Empire, exactly one month ago. Ataxia wanted to put his skills to the test, it was a challenge he was more than happy to acce-

Twilight almost shouted in pleasure as Rainbow ran her tongue on all the right spots over Twilight’s nethers. She shoved a hoof into her mouth to stop from screaming into the heavens. Rainbow knew what that action would cause, over the years she had become something of an artist. True, she could not sing or dance or draw to save her life. However, she could play an instrument like no other. On her instrument, she was a master; she knew how to play it perfectly, getting all the reactions she wanted from her wife’s body, on cue, and without delay. It bugged her more than anything that she had been out of practice these last ten months. However, just like flying, Rainbow could never forget just how to press those keys, or what combination of tongue work, light, and heavy petting would produce what note.

In order to prevent herself from losing it right then and there. Twilight picked her wife up in magic and pressed her nose to face with the clock on the wall. “Rainbow, does it look like ten minutes have passed to you?”

“No.” Rainbow said sheepishly.

“Than please, please let me finish these notes. We have waited ten months Rainbow, we can wait four more minutes.”

Rainbow wanted to shout, scream, and curse. However, the look on Twilight’s face prevented all of that; some days it was simply easier to go with the current than to try to fight it. “Fine.”

Twilight let her go, it did not surprise her in the least that Rainbow went nowhere, she sat on her flank and watched the hands of the clock slowly tick by, she was going to hold Twilight to the ten minute mark exactly.

‘Shit… where was I?’ Thinking quickly Twilight remembered the fight, although she would have to paraphrase now as she was running out of time. Something she was finding herself looking forward to with each passing minute. Of course, once they started it would take the direct intervention of a god to get them to stop. Even then it would still be a fight.

The fight lasted almost two hours; quite the achievement when considering that it was a griffin vs a dragacorn. Ataxia fought with everything she had, throwing spells, fire, and claws at the griffin. Icarus kept at it, never letting her drop her guard, never letting her relax. Although Ataxia still won, Icarus had earned the respect of every single soul that watched him fight.

Even Rainbow congratulated him on a job well done. Telling the griffin “Don’t worry about it, that mare is on a whole 'nother level, as such there was no way you could have won to begin with, so consider it a victory that you lasted as long as you did.”

Hearing his teacher's praise put a smile on his beak, something I had to regrow for him after the fight, along with a few missing limbs. Aurora smacked him across the face for making her worry and then kissed him with all her might.

To this day she is still mad at Ataxia for what she did to her husband. However, Ataxia did not get off scot-free either. She still sports several cuts down her flank from Siros’s Vengeance, I offered to heal them for her but she refuses. “They’re a badge of honor, a memory of the most memorable fight of my life.”

Ponies and scars… go figure.

With the hard work done in the empire and the rest no longer requiring my direct supervision, Rainbow and I left that day. We said our goodbyes and Rainbow left Icarus with instructions on how to continue his training each day. We both reminded Aurora that she was to write to us at least once a week. I never thought I would be expecting letters from someone in much the same way that Celestia expected letters from me.

That thought made Twilight smile and frown in equal measure. It had almost been a year since Celestia died… She did her best to dismiss that thought but such things do not go away easily. She would always miss her old teacher.

A quick look up at the clock told her she had less than three minutes remaining.

We went to Canterlot first. Our meeting with Luna was long overdue. Something that I admit to having put off longer than I should have, if only to avoid the wrath of the sister of the mare I killed… or at least I'm somewhat responsible for her being dead. In truth I did not know how to face her, not since I regained my memories. I know she forgave me and I did forgive myself, but it still feels strange to me. It probably always will.

My daughter, Shimmering Night joined us. Her presence gave me courage enough to face down the Princess of the Night. Looking back at it now, I should have known what to expect. She was never mad at me; it was Rainbow Dash whom would incur her wrath that night.

“RAINBOW DASH!” Luna shouted at the mare next to me in her Royal Canterlot voice. It caused me to almost trip when she did so. Not counting the times I did not have my memory I had only talked the Princess of the Night once since I… the other me had killed Celestia. While she did, technically, forgive me, I always assumed there was still a level of hatred under the surface, something always there even if we did not say it.

I was not putting two and two together, as my thoughts were simply stuck on what I had done, I never thought about what Rainbow did. I had written off the damage done to Luna’s moon during the battle as nothing more than irrelevant collateral damage. Doing so since there was no one killed by it. However, that was a logical fallacy, while no one had been killed by Rainbow’s mega-rainkick; someone was indeed hurt by it.

The Princess of the Night was anything but unhurt. I could see that her mane lost a lot of it ethereal quality. She could barely stand, much less walk with any degree of certainty. Truly I did not know how she had hidden this at the wedding, it must have been quite the feat to hide this level of pain from anyone.

“Princess Luna? Are you ok?” I asked with my voice a quivering wreck at seeing such a proud mare brought so low.

“Princess Twilight,” Luna said, her voice weak and feeble, after she used up most of her energy on that yell. “Welcome back to Canterlot, however, I need to have words with your wife while I'm healing.” It was the first time in a very long time I heard Luna forgo using the royal we when she spoke.

“Yes Luna?” Rainbow looked sheepishly at the ground, as she walked closer to the princess that was sitting down at the other end of the room.

“Why did you destroy my moon?” Luna barely whispered the words.

“Oh, that… that was awesome wasn't it?” Rainbow’s smile turned into a frown as she began to see the tell-tale signs of a very pissed off Alicorn, something she had only before seen with me. As for me, I simply facehoofed. I still cannot believe how dense Rainbow can be sometimes.

“What she meant to say Princess Luna, is that she is very sorry about the damage done, and she only did it to try and spare anyone from losing their life.” I jumped between the two and came to my wife’s defense, I was not sure how much power Luna could summon right now, but a look at her told me the mare had not lost an ounce of her strength, if anything she seemed to have become even more dangerous in her condition. Although, I'm sure that even at her best Rainbow would be more than able to take her on. That was not something I wanted to see. I was very aware what sort of damage that fight, and the inevitable repercussions that such a fight, would cause.

“Yeah, that.” Rainbow added as she realized that Luna would not think the destruction of her moon was awesome after all.

“Princess Luna, you heard the story, you know that what happened, it happened because it was Rainbow Dash’s best choice at the time.” Bless her heart; Shimmering Night was coming to her mother’s defense.

“I know Princess Night, what I want is to hear her say those words. Was there really no other recourse to defeating this revenant than to break my moon?"

“Oh, yeah, that…” Rainbow looked down sheepishly. “Luna he was a creature of pure evil, I knew that to get rid of him once and for all I had to surround him with light, the sun was the best way to do that. So I drop-kicked his ass into it.”

“And you had to break my moon to do that?”

“Well, probably not. But I promised him that I would defeat him in ten seconds flat, and a promise by me is a guarantee you can take to the bank.”

Luna looked taken aback by that, even she knew that Rainbow was the type to always keep her promises.

“Rainbow, say you're sorry.” I glared at my wife, letting her know I was more than serious.

“Sorry Luna,” Rainbow added, “I didn't mean to break the moon like that.”

Luna stared at her with a disbelieving look on her face, it was a rare day to get an actual apology from Rainbow Dash, the fact it had to be forced from me did not seem to lessen the apology any, or at least not from what I could tell.

“Well, then we accept your apology.” Luna said, her expression changed like the flip of a switch.

“Wait, that’s all you want?” Rainbow asked, not used to be let off the hook that easy.

“That’s it, what’s done is done, we cannot change the past and to try,” I could not help but notice she was looking at me with that statement, memories of trying to prevent a natural disaster that did not exist all those years ago came back to my mind with a shudder. “Would only be inviting a disaster of our own making.”

“Will you be ok, Princess Luna?” I asked with uncertainty in my voice, it would not do for Luna’s power to be permanently weakened by this.

“I will be Twilight, it will simply take a while for my injures to recover after that... but with enough time, I should be back to normal. Until then, I may need some help from you for a while for some more of the extreme duties that may come up. As it is… difficult to keep up appearances around others, I would appreciate some discretion about talking about this to anypony else.”

“Of course, princess.” I knew what she was talking about, in her condition it would not due for her to engage in combat with… well, anyone. I volunteered to pick up the slack of course, and whenever I went, of course there would be a certain mare forever by my side. It is comforting to know that is a fact of life for me. Wherever I go, that is where Rainbow would be. It was a simple fact for me. She would always be mine and I hers.

Is it little wonder I almost went insane with grief and denial when she left me for those two months?

Twilight scratched that out of her notes, she did not like to think about that part of her life, she did not like to recall that time… and she certainly did not want to remember any of that time, much less have it on paper somewhere. Being on paper made it real, made it something to be remembered. Twilight never imagined a day where she would not want something written down. Yet, this was that day.

Luna seemed more than pleased with that, she simply nodded and lay her head down. It did not surprise me one bit that she soon fell asleep. It looked like the mare needed it more than anything else at this time. Therefore, Rainbow and I let her sleep, we turned to Night and left the room, our daughter had quite the day planned for us and we did not want to let her down.

We spent another week in Canterlot before moving on, if Rainbow and Aurora had their own special club; that was a bond that Night and I shared. We talked about everything under her sun during that week. To this day, I will never understand how she does not know her feelings for Ataxia. As every single conversation somehow found Night starting to talk about Ataxia, she would go on about how she did this or that, or how she frustrates Night every time she would do something stupid.

In truth, I can not figure out why Night does not understand her own feelings, but for the life of me, she still has yet to put the pieces together. There was a reason why we did not want to stay though, as even with Luna accepting Rainbow’s apology, we could still feel a sense of tension in the air. As for me, staying in Celestia's Place only caused memories of Celestia to play through my mind. Needless to say, neither of us was in the mood for a prolonged stay.

We left Canterlot and spent the last three weeks at the Crystal Empire. After meeting up with my sister-in-law, Princess Cadance, we all left to see my nephew and his wife. When we got to the hospital, the two were staying on floor five, room eleven, area fourteen. It was then we learned the new law passed in the Crystal Empire. “No one is allowed to enter said room without express permission from Princess Firestar." Apparently, after Cadance walked in on them three times and the orderlies did twice she told Radiant that either he would pass the law, or she would kill everypony that entered the room from that point on. Cadance tried telling them it was perfectly normal, but Firestar seemed reluctant to discuss it.

“Yeah,” I replied. “My kids are the same way.”

“And when I tried giving some advice, they kicked me out,” Cadance paused before saying the next part, “if they ask, don’t mention me talking with Spitfire.”

“What? Why?” Rainbow asked.

“I promised to talk to her about Firestar, I just haven’t gotten to it yet, but we have a date set for next month.”

Rainbow just gulped, the fact Cadance had not told Spitfire yet…. She knew Spitfire would be pissed. However, there was nothing she could do about it, it would be Cadance’s problem now.

Rainbow could not help herself; she was getting visibly excited about the prospect of sex going down, even if it was not between the two of us. She would tell me later “At least some pony is getting some.”

Twilight looked up at the clock. She still had a full minute before the time was up, she began feeling really bad about keeping Rainbow waiting for so long; however, it would be worth it. When she was done with her notes she could get to the very, very, very last item on her checklist. The one she was purposely putting off until the very end. It would have the greatest value when they had finished everything else, it would be then that they could truly enjoy it. After all, the last item of the checklist was making Rainbow beg for her to stop. Something she had failed at several times before, it was something she wanted to do once in her life and by Luna today would be that day.

We got the approval without too much issue, it came a little later then I would have liked, and that delay was enough to let us know that the two were very busy in there. The scent of the room confirmed my thoughts to be true. They had definitely just finished having sex, and judging by the stains on the sheets, which Firestar tried in vain to discreetly hide, it was not the first time that day either.

Firestar simply radiated with her pregnancy. She was definitely showing now, as a mare four months along her stomach already looked huge, and I knew from my experience with Rainbow’s pregnancy that it would get even bigger. Rainbow immediately went by her side to try and give her some pointers on just what to expect and how best to use her house slav- husband while he was stuck in here with her. Including some advice on just what positions felt the best when her stomach got too big.

I went to Radiant to find out just how things were going otherwise. “Please tell me there is something you can do for her? She's losing it Twilight. I… I do my best to keep her in bed, but I fear that she will not stay put for long.”

“What happened?”

“Yesterday, she threw a knife at my head.” The serious look on his face told me he was not joking. “And it’s not the first time either; she just never aimed for my head before.”

“What? Why did she do that?” I looked over at Firestar, to me she looked perfect, and the pregnancy only seemed to enhance her natural beauty ten-fold.

“Well, I kind of told her.”

“What did you say?” that response told me he was not victimless in this crime.

“Ok, I might have deserved it, lets not start with judgments, just tell me there is something, anything you can do for her?”

I stopped glaring at him at that and looked back at the mare lying in the bed. A quick scan with my magic confirmed everything I had suspected, she was cramped, suffered from bedsores, and everything else that came with being pregnant. Several bed pans lay under the bed, each freshly washed. No doubt, something Radiant had to help her with. Although I seriously doubt he was dumb enough to complain about that little duty.

“I’ll try.” Radiant seemed to brighten up at that; it made sense, the strongest magic user in Equestria just offered to help him with a very pregnant wife, one who was stuck in bed against her will for another eight months. “Firestar, if you don’t mind I would like to scan you over and see if there is anything I can do to help.”

Firestar placed a hoof over her belly, her only concern was her foals, it seemed as if her motherly instinct was truly kicking in. “It won’t hurt them, will it?”

I shook my head, “No, I promise it’s just a scan, I would never do anything that might endanger them.”

She nodded back at me; it seemed as if she was good to go. When Rainbow got clear, I focused my magic and began a surface scan.

I won't go into detail here, as it is not my place, but there was nothing I could do for her condition, not without risking injury to the foals, however, there were things I could do to help the mare deal with it. Several of her muscles were atrophied from lack of use, bedsores covered most of her back and sides, and her… other area was well used to say the least. In a way it made sense, as she can not leave the bed, and there is only so many things one can do stuck in that situation. Although I never knew she liked to partake in an....

Again, Twilight scratched out the last three sentences, she was trying to remember that some things were not meant for paper.

There were things I could and did fix, I rebuilt several muscles and tendons, while massaging her skin free of sores. The other areas took a little work, but those were back to normal before she even knew what was going on. For Firestar, she took it as a relaxing massage, one she enjoyed a little too much by the moans the mare was making. That was something that caused a noticeable blush on Rainbow and Radiant.

“What did you do?” Firestar flexed her legs and wings, “I feel like a million bits.”

“You’re welcome, I’m sorry though, I cannot heal the underlying condition but I can make the stay that much more enjoyable. Or, if you want, I can teach Radiant how to do it.”

Radiant and Firestar both nodded their heads in agreement, Rainbow just groaned, she knew Radiant was never that good with magic other than combat magic, and that meant hooves on training with the stallion, something that would take time, three weeks to be exact.

Of course, before Radiant and I began his training I had one more piece of news for them. “Would you like to know what sex they are?”

Firestar looked at me with a shocked expression on her face. “You… you can tell?”

I nodded my head.

“The doctors said it was a month to early.”

“Good thing I’m not a doctor then.” I smiled at them both.

“What are we having?” Radiant walked over and sat beside his wife. I could not help but notice how cute they looked together. If they can avoid killing each other, they will have a great life together.

“Twin colts and they’re both pegasus.”

I was told later that the nurses almost freaked when they heard the celebration coming from the room.

As with the training in the Griffin Empire, Radiant took to his training with the same gusto that Icarus took to his, not letting us get a sing-

“Times up!”

Rainbow leapt on Twilight from the bed frame, wanton desire written all over her face. It was almost scary to the purple alicorn, yet the clock agreed with Rainbow that time was indeed up. Whatever notes she took, that was all she was going to get tonight. Rainbow had been insanely patient and would not be denied. Not anymore, too much time had passed for anything else.

She landed directly over Twilight, for her part, Twilight slowly opened her eyes with a seductive look on her face; She smiled that lovely smile at Rainbow. “Well then, you’re not going to keep me waiting are you?”

“Consider it a promise.” Rainbow replied coolly, she latched her lips to her wife's, her tongue finding it’s way inside the purple mare’s mouth with ease. It was not a battle of wills, it was not some epic fight to the death; it was simply a homecoming. It was welcomed as a wife would welcome their spouse after a year apart. Because, for both of them, that is exactly what it was.

Rainbow relaxed her legs and lay down on her wife’s stomach, for those few minutes; they could each feel the other’s heartbeat through their chest. Before long the two hearts were in beat with each other. Pumping as one, for that is what they were, two hearts that had been separated for far, far too long, finally reunited after ten months apart.

When the lack of oxygen threatened to come between them, Rainbow came up for air, she looked down at the mare she loved the most in the world and smiled. Twilight simply smiled back up at her. It is said that the window into your soul is your eyes, that one look into the eyes of someone will tell you everything you need to know about the person. For no pony can lie through their eyes, as the eyes always tell the truth.

Rainbow and Twilight would agree wholeheartedly with that statement right that second, for when Rainbow looked into Twilight’s eyes, she only saw herself. For at that moment, Twilight’s soul was completely and totally Rainbow’s. She belonged to Rainbow in every way imaginable. Her mind, body, and soul were all Rainbow’s. When Twilight looked at Rainbow’s eyes, she saw the same, only reversed. Though it may have been a coincidence, merely a reflection of each other through the eyes of the other, for both of them it was truer than any knowledge that Twilight had ever learned from a book.

“I love you, Rainbow Dash.”

“I love you, Twilight Sparkle.”

They went in for a second kiss, and then a third. However, when the third kiss ended, Rainbow decided then and there to up the ante. She grew out her wings and lay them over her wife’s wings. Using her magic she slowly vibrated every feather over her wife’s sensitive primary and secondary feathers, the vibrations served to simulate the effect of preening every feather all at the same time.

Twilight squealed in delight at the sensation. ‘Hmm, D minor. Let's see if I still remember how to get a C flat.’

Rainbow slowly began tracing a trail of kisses down her wife’s cheek; stopping at her neck where she began sucking at her wife’s neck bone all the while her wings never stopped vibrating. ‘Rats, that wasn’t the C flat.’ She mentally berated herself for forgetting that the collarbone was the E flat. Still, she left her mark on that purple fur, which was something to be proud of.

So she continued down, noting just how wet Twilight was becoming under the constant wing simulation, that was a new trick she figured out on her own a few months past. Something she was saving for just this moment, of course it had the added effect of adding a new source of noise to Rainbow’s masterpiece but like all good conductors she would adjust.

The nipples got the C flat she was looking for; all it took was the proper amount of stimulation on the left with just the slightest bite on the right. Too much and Twilight would cry out in pain, something that would put an end to the whole melody; too little and it would come off as nothing more than a lick, fortunately, Rainbow had plenty of practice with just how hard to bite and how long to hold it.

“AHHHH!”

‘Yep C flat.’ Rainbow smirked to herself, it was time to begin the music in earnest, she retracted both wings and readied them for their next task, keeping the vibrations going she placed one wing on Twilight’s left nipple and prepared the other by sticking it in Twilight’s mouth. The mare complied without issue, beginning to suck on it as one would an ice-cream treat. She knew where that feather would soon be and that Rainbow would normally do it herself, but she had another use for her mouth.

Rainbow began the concert in full by a simple lick; up from the base of Twilight’s tail to the very tip of her clit, Twilight felt every ridge of Rainbow’s tongue running up and down her. It sent chills into the mare like nothing else would. However, Rainbow was not done, after her third journey Rainbow began lightly flicking Twilight clit with her tongue, an action that caused Rainbow’s feather to pop out of Twilight’s mouth as she screamed several different notes into the air. As soon as Twilight reached the highest note, Rainbow brought her freshly lubed wing tip home, she stuck the feather that Twilight’s mouth had just finished sucking on directly into Twilight’s love tunnel.

Twilight almost shot straight up in the air as Rainbow’s feather found her G-spot. It knew exactly where to strike and how much pressure to apply for the greatest satisfaction, with that attacking her from the inside, Rainbow bit down hard on Twilight’s clit. An action that under most circumstances would be painful, but with the combination going of both the G-spot stimulation and the sensations in her clit, it was just enough to send the mare into a new level of pleasure, one that caused her to reach an even higher pitch.

Twilight’s voice called out to the sky in pure unadulterated joy from the sudden onslaught. Her screaming easily matched the noise of any crescendo that a conductor might hope to reach. However, that did not satisfy this conductor, she knew she could do better, so Rainbow did not let her go, she knew that now was the time to strike. All Twilight needed was one more little push and they, plus their neighbors, would all need new windows.

With a speed only achievable by someone with Rainbow Dash’s abilities, she added her other wing to Twilight’s vagina, and stretched the thing open as wide as her muzzle. There was no need to lube it up, as Twilight’s orgasm was still in full effect. As soon as it was wide enough, Rainbow shoved her whole muzzle in, licking at the deeper spots with her tongue.

As expected, every window in the house shattered with the scream Twilight let out. Even after the mare passed out, over sensitized to the breaking point, Rainbow kept licking, not letting a drop of that sweet, sweet nectar go to waste. It had been too long, too much time since she had last savored the unique taste of Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle, and she would not lose out on a second of it now.

When the river became a stream, than a creek Rainbow had no choice but to pull her muzzle out of her wife. She licked herself clean and smiled at the look of utter bliss upon Twilight’s sleeping face. She had seen that look before and congratulated herself on a job well done. She was not worried, Twilight would wake up sore as all of Tartarus, but she would be just as satisfied, then Rainbow would get to experience just what the greatest magic user in the world was capable of when she wanted to return the favor.

…

Shimmering Night ordered a six-block evacuation of the area directly around her parent’s home. All the while cursing Princess Cadance for not warning her in advance that her parents were already back. Having grown up in that house she knew without a doubt just what they were going to be up to as soon as they got back, and they did not disappoint.

What did disappoint her was how slow everypony was moving, despite almost every pegasus royal guard trying desperately to clean out the houses, they all seemed to have forgotten the times before her mom’s soundproof spell, a reality that came to her upon the news that they were both returning to Ponyville. Rarity rebuilt every single aspect of that house, but she did not have the skill to duplicate that spell.

When Night arrived it was already much, much too late to remind her mom to recast the spell. Judging by Twilight’s moans… something she still hated knowing, they had minutes before windows would start to shatter. Night was grateful she planned for this and had the guard with her.

Of course, she underestimated Rainbow’s enthusiasm. Less than a minute into it, the first vibrations started throughout the panes of glass. Night tried to hurry but a sound from the rooftop across the way distracted her. ‘Who could that be?’ she thought. Night flew up to find the last pony she expected on the roof just opposite of her parent’s bedroom.

Judging by the spell cast over her eyes, Ataxia was using a see-through spell to spy on her parents. What really shocked Shimmering Night though was that the mare was taking notes and was so ‘engrossed’ in the action she had yet to even notice that Night had caught her.

“ATAXIA!” Shimmering Night yelled, her eyes were as wide as dinner plates at just what her friend thought she was doing.

Ataxia almost jumped out of her fur at that sound, her heart began beating a mile a minute at having been caught red hoof doing something she knew was wrong. She visibly relaxed when she saw just who had caught her. “Hey Night, come to enjoy the show?” Ataxia smiled as she cast the same spell she was using on her friend.

It was a mark of the calmness in Ataxia’s voice, the oddness of her friends comment, the absurdity of this whole situation, or some combination of all three that caused Night’s brain to take a small vacation. She could not help herself but glance in the same direction Ataxia was looking. Only to see Rainbow run a feather up…

“No, I am not here to enjoy the show!” Night shouted at Ataxia. “Now get out of he-“

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Twilight’s scream shattered every window in a two-block radius, the noise of it was practically deafening to the two mares on the roof.

Shimmering Night wanted to die at that very moment, she wished more than anything she had the magic to cast that stupid spell and prevent all of this from having happened. Alas only Twilight had that sort of magic, well, maybe Ataxia did too, but judging by the amount the mare was laughing while rolling on her back with her legs kicking around, there was no way she would have cast it. Somepony was taking way, way too much pleasure from all of this.

When Ataxia finally caught her breath, she picked up the notepad and began feverishly writing down what she had just seen. The mare had to admit; Rainbow was a true artist when it came to pleasing Twilight.

Night could not take it any more, despite knowing that Ataxia hated it more than anything else, she teleported them both to the fall back point, the town hall. When Ataxia finished vomiting, she looked up at Night. “What the buck, Night?!”

“Tough.” Night huffed at her.

“At least get me my notepad.”

“What? No!”

“Night, get me my notepad or spend the rest of the day dealing with me trying to get it myself.” Ataxia looked serious at that. It was the kind of look that spoke more of a promise than an actual threat. Night gulped.

“Fine, if you promise you will stay here.”

“I promise, as long as you don’t try and tear up any pages.”

‘Crap… so much for that idea.’ Night mentally berated herself.

“Ok.” It was still preferable to her friend spying on her moms having sex; Night teleported back at the worst time imaginable. For Twilight was just starting to return the favor to Rainbow.

…

Twilight came to just in time to see those gorgeous eyes peering into her. Every muscle in her body felt stiff, as if she had just completed the running of the leaves ten times in a roll. ‘Well, I know how to take care of that.’ She smirked.

Rainbow saw Twilight’s horn light up; in a quick flash of inspiration she wrapped her mouth around the horn, causing a chill to permeate down the alicorn’s spine. She loved it when Rainbow stimulated her horn like this, even if it did make casting considerably harder.

‘What’s the fun if it’s not a challenge?’ Twilight reasoned with herself, she would play Rainbow’s game. Rainbow would do everything in her power to delay Twilight’s spell, all the while Twilight would seek to cast it. For once she did, Twilight would easily have the upper hand. However, Rainbow would not simply give up that baton.

‘Time for the secret weapon.’ Twilight thought.

It took Twilight twenty years to learn Rainbow’s secret. Everypony knew that the cyan mare hated to have her hooves touched, but few knew why. Rainbow was very, very sensitive in her hooves. Something Twilight could take advantage of at this moment.

Gently, she stretched out her wings and softly ran a feather across all four of Rainbow’s hooves. The effect was instantaneous. Rainbow fell over on her side in pleasure, “That’s cheating.” She called out between panting breaths.

“All’s fair in love and war, Rainbow.” Twilight smirked back as she finally finished casting her spell. With the momentum squarely in Twilight’s corner, she looked at her fresh victim with eyes that spoke of a primal need. A need for the mare in front of her to beg for her to stop.

Magical ropes tied each limb to the bedpost before Rainbow even came back from her high. “Ah, Twi? Bondage already?”

“Says the mare who stuck her whole muzzle in me not five minutes ago.”

“True… I guess we did already cross that line, didn't we.”

“And now you get to pay for it.”

“Can’t wait.”

“Oh, I am going to make you scream Rainbow, you will scream until you will beg me to stop.”

“Heard that before, you failed then, and you will fail now.”

Twilight’s only reply was to smile at the mare. Using her magic, she began small, with a slight build-up of pressure over each and every cell on Rainbow’s beautiful coat.

“Really Twi? A massage right now? Don’t you think you ought to step it UPPPP!!!”

Her words were cut off when Twilight began applying magical pressure to her nethers; she stretched open Rainbow’s lower lips.

“Oh you thought I was going to start off easy? Rainbow it has been too long, I need to remap you from the inside out before the fun can truly begin.”

“Bring it on, Egghead.”

“Careful what you wish for Rainbow, you may just get it.”

Without any build up, or warning, Twilight stuck her whole horn into Rainbow’s channel. There was no need for any real foreplay, the events of earlier had the mare more than soaking wet. Rainbow screamed out in pleasure as the alicorn sized horn penetrated all the way inside her, it did not surprise Twilight to feel Rainbow let out her second orgasm. It was easy to make a Rainbow cum; the hard part was simply getting one to stay down. Something Twilight decided she would accomplish tonight no matter how long it took.

She kept Rainbow well past the edge by sliding her horn in and out, with the walls of Rainbow’s passage clamped around her horn she felt every single ridge of Twilight’s horn as it left and reentered her. This also served to map out each and every nerve bundle Rainbow had. Twilight finished her exam but did not let Rainbow relax, not yet anyway. The mare needed payback for that stunt before.

After a few minutes, Rainbow’s orgasm finally subsided. She relaxed in the bed with her hooves still tied to each bedpost. Twilight pulled all the way out. Her entire head soaked with Rainbow’s juices. That was one shower she always enjoyed.

“That… that all you got?” her panting was a dead giveaway to the alicorn.

“Oh, that was only beginning; I have a second set of measurements to take, then we can begin in earnest.”

“Second set?” it did not dawn on her just what Twilight was talking about, not until she felt the horn poke at her back door.

…

Shimmering Night wanted to die; she wanted to kill herself right then and there. “Please let lightning strike me down now.”

She had not wanted to look, but when she teleported back for the notebook, her eyes could not help it, when the yell began she glanced over into her parents’ bedroom, just in time to see Twilight bury half her horn in Rainbow’s rear. With the window gone, she literally had a front row seat to her mom getting a horn in her as-

Night grasped the notebook and teleported away, true, in their house sex was never something taboo. However, once she realized exactly what was going on, Night could not help but hate learning just why they were making those noises. That is not even counting the few times she would walk in on them…

“Only my parents.”

…

Twilight kept up the constant stimulation for six hours. For six hours she assaulted every single nerve ending Rainbow had. Massaging, flicking and licking every erroneous spot on the rainbow mare. It was madness that she was still awake, much less breathing.

For Rainbow’s part, she was in seventh heaven. Normally under such stimulation it would start to hurt, it would start to become very uncomfortable. Twilight factored that in, each of her spells not only stimulated, they also fixed any soreness that might develop because of overstimulation. As far as Rainbow was concerned, this had all simply been one long, long orgasm.

They had both long ago lost track of the number of time’s Rainbow came, but judging by the puddle developing below the bed, where the liquid had soaked right through both the mattress and box spring; Twilight had to guess it was in the thousands. Still, she would not give in. Twilight had to be careful though, she made sure that Rainbow’s fluids were constantly getting replaced as they went along.. Something she had learned to do with from an earlier session.

It was at exactly at the six-hour mark that it dawned on Twilight what to do; she plucked a feather from her wings and ran them across each of Rainbow’s hooves.

Twilight finally heard it. “Ok… I give.”

“What’s that Rainbow?”

“You win.”

“That’s what I thought.” It was not the begging Twilight hoped, but she did not want to take it that far. There was a line she refused to cross after all.

Twilight let up the assault, noting just how bad Rainbow looked at that moment. Every pore was dripping sweat. Her body was taken to the edge of even its legendary endurance and held there for all this time. It was amazing, but Twilight expected nothing less from Rainbow.

A quick spell repaired the damage done, replaced the water, and eliminated the soreness.

“That was mean, Twi.”

Twilight just blew her wife a raspberry and lay down next to her. She missed this, not just the sex, but the feeling of closeness that the two shared. Rainbow turned to her side and wrapped a wing around her wife. “Up fo-“

A loud knock at the door interrupted their conversation. “Who the hay is that?”

“I don’t know.” Twilight added as she got up, untied Rainbow and began heading down stars. Rainbow followed her wife as they made for the front door.

Outside was Shimmering Night and the current Mayor of Ponyville. The stallion held up a signed document in his magic and floated it over to the princesses.

The look on his face reminded Rainbow about one little thing they had forgotten about, they were both completely soaked from their time together and none of it was water.

She smiled sheepishly at the two ponies before turning to her wife. “What’s it say?”

“It’s a signed petition from… well everyone in town asking me to please recast the soundproof spell.” Twilight dropped the paper and facehoofed. The realization of what had just happened dawned on the mare as she turned bright red. “I’m so, so sorry.”

The mayor turned and trotted away, as fast as his legs could take him. Shimmering Night just shook her head, “Please recast it, and for the love of Luna please take a shower.”

Night left the two alone with a quick teleportation spell. “Only my parents.” Echoed in the wind at her passing.

Rainbow simply shrugged at Twilight. “Round two?”

“In the shower.” Twilight nodded and smiled back. “However,” she focused her magic and surrounded the entire house with a magical bubble, one designed to keep in noise.

“Time for me to get my payback for that one, Twi. Let’s see if I can make you quit before the six hour mark."

“You’re on, featherbrain.” Twilight smiled, she knew Rainbow would rise to this challenge, and after all, Dash did her best work in the shower. “But first let’s get something to eat.”

“Sounds good. Hey Twi?”

“Yeah?”

“Think you got enough magic for the sex change spell?”

“On you or me?”

“Me.”

“I might be able to work something up.” Twilight grinned at the thought of a male Rainbow Dash bending her over and rutting her senseless in the shower. It was going to be a very good night.

Shower fun

Misconstrued Intentions

Author's Note

Let me start by saying sorry for the long delay with this chapter. Between shower fun and certain events that went down both in work and in life... I haven't felt much like writing. If you have been with me for this long, you know I don't like to keep my readers waiting.

Well hopefully all that is finally behind me now and I can get back to doing what I love.

BTW... Shower Fun is canon for this and occurs between the last chapter and this one, however, if you do not like reading clop fics all you need to know is that Night caught Ataxia once again spying on her parents. The two got into a fight outside Twilight's house and their magic ended up colliding. A piece of it hit Twilight just as her and a sex changed Rainbow were finishing up having sex.

Misconstrued Intentions

Ponyville
Monday

Two weeks, for two weeks Shimmering Night watched over her mother: Princess Twilight, like a griffin watches her young. Rainbow and Twilight tried to play it off at first, simply accepting their daughter’s increased attention like it was nothing out of the normal, like it was simply a daughter who wanted to spend more time with her parents. However, that quickly became too much for Rainbow after the fourth day. Night seemed to demand to spend every waking moment with Twilight, and while Rainbow wanted the same thing, she wanted to spend most of that time alone.

It was not long before Rainbow took an ‘I don’t give a buck’ attitude with Night’s increased attention. With Night refusing to come clean with why she was always around, Rainbow began acting as if she were not even there. The third time Night walked in on her parents, she called it quits. Whatever spell Twilight got hit with, it had not done anything to her yet, and chances are it did nothing, as any spell she could think of would have had a noticeable effect by now.

Of course, most spells were not randomly cast by a mare like Ataxia and mixed with her own magic before striking their unintentional victim while they were engaged in ‘activities’. That part still bugged her, Night knew Ataxia could be reckless at time, but this was taking it to a whole new level. Of course, Ataxia had apologized profusely over and over. Even offering to tell Twilight that it was all her fault. Night refused that offer; she did not really want her mom to know that they had been fighting like that outside their house. Ataxia was just starting to make up for all the bad things she had done in the past, and something like this would set her back in the eyes of all the town ponies. That was not something Night wanted to see happen.

However Night also did not want to watch her parents have sex like bucking rabbits all around the house. She got enough of that growing up. So, after the third time walking in at the inopportune time, (something she was sure Rainbow managed to plan out) Night called it quits with her surveillance and made her way back to Canterlot.

…

“Rainbow, who was that?” Twilight asked, while her mind was still in its own world, not even she could fail to miss the door slamming like that. For Rainbow’s part, she just smiled as she continued to run her tongue up and down her lower lips.

“Oh, that was Night, I think she just came by to say goodbye.” Rainbow said with a chuckle as she continued.

Twilight threw her wife off of her. “Rainbow!!!”

Rainbow simply laughed. “What can I say, I’m not going to let her get between me and my wife.”

Much to Rainbow’s chagrin, that was the end of their fun that day as Twilight could no longer continue after that little act. Her anger ruining her mood, regardless how many times Rainbow would bring up how much fun angry sex was.

………….

Canterlot

Shimmering Night flew into Canterlot at best speed. She had been gone much longer than she intended to be, while Luna kept everything working during her absence, she had no doubt that there would be a mountain of things that still needed to be done when she got back.

And she was right.

“Princess Night, it is imperative that we get your ap-“

“Princess Night, you simply must decide betw-“

“Princess Night, you have to sign thes-“

On and on it went, all she really wanted was a hot bath and to relax after such a long trip. Briefly she considered that maybe; just maybe this was Rainbow's real payback. Night quickly dismissed that thought, Rainbow was never the long-term planner that Twilight was, or that her broth-. Night took that train of thought, locked it in a box with several explosives, and threw it into the ocean. It would not do anyone any good to have a breakdown over that again… So she pressed on, some pain was easier to ignore than to forget. Even if it did normally bite you in the flank after a while.

It was time to lower the sun before she even realized it, something that Luna had to remind the princess of when she woke up. Night bid her goodnight after completing a mountain of paperwork, all of which had to have the royal stamp of approval, and left for her room.

When she walked in to her bedchambers, she noticed two very distinctive things, two things that simply jumped up at her and caught her eye before anything else. The first was her bed. It was an alicorn-sized bed, made of the softest feathers and warmest blankets. Each of which simply begged for their occupant to return, they called out for Night like a mother calling out for her foal, a promise of warm milk and unconditional love in their voice. Night almost collapsed immediately upon laying eyes on such a soft, warm, and inviting proposition. It would have brought a tear to her eye; it would have, if not for the second thing.

The second thing, completely killed the mood of the first, it was the one thing she could not take at this moment. The one thing she definitely did not want to see. Not now… not with her bed so close. Alas, she could not ignore it, as it was waiting in her bed.

Ataxia was laying in said bed waiting on her.

“Hey Night, welcome back!” Ataxia looked up with a grin on her face, she was going for seductress, but to Night it only came across as trouble.

“Ataxia, get out of my bed, I am so not in the mood for… whatever it is your planning right now.”

“Ah, and here I’ve been waiting patiently for you all this time, and you don’t want to see me now? I’m hurt.”

Night surrounded the mare with her magic and lifted her up and away from the bed; she could forgive the bed for cheating on her… this time. It simply looked too good for her to stay mad at it. That being said, she was not in the mood for a threesome. She wanted the bed all to herself.

When Night collapsed on the bed, she also let the magic go that was surrounding Ataxia; the mare fell on the floor with a loud thud. “What the hell Night!” She shouted, the damage to her ego far exceeded any actual pain she suffered.

“My bed, and I’m not in the mood to share.”

Ataxia got to her hooves and looked down at her friend, it was obvious Night was not in any sort of playing mood right now. That being said, Ataxia was not the type to simply give up, or to catch onto obvious hints like that. Something was truly bugging her friend, while Night would normally tire of her antics, this was the first time Night simply threw her to the side. That was the part that hurt the most. Night wasn’t the type to be so dismissive. “It’s more than that. I can tell, Night.”

“Who knew Miss Obvious made the rank of Captain.” Night replied, a snarky tone to her voice.

“Ha, ha, ha, that’s so funny I forgot to laugh.”

“Really? ‘Cause it sounds like you just did.”

Ataxia was really starting to worry now; it was a rare day that Shimmering Night would make a joke like that. For the mare to make two in one go? It was unheard of. “Night, what’s this really about.”

“I just want to sleep, Ataxia. It has been a long, long day. Can this conversation wait until the morning?”

The sudden vibrations coming from the side of the bed told Night the answer to that question. Ataxia would not go anywhere without getting an answer. ‘I swear, that mare is more stubborn than Applejack ever was.’

“Well, if you want the bed to yourself, you will tell me; otherwise, I’m not going anywhere.” Ataxia said, matter-of-factly.

Night turned her head and looked at her friend, Ataxia was doing her best to try to mimic her mom’s signature, ‘I’m too cute for you to be angry at,’ face. Needless to say, she needed more lessons, as only Rainbow has ever been able to pull of that look, and even then it only ever worked on Twilight.

“Fine, you want to know what the problem is Ataxia? Is that really what you want to know?”

“Of course.” Ataxia smiled.

Shimmering Night sat up and looked at Ataxia, there was no hint of anything but seriousness to her. “You’re the bucking problem!”

The smile faded.

“You never think, you never listen to what anypony else ever says! You don’t obey orders; you always do anything you want, whenever you want, regardless of the consequences. But you know what? I only ever went along with it! I’ve actually encouraged this behavior over the years!” Night looked up in the air as she let out everything that had been building up over the past few years. “I thought it was funny, I laughed when you pulled off your ‘Mostly harmless’ pranks. Luna dammit Ataxia… how many ponies have you hurt? How many will you hurt before you check yourself?”

For Ataxia, every blow was a shot to the gut; she had never felt like this before, Night was mad at her and from the sounds of it, she had been for quite some time. It was that which hurt the most; she had kept this all bottled in for Luna knows how long.

“But I looked the other way, always giving you the benefit of the doubt. I would simply say, that’s just who she is. Then… then your little stunt the other day, it hit my mom Ataxia….”

“Night I…”

“No, I’m not done. Ataxia, I still don’t know if that magic did anything to Twilight. For you, I did not tell her anything. I did not tell my mom that my best friend in the world hit her with an unknown spell that could have caused… whatever to happen.”

Ataxia got mad at that. “Hey! That wasn’t just me you know! You’re the one who deflected it like that.”

Night just looked at her.

“Really Ataxia? Bucking really? I’m the one who is at fault because I did not simply let myself get hit? Is that really the defense you are going to go with? Are you REALLY trying to turn this around on me for bucking defending myself? Think very carefully about your answer.”

“… No…” Hearing it said out loud, Ataxia realized just how dumb it sounded.

“Why don’t you just go? I need… I need some time to think…”

“No.”

“What?”

“I said no. I’m not just going to leave it like this. I… We… You mean too much to me, Night, to simply let this go. As such, I’m not going anywhere until we can get past this. Until we can both be good.”

“I’m tired Ataxia…”

“Tough. You’re a big girl now Night. Time to start to act like it.”

“If I call the guards to throw you out?”

“Night, we both know that only Rainbow or Twilight could toss me out of here against my will. If you want to go down that path, I’m all for it, but I somehow don’t think you're in the mood for such an action or the consequence that would come with it. I am, it’s not worth playing by the rules if it I can’t keep my friend.”

Night paused and thought of it, her mind playing through all the actions that would occur if she went down that road… it was not a pleasant idea and would definitely lead to even more trouble. She collapsed back onto the bed, her energy spent. “Fine… you win. Do… whatever you want, I don’t care anymore.”

Somehow, that hurt Ataxia more than anything else that had been said that night. “I’m sorry, alright? I’m sorry about what happened; I don’t even know what happened or how it happened. Let me… let me make it up to you.”

“Make it up to me? How?”

“Let me take you out and treat you for a night. We can make a date of it.”

“You want to treat me?”

“I know I’m a pain in the flank… I always have been, but I’m trying Night. I really am. I can’t do it on my own though, I need your help, I need you to believe in me, because if you don’t… There is no reason for me to even try. With the loss of Fluttershy… you’re my best friend in the world Night, I don’t want to lose you too.”

Ataxia collapsed next to her friend and buried her head in Night’s side, tears running down her face. Shimmering Night did not know if it was the sincerity in her voice, the stupid logic of her statement, her actually bringing up Fluttershy, or the tears running down her eyes. For the life of her, Night did not want to forgive… not again, but she couldn’t do anything else. Ataxia was still her friend, regardless what else may come.

“Fine… We can go hit the town this Friday.”

“Really?” Ataxia looked up, tears still running down her cheeks.

“Sure… It would be good to get a break away from all of this. I do still believe in you Ataxia.” A weight lifted from Night’s chest as she realized that she did. It was all the truth. She did still believe in her friend. Even after everything that had happened. She did not hate her….

Ataxia jumped up and hugged her friend. “Thank you Night! I promise it will be the best date ever!”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure you will simply romance me off my hooves.” Night snarked sarcastically as Ataxia jumped out the window and flew off into the night. Night could only watch her go, with a smile on her face as her friend left. As Ataxia left, Shimmering Night smiled at the thought of Ataxia actually dolled up and pampered in a fancy dress trying to act mare-like. The thought made her laugh. She did not know what Ataxia was planning but she knew it would not be anything like that.

‘Wait… she doesn’t mean like a date-date, does she?’

Shimmering Night laughed again at that thought as she lay her head back down. The idea was preposterous and absurd to say the least. She knew Ataxia better than that.

‘Just my imagination playing games with me’ Night thought as sleep finally overtook her. She had a whole week before she had to deal with whatever game Ataxia wanted to play on Friday, she would not lose any sleep over it right this second. Her exhaustion made sure of that.

Her dreams spoke of a completely different story, as thoughts of the two on an actual date played out in her subconscious. While she did not remember any of them, she woke up very happy for some strange odd reason. Something all the nobles at court were quick to ruin.

…………………………….

Cloudsdale
Friday morning

Cadance had put it off long enough, she knew it had actually been too damn long. That only made the situation worse… She had to speak with Spitfire; she was not sure how, but somehow her son and daughter-in-law had wrangled her into this without her even being aware of it. That was the worst part of all of this; it was even worse than the fact that she was now the de facto ruler of the Crystal Empire and Cloudsdale. Something she had never, never signed up for.

‘The things we do for family.’ She thought to herself.

The fact she should have done this three bucking months ago… That made things hell. Or at least, that is what it was going to become. Cadance gulped and swallowed down the small amount of vomit that had just come up. Whatever was going to happen, she had to face it. Of course, that did not mean she could not plan for it. Just in case the worst-case scenario did happen.

Cadance paused before knocking on the door of the old mare. At the best of times, Spitfire was not a pleasant pony to be around. She had heard that the mare actually mellowed out a little after her daughter was married… of course, that was before her daughter ended up pregnant and bedridden for a year. That definitely made this news NOT one of the ‘better’ times.

So Cadance prepared. She wrote a quick letter to Spike, to be forwarded on to Twilight and Rainbow if things went from bad to worse… ‘Maybe it was a bad idea to come alone.’ Cadance dismissed that thought; this was something she had to do. It was not a duty she would shrink from. ‘I’m a princess dammit!!! I should not be afraid of an old pegasus! Yeah, keep telling yourself that…’

She was afraid, but any further delay would only make things worse.

Cadance put the letter in her knapsack and readied her courage. She rang the doorbell as three loud ding, ding, dings could be heard from inside the house.

‘Ask not for whom the bell tolls.’

“NOT HELPING!”

She blushed as she realized that she had just shouted the last part at herself. It was made even worse by the fact that it was at that moment that Spitfire opened the door.

“Princess Cadance?” Spitfire asked.

Cadance paused as she took in the old mare; it had been months since they had last seen each other. She looked... tired for the lack of a better word. The stress of all those years as Captain of the Wonderbolts had taken their toll on her. There were bags under her eyes that spoke of weeks since her last full night’s sleep. Another byproduct of her old age.

Her wings… Cadance did not believe that Spitfire had preened them since the wedding. She had heard that serving in the Wonderbolts was rough on a pegasus’s wings. The group would push you to your limits and then past them, over and over. Most ponies could not serve more than ten years before they had to retire. Somehow, Spitfire did twenty before her retirement. It was said she was saving the position for her daughter.

Not that anypony would ever accuse them of nepotism. There was no doubt in any pony’s mind that Firestar earned that position the hard way. If anything, having her mother as her commander made it that much harder on Firestar. Small mistakes that other ponies could brush off were anything but for her daughter. She demanded the best from Firestar simply because she knew she was capable of it. After all, her mom was a Wonderbolt, and while Firestar did not know which stallion was her dad, she knew he was a Wonderbolt too. That meant it was in her blood. It was her destiny to be one of the greats, something she lived up to in every sense of the word.

“Princess Cadance?”

Cadance snapped to; she had spaced out there and left the old mare hanging… that was not the way she wanted to start this conversation. “Sorry about that Captain Spitfire, may I come in?” She asked the old mare.

“Sure, but please, just Spitfire, we are family now after all.”

‘I hope you remember that.’ Cadance thought to herself as she walked into the old mare’s house. It was standard Cloudsdale architecture, elegant but tactful, soft but sturdy, all at the same time.

“Would you like some tea, princess?”

“That would be lovely Spitfire, but please, just call me Cadance. As you said, we are family now.” Spitfire chuckled a bit as she turned and left for the kitchen. It only took the mare a few moments to return with two cups of tea balanced on her wings. Something Cadance relieved her of as soon as she saw. Magic generally made everything a little easier.

Spitfire took a sip of her tea with a smile on her face. Faking a smile of her own, Cadance began sipping her drink.

“This is about Firestar isn’t it?”

Cadance almost sprayed Spitfire with a mouthful of the liquid. While she did her best to keep the tea in her mouth, it did leave her with quite the coughing fit. Something that took her two minutes to get over.

When Cadance at last regained her ability to speak, a look at the old mare confirmed her suspicion that Spitfire planned that out. “What makes you say that?” Cadance tried to regain the upper hoof on this conversation. Something she desperately needed if she wanted this to go the right way.

“Well, for starters, when does a old mare like me get a personal visit from Royalty? I’m not dumb, Cadance, I know that you have been taking over a lot of the rule of Cloudsdale. What I don’t know is why… If something happened to my daughter one would think I would have been informed. Or that her husband would at least take over the duties that are not regulated by the council. Yet I haven’t seen or heard so much of a peep from either of them.”

Cadance officially lost any hope over ever getting the upper hoof. Spitfire not only knew, she had known for quite some time.

“Tell me, what mess did my daughter get herself in this time? Did she screw it up with the young prince?”

“No, no, no, no, nothing like that.”

“Is she missing, dead?” The look on Spitfire’s face spoke volumes of how angry she would be if that were the case. Cadance reached out with her magic and readied the letter.

“No, she’s not missing or dead.”

“Are we going to play twenty questions all night? Or do you just want to come out and say it?”

Cadance sighed… It was finally time to do what she should have done months ago. “First let me apologize, I should have told you this months ago, but the responsibilities of looking ov-“

“Cadance, enough of the platitudes, please, please tell me what happened to my daughter.” For those few moments, Cadance saw the truth in the old mare, gone was the tough drill instructor. The façade of the strong ornery old mare who had seen too much in her long life was dropped. All Cadance saw in those few seconds was a mother who was worried about the daughter she loved.

That Cadance could work with.

“Well, I should start by telling you that Firestar is pregnant.”

Cadance began recanting the story from start to finish. She did not skip on any of the details she knew of, from how impressive Firestar had been throughout her entire recovery, to what a total bitch she was stuck in bed. During the entire recant of the story, Cadance never took her eyes off of Spitfire. The mare was stoic throughout the telling, never once did her façade fade again. She sat patiently waiting for Cadance to finish telling her everything. All the while sipping her tea.

Cadance ended the story, her eyes glued to the floor as she did so. “And that’s what happened…”

Spitfire sat her tea back on the table, her expression unreadable. “I see.”

“Sorry, I know I should have come to you earlier, there was no excuse for keeping this from you as long as I did. It wasn’t right to hold this information from you.”

Spitfire grabbed her cup and took another sip. “What do you have to apologize for? It’s not like you intentionally kept this from me… Oh, wait, that’s right, you did. My daughter… she’s in the hospital, pregnant, and you kept it from me.” She smashed the cup against the table.

Cadance felt something was wrong, something really, really wrong. She could not identify what it was though.

Spitfire stood up and walked two steps closer to the princess. “And you come here now… to relieve your own guilt, princess.”

Cadance stood up and backed away slowly, she gulped at the thought of what this mare was about to do. This was definitely the worst-case scenario. “Spitfire, I-“

“You what? You didn’t mean it? Well, princess? You what?” Another two steps forward.

Cadance took another two steps backwards; her flank hit the side of the room. She felt something coming from the mare, a presence that Cadance could not explain. Something was wrong… something was fundamentally off. A… force had wrapped itself around the mare’s heart. Causing her hatred to boil over into rage, this was the definition of bad. How long it had been there, or how it had hidden itself so well, Cadance would never know.

Cadance wrapped her magic around the scroll in her bag and sent if off to Spike. She knew that he would forward the message on to Twilight and Rainbow. For this… whatever this is, she would need them both.

That action ended up saving all of Cloudsdale, but it would come at a cost that nopony would ever fully understand.

…………………………….

Canterlot
Friday evening

Shimmering Night finished shuffling the paperwork she just finished as the day was finally coming to an end. After this week, Night could not think of a Friday she was more appreciative for that she could ever remember. Taking a two-week vacation out of nowhere… even if it was to try and protect her mom, it was not the wisest move she had made in her life. Sure, Luna was here in case something went really wrong, but she did not cover the mundane, everyday, boring stuff that was required to keep the country running. Her elegant reply to Night’s question of why still played in her head.

“We wished to make sure you still had something to do when you got back.”

That ‘something to do’ included enough paperwork to drown a whole family in their beds. Night felt like she had signed a million forms in triplicate over the last two days alone. That did not even count the endless parade of ponies coming for her blessing, advice, and the dignitaries from other nations, and the downright beggars that requested a royal audience. Something else that Luna wanted no part in, and in truth, they wanted no part in her taking part in it. Not after she tried solving a custody dispute by sawing the foal in half….

So Night smiled, listened to each and every pony, griffin, minotaur, diamond dog, and whatever else came in the door. All the while she had her muzzle buried in paperwork. Without a doubt she had offended some of them, but she was quickly becoming the ‘Princess of Multitasking,’ something she inherited from Twilight no doubt.

But now, now it was all over. After busting her flank off getting everything done, she could finally enjoy a nice weekend of peace and quiet without any more distractions.

“I think I will start off with a nice, long, hot, show-“

“About time Night! You have no idea how boring it was sitting here for four hours waiting for you to get done playing princess. You about ready to go or what?”

Her good mood vanished when she walked into her room. Sitting there, looking bored was Ataxia, suddenly the shower which was only a few hooves away might as well have been on the other side of the planet, protected by a swarm of hungry pony-eating dragons and surrounded by one of her mom’s most powerful defense spells. It would take an army to get to it now, and even then success would be unlikely.

“I’m not playing princess, Ataxia. I AM a princess. What are you even doing here anyway?”

“Equestria to Night? We’re going out tonight, remember?”

‘Buck me, I so forgot.’

“Of course I do, but isn’t it kind of early, shouldn’t we wait a little bit?”

‘Maybe if I get her distracted she will forget this whole thing.”

“Ah, Night, it’s after ten, that’s plenty late enough. Now move your flank and lets go!”

‘Damn….’

Night took one last longing look at her bathroom. It was so close… She would have signed over all the treasure in the place at that moment for five bucking minutes alone in that room right now. Alas, it was not meant to be, Ataxia had waited for a long time for her and she did promise that she would go out with her. Regardless of how she felt, it was the right thing to do. ‘Once you make a promise, that’s your word out there. It’s how others judge your character. You should always keep your promises.’

Night mentality cursed Rainbow for installing that lesson into her. She turned to her friend and did her best to fake a smile. “What are we waiting for? Lead the way.”

Ataxia’s smile was brighter than the sun. “That’s my girl; c’mon lets go!” Night reflected that it was a mark of restraint for her friend that she did not simply blow a hole in the side of the castle for them to fly out. Instead she simply jumped out of the window and transformed. Something she was getting infinitely good at doing.

“You coming, slowpoke?!”

That made Shimmering Night’s blood run. While she would never claim to be the athlete Rainbow or Aurora was, no pony called a foal of Rainbow Dash slow. “Oh it’s on Ataxia.” Night stretched her wings, the creaking in her joints letting her know just how long it had been since she had last done that. Still, even after all this time, her muscles felt ready; they were tense, tense for some real action, for a real workout.

She did not have much hope of actually beating Ataxia, not if the mare took it seriously, but she could give her a run for her money. Which was exactly what they did as the two made their way to Las Pegasus. Their flight time would have impressed Rainbow Dash.

Mind you, it was nowhere near Rainbow's record, but it was impressive nevertheless. They covered the distance in less than an hour. Arriving just as the clock struck eleven.

…

“Damn Night, who knew you had that much energy.” Ataxia and Night both landed completely out of breath on the top of a building in Los Pegasus. Exhausted, panting, and both very much awake. Something that Ataxia was entirely grateful of as she transformed back into her pony form. Part of her had been worried that Night would fall asleep halfway through the night.

“Ataxia, you have no idea how much I needed that. Sitting on my rump all damn day signing forms or listening to a pony complain about this or that… I have no idea why any pony would ever want this job; it's mentally exhausting to say the least.”

“Don’t you enjoy being the glamor of the job? Wearing a crown and having your regality preserved in a stained glass window for everypony to see?” Ataxia could not keep the shit-eating grin off her face as she channeled her ‘inner Rarity’, it was a mark of true self control that she did not simply bust out laughing.

Night simply pushed her over onto her side. “Shut up! Now where are we heading?”

Ataxia’s façade broke down at that, she burst into laughter that became all consuming. Her voice carried over several blocks. Night simply put up with the indignation of the situation. When Ataxia finally finished, Night spoke up. “You done?”

“Hey, that was funny.” Ataxia smiled, realizing that she was the only one laughing. Yet somehow, that just made it all the funnier.

“We going or what?” Night asked, her patience reaching the end for this little stunt.

“Yeah, yeah, there are just two little problems we have to address first.”

“Ataxia…”

“Relax, it’s just that we both stink. I doubt you want to go into town smelling like that.”

‘Not that I would mind…’ Ataxia thought to herself.

“Oh, yeah, right.” Night took a big inhale through her nose. Her face instantly grimaced. Ataxia was right, she did stink. “I might know just the thing.” Night focused her magic on the two of them. In a flash of light, they were both clean. It was nowhere near as satisfying as actually taking a shower, or a bath for that matter, but it still got the job done all the same.

“What’s the second thing?”

“Well, I’m sure you can get into wherever you want as an alicorn, but that won't really work if we want any of this night to ourselves. Anything you can do to hide the wings or horn?”

Night looked at her wings, Ataxia had a point. If they were going to have a good time here, they needed to blend in… while it was true most ponies would not look twice at an alicorn walking down the street. Still, it could attract a little more attention than they would want right now. This night should just be about the two of them. Relaxing and getting caught up, just like it was in the good old days.

“I know what to do, I’ll just cast a basic glamor spell.” Once again focusing her magic, Night surrounded her body with a charm spell. Her appearance shrunk down several hooves. Her horn and wings disappeared into her body as the spell went to work. In all reality, she was still Princess Shimmering Night, the purple alicorn with the rainbow mane. However, to anypony who looked at her, she was a pink earth pony, with a sky blue mane and sunflower cutie mark. No different looking than any of the other thousand earth ponies in town.

To Ataxia, she was still drop dead gorgeous.

“Ok, that should do it.” Night replied, after a few minutes of no response she looked over at her friend. Slightly surprised to find Ataxia’s mouth stuck in the open position. Night smiled and started laughing as she walked past her. “C’mon Ataxia, it’s not that impressive of a spell, I’ve seen you do things that blow this out of the water.”

Ataxia realized her mistake and shut her mouth. ‘Yeah, the spell.’ She started blushing at that thought. Something she was glad the cold night’s air quickly hid. “Alright, lets get going.” Ataxia went to jump off the roof; something a quick magic grasp on her tail stopped her from doing.

“What the buck, Night?”

“Isn’t the point of this to enjoy the night, without attracting a lot of undue attention?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So what do you think will happen if you transform above the city? You can go incognito as a pony but your dragacorn form is well known Ataxia. You would be recognized in an instant and that would definitely ruin whatever plans you have for the night.”

“Says the earth pony who just used magic.”

“Shut up.” Night blushed at that, “It was just to stop you from being stupid.”

“Yeah, yeah, well how do you suggest we get off this building then?”

Night gestured over to the doors that lead to the stairs.

“Oh, yeah… right.” For the second time in so many moments, Ataxia found a blush on her face. Something that did not go away as she followed her friend down the stairs. Night’s flank bouncing up and down in front of her face as she trailed her a little closer then she should have did nothing to help the situation. When they reached the bottom, Ataxia was very; very grateful to not be a stallion, as there was no way she could have hidden what she felt at this moment.

“Are… are you ok, Ataxia? You look a little flushed.”

Ataxia shook her head; Night was staring straight at her as she said that. Ataxia mentally berated herself for acting so brash like that. “Yeah, I’m alright Night, I’m just so excited about being back here. I can’t wait to show you what I have in store for you tonight! It’s going to be a blast.”

“Oh, ok. So where too?” Night was not sure just what was going on with her friend, but she seemed to have snapped out of it.

“We’re almost there actually, just two blocks to the north. Trust me, you can’t miss it.” Ataxia winked and took off to the north. “C’mon slowpoke; lets have a good old fashioned hoof race!” Ataxia left a very confused Night in the dust, leaving her with no choice but to run after her.

…

Night had to admit; Ataxia was right, she could not miss it. Not even if she wanted too. The Rainbow Light club had a way of sticking out from a mile away. Named for the rather impressive light display put on by the unicorns that ran it, it featured several impressive spaces that transformed as ponies danced on them, although, never in such a way to hurt anypony. It seemed as if the ponies that ran it figured out exactly what they could get away with.

Despite herself, Night was actually looking forward to this. The beat from the music could be felt from outside, a strange mix of classical and dubstep that just seemed to work. Of course, farther enjoyment could only come if they could actually get inside. The line seemed to be a bucking mile long.

“Ataxia, by the time we get in, it’s going to be Monday.” There was some truth to that statement. Night ran the numbers of ponies that actually made it inside and divided that by the time it took for those ponies to get inside, then multiplied that by the number of ponies in line, adjusted for the fact she could not even see the whole line. Accounting for a six-hour rest, it would take all weekend before it was their turn to go in.

“Should I just…” Night gestured to her head, if she revealed who she was, that would no doubt get them into the club. Of course, that would also give away who she was, something Ataxia did not want to happen.

“C’mon Night, do you think I would leave my best girl hanging like that. Trust me, I’ll get us in.” With that proclamation, Ataxia proceeded to bypass the line entirely and walked right up to the bouncer pony, who was a huge earth pony with a black coat and gray mane. His cutie mark was of a door being broken open. Briefly, Night wondered just how a pony figures out that that is their special talent in life. There were some things in this world that she would never understand.

“Back of the lin-“ the pony shut up as soon as he saw who was coming up. “Ataxia! I’m sorry; I did not know it was you. Who’s your friend?”

Ataxia smiled. “Oh, this is Sunflower. Don’t worry, she’s cool.”

“Any friend of Ataxia’s is welcome here. Do come in.” Ataxia walked into the club with her head held high and a bounce in her tail. Night followed, a little guilty about cutting in front of all the ponies waiting in line that were none too pleased with having to wait even longer to get in.

“Alright, two questions: Sunflower? And how did you do that?”

“What, you don’t like the name?” Ataxia smirked.

“It’s not that… Where did you even come up with it?”

Ataxia simply grinned and pointed a hoof at Night’s cutie mark. “Oh, yeah, right…” Night said with a blush.

“As far as the second thing goes. What, did you think I don’t have my own sort of fame here?”

“What did you do?” Night’s face took on a grimace. Unsure just what a pony like Ataxia could have done to be so well known in a place like this… she could imagine, but she hoped that it was simply that, her imagination. Somehow, she had a feeling it was not, that the reality of the situation would be worse than what she could picture.

“Lets just say, I get around.” Ataxia blew her friend a raspberry as she walked through the last set of doors. Letting Night know that this conversation was indeed over as the music ruined any chance of them continuing.

Night followed her friend into the main area. The music was deafening. A constant beat that seemed to shake every bone in her body and rob any sort of hearing she might hope for. Of course, if the music was loud on her ears. What her eyes saw put that to shame.

Rainbow Light got its name from the impressive light display that it put on each and every night, and tonight was no exception. Rainbows bounced from crystal to crystal, all around the club. Night watched as one rainbow made several different stops all along its path, before finally striking a prism that separated it into its component lights that showered the ponies dancing on the floor, leaving them covered in glitter, each made of a different color of the rainbow.

It all made of one impressive show. Other than the rainbows and the component lights, the room would have been pitch black. Somehow, that seemed to enhance the whole experience. Despite her frustration over everything that had occurred, Night actually found herself in the mood to dance. She began looking for her friend. Something that was unnecessary as it was at that moment that Ataxia found her.

Ataxia levitated a tray of drinks over to Night. Who picked up one of the two drinks meant for her in her mouth and chugged it back, something that impressed Ataxia to no end. To Night’s surprise, the drink went down quite smooth. She could taste the alcohol in it, but it did not leave any of the nasty side effects that normally accompanied such activities.

“This is really good!”

“What?!”

“I said… Never mind!”

“What?!”

Night shook her head and smiled, she simply placed the empty cup back down on the tray and took the other one meant for her. Slamming that back she saw that Ataxia shot back both of hers without pause. They appeared to be a slightly different color, and judging by the look of Ataxia face as she did so, Night had no doubt that she had just drunk something a lot stronger than what she got for her.

‘So she went out of her way to order me something I would like…’ Night thought to herself. That caused a whole slew of different emotions in the young alicorn.

“Let's dance!” Night shouted.

“What?!”

Night laughed and grabbed Ataxia’s hoof. Leading her friend out onto the dance floor.

…

Night was not wrong. Ataxia’s drinks were far, far stronger than her own, and there was a reason for that. Ataxia knew her friend would want to dance. While Night had gotten many things from each of her parents. Unfortunately, she inherited her dancing skills from Twilight and not Rainbow. This led to her ‘busting a move’ like a seizure patient. Something Ataxia normally thought of as cute… but in a place like this, with Ataxia’s reputation on the line, it was quite embarrassing. The sheer amount of eyes that turned to the two of them would normally cause her to begin frying those eyes out of the sockets they belonged too.

However, she was sure that would kill the night. Something she did not want to happen, so Ataxia turned to her old friend instead: Liquid courage. Although even that could not stop Ataxia from almost breaking out in giggles every time she watched Shimmering Night.

When the song finally ended, Shimmering Night was standing there exhausted with a grin on her face. She was blissfully unaware of just how many ponies had paused to watch her ‘dance,’ something Ataxia was grateful for. “Lets rest for a minute.” Ataxia suggested.

“Ok… Sounds good.” Night replied with panting breaths and a wide grin on her face.

‘Maybe if you learned how to dance you wouldn’t be so tired.’ Ataxia thought to herself, but she dismissed that thought. It was just another thing that made Night... well, Night. She would not change that for the world.

Ataxia smiled as she realized the truth in that, she really would not change a thing about her friend. She was, for lack of a better term, perfect. Quirks and all, after all, they are what makes her, her.

When they found a booth, Night turned to Ataxia. “What are you smiling for?” Night asked with a playful look on her face.

“What can I say? I like dancing with you.”

“Oh, I thought it was because of the company that’s coming our way.” Night pointed to two stallions walking over. The one on the left was taller than his companion. A dark blue pegasus with a white mane and cloud cutie mark. The ‘I am one hundred percent confident in myself’ look on his face made Ataxia want to gag. His companion was not any better. He was a short, stocky brown unicorn with a light blue mane. His cutie mark was that of a hard hat.

Their presence did anything but make Ataxia want to smile.

“Evening madams, I’m Sky Buster and this is my friend Bearing Point. May we join you ladies and buy you a drink?”

Night and Ataxia looked at each other, a smile passed between them. “Sure, have a seat.” After all, why pass up a free drink?

Ataxia was a little insulted when Sky Buster sat next to Night… she had seen this play before, even doing it a few times herself. Bearing Point was Sky Buster’s wing pony; it was his job to distract the cute one’s friend while he went after the real prize. Although, Ataxia did have to admit that Night was, probably, the cute one in this situation. It did not remove the sting of it though.

It was then that the music started up again. Thinking quickly, Bearing Point cast a quick sound-damping spell over the group so they could talk. Ataxia cursed under her breath for not remembering that herself.

“So, what brings a lovely earth pony like yourself out to a place like this?” Ataxia watched as Sky Buster moved ever so closer to Night. She already did not like this pony and he was only digging that hole even deeper with every passing second.

Night looked at him, his devilish good looks were something to be admired, even if she knew it wasn’t going to go anywhere. “Actually it was my friends idea; she saw how hard I was working this week and took me out for a night on the town.”

“Oh, so I have her to thank for my pleasure of meeting such a beautiful mare. Tell me, what does a pony like you do for a living?”

Ataxia almost threw up all over Breaking Point at that line. This stallion could not be more cliché if he was reading from a book.

“Oh, I own a small flower shop, it’s not much but I get by. You... you think I’m pretty?”

“How could I not? My eyes work after all.”

The blush on ‘Sunflower’s’ face almost did cause Ataxia to puke. Thinking quickly. “So about those drinks?”

“Oh, of course. Breaking Point, do you mind?”

“Sure.” Ataxia groaned when he got up and left, she was sure the stallion had been trying some moves out on her, but she had not heard a word he said, she was too engrossed in watching this sick display in front of her.

When he left the table, Sky Buster turned back to his prize. “So what should I call a mare as lovely as yourself?”

“Sunflower.”

“A beautiful name fitting a beautiful pony.” He grabbed her hoof and lifted it to his lips, giving it a slow kiss as he did so.

At that, Ataxia rushed out of there, she really was going to puke and had to find the bathroom before that happened. Something she barely made in time. On the way back she felt a little guilty about leaving Night alone with a sleazebag like him, but it was that or completely ruin the night.

She made it back just in time to watch Breaking Point stop several hooves before reaching the table and drop something in their glasses… the stallion only dropped the item into two of the four glasses and then he shook them up. There was no doubt in Ataxia’s mind just who those drinks were meant for or what he dropped in them.

‘Oh, hell no…’ Ataxia followed him. She knew what that was, there was a time she would partake in such activities herself, but it was always her choice. She pushed her way past all of the ponies in the club and followed Breaking Point into the booth. Once there, she barely had any time to stop Night from taking a sip of her drink. Grabbing it with her magic she splashed the liquid all over Sky Buster's face. “I don’t bucking thing so!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Ataxia! Why did you do that?” Sunflower asked.

“C’mon Sunflower, we need to leave.”

“But…”

“I’ll tell you outside.” It was the serious look on Ataxia’s face that caused Night to not question it. Whatever the reason was, Ataxia would not be persuaded from this course of action.

“What if she wants to stay here?” Sky Buster wiped his face off with a napkin as he stood up. It was an obvious attempt to use his bulk to intimidate the smaller unicorn.

‘Oh please, let this happen.’ Ataxia did her absolute best to avoid grinning. “I tell you what, why don’t you follow us out back and we can discuss what Sunflower wants to do.”

“Yes, let us discuss that in detail.”

Ataxia led the way, all the while pressing her side close to Night’s. “Ataxia, what are you going to do to them?” Night whispered to her friend, worry permeating in her voice.

“Oh me? Nothing at all.” Ataxia snickered back. “I promise I won’t lay a hoof on them.”

The group left out the side door. Ataxia skillfully avoided the massive amount of ponies walking around. When they left the building, Ataxia found an empty alley around the side and turned to the two stallions. Who were doing their best to be as intimidating as possible.

That is to say, they were largely a joke to Ataxia. Something made even funnier by the fact that they were not in on it.

“So like I said, I think Sunflower can do as she pleases.” Sky Buster restated. He took two steps towards Ataxia.

“You're right, she can do as she wants. Tell me, Sunflower, did you want to take drugs with your drink.”

“What?!” Night’s eyes got large at that.

“I saw this one,” Ataxia pointed at Breaking Point, “drop pills in our drinks, I think you can imagine what they were for.”

“I would never!” Breaking Point shouted.

“Really?” Ataxia played a little spell she had picked up from Dayspring Gleam all those years ago. A magic recording of Breaking Point adding two capsules to two of the drinks.

The look on Night’s face told Ataxia all she needed to know; there was no longer any reason for her to lift a hoof now.

Sky Buster knew he was busted. “C’mon, Breaking Point. Lets leave these two old mares alone.” He turned to leave. “I think we can find better company somewhere else.”

“Oh, I don’t think you’re going anywhere.”

Sky Buster and Breaking Point both turned and looked at Sunflower. “What’s an earth pony like you going to do about it? You going to plant us a pretty flower?” Breaking Point laughed at his friend’s joke.

They both almost shit themselves when Shimmering Night dropped the glamor spell. “As a Princess of Equestria, I am placing you both under arrest.”

Ataxia laughed as Night teleported them both away. She knew, without a doubt, that the guards in the Palace would find two new occupants in the cells. Something that would cause a bit of paperwork when they got back, but in her opinion, they got off easy. Ataxia wanted to do far, far worse herself, but she did tell Night that she would not touch them.

“Thanks.” Night said.

“Hey, those stallions were creeps anyway. It was the least I could do.”

“You don’t know the half of it. If you thought his pickup lines were bad while you were there, you should have heard the ones he spoke when you left.”

“Wait, you knew?”

Night laughed. “Of course I knew, I’m not that dense Ataxia. I just…”

“Just what?”

“I liked the attention is all. It was nice to feel appreciated like that. It’s been… a long time since someone looked at me like that.”

That shocked Ataxia, she had never thought about that before.

Night lead the way out of the ally, pressing her side against Ataxia as they walked together. Ataxia was too lost in thought to lead the way. It did not matter to Night; she was having a wonderful time with her friend. Even with almost being drugged.

Somehow, it made things better knowing that Ataxia had her back like that.

“Night, you do know that we all appreciate what you do for us, right?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“What you said, about liking the attention, about feeling appreciated like that. I don’t know of any pony who doesn’t appreciate what you do, what our families have done.”

“Oh, yeah I guess that’s true…” the way she said it spoke the exact opposite to Ataxia.

“It's true, never forget it. I know it may be taxing at times, but you are appreciated.”

“I wish I was as sure as you.”

“Come with me, I want to show you something.”

“What?”

“Just trust me, I’ve been here a lot more than you after all.”

“Ok, fine.”

Ataxia led her friend several blocks away, each time she took another turn, Night got more and more lost. They were leaving the nightlife of Los Pegasus and heading into a completely new area. One that looked a lot more official, and a lot more boring, at least to a mare like Ataxia. Night’s interest was peaked as they passed several museums.

“This place was set up several years back. I was told of it one day after the manager of a club found out who my parents were.”

Night saw it as soon as they came into view. A large museum at the end of the street. The sign on it spoke in loud bold words: ‘The Saviors of Equestria.’

“Ataxia… what is this place.” Night spoke, her mouth agape.

“It’s a museum, dedicated to the heroes that saved Equestria. Don’t worry, we don’t have to break in, it’s open all night.”

She led her friend up the stairs and into the museum. Night was a little relieved that Ataxia was right; it was indeed open all night. When she stepped inside, the first thing that came into her view was an oversized statue of Celestia, in all her regal glory.

Carved in her finest getup, the sculptor took every pain to make the statue as realistic as possible, and what a job he did. Looking at it, if it was not for the size of the thing, Night could have been forgiven for thinking that she had come back from the dead. Magic imbued her mane and tail, causing it to flow in the exact same way as the real thing had. It was a perfect replica of the real thing.

“Ataxia… this, this is incredible.”

“Oh that? That’s not what I wanted to show you.”

“There’s more…”

“Oh much more.” Ataxia smiled and led the way past the statue. Off to the corner, Night spotted a whole wing dedicated to the two royal sisters. Each of whom had a life-sized statue carved of them. She briefly wondered if Luna even knew… however, she decided against telling her. Luna either knew and did not care, did not know and would not care, or did not know and would care. The last result would see her destroy all of these works of art. Something Night would be sad to see go.

Their path took them down the Hall of Elements. Four of the element barriers had two statues carved of them. One of their normal look with golden necklaces with their cutie mark embedded in them around their neck and one in their rainbow transformation. Something Night had to admit looked rather gaudy on most of them.

“It’s been forever since I’ve seen any of them like this…” Night paused in front of the Pinkie Pie rainbow power statue. She stopped to examine her outrageous mane and extra cutie marks.

“Tell me about it.” Ataxia was looking at Rarity’s rainbow power statue. Taking in, with disgust, her two tails. “Mom spends forever combing, brushing, and cleaning her one tail, if this is how she always looked, if she had to do that to two tails… forget about it. She would never go anywhere ever again.”

“Did you two ever really make up?” Night asked her friend. The spat they had… it hurt them both, even if Ataxia would never admit to it.

“Not really, we get along alright but it’s still there.” She laughed at that. “You know how they say you can’t ignore the elephant in the room. Well it’s true… believe me, every time I talk to her it's like that damn thing is simply staring at us.”

Night simply nodded as she watched her friend walk by. Right by another statue that wasn’t one Ataxia needed to look at right now. Ataxia did her absolute best to avoid looking at the statue of Fluttershy. That was something Night took easy notice of. It was easy to see that the wound was still too painful for her to deal with.

“I know right?” Night added as she walked down the hallway. Right into the room dedicated to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her wife, Princess Rainbow Dash.

She could only look on with eyes as wide as dinner plates. She knew the story; she heard and lived some of it first hoof, but to see it like this… She never imagined in a million years. All along the wall were statues, plaques, awards, dedications, and tributes. All dedicated to both of her mom’s. Gigantic statues of Rainbow and Twilight flanked the entrance to the rooms, each reaching out for the other; their hooves connecting the two. All along the wall were pictures of the two taken over the years. Somehow they even had Rainbow’s Wonderbolt uniform from back when she was a member of the Wonderbolts reserve and even when she made full-fledged member.

“Wow…” It was all Night could say.

“Over there is the Cadance and Shining Armor room.” Ataxia gestured with her hoof. “But that’s not what we are here to see. I want to show you this.” Ataxia led them both past the larger than life statue of Twilight with her Element of Magic crown. Straight into a room that Shimmering Night was both fully expecting and totally unprepared to see.

“Hello… brother.” A tear rolled down her eye as she took in a life-sized statue dedicated to her brother: Dayspring Gleam.

Ataxia ran to her side. “Night, I’m sorry. I should have remembered that.” She pressed her side up to her friend, allowing Night to bury her face into her shoulder. Something the alicorn took full advantage of. Shimmering Night was not sure if it was just the surprise that caused her to cry out, or the fact that others loved Dayspring enough to carve… this, this statue of him.

She realized why Ataxia brought her here. It came to her like a light switch being turned on. Ataxia wanted to show her the love that the ponies of Equestria had for all her family, even the ones that were no longer with them. The ones that it hurt to remember, but to do any less would be a dishonor to their memory.

“Thank you.” Night said with a sniffle

“You haven’t even seen what I want to show you yet.”

“I know and I will, but thank you anyway. This… this is amazing. I needed this Ataxia, more than I could ever say.”

“Hey, that’s what friends are for.”

Night removed her head and started walking around. All around the room was posters, plaques and dedications to the unicorn. Many of which she remembered him getting first hoof, others she had forgotten about or were not present for. Images of him hung all over the walls. Most of which were from his term as headmaster. “He really was talented, wasn’t he?”

“So are his sisters.” Ataxia pointed a hoof to the next room. Night walked into it to find a statue of Aurora waiting for her.

It was obvious to the mare that this room had seen a lot of remodeling as of late. Several things were moved around, all to make room for her new accomplishments as the new Empress of the Griffin Empire. It looked as if they were making room for another statue to be added. Night figured out without needing to be told that it was going to be dedicated to her new husband, Icarus. Again, pictures and images hung all over the walls. Night had to admit. She was cute as a little filly. Even if she had been nothing but trouble to grow up with.

“This is…”

“This is nothing, you should see your room.” Ataxia gestured to the room off to the side. Night walked though to see herself carved out in twenty-four karat gold. The statue was laced with gems of all sorts. Night smiled as she recognized the hoof work of one pony in it.

“Ok, I’ll admit, I did lie about one thing. I did not find this out from some club manager. My mom told me she was hired to design your statue.”

Night laughed. Off to the side she saw something that caught her interest. There was a carving of her standing victorious over a titan.

“But… that didn’t happen like that.”

“Come again?” Ataxia asked, unsure what she was talking about.

“I didn’t defeat the titan, Luna did.” Night gestured a hoof to the carving.

“Sorry Night, but you’re wrong about that.”

“Ataxia, I was there.”

“Yes, and so was Luna. I heard the story as well as the next pony. It was your ability that drew away the power of the Titan. Luna had tried several times to injure the thing, nothing she did worked. She was only able to kill it because of you, because of your special talent. You defeated the titan, not her. Luna’s own words in fact.”

“Ataxia…”

“Night listen, this is what I wanted to show you. You are appreciated. Look around here if you need any confirmation of that fact.”

Shimmering Night did just that. Glancing around, she saw statues, paintings, and carvings of her taking over raising and lowering the sun. Of her standing proud as a little filly and a grown mare.

“You truly are special, Night, and not just to me. Hell, you were the only Alicorn to ever be born! You were born special. But you're more than that, it’s something you have proven through your actions time and time again. But don’t just take my word for it.” Ataxia gestured to a little filly that just then walked into the room.

She was a pink pegasus, and from the looks of things no older than five or six. Her eyes were staring directly at Night. Her mouth agape with awe and wonder.

“Sunshine!! Get back here!” A voice called from down the hall. Thinking quickly, Ataxia cast an illusion over the two of them. Causing both mares to disappear from sight.

“Sunshine, what are you doing?”

“Mom! Mom! I saw Princess Shimmering Night!!! I saw her!”

“I’m sure you did sweetheart. But we came here because you said you wouldn’t go to sleep without thanking all of the princesses first. Now come on, there's still a few more down this way.”

“Oh that reminds me.” Sunshine ran up to where the two mares were standing. She could not see them anymore, but she was sure that they were still there. “Thank you Princess Shimmering Night. Thank you for everything.”

The little filly took off down the hall, straight for the room dedicated to Twilight and Rainbow. When she was well down the hallway, Ataxia lowered the illusion. It did not surprise her to see a tear fall down Night’s face.

“She’s not the only one you know. Thank you; thank you for believing in me all these years. Thank you for being my friend. For awhile, it seemed like you were the only one I had.”

“Ataxia, I…”

Ataxia held up a hoof, placing it gently on Night’s mouth. “No, let me get this out. I mean it Night. You have been there for me ever since we were little. When Dayspring and I had our falling out… it was you that didn’t just abandon me. It was you that gave me pause… I know I’m a big bitch at times.” She laughed at that.

“Ataxia…”

“Let me finish, please, I don’t think I can ever get this out again. I know I’m hard to deal with at the best of times. At my worst… well, I probably deserve a spot on the villains hall of fame. You... you and Fluttershy…” Ataxia visibly flinched as she said that name. “You two, you saved me from myself. You showed me that there are reasons not to hurt others, even if it was simply because I did not want to see you two disappointed in me. I don’t know what I would be if it wasn’t for you… I know I wouldn’t like myself though.”

Night reared up and hugged her friend. She was not surprised when she felt a few teardrops fall onto her coat. “Ataxia, you could never disappoint me.”

“Please… Please don’t ever stop believing in me, I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.” Ataxia sobbed out the words. “You… you mean the world to me Night. Please don’t leave me.”

“I could never.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

Night sat back on her flank. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Her hoof went through the motions as if it were only yesterday when Pinkie Pie taught her them.

Ataxia smiled.

Night smiled back.

Ataxia could not explain it, not in a million years of study. She was never an egghead; she had her fair share of talents. But that was never one of them. However, something just felt right about the moment at hoof.

There was something in the air, the connection that one only reads about in stores, in sappy fables of two ponies in love, the standard cliché of two hearts becoming one. Ataxia had never believed any of that garbage, but now… now she knew what that feeling was, what that felt like. She was living such a moment.

She leaned in. the moment was right, and she could not imagine a better way or time to steal a kiss from the one she loved more than anything else in the world. If she did not know better, she would have sworn that Cadance herself planned this moment. Or at the very least, she was right around the corner, hitting them both with her love magic. Ataxia supposed with her statue right around that corner, that may not be far from the truth.

Night paused as her friend moved in. She knew, intellectually, what was going to happen. What Ataxia was about to do and her mind was screaming at her to stop it, to stop it before it went any farther. Before it jeopardized their friendship, but her body would not obey. It wanted something completely different.

With the two opposing forces at war with each other, Night could only sit there as Ataxia closed the distance between them. Every second brought her an inch closer. Brought their lips that much closer…

Closer

Closer

Night could feel the heat from Ataxia’s breath. Their breathing matched up, each getting in sync with the other.

Closer

Closer

It would not be long now… a few more seconds, and it would be done. There would be no going back. Perhaps, it was already too late for that anyway? Oddly, Night found herself welcoming the moment. Her lips slightly parted, reading to meet her friend’s.

Closer

Closer

One more second and their lips would be together. Whatever happened at that point was beyond either of their knowledge. That thought filled them both with excitement and dread, all at the same time.

Clo-

Green dragon fire materialized in the small space between them. Causing both ponies to jump back in surprise. A letter came out of the fire, falling to the ground as it did so.

“What the buck, dad!” Ataxia shouted, a little louder then she meant to.

Night scooped up the letter in her magic. Fully expecting it to be for her. To her surprise, it was not. “Ataxia… It’s addressed to you.”

“What? He never writes me…” Ataxia took the letter in her own magic. Unrolling the scroll, she looked at it in disgust. “I hate reading.”

“Want me to read it to you?” Night asked, teasing her friend as she did so.

“Shut up. I’ll do it myself.”

Ataxia did a quick read.

Then another.

Then a third.

Then a forth, just to be sure.

She dropped the scroll. “Night, I… I gotta go.”

Shimmering Night was left with a flash of magic as she watched her friend cast a long distance teleportation spell. The haunted look on her face, and the fact that Ataxia would actually teleport herself somewhere told Night that whatever had happened, it was serious. Anything serious enough to cause a pony the likes of Ataxia to freak out… that was bad news for everyone.

She did not want to invade her friend’s privacy, but she had to know, just in case it was a matter of grave importance for the entire kingdom. Scooping up the letter, Night did a quick read of what it said. When she finished, her world came crashing down.

Dearest Ataxia.

Rarity is in Ponyville General Hospital, I… I’m afraid we haven’t been entirely honest with you over these last few months. She is ill, very ill. It was her decision to keep it from you and everyone else. I went along with it… You know how she is; she doesn’t want others to worry about her. She’s just not the type, always giving… even in the end.

I… I’m afraid that we can’t keep it quiet anymore. It’s her time. She doesn’t want her life extended magically… she says she has lived long enough. But, regardless what she may say… I do want her to see her friends and family one last time before she goes. Please make it here as soon as you can. I know you two always had your issues, but I don’t want there to be any regrets, for either of you.

I hope you can make it soon.

Your loving Dad,
Spike

It was a mark of the tearstains on the paper that told Night just how painful that had been to write for the dragon. She readied a teleportation spell of her own to follow her friend in her time of need. Even if Rarity did not want her help, she could at least be there for her friend. Focusing on her destination, she gathered more then enough magic to cast it.

She went nowhere.

“What’s going on?” Night asked no pony in particular.

A voice echoed through the wall. It was loud and grating on her ears as it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. “Oh, don’t worry. You’ll be fine, just no teleportation and no sending letters. Not for tonight at least.”

Laughter echoed throughout the room as Night began panicking. Whoever that was… he wanted to keep her away from Ataxia. That much was obvious.

“You won’t succeed!”

“Oh, but I already have. You just don’t know it yet.”

Night spread her wings and took off; straight up and out a hole she blasted in the roof. The sound of laughter following her all the way.

“Ataxia. Hold on, I’m coming.” Shimmering Night flew at top speed. Pushing herself as hard as she could. Straight towards Ponyville General Hospital and her friend. Who Night was convinced just teleported right into an ambush.

A Broken Heart

Author's Note

We've reached the half way point and it's been quite the journey.

I hope you've enjoyed the ride so far. I've enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to what's going to happen next.

I dedicate this chapter to anyone who has ever lost someone, either the death of someone you loved, or by suffering a broken heart.

Feel free to leave any comments you have down below. They do help me with new ideas of what to do next.

A Broken Heart

Ponyville

Ataxia is a strange mare. Born to Rarity, a unicorn and Spike, a dragon, Ataxia is special in every sense of the word. When she grew up, it was found that she could cast almost any spell she thought of. Her magic is based on chaos magic. Will controlled what she was able to do. If she wanted to change a pony into a toad, she could. If she wanted to play air pong with buildings, she could.

All she has to do is will something to happen and with few exceptions, it will happen. This is in no small part to what she is. Ataxia is the avatar to the god Chaos: Chaos, the creator of the universe, the God responsible for fate itself. For years he entertained himself simply by masquerading as his Occulous: Discord. After the events of forty years ago, his sister, Eros, taught him how to create an avatar.

It was a mark of brilliance, or insanity, that he chose his vessel to be the daughter of Spike and Rarity. In such a way, he could continue being friends will all of the former element bearers, all the while making their lives a living hell and as she was now family, there was nothing they could do about it. They could not turn him to stone or banish him to some far off dungeon. They were stuck with him, stuck with putting up with him, and all his antics.

That all changed when Fluttershy died. After that, Ataxia learned what it was to have true family. She and her mom reached an ‘understating’ and she finally knew what it was to have someone to care for, what it meant to be loved, unconditionally. Even if they had never truly seen eye to eye, she did still love her mom and Rarity, in turn, loved her back. After all, nothing is purer than the love of a mother and their foal, or the love of a foal for their mother.

When she received the letter from Spike, the same letter that interrupted her long awaited first kiss with the mare she grew to love, Shimmering Night. Ataxia found out the truth: her mom, Rarity, was dying. It was then that she wanted to be by her mom’s side, more so than even getting that first kiss. The kiss she had waited so long to have.

Ataxia’s will wanted her there; it wanted her at the hospital that her mom would never leave. It wanted her to be able to see her mom; even if it was going to be for the last time. Her magic simply obeyed the will of her body.

In a flash of white light, Ataxia teleported from Night’s side all the way to Ponyville General Hospital. It was an impressive feat. Teleportation over such distance would normally only be capable by an alicorn; well an alicorn or a pony that was an expert magic wielder, one with years of study and natural talent behind them.

Ataxia did not care about any of that. She did not care that ponies train for their entire lives to go half as far as she just went. She did not care when she appeared in the middle of the hospital’s main entrance she left scorch marks all over the floor from her sudden appearance. All she cared about was finding her mom. All she wanted was to be by Rarity’s side.

Ataxia ran forward to the nurse working the counter behind the desk. “Where is my mom?! Where’s Rarity?!”

The white pony simply stared on in shock, unsure just how she had gotten here like that or what she should do about it, if anything.

When the nurse failed to answer her question a split second after she asked, Ataxia’s patience hit its end. “I don’t have time for this!” Ataxia shouted. She ripped the clipboard from its spot hanging on the wall and started to examine it. For the most part, she could only make out every third word written down on the paper.

“That’s not the room listing. That’s the work schedule.”

“What?”

“Like I said, that’s not what you’re looking for.”

“Well bucking dammit, where is my mom! Please!”

“Miss, I need you to calm down.” The nurse said unenthusiastically. She was not in the mood for something like this, not tonight. She was so not in the mood for an out of control family member, not tonight.

“Calm down? Calm down?! I… I…” If steam could rise from a ponies head, it would be coming from Ataxia’s ears at that moment.

“Ataxia!” A voice yelled out from down the hall.

“Dad?” Ataxia looked in the direction the voice had come from. Down the hallway was a purple unicorn with a green mane. She could recognize that form anywhere, having grown up with it all her life. It was her father’s pony form. First given to him by his sister, Twilight, it’s been the form he spends the most amount of his time in. Unlike Ataxia, he did not have the ability to willingly switch between forms. He had to wait for a magic user to transform him. Specifically, one trained by Twilight to cast the transformation spell, and there was a small list of ponies that were capable of doing so, that list included: Twilight, Ataxia, Rarity, Night, Luna, and Cadance.

Not that it mattered, his dragon form was fully adult sized. It was already illegal for him to assume the form in Ponyville’s borders, in that form, he was easily bigger than any building in Ponyville. His power and strength increased ten-fold, but even as a pony, he was still larger than most, only a fully-grown alicorn could match his size. Even with how reduced it was.

When Ataxia looked down the hall, she wanted to bust out crying. She wanted to run to his hooves and weep out her tears. She wanted to slap him upside the head for hiding this from her all this time… all this time she could have been spending with her mom, before… before she left them.

Forever.

Ataxia could not decide between the three, so she did what she did best. Ataxia said buck it all and did all three.

“DAD!!!” She yelled, crying as she did so. When she reached the dragon pony, she slapped him upside the head as hard as her hoof could swing.

Spike just took it, he expected no less from his daughter. When he looked back at her, tears were still falling from her eyes. For Spike, he just felt nothing. He had not felt anything since sending the letters. They left him numb… it was him having to admit the truth, to everyone, the truth that he had hidden, that he had denied. Admitting it, writing it down, made it real, made it so he could not deny it any more.

That all changed when Ataxia jumped into his arms. The mare wrapped a hoof around him, squeezing him so hard; Spike actually felt some of his bones crack back into place.

Her tears fell on his coat.

Spike could feel her breathing through her body.

Her heartbeat was going a mile a minute.

She was shaking.

Spike started crying again. Tears he thought were long since dried up fell, yet again. He collapsed to his flank under the combined weight of the two of them. Ataxia never let go, she transferred even more of her own weight to the stallion, falling into his hooves as she did so.

Spike took it; he took it all and more. As a baby, he was easily able to lift things many, many times greater than this. Yet, somehow, this was the heaviest thing he had ever carried. Yet he would not fall, he would not shrink from this.

Spike wrapped a hoof around his daughter and joined her in her grief.

Father and daughter sat out in the hallway crying into each other’s shoulders. Their grief a mark of the loss the two were undergoing. The reality of the situation was bearing down on the two. They sat there, unmoving, holding each other. Simply letting their shared grief say everything they wanted to say to each other In ways that words were simply too inefficient to communicate.

Spike found he too was able feel again… he felt his daughters loss… he felt their shared grief and that he was not alone. That thought, it continued to play in his head. ‘I’m… we’re not alone. We still have each other. We’re still a family.’

It was Ataxia who finally broke the silence. “How... is she gone?”

“Not yet. You made it in time, though it won’t be long now.”

“Can… can I see her?” Ataxia asked between sobs.

“Sure, do you want me to let you go alone?”

“No. Please, not now… I don’t want to be alone.”

“Whatever you want, darling. I’m here for you.”

It took Ataxia three tries before she could finally stand. Each time her hooves gave out under her, the strength she had was just… gone. Each time she fell, Spike was there, he caught her in a symbolic gesture of love. As if to say, ‘you can fall as many times as you need to, I will always be here to catch you.’

While the tears still fell, Ataxia did not give up. She was not the type of mare to let her own weakness get between her and her goal. Anything from stealing a kiss, to simply standing up so she could see her mom, even if it was for one, last, time.

She fell again at that realization. Silently cursing herself for being so weak.

“Take your time darling girl, I will always be by your side.”

“Yeah, but she won’t.” Ataxia cried out.

“I know.” Spike nuzzled her side with his muzzle. "That’s why we have to be strong, for her. That’s why I can be strong for you.”

“Where… where are the others?” Ataxia asked between sobs.

“They’re coming, there is an emergency in Cloudsdale, I don’t know all the details yet, but apparently Twilight is holding the whole city up in the air while Rainbow and Luna track down the one responsible. Cadance is doing her best to evacuate the town. Aurora and Icarus… they're too far away to make it. I’ve sent them a letter but they can’t reply. I thought Night would be with you. That’s what Luna’s reply said anyway.”

“Night… I left her alone dad… she doesn’t know.”

“Did you bring the letter with you.”

“No…”

“Then I’m sure she knows, she should be here shortly.”

“Yeah… I guess.”

“C’mon, you don’t want to keep your mom waiting; do you?”

“Dad?”

“Yes, Ataxia, what is it?”

“What if… what if I can’t do it?”

Spike grabbed his daughter’s muzzle and looked her face to face. His eye baring down into her soul. “You’re my daughter, Ataxia. I know you can do this. You just have to believe you can and you will. That’s all you’ve ever had to do.” Tears fell again from his eyes. “You’re so strong, Ataxia. You’ve made me, you’ve made us so proud of you. I know you can do this; I believe in you.”

‘I believe in you.’ Ataxia remembered Night saying those words not too long ago.

Ataxia smiled. Her first smile since she read the letter. “You’re right dad. I can do this.”

“You will do this.”

“I… I will do this.”

Ataxia placed her left hoof on the ground and transferred her weight to it. It shook, but held. She placed her right hoof to the ground. Again it shook, but the hoof did not fall. Her back two legs each found their way to the ground. Each of them took more and more of her weight. They shook, they were unsteady, but they did not give. It was the mark of the mare, her body copied her, she would never give in, she would never give up, she was not the type. As such, her limbs could not give up either.

Until, at last, she was standing, all on her own. Shaking, yes, but standing all the same.

“Atta girl.” Spike was so proud of his daughter. It was something so small, something ponies took for granted every single day of their lives. However, at that moment, it meant something so much more than simply being able to walk. It was a symbol of his daughter’s resolve, of her indomitable spirit, of her stubborn streak, it was a symbol of everything that had made him proud of her over the years. Spike was proud of everything she was, everything she had become. The good with the bad, and he would not change a single thing about his daughter at that moment.

She was his everything.

Spike stood up and walked next to her. Ataxia looked at him with a grateful smile on her face as she transferred a small amount of weight to him.

‘That’s fine Ataxia; I’ll carry whatever you need me too.’ Spike thought to himself as he smiled back. ‘Whatever it takes to see that smile on your face.’

Spike placed one hoof forward and waited for his daughter to do the same. When she did, he followed it up with another, and then another. In turn, he led them up the stairs to the fifth floor, room five-eleven.

“Dad…”

“Yes Ataxia?”

“Can… can you get the door.”

“Of course.” Spike lifted his hoof and turned the doorknob. With a slow push, the door swung open.

It did not creak; it did not act as if the weight of the world was resting upon it.

It did not act as if there was a pony she loved dying on the other side of the door, one that would never see another day.

It just opened.

Like any normal door on any normal day.

Ataxia hated the door for that, she never thought she could hate an inanimate bucking object so much in her entire life, but she did; she hated that door. ‘It shouldn’t be normal, it isn't a normal day, it isn't a normal time. A bucking pony I love is going to bucking die in this bucking room! So why did the bucking door not act like it should?!’ More tears fell down her face.

It was a mark of considerable restraint that she did not simply blow the door to its component atoms.

“Dad…”

“Yes Ataxia, what do you need?”

“Can… Can you give me a minute with her? Stay close, but let me have a few minutes. I…”

“Whatever you need.”

“Stay close though. Stay here, right here, and don’t close that door, ever again. Keep it open, please. For me.”

“Sure.”

“That door is going to become kindling before the night is over.” Ataxia said under her breath as she took her first step into her mom’s room. Spike, tactfully, chose to ignore that comment. It would not do any pony any good to ask further questions about what Ataxia hated so much about a simple door. Although, knowing his daughter, he had a suspicion that she would, indeed, turn that door to firewood before the night was through.

As she walked into the room, Spike whispered to the door. “I don’t know what you did to piss her off, but you’re firewood, buddy.”

Ataxia walked… slowly… into Rarity’s hospital room. Her eyes taking in every little detail. Her ears picking up every, ‘beep… beep… beep…’ of the heart monitor. The completely unused bathroom on the right. The white carpeting covering the floor.

‘That seems like a really stupid idea for a hospital.’ Ataxia thought to herself.

The window was closed but the drapes were pulled back. The drapes… they were hideous. Absolutely horrendous; they were a fashion nightmare. Rarity would never, never approve of the drapes. They needed to go.

Ataxia made it a point to have them removed at the earliest possible time.

'The bed… it's not right, it's not fancy… Mom likes fancy things; maybe, maybe I should have dad run home and get some of the fancy linen from mom's boutique. Some of the good linen, with some gems….'

“It should be fancy… mom likes fancy.”

Rarity… she was laying on those plain bed sheets. those plain, un-fancy, no gems, stupid sheets… she was just laying there.

She looked… she looked so weak, so frail. ‘Has she always looked like this? Have I just not noticed? How… how is it possible I didn’t notice.’ Ataxia fell to her rump. Her eyes stared at the floor, unwilling to accept what she was looking at.

‘This isn’t my mom… maybe… maybe I’m in the wrong room… maybe dad just made a mistake, my mom… she doesn’t, she doesn’t look like this… she… she’s always been so strong. She’s not like this.’

Ataxia looked up again. The pony’s mane was pristine, almost as if a stylist had just finished giving it a thousand-bit perm. There was no doubt about it, only one pony could ever have hair that good looking on their deathbed. Only one pony ever, ever looked that good going anywhere. It was Rarity.

“Mom?” Ataxia sobbed the words.

“Ataxia…” Rarity said the words, her breathing slow and ragged.

“MOM!” Ataxia cried out the words, louder and with more force than she ever intended too. The mare jumped over the bed and hugged Rarity with all her might.

Rarity cried out from the sudden pressure, a noise that caused Spike to run into the room.

“Ataxia! Careful.”

“Oh… sorry, sorry.” Ataxia fell away from the mare. Her head resting on the side of the bed. Unwilling to go any farther way from her mother.

“It’s ok honey, it just surprised me is all.” Rarity did her best to smile at her daughter. The pain on her face told the tale all too well. She could not hide that. “What… what are you doing here anyway? I figured you would be out saving the world or something.”

“Shut up! How could you not tell me… how could you let me simply run around like everything is alright with you… You know how much time I’ve wasted doing stupid shit?! I could have spent that time with you. Why?! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Don’t you love me?”

“Ataxia…” Spike tried to speak, Rarity held up a hoof a few inches off the bed to get him to be quiet. He noticed, and backed off.

“Ataxia, don’t ever speak that way about your life again. You hear me? Don’t ever call your life stupid.” Ataxia looked her mom in the eye at that. Even with the weakness permeating throughout Rarity’s body, those eyes… They still held the same strength and determination they always did. They told the story of who the mare actually was. Of her true character. “Your life… I’ve always been proud of what you do, of what you can do. It’s not stupid.” Rarity lay her head back down on the pillow, tears falling from her eyes.

“You’re not stupid, Ataxia. I’m sorry I ever called you that, I’m sorry you ever felt that way. Don’t… don’t ever let anyone ever, ever call you that.” Rarity managed to get out the words, her throat was in pain, too exhausted to speak normally, yet she would not let that stop her. This… this was far, far too important.

“Mom, don’t worry about it. It was my fault.”

“No, the fault was mine. You just have so much potential, Ataxia. You are gifted and talented in ways that others will never know. I do, I see that side of you every time I look at you. Every time I read about your exploits I hold my head high and go ‘That’s my daughter’ I’m sorry if you ever thought I felt any different about you. I’m sorry I ever, ever…”

“Mom…”

“Ataxia, over the last few months you have become the mare I’ve always known you can be. The one I’ve always wanted you to be. The mare I’ve always dreamed you can be. You’re… You’re so talented and gifted. So… So…”

Ataxia rested her head back on the bed. She waited, patiently, for her mom to finish.

“You’re so special. And you always have been, to me and your father. We… I’ve been an old fool, Ataxia. I didn’t want you to worry about me; I wanted you to live your life. To continue making me proud of you, just like you’ve always done. That’s why… that’s why I told Spike not to let anypony know… I wanted you to continue being that mare. I wanted to continue seeing your star shine, even as mine went out.”

Spike went over and lay his head on the other side of the bed. “Spike. I… I want thank you for everything. All those years ago, you told me… I remember them…. Do you remember those words you told me that night?”

Spike nodded his head. “Better a life spent in mourning of what was, then a life spent in regret at what could have been.”

Rarity’s breathing slowed down. “Yes, those are the words. Now… now that the time is almost here… do, do you still feel the same?” A single tear rolled down her face at that question. Even after all that time, she was unsure… unsure just what his answer would be. It was stupid, It was idiotic, but she had to… she needed to know.

Spike simply smiled and stood up. He knew his answer; he did not even have to think of it, not for a second. “Rarity, look to your right.”

She did, Ataxia’s face was buried in the blanket, tears falling down from her eyes. “Rarity, you have given me everything, my love. You’ve given me a beautiful, wonderful, powerful daughter. You’ve given me a life, filled with hope, wonder, amazement, and happiness. I treasure every second of that time. I wouldn’t give it up. Not one second of it. Those memories… they are my greatest treasure. I wouldn’t change anything. Not. One. Second.”

“I love you too.” Rarity raised a hoof to caress her stallion’s face. It was too much for the mare, she could not bring it all the way up. Spike reached out a hoof and grabbed his wife’s. He held it there, unwilling to let it go.

“Thank you, thank you for letting me see my daughter one last time.” Rarity cried out. Spike shushed her.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know… I know you said not to bother them… but… but they’re friends and family, Rarity. They would never forgive me if I didn’t at least let them know, and I would never forgive myself if didn’t tell them either. They deserved to know, they deserve a chance to be here to say their goodbyes. It’s the least I could do.”

“But… But they can’t make it, something’s going on in Cloudsdale and they can’t come.” Ataxia cried out, still in disbelief at everything going on.

“Shush dear.” Rarity raised her other hoof and bopped Ataxia on the nose. “If it’s keeping them away, it must be important. I’m sure they will get here when they can.”

“Nothing is more important than you.” Ataxia said.

The three of them lay like that for minutes, hours, days… truthfully, Ataxia could not keep track of the time. Her entire attention was devoted to simply watching Rarity’s stomach rise and fall. Wondering if her next breath would be her last.

“Spike…” Rarity broke the silence. Causing both of them to jump up at the sound of her voice.

“Yes dear, what is it?”

“I’m… I’m a bit thirsty, would you mind getting me some of that water I like.”

Spike smiled. He knew exactly what she was talking about, in truth; he knew that she was just trying to get rid of him, so she could have a moment alone with her daughter, one last girl talk… before…

“Sure, they have it on the first floor, I’ll be right back.” Spike stood up and kissed her on the forehead.

“Thanks love.”

“Anything for you.” Spike smiled as he left the room. He took one last look behind him. Unsure, for just a moment, if he should leave. He shook that thought off, even if she did pass when he was away, they had already said everything they needed to say to each other. He could not ask for anything more. If Rarity wanted these last moments with her daughter, he would give them to her; how could he do anything less?

“Ataxia.”

“Yes mom?” Ataxia stared at her, afraid to tear her gaze from Rarity’s face, Lest that is the moment when she passed on.

“I… I’m feeling tired, I… I’m… I want you to do something for me ok? Promise me.”

“Anything.” More tears started falling from Ataxia’s eyes, she knew if and when Rarity fell asleep, it would be for the last time.

“Be there for your dad, ok. He’s loved me from before I can even remember. I… I don’t know how he will take it when I’m gone, but he’s going to need you. Even if he doesn’t say he will, I know he will. You’ll be all he has left of me.”

“Ok.”

“Twilight is going to take this hard… I don’t know what’s going on at Cloudsdale, but don’t let this change her. Don’t let her blame herself for this. She has a habit of over thinking everything, of thinking about ways she could have done something better. I… I don’t want her to do that. This was my decision. Tell her… Tell her I’m sorry, I’m sorry I couldn’t see her one last time. And listen to her, Ataxia. I’ve never met a mare smarter or more talented in my life. She’s… she’s one in a million.”

“Mom…”

“Tell Rainbow… Tell her that I’m so proud of her. Tell her that she is still the best flyer in all of Equestria and no mare is more awesome than she is. Heck, no pony is awesomer than her.” Rarity giggled at her use of that word. “How far she has come since the old days; the family she has raised. It’s been an honor to see it in my lifetime. She is still, and will always be, the most loyal pony I’ve ever known.”

“…”

“Tell Aurora, she is the best model I’ve ever had the glory to work for. The dresses I’ve made for that mare over the years… But no, that’s just who she is on the surface. It may have been a tragedy, but ever since Dayspring died, we’ve all seen the true strength of that mare. She wasn’t born with any special talent, nothing like her siblings anyway. Well, other than being adorable. But she made a name for herself all the same. Tell her... tell her, her brother did not give his life for nothing. She has done him and all of us proud. It’s been my honor to know her.”

“Tell… tell Night that she is still one of the smartest mares I’ve ever known. Everything about that mare is special, after all, only a mare as special as her could capture my daughter’s heart.”

Ataxia’s mouth dropped open at that. “Wait, you knew?”

“Of course dear. I’m not blind after all. I’ve seen the way you look at her. The way you perk up at the sound of her name. You’re in love with her, and I will tell you a secret. I’ve seen the same look on her face about you. When someone says your name around her… she has that same look in her eye that you have about her. I think… I know she feels the same. I never thought Bright Dawn was a good match for her. I think that was just puppy love.”

Ataxia’s mouth closed, a smile took over her lips. “Really?”

“Really,” Rarity smiled back. “I think… I know, if one of you works up the courage to just tell the other how you feel, you two will be so happy together. You complete her Ataxia, and she you.”

“Thanks mom.” Ataxia wrapped a hoof around Rarity. She squeezed, enough for her mom to feel it, but not enough to cause any real pain. “Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything.”

“You’ve made me so proud Ataxia, with everything you’ve done, with everything you’ve become. Keep going... keep making me proud in only the way that you can. Never stop, never turn around. Keep being the mare I know you can be. You will do such amazing things.” Ataxia let go and sat back on her flank, tears falling from her eyes. “I love you Ataxia, I love you more than I can ever say.” Rarity finished.

“I lov-“ A loud explosion shook the foundation of the hospital.

Without having to be told, they both knew something really, really bad had just happened.

“Spike!”

“Dad!”

Both mares yelled at the same time.

………………………………….

Spike left the room and started walking down the hallway. Each step seemed to cause him to reconsider her earlier choice. He did not want to head in this direction, he wanted to head in the other direction; he wanted to be with his family. He wanted to do right by them.

But this was doing right by them. He was not sure why Rarity wanted him out of the room like this, what she wanted to say in private to her daughter, but he was sure that it was for a good reason.

Of course, being lost in thought came with it’s own risk. Spike’s pony form was large. Quite large, larger than anypony who was not an alicorn, and even then, they had wings; they would just fly out a window or teleport. Needless to say, buildings were not designed for ponies of their size to walk around in.

Spike’s head slammed into the top of the stairwell door frame with a loud thud.

“Luna, buck it!”

Spike smiled as he realized that he just shouted that out loud. This was further augmented by the fact he has said Luna and not Celestia… ‘It’s amazing how quickly we all adjusted even that part… I wonder if the time will come when we start saying Night? I wouldn’t be surprised if it came soon.’ Spike thought to himself as he continued down the stairs.

The weight of time seemed to be crushing him as he finally reached the bottom of the steps, each step felt like the last, yet there was always another, always another step to take regardless of how many he had gone down. Until, at last, there wasn’t. He was at the end. There were no more steps left. There had… there had been so many of them and then, just like that, there were none.

‘I guess… I guess that’s life isn’t it? Each day we live, it feels so important. It feels like this is the day that will carry on forever for us. We have… had… so many days in front of us, that we didn’t think anything about it. Then, at last, we reach the end. All the steps, all the days we had, the countless thousands of them that have passed. The days that seemed like they would go on forever. They’re just gone. All the days we thought we had… when they’re over, they’re over.’

Spike actually smiled, the irony of the situation, the deep thoughts from simply walking down the stairs…. The fact that he was smiling at all; even with everything going on, he was smiling.

He continued smiling even as he walked into the main entrance room and to the break area. He knew what his wife wanted; she liked the arrow water that said it was made from the Crystal Empire. He tasted it himself; it was good water, but he did not think it was all that and a bag of chips. However, Rarity wanted it, and if she wanted it he would get it for her.

“Spike…”

“Hello?” Spike thought he heard his name coming from a very familiar pony, one he recognized… his reply was meant with dead silence though, other than a few odd looks from a few of the ponies in the waiting room.

Thinking nothing more of it, Spike shook it off.

“Spike…”

Spike raised his head sharply and look around. Still, he could not find the source of the noise.

“Spike… outside.”

The voice said in a singsong voice. He recognized that voice. He would know it anywhere from any of her hundred albums. “Sweetie Belle?”

“Outside.”

Rarity’s water momentarily forgotten, Spike followed the voice. It did not make any sense, Sweetie Belle was nowhere near Ponyville. He sent her a letter, but she was with Scootaloo in Manehattan last time he checked. There is no way she could be here in such a short amount of time.

Spike took off at a gallop, whatever was going on, it was not right. Someone was playing with him. The simple fact that no other pony could hear that voice was a mark of that. This stunk of magic, magic beyond the abilities of a simple unicorn.

He busted out of the front doors and ran out into the cold night air. His actions earned him a strange look from the ponies inside the hospital. They knew who he was, as one of the local heroes, and they had long ago learned that, with whatever they are up to, it’s best to leave them to it alone.

“Sweetie!!” Spike shouted as he saw an image of his sister-in-law in the forest. Spike chased after her, fully expecting it to be a trap. ‘That’s fine; somepony is going to learn that I’m not in the bucking mood today.’ He thought to himself.

Spike’s pony form did nothing to reduce his considerable strength. Even as a pony, he could easily lift objects many times his size. It was a mark of his transformation that it simply reduced his size, not his abilities. The only downside is that he lacked some of the defensive and offensive abilities that dragons generally enjoyed, such as the claws and scales.

Spike dashed into the forest. Pausing when he reached a clearing, unsure of just what direction he should go. However, he was quickly tiring of this game.

“I’m not going any farther. If you’re going to do something, now is the time. Otherwise, I’m leaving.”

A voice answered back, from everywhere and nowhere. This time, it was anything but the voice of the famous singer. Although, he still recognized it all the same, it was the last voice he ever thought he would hear again. The speaker's voice still haunted his nightmares at night. “Ahh, but you used to love this game when I was a foal.”

“Dayspring? That’s… that’s not possible.”

“Not probable you mean. Obviously it’s possible, else it wouldn’t be happening, now would it?” A black shadow detached itself from the darkness and began walking forward. Its form was obviously a unicorn. Spike recognized it immediately. It was the form of his nephew, even cloaked in shadow; he would recognize it anywhere.

“But… but you’re dead… I saw you; I was with you when you died. You… you gave your life for your sister. You… you died to save Aurora.”

“Yes… yes I did didn’t I? Although, I seem to remember something else, something you promised me before I did that. Something you promised on your dragon code if I recall correctly.”

“I promised I would watch out for her.” Spike said the words as if it was only yesterday that he made the promise.

“Yes, that’s right. Tell me, dear uncle, how is that going. Just how has Aurora been in my absence? I’m sure you know, after all, you should be watching her for me, just as you promised you would.” The pony said with a sarcastic tone to his voice.

“Dayspring….”

“Oh, that’s right, I already know. Let us see, first she was almost abducted by Twilight Night’s minions. Then she was almost killed in Warclaw saving that upstart emperor. She almost died again in their dragon war. She was run through at the hooves of a revenant, losing her foal in the process. Tell me dear uncle; tell me how well you have kept your promise.”

Every word stung the dragon. Every syllable a reminder of a promise he failed to keep. “I… It wasn’t like that.” Spike said in his defense, it was weak, but each one of those events had extenuating circumstances.

“Oh, it wasn’t like that? Well do tell uncle. Tell me what it was like; tell me why my sister, whom I left in your care after GIVING MY LIFE to save, was so wounded. Tell me why you made me such a promise on your dragon code then simply looked the other way every single time she needed you. While you were doing something so important that you couldn’t keep your promise to me.”

“…” This was the worst-case scenario for the dragon; his own personal demons come to claim their due. Not a single one of these accusations were new, each and every one he had asked himself before, asked if he lived up to the promise he made a noble pony right before he made the ultimate sacrifice. He could not think of a single thing to say.

“Tell me, Spike. Tell me why you let my sister get so hurt. Tell me why you let her foal die. Tell me why you broke your promise to me.”

“I…”

“Tell me.” The pony’s voice rose several octaves higher as he walked forward, closing the gap between them with a vicious smile on his face.

“…”

“Tell me!”

“…”

“TELL ME!” The pony yelled, his anger became real, substantial. It hit Spike full on. Sending him careening back, the energy carried him directly against the foundation of the hospital.

For Spike, he did not feel the impact against his body; he did not feel when he impacted the side of the hospital, the energy and his physical form leaving a huge crater in its side. He did not feel when several ribs cracked in his chest. He did not feel anything. He was numb to the physical world. This… this was all simply too much, Rarity was dying, and now his demons were here; he was being called to account for his failure, for his broken promise to a dying pony. To his nephew, the pony who gave his life for his sister.

It was too much; it would have been too much for anyone.

“I… I’m sorry.” He managed to choke out all the while spitting up blood.

“What was that? I cannot hear you dear uncle, I’m afraid you will have to speak up. After all, the dead cannot hear your apology when you talk so softly.”

“I’m sorry. You’re… you’re right. I should have looked after her better; I should have been there for her. Like… like I promised I would. Please… please forgive me Dayspring. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.”

“Oh, so you admit you failed me, you admit you failed your dragon code, and now… now you want my forgiveness, you want the dead to simply turn the other cheek. Well, I have bad news for you uncle. The dead cannot turn the other cheek. There is no forgiveness from the dead. You must pay for your failure in the only currency there is. In the only currency that matters in this life. You must pay with your life.”

The pony grinned as he walked closer and closer. Spike had never seen the Grim Reaper in person, but he heard tales from Twilight and the others. If you asked him now, if you asked him to describe what the Grim Reaper looked like, he would have told you it was this pony. That the reincarnation of Dayspring Gleam was the Grim Reaper. To Spike, that is exactly what he was; he was death, he was his death, come to claim a dragon so weak that he was unable to keep his final promise to his one and only nephew.

Part of Spike did not care anymore. That part of him wanted this, it wanted to die, and it wanted to suffer for the crimes this pony listed out. That part of him was winning. “I’ll see you on the other side, Rarity.” He said as he closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable.

Grim Night smiled as he saw that look in Spike’s eye. The same look he had seen in a million ponies at this moment. It was the look that said he won, that this part of his plan was over. Although, if he was honest with himself, he was surprised that it went so smoothly.

It was the look of acceptance. Spike the dragon, the adopted brother of Twilight Sparkle, was giving up. He was accepting his death. Although, Grim had to admit, it did kill the victory a little to see it so early. ‘Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.’ He thought to himself.

“And so ends the tale of Spike the dragon, the dragon too weak to keep his promise. The dragon so weak he couldn’t even answer for his crimes.” Grim Night readied an energy blast, one more than sufficient for the job, as well as half the hospital.

He went to shoot.

A blow to the gut disrupted his aim, causing his energy to shoot straight up into the air as he yelled out in pain. A stabbing wound coursing through his stomach.

“Ahh!!!”

“Dad! Dad, are you alright?!” Ataxia shouted as she ran toward the stricken pony, her every instinct on high alert as she kept an eye on his attacker.

“Ataxia… you should, you should be with your mom.” Spike managed to say through several deep breaths.

“Buck that dad! He tried to kill you.”

“It’s… it’s my demons come to claim their due. It’s the ghost of Dayspring… he’s… he’s come to enact his vengeance for my failure. I… I deserve this.”

“Ok, first thing first, I’m so going to kick your ass when this is over for even thinking that. Second, dad look at me.” Ataxia momentarily dropped her guard to reach a hoof and raise Spike’s head. She needed him to see this. Despite it all, he kept his eyes closed, unwilling to see the disappointment in his daughter’s face. “Dad, trust me, I’ve fought more things in the past few months than Luna has in her entire life. Dad… LOOK AT ME!”

Spike opened his eyes, what he saw made him hate himself for an entire different reason. Ataxia was crying.

He had given up; he gave up on wanting to live… all because his wife was dying, and this thing… this pony… Dayspring; came back and said it wanted revenge on him. He almost… he almost left his daughter alone in this world.

“Dad… Ghosts don’t bleed.” Ataxia twisted Spike’s head, causing him to look directly at the shadow pony. She was right, it was the darkness, both the surrounding darkness and the darkness that the shadow pony was cloaked in… it made it easy to see the bright red blood coming from his wound. Whoever this was, he was bleeding.

“Ghosts… don’t bleed.” Spike repeated the words, saying them made them real, it solidified it in his mind. He turned and looked at his daughter. “Thank you… I…”

“No need dad.”

Laughter overshadowed the two of them. They both turned back to the shadow creature. He was laughing.

“Oh, it looks like this will be fun after all. I can’t wait to see what happens next. I was so worried this would be boring. Thank you, thank you Ataxia. You made it fun again.”

“Should I know you, creature?”

“Oh, that’s right. We have never been formally introduced, have we? Well, since the pleasantries are over. Let’s get that out of the way, my name i-“

He never got to finish that sentence. Ataxia shot out a magical blast from her horn, it lashed out and struck the pony square in the chest. Causing him to fly backward into the forest. A cry of “AHHHGG!!” trailing behind him.

“Like I care what a rat’s name is; a rat is a rat, whatever form it might take.”

“A rat?” Spike looked at her inquisitively. Unsure just what she was talking about.

“A low level Tartarus escapee, barely worth my time. I started a whole identification system so I would know how much force to use in the fight.” Ataxia stated matter-of-factly. “For something that pathetic, I don’t even need to transform.” Ataxia’s smile spoke of someone with a little too much arrogance, but Spike expected nothing less from his daughter.

“Ataxia… I don’t… I don’t think he’s a rat.”

“Wha-“ Ataxia never got to finish that sentence, just then Grim Night surrounded the mare in an energy barrier.

“You should have listened to your old man, Ataxia. Instead you dropped your guard.” Grim laughed.

Spike rose to his feet. He took a quick look at his daughter who was busy casting spell after spell, doing whatever she could to free herself. He recognized two things about her predicament. The first was that she would be unable to transform in that small of a space. There simply was not enough room to hold her dragacorn form, and from the way she was struggling, she knew it.

The second thing put a smile on his face. Her spells were causing cracks in the barrier. It would not hold a mare of Ataxia’s capabilities for more than a few minutes at best. All he had to do was keep this… this whatever, busy. ‘Shouldn’t be an issue.’ Spike grinned.

“Something funny?” Grim asked.

“You almost had me… tell me creature, what are you? Really?”

“Oh, I see. You want me to start monologuing or something, let me guess. You think you can buy enough time for my spell to break.”

“Hey, it’s working, isn’t it?”

“No, no it won’t.”

‘Horseapples.’

Grim launched an attack. He lowered his horn and blasted at the large pony without another word.

Spike dodged to the right. While he was never as fast as Rainbow Dash or as hyperactive as Pinkie Pie, he was not a slouch either. Over the years, he had become more than capable of holding his own in a fight. With friends like his, he had no choice.

The energy easily missed him as he charged forward. Despite his obvious bulk, Spike was quick on his feet. Dodging left and right just in the nick of time, something that grew increasingly harder as he closed the distance. However, years of growing up around unicorns taught him all he needed to know. A unicorn horn was a focal point. The stronger the unicorn the more their abilities would increase, the more dangerous they would become.

But they still had to aim.

And with a daughter like Ataxia, Spike had more than enough practice dealing with the odd spell being tossed his way. That was not even counting the years spent growing up with Twilight Sparkle as an older sister.

Grim Night grew increasingly frustrated as every single one of his blasts missed. He was aiming for a big target. It should have been easy, it should have been simple, a lot of this should have been… but he kept bucking missing.

Finally, Spike closed the distance and kicked the black unicorn with all his might. The strength of his attack could not simply be absorbed by the black energy surrounding Grim Night. While it did its best, the kinetic energy broke several ribs. The blow threw off Grim Night’s energy blast, causing it to strike the hospital instead.

Grim Night stood up and started grinning, that stupid arrogant grin. “Tisk, tisk, Spike. Wouldn’t want to put any innocents at risk, now would you?”

“Shut up!” Spike shouted.

“What would Twilight say about that?” Maybe I’ll ask her when I finish here. I’ll tell her about your little temper problem as I’m skinning her alive. Maybe she’ll thank me for dealing with you myself?”

“One little problem with that plan.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“You have to get through me first.” Spike reared back on his hind legs and let loose his dragon fire.

Spike’s transformation is a unique spell, developed by his sister, Twilight Sparkle. It enabled the dragon to live as a pony, or more accurately, it let him live in pony form. He would assume the size and shape of a pony. His mass condensed into that of his new form. Albeit a very, very large pony form, but a pony form regardless.

That did not stop any of his natural dragon abilities. While he would lose the physical aspects of being a dragon: The size, bulk, wings, scales, and claws. Spike kept the stamina, strength, and fire breath.

He used that last one now. Lashing out with green fire, Spike coated the black pony from head to tail with green dragon fire. A fire hot enough to liquefy steel. He would normally never resort to such extreme tactics against another living being, but this pony… this creature, he threatened Twilight. He trapped his daughter. Two things Spike could not forgive.

“No one bucks with my family.” Spike said as he watched the creature burn. Satisfied that the battle was over, he turned around to walk back towards his daughter. From what he could see at this distance, she was almost done breaking the spell. “Hey Ataxia! You need some he-“

He did not get to finish that sentence.

A magical energy wrapped itself around his neck, lifting him up and off the ground. Strangling him as it did so.

“What? You thought you were done with me already, uncle? I never knew you were so dumb.”

“You’re… Stop saying I’m your uncle! You’re not him!”

“While that might be technically true, this is Dayspring’s body, Spike; and make no mistake, everything I told you, it’s how he feels. I know that for a fact.”

“What… what are you?” Spike asked as his vision was fading. The lack of oxygen to his brain causing him to slowly lose consciousness. The figure stepped out of the fire. The darkness surrounding him, it protected him from the worst of the flame. It prevented the fire from harming the vulnerable flesh underneath.

The dark energy pulled away like a cloak his head, revealing a face all too familiar to the dragon. It really was Dayspring, or at least his body. “Oh you look shocked uncle, I told you, and this really is Dayspring's body. Imagine my surprise when, after she cast me out, I just so happen to encounter this decaying corpse. I think it’s quite fitting, the vessel of my vengeance will be no other then the son of the one I seek it on. You see, after my time as Twilight Night, I want that back, I want that power… It’s like nothing else I’ve ever known. I will have Twilight’s power. This… this is simply a cobblestone I have to lay on the road to that power. It just happens to be your head.”

Spike continued to try and struggle, he pulled all his strength into breaking the grip, only to find it completely useless. He was just as guilty as Ataxia… they had both underestimated this creature's power. “Twilight is going to be so heartbroken you know. To come back from the little surprise I left her in Cloudsdale to find her little brother dead by my hoof. The tears….” Grim Night stared off into space longingly, as if imagining a distant lover’s caress. “The tears will be so lovely. Of course, you won’t be here to see them. You should know; it is for this reason why I gave Twilight her memories back. After all, to truly, truly hurt somepony, you have to take away something precious to them. If she didn’t remember you, it wouldn’t hurt. Now would it?”

Spike eyes went wide at that. This creature… he… he… Spike could not finish that thought. He felt his vision fading; it would not be long now. His strength was gone, stuck in the form he was in now; there was nothing more he could do.

“So long, Spiky Wikey. I’ll send Twilight your best.” Dayspring laughed. He lowered his horn and readied the final spell that Spike would ever see.

…

That did it for Ataxia, seeing this creature strangle her father like that, taunt and torture him with his ideas of… whatever he was planning to do with Twilight. She no longer cared what body he wore, she did not care if he was the resurrected ghost of Dayspring or not.

‘I WANT OUT OF THIS DAMN CAGE!” she shouted the words as she cast the strongest spell she could think of.

It worked.

The magic shattered into a million shards before dissipating into the air. Its component pieces fading away into nothing.

Ataxia did not notice any of that, her entire attention; her entire focus was on one thing and one thing only, her father. He had gone limp… she knew, from some of her… less savory days, that he was still alive, she just had to get to him. She just had to free him from this thing… this creature's grip. It had not been long, not more than a few seconds since he lost consciousness. His body would start breathing again on its own; she just had to open his windpipe.

Unfortunately, there was not time for her to cover the distance. This creature… this shadow pony, this… Dayspring, he was reading a spell to finish her father. It was a spell that Spike would not survive. Ataxia knew that much just from the buildup of magical energy she could see around his horn.

“No!” Ataxia yelled.

Ataxia was never the brightest pony. She was practically unteachable, her talents lay in other areas, areas, that were more… fun. That is to say, she normally succeeded in whatever could hold her impressively short attention span. As such, her practical knowledge was on the wrong side of small.

But she had street smarts.

It came from growing up where she did. In her youth, Ataxia’s friends included an alicorn, an adorkable pegasus, and an incredibly studious unicorn. Her mentors were Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, two of the most gifted ponies in all of Equestria.

While she may not have learned much from the five of them, they were always good for a laugh. However, that was not what helped her here.

Ataxia’s parents: her mom was an average unicorn, talented and gifted, without a doubt. Rarity was the most skilled tailor in all of Equestria. She was also a shrewd business mare, able to sell clothes to ponies that normally spent the day wearing nothing at all. Her father, he was a full-fledged dragon. She had spent her youth around him; she knew everything there was to know about dragons. Including their natural resistance to magic and how that was achieved. It was their scales. All she had to do was transform her father.

His bulk would free him from the pony’s magical grip. His scales would protect him from his attack. Even without book smarts. She knew all of that from life experience. Albeit a very unique life, but it was hers, and come Tartarus or high water, no pony would take her dad away from her.

Ataxia aimed her horn and fired off the transformation spell at her father.

She missed.

Grim Night did not.

……………………………………

The Crystal Empire

Twilight grunted as she concentrated even more magic on the cloud city. While it was not stressful for an alicorn of her power, it did limit her movement. She had to stay below, concentrating on holding up the city before it collapsed under its own weight.

She was still unsure just how that much damage had been done to the city. It seemed… whatever it was they were chasing had managed to reverse the cloud making process, causing the huge factory to suck the water out of the clouds around the city and reducing the structural integrity of the very ground the city was built on. For a city of pegasi, very few of them were in any real danger. What was the risk of falling when all your citizens could fly? However, the destruction of Equestria’s weather facilities and the resulting damage to the Crystal Empire would cause a lot of injuries and deaths. As such, upon realization of just what was going on, Twilight teleported below and surrounded the floor of the city with her magic, keeping it stable and preventing any more water from being removed from the clouds.

She was… satisfied with her role. With Rainbow and Luna tracking down the one responsible for this mess, it was only a matter of time until they were stopped and the process reversed. In all reality, she was amazed it was taking this long.

Of course, her opinion changed when the letter arrived. Rarity… the last of her friends, the last of the ones she made all those years ago… she was dying. All of a sudden this seemed to take on a completely different aspect. It seemed more like a trap, as if someone wanted her here. They wanted her to be stuck in a situation where she could not leave, not without risking the lives of hundreds of innocent ponies.

‘That’s ridiculous. Who would hold such a grudge? And for what purpose?’ Twilight dismissed that thought as she focused back on her job. Still, like any annoying idea, it would not let her be. Her mind kept replaying the idea over and over.

“Rainbow! How goes it?” Twilight opened her mind to her wife’s. Establishing a connection between the two of them that enabled them to communicate as if they were right next to each other.

“Bucking hell, Twi. You don’t have to shout you know.”

“Oh, sorry. I… I have a bad feeling about all of this. You almost done up there.”

“Yeah, we almost have her cornered. I would have had her already but I don’t want to hurt her. You going to be able to remove… whatever it is causing Spitfire to act this way and hold up all of Cloudsdale?”

“It shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll need you to bring her down here though. I have to keep this line of sight on the city.”

“Sure, I’ll take care of the hard part. Rainbow out!”

“Ah, Rainbow, you know I’m the one who has to break the connection don’t you?”

“…”

“Rainbow?”

“…”

“Rainbow I know you can hear me.”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash can’t come to the link right now, leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

“Rainbow it doesn’t bucking work like that and you know it!”

“Hey, I thought it was funny.”

“Yeah, well you thought wrong.”

“Hey Twi?”

“Yeah, what?”

“Caught her!” Rainbow yelled out as she swooped down on the unsuspecting mare. Spitfire kicked, punched, clawed and bit. Nothing she did broke Rainbow's grip on her as she was forced up and out of the building Rainbow caught her in.

Twilight smiled. Whatever this was, it would soon be over and she could get back to Ponyville. Her smile quickly faded as a sinking feeling developed in her gut. The sudden reaction caused her magic to temporarily weaken. Cloudsdale fell several hooves in the air before she reestablished the magical hold on the city.

“Twi!? Twi!? You alright?” Rainbow asked as loudly and forcefully as she could.

“Yeah, I… I… get here quick Rainbow. Something happened, something bad. We… we need to get home.”

“I’m on the way!” Rainbow yelled as a sonic rainboom soon appeared over the city, her captive held under her hooves.

………………………………………

Ponyville

Ataxia… monster hunter extraordinaire. Ataxia, the go-to pony for any and all threats to Equestria. Ataxia, the mare who put down Tirek. She missed.

Maybe it was finding out her mom would not last the night… maybe it was watching her dad be strangled right in front of her. Maybe her eyesight was slightly off from being stuck in a magical bubble she had to blast open at point-blank range. Maybe it was how close she had gotten to that long awaited first kiss with the mare she had grown to truly love and care for, only for it to be denied at the last possible second, or it was some combination of all these factors and a million more.

Whatever the reason, the transformations spell was slightly, slightly off. Flying less than hoof to the right of Spike’s body. It missed by a hairs breath, a centimeter.

The effect was still the same, missing’s missing. It did not matter if she missed by an inch or a mile. She missed.

Grim did not. His spell traveled straight and true, flying squarely at Spike’s chest the spell impacted with an ear shattering crack. The impact alone broke every rib in the pony's chest. Instantly frying a hole in him as it liquefied several internal organs.

Spike was dead before his body hit the ground.

Grim Night laughed.

He… he laughed.

Ataxia… she only saw red. Her vision… it refused to focus on her dad. It knew, it knew what it would see there, she could not… she would not focus on that. Not right now… She had something to do, she had someone to kill. Someone she wanted dead more than anything else in this world. More than she wanted anything else… she wanted this pony to hurt, she wanted him to scream.

Tears fell down her face.

“What’s wrong little pony, you want to cry now?” Grim taunted her. “Should I leave you to your grief? On the other hoof, should I just end you now? I wonder which would be more merciful.”

“Oh, I’m not going to let you go anywhere.”

“What was that?”

“I said… I said I’m not letting you go anywhere.” Ataxia’s voice carried her frustration, her rage, her anger, and, the most damning of all, it carried her resolve.

She did not cast the spell, there was no need. Her body, her being wanted it to happen. The natural, ambient magic in her system responded to it, it responded to her will, to her rage, to her anger. Every cell in her body wanted the same thing, it all focused on this one thing and this one thing only. It wanted this creature… it wanted this pony, it wanted him to scream.

Nothing else would satisfy her, nothing else would satisfy her rage, her anger, her demand for vengeance.

Ataxia, the chaotic mare of Ponyville. Ataxia, Equestria’s premiere monster hunter, Ataxia, the dragacorn. Ataxia transformed.

Each of her transformation had changed subtly from her last. As she used it, her second form changed, slowly, each and every time. She would be bigger than the last time, stronger, faster, more powerful, and more dangerous.

This time… this time the change was anything but subtle. Whereas her last transformation, she was the size of her father, a fully-grown adult dragon; this time… this time put that form to shame. Her bulk doubled in size. Her wings stretched longer than the hospital behind her.

Her neck grew out to the size of her seventy-hoof tale. Green spikes ran down her back, each as sharp as her teeth. Bones that were more than capable of biting steel in half with ease.

Her dragon steel armor, the gift from her mother. It glowed around her chest, amplifying her abilities tenfold as her anger took hold.

Grim Night was not laughing anymore.

Ataxia looked down, he was so small… so tiny. Her target, he was no bigger than a normal pony. Part of her, a very, very small part of her laughed. That a creature this size… that a creature that small, that he caused her such pain… that he took away someone she cared about; it was absurd.

The rest of her did not care. It did not care that with each lash of her tail, she would leave huge craters in the ground where it hit. It did not care about such small things… collateral damage was the least of her worries, it wanted him dead. It wanted him to scream out in pain.

“Burn.”

Ataxia let loose with her dragon fire. A fire so hot, so magically infused with power, it could toast alive creatures that were practically immune to heat. The fire engulfed Grim Night, and the surrounding forest for a mile straight behind him.

She heard what she wanted to hear, what every part of her body wanted to hear. While she did not see it, she heard it. She heard screaming. She heard that creature… she heard him scream.

A smile crossed her face.

“Ataxia… you promised me.”

It was as if someone flipped a switch in her head. A rogue picture, a rogue thought, something that had no business in her head at that time. Her mind clouded as it was… she never should have had that thought. It was… it was… it was…

It was Night, she was crying, crying over the loss of her town… she looked at Ataxia, tears in her eyes. “Ataxia… you promised me.”

Yes… what happened was bad, but… but destroying all of Ponyville, all of the innocent ponies that would die from this fire. It would hurt Night.

Ataxia did not want that, she did not want to hurt her friend. Not like this. Even with the loss of her father, even with her own grief, the one thing she could not bear to see, would be that look of hurt on Night’s face.

Ataxia took off, straight up into the air. No pony, no pony who tried was able to find a way to put out her fire. It was magically imbued, it did not need oxygen, as it only needed fuel. As long as there was something that can burn, it would burn it.

However, Ataxia was not just some random pony and she had never tried to put out her own fire before. Thinking quickly, Ataxia carved several large firebreaks in the forest. Uprooting every tree in her path and tossing them out of the way. All the while, she never sacrificed her speed. Several sonic rainbooms appeared behind her, each timed to collide with the growing fire in order to push it back. Once that was done, there was huge circle carved in the ground.

Ataxia continued, pushing more and more speed into her flight. Drawing out all the power she could, all the while digging the circle deeper and deeper in the dirt with her claws. Until, at last, she found what she was looking for, the diamond dog’s old tunnel system.

Ataxia landed in the caves and readied herself. For this, she would need all her strength. The ground above was as weak as she could get it. She placed her claws on the ceiling and pushed. Every muscle strained with the effort, trying, desperately to collapse the huge amount of dirt.

It was going nowhere.

Ataxia focused her magic on it. On making it move.

It started to budge. The combination of brute strength and magic caused the area to collapse in on itself. At that last minute, when she was sure that the problem would be solved. Ataxia did the one thing she hated most, she teleported herself clear.

The fire fell into the caves, while it did not extinguish itself, as there was still plenty to burn that fell in with it, there was no longer any worry about it spreading. In less than a minute, Ataxia managed to contain the magical blaze.

In a white flash of magic, Ataxia appeared next to her dad, her body transformed back to her pony form, covered from head to hoof in dirt. Her eyes… they only confirmed what she already knew… Spike, he was gone.

“Dad…” Ataxia collapsed next to her father, her strength gone. She wanted to curl up next to him and cry.

She would have done just that, if not for an alicorn who landed next to her.

“Ataxia… what… what happened?” Shimmering Night looked down, her eyes glued to the dead pony.

Ataxia looked up with tears in her eyes at her friend. “He… he… he killed my dad.” She buried her face in Night’s chest.

Night could not believe it. For all her life, Spike was the strong one, he was a pillar, always there, regardless of anything else, Spike was a constant, and now… now he was gone. “I’m so sorry, Ataxia.”

Ataxia just cried, she cried out all of her tears into her friend’s coat. She cried until she felt like she could not cry anymore.

“What… what about Rarity?” Night could not fully comprehend what had just occurred outside of the hospital. She had expected to find her friend in the hospital room with her mom. When she was closing in, she saw the fire, and then just as suddenly as it occurred it was gone. Night knew that Ataxia would somehow be responsible for that… whatever that was, but explanations on that could wait. She wanted to know what happened to Ataxia’s mom.

“Mom…” Ataxia stumbled to her hooves. She wanted… she needed to get to her mom.

‘I… she… I can’t lose them both, not like this…. I… I can’t’

Ataxia found her strength. It started off small, one hoof in front of the other, each step grew more and more sure of its footing. Until, at last, she was running at full sprint.

Ataxia threw open the doors to the hospital and ran right past the reception desk, had she noticed, she would not have been surprised to find the area empty. The nurses no doubt evacuating the ponies to a secure area in case the fighting outside found its way in.

Ataxia ran past all of that, she ran down the hall and up the stairs with Shimmering Night, her lifelong friend, hot on her hooves.

Ataxia ran up ten flights of stairs. Straight to the fifth floor.

‘Room five-eight, room five-nine, room five-ten, room five-eleven!’

The door was closed.

With the flick of her horn, and a small, very small amount of magic. Ataxia blasted the door to splinter wood. She was inside before the last piece fell to the ground.

She froze, dead.

'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppppppppppppppp……….'

Night stumbled through the doorway, she heard it too, the heart monitor, its constant noise. She did not need to be told what it meant.

Night slowly, ever so slowly walked past her friend, she had to see it… it had to be seen to make sure it was real.

‘Maybe, just maybe she pulled out the wires…’

She had not.

It took a quick inspection, just a quick glance over, but her eyes confirmed what her heart did not want to believe.

Rarity, the former element of generosity. Rarity, wife of Spike. Rarity, mother of Ataxia…

Rarity was dead.

Night fell on her flank. It was all too much; it was cruel, too cruel. Magically, she unplugged the alarm and turned her head to look at her friend.

Ataxia was in a state of shock, her face… it lost all color in it, the purple of her coat seemed to fade. Logically, Night new it was just the dirt covering the mare, but somehow, it seemed more than that. Like she simply lost what made her, her.

There were no words. Nothing could be said, nothing to say… words were meaningless right now.

Night, slowly, ever so slowly got up and walked over to her friend. She wrapped a hoof around her and hugged her. Squeezing her with all her might.

None of that got through. Nothing, until the first tear fell from Night’s eye. It landed on Ataxia’s coat.

As if that was the magical switch, as if that was the one thing in the world that could reach her. As soon as that tear hit, Ataxia began screaming.

She screamed out her rage. She screamed out her anguish, she screamed out her pain. Mostly, she just screamed. Night held on. She did not let go, she did not even think about it. This… this was too tragic. It should not have happened to any pony, much less Ataxia… her friend.

It was the lack of oxygen that caused Ataxia to stop screaming. She relaxed her head, letting it lay on Night’s shoulder. The weight of everything it… it made something as simple as lifting her own head a feat beyond the mare.

The tears fell next. They fell and fell; Ataxia did not think they would ever stop falling. Truthfully, she did not care if they ever did.

Night simply held her. She would hold her for as long as Ataxia needed, for as long as she wanted to be held. Night did not care. She would stay there forever. If Ataxia could not support her own weight, Night would take it. She could do that much.

“Night…” the voice surprised Night. It was so weak, so unsure, so wounded. It was not Ataxia’s voice. It had no business being associated with a mare so sure of herself, a mare so powerful. Yet, that is who spoke the word. It came from that very same mare.

“Yes Ataxia?” Night softly whispered the words.

“What… what do I do now? How... how do I go on?” That voice again, it was like daggers into Night’s heart.

“You lean on your friends, Ataxia. You lean on me… I promise, I’ll stay here, I’ll be with you, and I’ll carry your weight, for as long as you need.”

Night began lightly stroking Ataxia’s mane, doing her best to calm the shaking mare. That one so strong, that one so powerful could be brought so low…. It was almost too much.

“You will be with me?”

“Always and forever.”

Ataxia pulled her head off her friends shoulder. She looked Night square in the face. The reflection she saw back, the truth of her friend's soul was written in her eyes. Those perfect, perfect eyes.

Ataxia saw a mare suffering, not because something had happened to her, but because something happened to some pony that she cared about. She saw love, true and unconditional.

Ataxia kissed Night.

…

Night froze. She went stiff as a board as Ataxia’s lips pressed themselves to hers.

Uncertainty… confusion… disbelief… and something else… something she could not put her hoof on. All these emotions went through her, all at the same time.

When, at last, Ataxia pulled back. They both looked at each other, their emotions unreadable. Until, at last, Night broke the silence.

“Ataxia… I’m sorry, I thought you knew. I’m not a fillyfooler; I don’t like mares like that.”

Ataxia looked at Night, then to her mom. Her expression... Night had seen it before, it was the look of utter betrayal; however, Night was not sure if the look was meant for her or Rarity.

For the third time in less than an hour, Ataxia did the one thing she hated the absolute most in life.

Ataxia teleported away.

She did not know where she was going.

She did not care either.

Picking up the Pieces

Teleportation: The act or process of moving the caster or another object (or groups of objects that can include the caster) by magic.

There are many, many types of teleportation. The simplest is the basic teleportation spell. This is normally short range (10-50 hooves) and involves a direct line-of-sight to the end destination.

From there it goes up in difficulty.

Indirect line-of-sight teleportation involves simply knowing where your destination is and having an idea of it in your mind. While this is normally short range, it can be done over greater distances. The greatest risk is your ending location being occupied by another object. As such, it is not recommended

Unintentional teleportation can occur from ponies that lose control of their magic. This is normally harmless and simply teleports the caster to a random nearby location. In this form of teleportation, there is little risk, as the magic released by the caster will naturally find them a safe location to end up. The longest unintentional teleportation ever recorded was by Twilight Sparkle when she lost control of the alicorn magic given to her by the other princesses some forty-seven years ago. On that day, she teleported from Ponyville to Appleloosa to the Crystal Empire.

In desperate times, a caster can use a teleportation spell to escape a life-threatening situation. This sort of teleportation carries the same risk factor as unintentional teleportation. As the caster’s magic will naturally find the safest place for them to end up. However, this will normally send the caster far away, making returning home a challenge if you are not ready for it.

There is one more teleportation spell worth mentioning. it is also, barring none, the most dangerous form of teleportation: Blind teleportation. With a blind teleport the caster sends themselves over a long distance to an unknown destination. This is very different from an unintentional teleport in that it is not controlled by the caster’s magic. Rather the caster simply directs their magic to teleport themselves to wherever.

It cannot be stressed enough; this should never, ever be attempted by anyone. The risk here is the greatest as there is no telling where you will end up or if you will even survive the trip. One is more likely to end up in a mountain than on it.

Starswirl the Bearded once calculated the odds of surviving such a teleportation unscathed. He is quoted as saying; “You have a greater chance of passing through the digestive tract of a dragon unfazed than succeeding at such an attempt.”

Ataxia did not beat the odds.

…………………………

???????????????????????????????

It hurt.

She hurt; she hurt everywhere. Her head hurt, her left back leg hurt, and her heart hurt. She did not know where she was, she could not see. It was dark, too dark.

She thought about what she should do, she came up with nothing. So she thought about what Twilight would do. ‘One issue at a time,’

She could not see. That had to be first.

Part of her did not care. It did not matter that she could not see. She did not want to see. Seeing hurt, the events of the past hour… she saw those, those hurt.

‘Maybe it’s better if I don’t see. Why would I want to see… why would I want to see ever again? There’s nothing worth seeing anymore…’ She thought to herself.

Well, there was one thing she wanted to see, her leg… why did it hurt?

There was pain there, yes, lots of pain. However, given everything else, she did not care; part of her welcomed the pain. It was… refreshing, for the lack of a better word. That pain took her mind off the other pain, the other thing she did not want to think of… the lies… the deaths… the heartbreak.

She tried standing again. She could not. Whatever was wrong with her leg, she could not put any weight on it.

Her curiosity finally got the better of her. Ataxia gave up any pretense of not wanting to see; she had to know why her leg hurt.

It was a simple spell, a simple light spell. Foals could do it; small unicorns afraid of the dark would often be caught lighting their room at night with the spell, much to the dismay of their parents who simply wanted a good night’s sleep.

For Ataxia, that one spell took everything she had, everything she could dig up. All the concentration in the world, even then… it only dimly lit the surrounding area. She only managed that after six different attempts. The transformation… the fight… the teleportation, they had all taken their toll on the mare.

She was in a cave.

Ataxia did not care where she was, it did not matter. She had gotten away, gotten away from the lies, and from Night….

Ataxia wanted to cry… she could not.

There were no more tears to cry, she had done enough crying to last a lifetime. Of course, that did not change the fact her leg hurt.

She turned her head and looked back at it.

“Ah, that explains it.”

It was half in a rock. She supposed, logically, she had gotten off lucky. Even she knew better than to cast a blind teleportation spell. Twilight had lectured her many, many times about such an action. Remembering that, Ataxia almost grinned. It seemed as if the mare knew that Ataxia might, one day, be tempted to do it.

“I guess she was right.”

She did not care. It had gotten her away from there, so it was a job well done. Although, this did mean she was not going anywhere. Not without cutting off what remained of her leg.

On the other hoof, she could take the rock-leg with her….

Images played in her head, walking through some town with one leg as a rock.

She laughed; it started small, nothing more than a slight chuckle. The cave echoed the laughter back at her. That caused her to laugh louder and louder. The echo only grew as she increased her volume.

She laughed at that thought, she laughed at this situation. She laughed at the absurdity of it all, she laughed at thoughts of her friends seeing her like this, she laughed at thoughts of Twilight lecturing her about proper magic responsibility for the millionth time, and she laughed at thoughts of Nigh-.

She stopped laughing.

It hurt again, only this time, it was not the leg, it was not her head, it was the other thing. The thing that really hurt. Her heart… it hurt.

She forgot the leg. It did not matter.

Why cut it off at all? There was nowhere to go, nothing to do.

There was no one left, no one to call her daughter, she had no family anymore, there was no one that loved her.

She had no one; there was nothing for her anymore. Besides, she did not have the strength to cut her leg or the rock free. She could barely keep the light spell going, much less cut off a leg. The transformation and the teleportation, it had taken everything from her

She would die here.

She did not care.

‘What is the point of living if there is no one left who loves me?’

As the last of her magic left her, the cave went dark again.

She did not care.

Ataxia lay her head down as thoughts began playing through her head, trying to understand how everything had gone so wrong so quickly.

‘My mum’s dead… she… she was sick, they kept it from me. They didn’t tell me she was sick. I could have… I could have…’

‘My dad… he’s gone too. Because… because I missed. I failed to save him… I failed.’

‘Night, I… I… she…’

“You said she loved me!!!” Ataxia raised her head and screamed it out at Rarity's ghost as loud as she could. The sound vibrated all throughout the cave. Coming back to her several octaves lower.

“You said you would always be there for me!!!” Ataxia screamed at memories of Spike.

“You said… you said you would be with me…” She could not scream that last part. Even now, she was unable to yell that. That hurt more, that increased the pain in her chest.

Ataxia’s head collapsed in the dirt. Exhaustion and fatigue came to claim her. Today’s events… even with the pain of her leg, they were too much, her body was ready to pass out. Her fatigue would not be denied any longer.

Had she noticed, she would have been shocked about what occurred next.

As she fell asleep, Ataxia started crying again.

…………………………………………………….

The Crystal Empire

Twilight looked around, everywhere she looked ponies were going back to their houses. The crisis was over, for now at least. It had taken longer than she wanted. The process of reversing the effect of sapping the water from the clouds that made up the structures in Cloudsdale turned out to be relatively easy, it just was not quick.

Removing the dark magic from Spitfire, that did not take any time at all. Once Twilight found it, she easily pulled it out of the mare and destroyed it. Whatever, whoever, put it there… Twilight could not say. It was advanced, very advanced; however, it had no markings of its caster. No sign of who was responsible, or more importantly, why they put it in her.

Still, Twilight could not call it a job well done, not yet anyway. Only she was able to hold the whole city up in the air while they reversed the process. They told her it would take eight minutes to fix it. Twilight did not believe that, she ran the numbers in her head and recalculated their estimate. It would take ten minutes to fix. Ten minutes, one second to be exact. For something like this, Twilight wanted to be exact.

All in all, not a lot of time, unless you have a deep suspicion that something is very, very wrong back at home. Something that required you to get back as soon as possible; then ten minutes is a long, long time. An almost unbearable amount of time.

Twilight was in such a state. She suspected; she knew that something was wrong back home. First, it was Spike letter… Rarity, the last of her old friends. She was dying….

That alone was enough for her to want this over and done with. However, it was not the only thing, she felt… she knew it was something more. Something else had happened, something bad. She just did not know what had happened, and she could not leave to go find out.

That part made this unbearable.

She considered just sending Rainbow ahead. Letting her find out what was going on. At Rainbow’s top speed… well at her safest speed (Twilight was still unsure if she had a top speed and the last time Rainbow pushed it that fast she almost cut the world in half), Rainbow could make it to from the Crystal Empire to Ponyville in forty two seconds. Any faster and there was an extreme risk of her doing serious damage to Equestria. The nation had seen enough tragedy in the past year for Twilight to dismiss that off hoof.

Of course, that would be if Twilight could actually convince Rainbow what was wrong, let her know what to look for (something she was not sure of herself), and Rainbow just going with it. While there was every chance that Rainbow would simply go along. Twilight quickly ran the probability calculation in her head. Taking in the odds of Rainbow demanding an explanation before leaving, her getting mad about not immediately being told about Rarity’s condition, and her simply accepting everything Twilight told her at face value. Calculating those and the time each event would take. Twilight came to a new weighted average time for Rainbow to make it to Ponyville: Eleven minutes.

The odds told the story better than Twilight ever could; it was faster to simply wait. Sure, it put the odds of Rainbow getting mad about not being told to ninety-five percent, but Twilight could soothe over a mad Rainbow easy enough. She knew plenty of tricks to do that.

…

It took ten minutes and four seconds to reverse the process. Twilight scowled at herself, her calculations were off somewhere.

‘What did I get wrong?’ She started rerunning the numbers in her head. She stopped; there was not time for that. ‘I’ll figure it out later.’

“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted at her wife.

“Twi! What did I say about yelling! That hurts.”

“Oh, sorry.” Twilight forgot about that part of the mind link. “Where are you?”

“Just checking in on Spitfire, they moved her to room five twelve in the hospital. Needless to say, Firestar is not happy about her mom being right next door.” The sound of laughter could be heard as Rainbow chuckled at that.

“Hey, I need you by my side. Like five seconds ago.”

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s just it… I don’t know, but we need to get home.”

Twilight was not surprised when she felt Rainbow press her side up against her. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” Rainbow whispered into Twilight’s ear.

“Hang on.”

“To what Twi? You don’t exactly have handlebars.”

“Rainbow, you’re lucky you’re cute, you know that.”

“I think you me-“ Rainbow was unable to finish that sentence as Twilight teleported them both directly in front of Ponyville General Hospital. She suspected whatever was going on, it would have something to do with Rarity, and by extension, Spike and Ataxia. Rarity was in the hospital, and as such it was only logical that this would be the best starting point to look.

Twilight was right. In this case, she hated that she was right.

What they saw caused them both to gasp in horror.

“What… what the buck…”

It was not an elegant reply, but Twilight could not find fault with it, as the words summed up the situation quite nicely. The building looked like it had been involved in a war. Several craters peppered the side. Each one had magical residue all over them. A mark of two very powerful spell casters going after each other.

No doubt the result of the battle that went on outside. All around were the after effects of the battle, a war, a massacre. Twilight was not sure which description best summed all of… of this. Craters lined the ground, from the looks of them something long and heavy slammed into them. Burn marks where all over the place, the results of magical fire.

Twilight could see… off in the forest, the largest bonfire she had ever seen in her life. That was a concern that needed to be taken care of now. Whatever else happened, that needed to be priority number one. A fire of that size could burn down Ponyville overnight.

“Rainbow, go check that out.” Twilight gestured with her hoof.

“On it!” In a dash, Rainbow was gone, a rainbow and gold trail left in her wake.

Twilight continued looking around, her mind playing through the natural progression of… whatever had happened here. ‘They fought over there, someone was knocked over here, a powerful spell was cast there… it was broken, a spell was sent over the-‘

She did not finish that thought, one look in that direction and Twilight saw something… something bad. A pony was lying in the dirt, unmoving, dead.

She recognized that pony, that form.

“Spike…”

Twilight teleported directly by his side. She looked down at the body, tears in her eyes. Spike’s corpse lay in the dirt, unmoving, and a huge hole in his chest.

She collapsed in the dirt. Her eyes did not want to look at it… but she could not look anywhere else. Her mind took in every detail at a glance: The state of his body… it was recent, he was no more than ten minutes gone. The wounds around his neck, he was strangled. The hole in his chest, someone… something blasted him. The magical residue, it was a very, very powerful spell… this could have only been done by someone very gifted in magic. The lack of blood, it was because of the spell….

“Hey Twi! That fire is pretty much contained already, it looks like someone dug a big hole underneath it and dropped it in there. It should burn itself out by mor-“ Rainbow stopped talking. She saw the body; she knew who it was. The mare fell out of the sky; shock written all over her face.

“Spike… How? Who? Why?”

“I don’t know Rainbow… It was someone powerful… very powerful… these wounds, they couldn’t have been caused by just anyone.”

“You mean like Luna, or Cadance?”

Twilight shook her head. “They… they were with us.”

Rainbow did not want to say the next two; it was too horrible to contemplate. “So that just leaves…”

Twilight shook her head cutting off Rainbow from saying it… saying it, it would make it real; they did not need to say it. There were only two known suspects they knew of that had the power to do this and she did not believe for a second that either of them was capable of this...

However, she did need to find them; she needed to talk to them if just to let them know what happened. She needed to talk to Shimmering Night and Ataxia. That need, that had to come first. Too much was still unknown; she could not simply stop here. She had to go on. Even if it did hurt.

Picking up the body in her magic, Twilight began walking back to the hospital. It was only a few dozen hooves away, but to a mare that just lost her brother, it felt like a journey of miles.

Memories of the dragon began playing in her mind: Hatching him from an egg. Raising him, caring for him, helping him to grow, to learn. Twilight just about fell over from the weight of it all, from the tragedy of it.

She almost did fall over.

Almost, if it were not for the golden wing wrapped around her and the blue pony that pressed herself up against her. Twilight looked to her right, at the face of her wife. That cyan blue fur-covered face… those magenta eyes.

Rainbow did not say a word, she did not cock a smile, and she did not grin her normal grin. Not now… now was not the time for any of that. It was too… it hurt too much. She felt the same pain her wife did, but she knew Twilight would take this hard. Twi needed someone to lean on, and she needed someone who could be strong. Rainbow could do that; she could do that for her wife.

Rainbow would mourn later but first she had to help her wife.

So Rainbow pressed herself up to Twilight, when she looked at her Rainbow simply nodded. That one gesture said it all. ‘I’ll be here for you, right by your side for however long you need.’

Twilight nodded back. ‘Thank you, Rainbow.’ She started walking forward again, Rainbow in lock step with her. After forty-plus years together the two had gotten quite adept at walking in unison like this, so much that it was second nature for them. In no time at all, they had made it into the hospital.

“Where… where is everyone?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s fresh… they must still be in the shelters.” Twilight replied to her wife. She started looking around, spotting several clipboards hanging from behind the desk and a few lying on the floor, Twilight picked them all up and levitated them to her. She began reading them, looking for the room listing.

“What are you looking for?”

“A room…” Twilight replied, “Rarity’s room.”

“What?! What happened to Rarity?”

Twilight mentally facehoofed; after finding Spike, she had forgotten that Rainbow did not yet know about Rarity.

“I… Spike sent me a letter, about an hour ago. She’s sick…”

“Nothing you can’t fix though, right?”

“She did not want me to…”

“What?”

“Found it, room five-eleven.”

“Why would she…”

The two started walking down the hallway to the staircase. “I… I think she made up her mind a while ago. I suspected something at Aurora’s wedding. The clothes she made for her.”

“So what? Rarity has always made Aurora’s clothes.”

“That many? She made her enough clothes for fifteen years. We filled up three storage units in the palace with her outfits alone and she still has four huge closets full of them.”

“I just thought that was Rarity being Rarity.” Rainbow shrugged.

“I talked to… I talked to…” Twilight was unable to finish that sentence. She glanced behind her at the body that was floating delicately behind them. Rainbow just nodded, she fully understood whom Twilight meant. “He confirmed it… she hasn’t been doing well for a while.”

“So she wanted to go?”

Twilight nodded. “She was always so concerned about others, about helping others… I don’t think she ever wanted to be a burden on anyone.”

“But… but…”

“It was her choice, Rainbow. Even if we don’t agree, we can at least respect it.”

“It’s still stupid.”

Twilight would not argue with that… “C’mon, I would like to see her before…”

“What do we tell her about?” Rainbow nodded behind them.

“Nothing… it wouldn’t change anything.”

“I don’t like lying. But… but I get it.” Rainbow laid her head against Twilight’s side. She was torn, they both were. Rarity deserved to know… but… it would be cruel to tell her right before she… she died.

When they got to the fifth floor, Twilight spotted the door almost instantly. It was completely destroyed, with a vengeance from the looks of it. Her throat went dry… her legs started buckling under.

She did not have to look, she just knew, she knew that was the room Rarity was in. whatever happened, it already happened, and it somehow involved Rarity.

Rainbow wanted to run in there, she wanted to fight whoever might still be there, whoever might be threatening one of her oldest friends, but she also wanted to be by Twilight’s side.

The latter easily overcame her more impulsive nature.

Twilight lay Spike’s body down on the floor and started walking forward. ‘Maybe the doctors just moved her down into the shelter… maybe Ataxia brought her down, that would explain the door being like it was.’

'Yeah, when do we ever get that lucky.'

Twilight walked forward, slowly, Rainbow by her side. She could feel the muscles in Rainbow’s body tense up. She was ready for a fight.

When they turned the corner, they both visibly relaxed. Their daughter, Shimmering Night was sitting in the room. Her mouth agape. She had not even noticed the new arrivals.

“Night, what ha-“ Rainbow’s question was cut off as soon as her eyes fell upon the pony in the bed. She did not need her enhanced senses to know that she was dead.

Rarity was dead.

Twilight saw it too.

Shimmering Night finally noticed the two newcomers, they were both the ponies she wanted to see the most in the world and the last ponies she wanted to talk to right now. However, they deserved to know. Besides, if anypony could solve this… if anypony could make this right, it was her mom, Twilight Sparkle.

“Mom… I… I…”

Twilight walked up and hugged her daughter. It did not matter what she said, it would not even matter if she were somehow responsible for all this… she was still her daughter, that would never, ever change.

Night started crying, it was too much, it was all too much. Rainbow walked over and hugged them both, all the while Night cried into her mom’s coat.

They stayed like that for a while, unmoving, not a sound passing between them except for the sobs coming from their daughter.

It was Shimmering Night who broke the silence. “Mom… you should know, Spike’s dead too.”

“I know. I saw his body already…” Twilight said. The hurt in her voice was like daggers to Night’s heart.

“We… I… I left him outside. We should, we should bring him inside. It’s… it’s not right to leave him alone.”

“I already did.” Twilight reached out with her magic and found where she had placed the body. She teleported the dragon next to his wife. It took a second, simply a quick adjustment and his hoof was wrapped around Rarity. On any other day, at any other time, one could be forgiven for thinking that they were just sleeping.

It happened in an instant, faster than the blink of an eye. Logically, Twilight knew it was impossible, but she could have sworn she saw Rarity smile.

Shimmering Night glanced over and saw the placement of the bodies. “I think… I think she would have liked that.”

“I know she does.” Twilight smiled.

“Night… What happened? Where is Ataxia?” Rainbow asked the obvious question. “Weren’t you two together? I can’t believe she wouldn’t be here; after all, she has been going on all week about your date.”

Her mind started playing through the evening, the club, the museum, the almost first kiss… “Date? I… she…” Night tried to answer the question; she just could not find her voice. Not right then.

Twilight tightened a hoof around her daughter. The sudden increase in pressure caused Night to look back. Twilight’s face… it was the face of understanding, and love. “Take your time.”

“Thanks…”

Night breathed in and out. Twilight chucked a little as she recognized her foal sitter’s old breathing exercises. Cadance had taught her well.

“I… I suppose I should start at the beginning.”

……………………

Shimmering Night recounted the entire evening’s events. It was a mark of the situation and her desperate desire for some form of fix-all that she did not change or omit anything. She told her parents everything, everything she knew, everything that happened between her and Ataxia, and everything she had been told when she got here.

Twilight sat there and listened to everything, she did not judge, she did not interrupt (other than for clarification), and she did not criticize anything she was told. She let her daughter finish her tale without interruption.

The same could not be said for Rainbow Dash. Who visibly facehoofed when Night got to the end.

“Night! What were you thinking?! How could you tell her that?! At that moment! Are you tha-“

Twilight surrounded her wife’s muzzle with magic. Rainbow gasped as she suddenly lost the ability to speak. She broke the spell with a quick swipe of her feather and glared at her wife.

Twilight simply responded with ‘the look’.

Rainbow shook her head and backed off; she opened the window and jumped out. “I’ll see if I can find Ataxia!” Rainbow shouted as she flew off. Rainbow wanted to say a hell of a lot more to her daughter; however, Rainbow also wanted no part in pissing off her wife, but she did have some venting to do. So she left, she could work that out of her system while searching for the heartbroken mare.

Night… if Twilight had one word for her at that moment, if she could only use one adjective to describe how she looked, it would be awful. The things Rainbow had shouted out… it was obvious to Twilight that Night had been saying the same things to herself ever since it happened. She did not need someone beating up on her right now, not now.

Rainbow would apologize later, Twilight would see to that, but first, she had to deal with her daughter. “You know she didn’t mean that.” Twilight nodded at the open window.

“Yes, she did.” Night began sobbing again.

“Ok, she did, but she didn’t mean it that way. She does love you, it was just… frustrating to hear that. Rainbow likes to vent her frustrations when they show up,”

Night nodded. She knew about her mom’s behavior. Still, she was at a loss for words.

Twilight brought her daughter into a tighter hug, once again allowing her to cry out in her coat. Night found her voice. “Mom… what, what do I do? How do I make this right?”

“I don’t know.”

I don’t know, such a simple phrase, its meaning simply that the speaker does not have the answer. An easy concept for most.

At that moment, it was completely lost on Night. Not because the phrase was somehow complicated, it was simple enough, but that it came from her mom, Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle, the smartest mare Night had ever known, the mare that rebuilt an empire in less then three months. The mare that has solved every major disaster Equestria had known the past forty-seven years. The go-to mare for any and all problems any pony might have.

The mare that had the answer for everything.

She did not know.

“What?” Night asked, unsure if she had heard her mom correctly.

“I said, I don’t know.” Twilight hugged her daughter tighter.

“But… but… but…” in Night’s brain, ‘does not compute’ kept circling. It was impossible, Twilight knew everything… but she does not know, but she knows everything, but she does not know…. On and on it went.

Twilight smiled as she sensed all of this. “Night, you have to understand something. Your friend, Ataxia. She just lost her entire family. If that battle outside is any indication, someone… something, killed Spike right in front of her, violently. She ran up here to find her mom passed away, and in a moment of desperation, she kissed you.” Twilight raised a hoof to Night’s chin, lifting it up to look her daughter in the eye. “You need to understand, I’m not here to say what you did was right or wrong, there are no such rules when it comes to the matters of the heart. Believe me, with everything Rainbow and I have been through over the years that is one lesson I have memorized.” Twilight chuckled a little at that. “However, at that moment, she was at her most vulnerable. She had just lost her entire family. She put it all on the line with that kiss.”

“But… but I’m not a fillyfooler…” Night said weakly.

“Shimmering Night!” Twilight replied forcefully. Night shrunk down, Twilight only ever used her full name when she was mad at her. Twilight took two deep breaths before responding in a much more soothing tone. “Why do you put so much emphasis on labels? Haven’t I taught you better than that?”

“But… but…”

“Listen, I don’t care what you are, I don’t care who you end up with. I just want you to follow your heart. Don’t be concerned about labels, about what others say you are. I just want you to be who you are. Let others label you all day long, but do not try to fit yourself in some box others might want you in. You’re too special to too many of us for something like that. Be yourself, be who you are, who you truly are. There are many labels out there, many boxes, but there is only one of you. That’s the only label you should never be concerned about wearing.”

“I… I…” She stopped trying to talk and shrunk further into the floor. Had she been in the right mind, had things been slightly different, she would have laughed at this situation. Here she was, an alicorn princess of Equestria acting like a foal in her mom’s hooves. Of course, she was in no situation to laugh right now. Too much had happened and she needed to fix it, but she also did not want to leave her mom’s embrace, ever again. She felt safe there.

Twilight seemed to sense this in her daughter. “I think you’ve been through more than enough for tonight. Let’s go home. Just… promise me you will think about what I said. Ok? And whatever you do, whatever happens, ask yourself. ‘What does my heart say, what does it want?’ That’s how you know if you are being you, or if you are simply being what others want you to be.”

Shimmering Night held her mom even tighter. She closed her eyes and asked herself that very question. ‘What does my heart want?’ It did not surprise her to find no answer to that question. It had been awhile since she last listened to it.

“Don’t worry; I’ll have Spike send a let-.” If it were possible, Shimmering Night would have sworn she could feel her mom’s heart almost break at that. The hoof holding her squeezed harder. “I’ll have a pegasus deliver a message to Princess Luna letting her know what happened….” The monotone voice coming from Twilight felt like daggers being plunged into Shimmering Night’s chest.

Twilight took one last look at the bodies in the bed. Rarity and Spike… they looked so peaceful. A tear fell from her eye as she teleported her and her daughter home. It was so hard being strong right now, but for her daughter… for Shimmering Night, Twilight would find the strength. After all, she had someone who needed her and in the end, that was what really mattered.

…………………………………………………

???????????????????????????????

Ataxia woke up.

That alone made it a bad day.

It was another day, another day of pain, another day of hunger, another day of thirst.

She did not want to be alive anymore. She should not be alive anymore. It had been days… weeks… months since she last had anything to eat or drink.

She lost track of what day it was, of how long she had been here. She used to make tally marks in the dirt, each one for each day she was awake. She stopped that though. She could not see them. They all had to be done in the dark. The other day, she swore it was changing on her. Two days ago, she distinctly remembered there being seven, yesterday there were four.

She gave up after that, each day it changed, each day was a different, random number. Nothing made sense. Of course, making sense itself stopped making sense after a while. Making sense involved remembering, it involved getting back, getting out of this cave. Most damning of all, it involved moving on.

She did not want to make sense, for sense was overrated.

“Maybe I am losing my mind.” Her voice came out dry and raspy. Too long without water… it made speaking almost impossible. Soon, she would be unable to speak at all.

Her echo continued to repeat her words all around the cave.

“Maybe I am losing my mind; I am losing my mind, losing my mind…” She would not miss that when she could no longer speak.

It continued for a while until it finally faded away.

‘Well, being right of mind was never that fun anyway.’

Her magic had not returned. She knew, had she been able to eat and drink, had she some opportunity… some way of replenishing her energy this would all be easy for a mare like her. Yet she had no chance for any of that. That last transformation and blind teleportation, it… it left her weak. It drained her magic.

It would not return on its own. Not without food and water. Not with her trapped like this.

She was stuck here.

She would die here.

She did not care.

She just wished it would happen soon. If the pain did not kill her, if the starvation and dehydration did not kill her, if the infection that was no doubt spreading up from her rock-leg did not kill her, than the waiting would. As funny as it was for her to think about, Ataxia was bored.

Fortunately, fatigue would not let her be bored for long. She soon found herself passing out again. Her body shutting down as many functions as it could to save energy. It was trying to preserve her life, of course, but if you asked Ataxia it was not preserving her life at all. it was simply dragging out her death.

A thought played through Ataxia’s head right before she fell unconscious. She was not sure if it was her thought or if she dreamed it. However, she did remember what it said.

There’s no one left that loves you.

……………………………………………………

Ponyville

When she returned to the hospital the day after the event, it took Twilight all of two minutes to figure out what happened. She almost did not say it… what Ataxia did, it was stupid, it was dumb, and it was incredibly risky. It was also, exactly what she knew Ataxia would do in such a situation. Exactly what she had warned her against doing many, many times.

“Night… she…” Twilight did not want to say it. After the events of the last night and Rainbows inability to find her despite a one night exhaustive search of all of Ponyville (something the town ponies were not happy about), she had come up with nothing. This… this was the reason why.

The look on Night’s face. It was begging, pleading to know what happened… what happened to her friend, for some shred of hope she could cling on to.

Now?

Now Twilight knew and that news would break her heart.

Twilight looked down at the floor. She gathered her courage and looked her daughter in the eye, Night deserved that much at the least. “Night, Ataxia teleported away… it was a blind teleport.”

Her reaction was exactly what Twilight suspected it would be.

There it was; the look of heartbreak. Night’s face, the last time Twilight had seen that look was when Applejack died. Rainbow would not go outside for weeks after that. It seemed Night had inherited that from Rainbow.

Twilight had to do something; she could not bear to see that look on her daughter’s face any longer. “However, I cannot track where she went.”

Night started crying again.

Twilight wiped away a tear with her hoof and raised her head. “No, you misunderstood. I cannot track where she went. The only way that is possible is if the caster disperses their residual magical emanations after the teleport.”

“You… you mean?” Shimmering Night did not want to get her hopes up.

Twilight nodded, “Yes, she is alive.”

Night jumped up and hugged her. “Thank you!” It was the first time in a week that Twilight had seen her daughter smile.

Of course, just because they knew Ataxia was alive, that would not make it any easier to find her.

That was thirteen days ago.

………………

Two weeks... for two weeks they searched everywhere anyone could think of that Ataxia might have gone to. It was trying to find a nine-centimeter needle in a mountain of ten-centimeter needles. There were no tricks, no short cuts that could be used. Everything Twilight and Night thought of proved to be useless.

It was a blind teleport. She could be anywhere, literally anywhere. There was nowhere they could not look; every house had to be examined, inside and out, in the walls and under the basement.

They knew she was alive. They had confirmation of it. She hid her signature.

Of course, that means she did not want to be followed.

That meant she did not want to be found.

Which could only mean that she was hiding.

Twilight kept that last part to herself. If Ataxia did not want to be found, if she was hiding herself. They had no hopes of ever finding her.

Twilight did not know what that news would do to Night, but it was not what she needed to hear. She needed to see her friend. She needed to see Ataxia again, if just to verify that she was alive with her eyes.

It was a rare day to not see tears falling from her daughter’s eyes. Truly, Twilight was not sure such a day had passed in the past two weeks.

Not even Rainbow could stay mad at Night. Seeing the pain her daughter was in… Rainbow’s resolve broke down in less than a day. She took to the search like a mare possessed. For every town that a search team visited, Rainbow finished three. For every cave that was mapped out, Rainbow did six.

Of course, she also caused seven times as much destruction doing those searches. Often ponies would tear their houses apart for her upon hearing that she was in town. Just so it could be rebuilt.

Still nothing. No pony has reported so much a sign of her.

Their search was not simply limited to Equestria either, Aurora and Icarus helped out too. However, no griffin in the empire reported anything of their savior.

It was the largest pony hunt ever, and it came up with nothing. To Twilight, that was more proof that Ataxia was hiding. That she did not want to be found.

It was time to break the news to Night, wherever Ataxia was, they would not find her. Not until she wanted to be found. There was no other choice and today was Twilight’s chance. Shimmering Night would be in town for today, they all would.

As today was not a normal day.

Today was the day of the funeral.

……………………….

Princess Cadance, the Alicorn of Love. Born a pegasus, Cadance achieved princess status early on in life. As a foul, Cadance was found abandoned in the woods by earth ponies, who took her to their village. When she grew up, she reversed a love-stealing spell cast by a pony called Prismia. This action caused her to be transported to the magical plain where she met Celestia for the first time and soon after, was taken in as her adopted niece.

Cadance began foal sitting for Twilight while in school. Ever since, the two have always been the best of friends. This bond only increased when she married Twilight’s brother: Shining Armor. She has always been a mare of great compassion and love, willing to go out of her way to help anypony that might need it.

When Twilight asked her to arrange the funeral for Spike and Rarity, she did not hesitate to say yes.

The guests of honor would arrive late, well, later than the other guests. No pony could ever accuse Twilight of being late to anything.

When Twilight and Rainbow arrived, what they saw made them both smile and frown at the same time. Every pony in Ponyville had come out for the final farewell to their dear friends.

It was not just Ponyville either. The who’s-who of the Canterlot elite all had their own assigned seats. Designers from all over Equestria and beyond were here. Anyone who ever had anything to do with Rarity. They were all here, here to see off one more of Equestria’s heroes. One more fallen element.

Despite some very stern objections, not a single one of them had a front row seat. Those seats were for family only.

On the fly over, Twilight spotted Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle.

That mare… if Twilight would ever be attracted to someone other than Rainbow... Sweetie Belle was what Rarity could have been, if she devoted herself to the spotlight instead of her fashion. That, combined with her voice… it was little wonder she was the number one singer in the world and she sold albums in every country that had any sort of trade with Equestria.

Twilight even heard that Sweetie Belle’s reach extended beyond that. Even into the dragon kingdom if such rumors could be believed.

Of course, anywhere Sweetie Belle went, Scootaloo was right there beside her and today was no exception. Those two… It had started off as nothing more than friendship. They each went their own ways in life. Yet, even then, they were a perfect match.

Nopony could beat Scootaloo on the dance floor. She rose to fame the hard way, going from bar to bar, performance to performance, until, at last, she was put on the stage. Where her natural talent shone through like a beacon in the dark. She was soon the lead dancer for an entire performance. Until somepony caused five sonic rainbooms over her studio.

That same stunt also ruined Sweetie Belle’s performance. With a lot of time to kill both ponies came back home, back to Ponyville. Twilight would always remember that day with a smile on her face. After all, that was the day she told Rainbow that she was pregnant with Shimmering Night.

Well, Rarity managed to convince Sweetie to put on a little performance for all the locals while she was in town. For the old CMC gang it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Applebloom immediately took to building the stage, and Scootaloo volunteered her expertise as a backup dancer.

It was the first time Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were ever seen together in any real performance.

It was instant gold.

Scoot’s grace and natural ability on the floor, combined with Sweetie’s angelic voice, everyone loved it. From that moment on, the two of them did everything together.

Every concert Sweetie Belle had was choreographed by Scootaloo. She would always take the lead as the main dancer. They sold out seconds after tickets would go up for sale. Together, they were greater than the sum of their parts.

It was only a matter of time, one day Scoots grabbed Sweetie on stage and began dancing with her. She twisted and turned the singer into several high profile moves. For Sweetie Belle’s part, she loved every minute of it. Her natural ability caused her to never miss a note.

When it was over, when Scootaloo held Sweetie in her hooves on stage, both of them panting and sweating from their performance of a lifetime. The crowd cheering so loud that not a single voice could be heard.

It was Sweetie who kissed Scootaloo.

Somehow, despite the impossibility of it, the crowd got even louder.

Scootaloo told Rainbow later that she almost dropped Sweetie right then and there. Simply because of the surprise. Nevertheless, she did not. If asked, Scootaloo will still say that ‘that’ was the greatest achievement of her life. Cutie mark be damned.

Three years later the two were married.

Three months after that they adopted a foal.

Little Shining Grove. She was so much like her parents; ponies would often ask how they got Twilight to help them reproduce. Of course, that never happened. Twilight and Rainbow never quite knew if it was just fate or luck that got them a foal that was so similar to them. It was just one more mystery in life.

Unfortunately, her interests were a lot like her mothers as well. She would not settle down, even after she had a foal. This of course led to a lot of ponies foal sitting for her. Twilight had tried to talk to Scootaloo and Sweetie about it, but they did not see a problem. To them it just meant more time they could spend with their grandson after all.

That little black earth pony was sitting right now in his permanent spot between his two grandmothers. While they never did find out whom his father was; that did not stop Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle from loving him all the same.

In Twilight’s expert opinion, Astelan, The Crusading King, was bored. This did not really surprise her; he was too young to know what had happened. What this all meant. Some things are simply too difficult to understand at that age.

The Crusading King, a title he earned from years of leading crusades for the new regiments of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It was ironic; he had personally helped over forty fillies and colts get their cutie mark, yet he was still a blank flank.

Twilight thought about telling him that maybe his special talent might be helping others find their special talent. She dismissed that idea. As with every pony, he would figure it out for himself, eventually.

Next to the famous pair sat Emperor Icarus and Empress Princess Aurora. From the look on her face, Aurora was doing everything she could not to cry. Something Icarus was very sensitive too. She was well along now, almost as big as she was before… before Blood Dawn…

Twilight moved on, she did not need to relive that memory.

The next three open seats were reserved. She could tell from this distance that those belonged to her, Rainbow, and Night. That meant Night had yet to arrive.

Twilight was worried about that. When she told her daughter that the funeral was today Night had almost bit her head clean off.

“NO! We can’t do it now! We can’t have the funeral without Ataxia! She would… she would want to be there…”

It still sent a chill down Twilight’s spine to think about that, but there was no choice. They could not delay the funeral any longer. There was a limit to what magic could do to stop the decomposition process and if they wanted an open casket, like Rarity asked for in her will, this was the longest they could wait.

Although she did agree with one thing, Ataxia should be here. It was not right to do this without her.

Quietly, Twilight hoped that she was in fact here. That she simply masked her presence so no pony would notice her. Twilight dared hope that, but after a few high intensity scans, that hope was dashed. Not even a mare like Ataxia could hide herself right in front of Twilight. No pony was that good.

Twilight shook her head and moved on.

Luna occupied the next seat. Rarity and Spike, they were heroes of Equestria. They each were responsible for helping save Equestria from countless threats. That alone would guarantee her presence. However, she also owed her freedom from the clutches of Nightmare Moon to them. She would never miss this.

The last seat in the line was empty. It belonged to Princess Cadance. When she was done with her eulogy, she would take her seat and let others talk.

Twilight did not need to ask why there was no seats open for Radiant or Firestar. That went without saying. Although, if the rumors are true, she had no doubt that they would both rather be here than with Spitfire at the hospital. Twilight made a mental note to go check on them when she could.

“You ready for this, Egghead?” Rainbow looked at her wife expectantly, this had been their third flyover.

“No…”

A blue hoof was placed on her shoulder. Somehow, that one gesture always seemed to calm her down. “Thanks… but I’m still not ready.”

“Yeah you are. Come on, let’s get down there.”

Rainbow began flying lower, forcing Twilight to join her or be by herself. To the mare’s credit, she did it slowly, in small increments. For a while Twilight was not even aware she was getting closer to the ground.

Her hooves touching ground were kind of a dead give away though. “You tricked me.”

“So?” Rainbow smirked.

“Thanks…” Twilight said sheepishly. The two walked to their seats. A respectful nod from Cadance told Twilight that everything was ready, that all she had to do was be here. Of course, the unanswered question still permeated in the air. ‘Where was Night?’

Twilight looked up; there was no sign of the alicorn anywhere. A glance at Cadance confirmed it, she had not yet been here and it was getting time to start.

“Where is she?” Twilight asked under her breath.

Rainbow knew whom she was talking about without even having to ask. She had seen it too and a lot sooner than her wife had. She did not reply, there was no need, as she did not have the answers that Twilight wanted. Instead, Rainbow wrapped a wing around Twilight and pressed her side against her.

That one action almost brought a smile to Twilight’s face; almost.

There was not much to smile about today. The coffin at the end of the isle killed any chance of that.

As the pair made their way to their seats. Twilight stole several glances at it. She could not look at it for any real amount of time. It was… it was too painful.

The search for Ataxia had helped, it focused her attention on something else, gave her a task to complete. A saying about ‘idle hooves’ and all of that came back to Twilight’s mind.

Now? Now it was time to pay the piper. This day, this moment, it was time to say goodbye. Now she had to focus on this… this tragedy.

They never found out who did it. However; judging by the magical fire that raged in the huge hole in the ground for three days, that was not surprising. It had only taken a minute for Twilight to put those pieces together. Even if they never knew who was the cause.

So yes, they never found a body. Ataxia’s fire burned everything. Twilight never expect to find the body.

She stole another glance.

The coffin it was, in a word, beautiful. If she did not know better, Twilight would have sworn that Rarity herself had designed it. It was pearl white with sapphire gems embedded all along it. A golden lining highlighted its contours in all the right ways. A white silk sheet lined the inside, and it was huge.

It had to be, for it held two bodies.

Inside, Spike and Rarity’s remains lay. They were each dressed in their best. Spike wore his best suit. The one Rarity designed for him for all the weddings they went too. He first wore that to Rainbow and Twilight’s wedding.

Twilight smiled, once, a long time ago, she asked Rarity why she never made him a new one. She simply laughed. “You can’t improve on perfection darling.”

She was right. The suit was perfect on him.

Rarity’s dress… Sweetie Belle went through her closet and picked it out. From what Twilight had been told, it took the mare three days to find the perfect dress for her sister’s final farewell.

It lived up to the hype.

The dress was a lavender purple with dark purple strips down cutting horizontal across the body. A night star pattern decorated the edges. She had on a head wrap with a pure white gem in the center. Around her neck was a golden necklace with the pure, flawless, fire ruby Spike had given Rarity all those years ago.

The two bodies lay side by side. Rarity’s right hoof was held by Spike’s left claw. Their faces were not turned up, but at each other. That they may spend forever looking at the one they loved the most in life.

Twilight suspected that was Cadance’s doing. She did not disagree. It just… fit. In life, Spike only ever had eyes for Rarity. After their marriage, it was the same for the mare. It was fitting that even in death it would be the same.

Rainbow glanced over; she was not surprised to see Twilight crying. She merely wrapped her wing even tighter around her and led them both to their seats.

The clock in the distance struck two; it was time to begin.

……………………………..

???????????????????????????????

It was another bad day.

Then again, for a day to be bad that means it must be below the normal, below the standard day, or the average day if you will.

After all, if every day is a bad day, if it is always ‘bad,’ if it always ‘sucks,’ then it is not a bad day; that is a normal day, that is a standard day.

Ataxia did not care about the technicalities of good, average, bad. It was a bad day.

Why?

Because she woke up.

When you are waiting to die, every day you live is simply a bad day.

It had rained outside.

When? She could not say. She knew it had rained because of the dripping noise echoing throughout the cave.

Drip

Drip

Drip

It was… it was maddening; she was so thirsty.

Yet she was trapped. The water, wherever it was landing, it was not near her. It was simply taunting her. Telling her, “Here I am, but you can’t have me.”

Drip

Drip

Drip

Her leg did not hurt anymore.

She did not know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She went with bad. There were no good things anymore.

Briefly, she considered chewing through her own leg and getting free that way. She dismissed that idea.

It was gross to even think about.

Also she did not have the energy.

Drip

Drip

Drip

‘Why can’t I just die?’

Why do you wish for your own death?

It was starting up again. She would often have these fights with herself. She knew it was just her minds way of dealing with everything that had happened, trying to keep her sanity. However, another part of her detested this… it… it felt more like an intruder, almost as if they were not her thoughts.

She did not have the time, energy, patience, smarts, or motivation to figure out that puzzle.

‘I want this to be over.’

Why?

‘There’s… there’s no point in living anymore, I’ve been here months now… I should be dead.’

Yet you’re not…

‘I want to die.’

Is that really, really what you want?

‘Yes…’

You can’t find, anything, to live for?

‘There’s no one left.’

What about Twilight? Isn’t she your friend?

‘She was my mom’s friend… mom’s gone. She… she will not put up with me anymore, neither will Rainbow.’

I guess that is true. What about Cadance? Weren’t you two friends?

‘We had a mutual respect… I don’t think she was ever my friend.’

Aurora might miss you?

That… That simply brought up memories of before, of her and Dayspring. Ataxia remembered that fight all too well. It was the first time her and the twins ever really got into it. Maybe she did go a little overboard and maybe, just maybe, having to rebuild the school from the ground up was a lot and maybe she did deserve to be expelled (although if asked she will say she dropped out). Still… the things Dayspring said… Yes, they could be in the same room without issue… now… but for all intents and purposes, they were not friends.

‘She sided with Dayspring. She always took his side.’

What about Ni-

‘Don’t! Don’t say that name.’

It’s a bad sign when you are yelling at yourself.

‘Just don’t, not right now… not now.’

Let me ask, why are you still alive?

‘I don’t know.’

Maybe you still have something to do?

‘No I don’t.’

Oh, we must be mistaken.

Ataxia wanted nothing more than to fall back into sleep. At least that would pass the time. She simply waited for the one time she would fall asleep and not wake up.

Memories began replaying in her head. She could… she could almost see them. She was not sure if that was a good sign or a bad. Normally, in any other circumstance, she would say hallucinating was a bad sign, that having internal conversations with yourself is a bad sign.

Now?

Now she would say it was a good sign; that it meant she was close to death.

She wanted that.

She saw her mom.

Rarity, she looked gorgeous, almost as if it was ten years ago. Her mane, it was perfect but only because there was not a better word to describe it.

“So, darling, how did it go with Night? Did you take my advice?”

Ataxia nodded her head, she was too dehydrated to speak.

“Oh? That’s good to hear. So I take it you two are a couple now?”

Ataxia shook her head.

“Really? Well you must have screwed something up then.”

Ataxia’s eyes got wide at that. ‘Did… did she just say?’

“Unless, of course I lied to you.”

Ataxia jerked her head back at that.

Rarity smiled and walked forward. She placed one hoof on Ataxia’s chin. “C’mon darling, why would I ever want you to be happy? You stupid, stupid mare. All you’ve done my whole life is make me miserable. I saw the way you were pining after her, the way your heart would flutter whenever you looked her way. Do you really, really think Shimming Night, a princess, the first alicorn ever born, that she would ever be interested in you? If you did… you’re even dumber than I thought.”

For Ataxia… every word was a dagger into her heart. She had thought it was forever broken, when the pain subsided, that it was numb, that she could no longer feel anything.

She was wrong.

This… this hurt.

“Oh, that look was so worth coming back from the dead to see. Thank you for making me happy once in my life, well un-life anyway.”

Rarity walked away.

Ataxia was never so grateful to be alone in her life.

It did not last long.

She saw her father next.

Spike walked up, proud and confident, brimming with strength. “Sorry about your mom. She’s just in a bad place right now, you know she didn’t mean it.”

He sat down on his flank right in front of her. Ataxia rested her head again. His words were a soothing towel on her open wounds.

“She’s just mad because you let me die.”

A Salt covered towel in her open wounds.

“I know; I know, you think I should apologize for not being there for you, that I somehow ‘broke my promise.’ The thing is, I didn’t. You see, you’re the one that missed. You, the great Ataxia, ‘Equestria’s Monster Hunter Extraordinaire’. The Mare who can only be matched by the likes of Twilight Sparkle, you’re the one who failed, dear girl.”

Spike stood up, “This is the price of that failure, you’re all alone now and you only have yourself to blame. All you had to do was aim, yet you couldn’t even do that correctly. That mistake cost you your entire family. Tell me, is there one thing you have done right in all your life?”

Ataxia tried to answer that, she tried to speak, to yell, to scream. Her voice was long gone.

“Didn’t think so.”

Spike walked away.

Rarity joined him; Spike looked back one last time. “What a waste.”

“She always was, Spikey-wikey.”

The two faded away.

Ataxia began banging her head against the dirt. If this was the final thoughts her mind wanted to show her, then she wanted no part in it.

It took a minute, but she was finally able to knock herself unconscious.

…………

She awoke to pain.

This was a new pain, this time; it was her head.

Her head hurt and not just from the magical pull of a teleport.

It made sense; she did bash her head against the floor.

Of course, that also meant she was still awake. It was another bad day, well, another day. Good and bad were losing their meanings.

Drip

Drip

Drip

The water was not done dripping yet.

Drip

Drip

Drip

In a way, Ataxia figured that the dripping was her, that it was her life. A life that was slowly dripping away.

Drip

Drip

Drip

She hated that noise, she hated the dripping water. It represented the promise of something cool and refreshing, something she would never get to.

Drip

Drip

…

That was new; the dripping did not come as it should.

She could not see it, not in this pitch-blackness anyway.

There was no drip. It stopped. It was over.

She missed it. She missed it more than she missed anything ever before. There was a dripping noise and then there was none. Ataxia did not know why, but she wanted it back.

Drip

She breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t alone, she still had the drip, it just… slowed is all.

‘Thank you… thank you for not leaving me.’

It took a minute but soon another drip came.

‘Thank you!’ she would have cried if there were any water left for something like tears.

Clunk

That was new.

She had not heard a clunk before, only a drip. What was the clunk, what made a clunking noise?

Clunk, clunk

Two noises, she had heard it, it was not just in her imagination.

Ataxia looked up, she wanted to see, and she wanted to see the clunk. It was impossible, she could not see anything, but she really, really wanted to see what made that noise.

The next noise raised all her hopes higher than anything else ever had before.

The cave wall in front of her collapsed. Light shined in and blinded her.

“I found her!”

She knew that voice. That was Cadance’s voice.

“Girls! Over here!”

“You found her?!”

She knew that voice too, it was… it was Night’s voice.

Ataxia had never been happier to hear that voice in her entire life. While she still could not see, her hearing worked perfectly.

“Ataxia!” Night shouted. “Cadance, get Twilight and Luna!”

“Ataxia, I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t mea-“She cut her words off.

Ataxia wanted her to continue, she wanted her to finish that sentence more than anything else.

“Oh… what the buck happened to you?” Night commented, the tone of disgust was unmistakable.

“You got her Night?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, but you two should see this.”

Ataxia heard hoof steps. Three more ponies had joined Night in the cave.

“Gross.” Luna stated.

“Wow, that… that’s bad.” Twilight added.

“I know right?” Night spoke.

“Hey Twilight, can you fix this?” Cadance asked.

“I can, but…”

“But what?” Cadance asked.

“Should we?”

“Huh?” Night grunted.

“Well, look at her; she’s so close to death. Is she worth saving? How much damage as she done already? How much will she do in the future? Luna, you know what I mean, right?”

“We think we do. Ataxia is a huge threat to all of Equestria and this is a unique chance…. We agree with Twilight here.”

Cadance looked back and forth, “Well, I guess.”

“You three can’t be serious?” Night spoke in shock.

“What? You think we should free her?” Cadance asked.

“Of course!”

“Why? So she can pine after you all the time like a love sick puppy, so she can kiss you again? You really want to clean up her messes for the rest of your life?” Twilight asked.

“Well… but… no…”

“Did you change your mind Night? Do you love her now? I haven’t felt anything different from you.”

“I… I…” Night could not find the words to answer that.

“I say we leave it to her. Night whatever you want, that is what we will do. If you think you can ever love her, we will let her go.” Twilight stated.

Night thought about it. She thought about it long and hard. Until, at last, she reached her conclusion.

“I guess you girls are right, after all, I could never, NEVER see myself loving a mare, and if I did, I could do way better than her anyway. Sorry Ataxia, like I said earlier, I’m not a fillyfooler. To bad you weren’t smart enough to figure that out on your own.”

Ataxia could only listen to them leave. Her mind, it refused to accept what her ears had heard.

‘That did not happen, that did not happen, that did not happen, they would never…’

The sound of a cave-in confirmed it.

That did just happen; they found her and left her.

Ataxia tried to bash her head against the ground again.

It did not work.

She did not have the energy.

It did increase the pain from her head, and… something else. She felt something new, something she had not felt in a while.

Hate.

She hated them; she hated all of them.

‘I hate you! I hate all of you!’

Maybe you still have something to do?

With the voice, a memory came back… it happened over half a year ago. She was shown something, something she since dismissed.

It was an impossibility, it would never happen.

Or would it?

“It will be its destiny to end the life of every alicorn on this planet.”

Discord… Chaos said that.

Do you still want to die?

‘No.’

What do you want?

‘I want to fulfill my destiny.' There was no doubt or hesitation in her reply.

Even against the mare you love?

‘Yes, and I do not, love her anymore.’

Then do it.

As if that was some switch that had just been flipped, Ataxia transformed, almost as if she was reborn into the world anew.

The world itself shook from her rebirth.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ponyville

Night never showed.

‘Like we don’t have enough to deal with. In one bucking night, we lost both Spike and Rarity. Now… now our own daughter doesn’t even bother to show up to their funeral.’ Rainbow thought to herself. She was livid, beyond livid.

“C’mon Twi, let’s call it a night.”

“Rainbow, I’m not in the mood.”

“I wasn’t referring to that.” Rainbow chuckled a little, she really had not thought of that. “I just want to rest, after…”

Twilight nodded. The funeral had been taxing. Not physically taxing, yet they both felt like they had run a million miles.

It was the tears… the eulogy… the pain of putting dear friends in the ground, again. It was all too much.

As soon as she could; as soon as it was socially acceptable (Well, a little sooner than that thanks to Rainbow). Rainbow led her wife away from the mob of ponies with their apologies and went to take her wife home.

Twilight needed it; she needed time to herself. Honestly, so did Rainbow.

Of course, what you need and what you get in life are often two very different things.

Rainbow saw her; Twilight did not.

Shimmering Night was sitting on top of their house. She looked pissed.

Rainbow was even madder. She just did a better job of hiding it.

“Hey Twi, why don’t you go ahead, I’ll catch up in a minute. There is someone I need to talk to real quick.”

“Oh… ok.”

To Rainbow, that indifference hurt worse than the entire day’s events. She grabbed her wife and hugged her with all her might. “Remember, you’re not alone. I promise; I will be there as soon as I can. What do I always say?”

“Rainbow Dash always keeps her promises. Thanks Rainbow, I needed that.”

Rainbow smiled as she watched Twilight open the door. She smiled as Twilight turned around and nod to her. She smiled as Twilight closed the door.

As soon as the door was shut, she stopped smiling.

She did the opposite.

In a flash, she was gone, as was her daughter from her porch on top of their house.

….

“What the buck, mom!” Night shouted when Rainbow dropped her off on top of the mountain. In the blink of an eye, she had taken them both a hundred miles away.

“You and I need to have a talk Night and I don’t want any distractions.” Rainbow glared angrily at her daughter.

“Yeah, I have a few words to sa-“ Night never got to finish that sentence, Rainbow interrupted with more force than Night was prepared for.

“What the buck is wrong with you?! You think you have any bucking right to do what you did?! Do you not care?! Do you not know what you put your own mother through?!” Rainbow began stomping around. “You knew it was today! You knew it was at two! I know you knew because I told you myself! Twice!”

Night looked up, anger in her eyes. “It wasn’t right! You two shouldn’t have stopped looking for her like that! We can’t have the funeral without Ataxia there!”

“We didn’t have a choice, Night! You know that. It had to be today.”

“We could of just done a closed casket.” It sounded weak, even to Night.

“That’s not what her will said she wanted.”

“She’s dead mom, isn’t it better to care about the living, about what Ataxia wanted.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Rainbow’s anger came back to the surface. She had intended to let Twilight break the news, but after that… it was time for her daughter to face some hard truths. Even if it came from someone who did not know the definition of tact.

“Night, Ataxia doesn’t want to be found! She’s gone until she chooses to come back! You need to accept that now!”

“Wh-“

“No, shut up. Listen, she teleported away, correct?”

Night nodded her head.

“She hid her signature, correct?”

Night nodded again, she had verified it herself, four times.

“That means she arrived wherever she went and did not want to be followed. That means she does not want to be found.”

“But… but…”

“NO BUTS! It’s over Night. There is not a pony in Equestria that did not know the funeral was today, if Ataxia wanted to be here. If she wanted to see her parents before we buried them she would have.”

Night fell speechless.

“She wasn’t there; she didn’t want to see them. We know what her choice was. All you did by pulling this stunt was upset your mother.”

“I… I…”

“The search is over Night. I personally have explored every mile of this entire planet in the last two weeks. We cannot keep searching for her forever; you know that. It’s time to move on.”

Night began crying at that.

“You got a job to do. It’s time to get back to that.”

“You’re right…”

“You also need to apologize to your mother. She missed you today.”

“Ok…” Night said between sobs.

Rainbow grabbed her and squeezed with all her might. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry I yelled at you like that. I shouldn’t have.”

“No… I think I needed it.”

“Let’s go back.”

“Can… can we stay like this for a minute.” Night choked out as she cried into her mom’s coat.

“Sure, but just a minute, ok?”

“Thanks mom.”

Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in the entire world, a mare imbued with the magic of the God Gaia, held Shimmering Night as tight as she could while the mare cried out into her coat.

They both felt a mass rumbling coming from the ground. Looking around, Rainbow and Night’s eyes went wide at what they saw in the distance; a mountain was collapsing in on itself.

……………………………………

???????????????????????????????

Grim Night laughed, he laughed until he thought his sides would burst open. Although, it did not come without risk, he almost did not make it away before Ataxia’s fire killed him. Switching out his own body with that of another pony had been tricky, but he timed it just right.

Still, it had taken much less than he thought it would to get to this moment, but it was finally here. He never expected Shimmering Night to do what she did. He supposed he should thank her. Without that, without that last blow, this would have taken several more months to get too.

“I guess, sometimes we just get lucky.” He said with a smile as he teleported away from the cave the dragons of old stayed in before they left Equestria all those years ago. The cave, sealed off by the ancient alicorns of old, collapsed from Ataxia’s transformation.

Author's Note

Looking for a sadistic a-hole? Need to buck someone over in the worst possible way? Tired of having any shred of morals left? Than you have come to the right place. Call 18GrimNight. that number again is 18GrimNight. He will make sure your enemies wish they had never been born!

All at the low low price of never being able to look yourself in the mirror again!

Unstoppable Force

Equestria

Rainbow held her daughter as close as she could while they both stared off into the distance in shock. In the distance, hundreds of miles away, a mountain was collapsing and neither of them had the slightest clue why. “Mom… what’s happening?” Shimmering Night asked. Despite herself, she had a very, very bad feeling about this. Her stomach was telling her that something had just gone horribly wrong.

And it was right.

“I don’t know, Night. Wait here, I’ll check it out.” Rainbow had to pry her daughter’s hooves off her body. She did not know what had just occurred and did not want to put her daughter in any unnecessary danger.

“Ok…” Night released her mother. Part of her felt silly; she was an adult, an alicorn, and the newest Princess of Equestria. When something like this happened, she should not want to cling to her mother like that, she should want to go and check it out. She should want to deal with the threat head on, so the ponies of Equestria can sleep soundly at night knowing their princesses were there to protect them.

Another part of her said ‘buck that’ and simply wanted the comfort that came with holding onto her mom for protection. Of course, that combined with a sinking feeling in her gut made the latter the far stronger emotion at that time. “Stay safe… ok?”

Rainbow grinned her cocky grin. “Hey, don’t worry; your mom’s the fastest flyer in the world. What can possibly go wrong?” with that, she took off in the air, heading straight for the collapsing mountain. “Of course, anything that can destroy a mountain like that might be a bit of an issue.” She said to herself as she flew off.

Night could only watch as Rainbow left her. Suddenly the wind bit that much colder, the hill they were on was that much higher, and the sinking feeling got that much deeper. That feeling only increased when she saw what had made the mountain collapse. “Why did you have to say that when you left? Don’t you know that is only asking for trouble?” Night shook her head in disbelief.

Even from this distance, Night could make it out. The creature… a purple dragon… no that was not right. She had never in her life seen a dragon that size. Even the dragon in Warclaw could not match its size. To say it was massive would be putting too much emphasis on the word… colossal, that was the right word to use, the right thing to describe this, this was a colossal dragon… with a horn? That part was strange to say the least.

It could stand at the base of the mountain Canterlot was built on and easily reach the top. Its wingspan covered the land, blacking out the moon for miles in its shadow. The purple scales covered her neck, legs, arms, and tail. The green spikes running down its back looked sharper than diamond, easily able to cut a building in half.

The dragon’s chest was fully covered with armor. Worse, Shimmering Night recognized that armor.

Suddenly Night knew why she felt the way she did, she knew why her gut was telling her that there was a problem… a big problem. She knew the identity of this dragon that had just destroyed a mountain with its rebirth, no that was the wrong word, with its transformation; it did it with its transformation from a pony into a dragacorn. “Ataxia…” Night said aloud to no one in particular.

She thought quickly, ‘Ataxia’s transformation has never been this big before…. She has never been this destructive… what happened? Why… why did she transform at all? What could possibly have occurred?“ All these questions, yet no answers were forthcoming in the young alicorn's mind.

She might not have known the answers to any of those questions, yet the decision on what to do next was made for her. As she sat there, the dragacorn let loose a mighty roar and preceded to spew fire all over the land, everything directly forward of it within three miles caught fire. Even from this distance, Ataxia could see the magical blaze burn hotter and brighter than any fire she had ever seen before.

‘I… we… we have to stop her; she will burn down all of Equestria if we let her go on like this.’ Night turned towards Ponyville, her mind instantly going to the one mare she knew could solve any issue… “Mom… Twilight, she can stop this.” Night took flight, her attention never drifting from the direction of her hometown, too afraid to see what her friend might be doing next.

It was a good thing she did not look back at it, for Rainbow Dash had just engaged Ataxia.

…………………..

Part of Rainbow simply wanted to engage this… this dragon at her full strength. To simply fly up and began attacking, and she knew she could do it. Regardless how big it was, it was no match for Rainbow Dash. Not in the air at least. However, she quickly thought better of it. Having been around Spike for all these years, she knew that dragons were not all bad. At least, not all dragons were all bad.

Plus this dragon was really big. Not that big was the right word to use, big just felt small when she looked at this thing, she needed another word to describe this… this thing. Gigantic? Humongous? Amazing?

She liked the last word; that was what this dragon was, for it was amazing... amazingly big. Of course, it was also amazingly quick, and amazingly destructive.

Rainbow barely dodged the attack. In less than a second, the dragon had let loose with a flame breath straight in her direction. Quick reactions took the mare over the dragon fire as it scorched the land within three miles of its location.

“Hey! There was no cause for that!” Rainbow flew up and yelled at its face.

The dragon roared its response. There was nothing intelligent, no reply, and no words. Nothing more than a simple bestial roar from its throat. Of course, such a roar also kicked up a lot of saliva, most of which now covered Rainbow as she looked on in disgust.

“Ok, destroying the land I might be able to forgive, but this? That was just rude!” Rainbow said as she flicked off as much of the offending liquid as she could. Part of her wished Fluttershy was still alive, she could easily tame any beast but there was no time to dwell on the past.

The dragon tried to eat her.

Rainbow laughed as she easily avoided the attack, flying up and over its head; she lashed out with her wings, seeking to cut the dragon right above the eye. Not enough to do any real damage but such cuts had a way to bleed. If she could blind the thing, she might be able to convince it to leave. ‘A dragon this big must be old, I can’t imagine it would willingly stay and fight if it knew its life was on the line.’

She cut through the scales on its head without issue, like a surgeon with a blade her wingtips dug deep into the actual skin and blood begun to pour out. Rainbow smiled as she saw that the dragon was forced to close its left eye. No longer able to keep it open, as the blood begun to sting its eye too badly.

That distraction was almost the end of her.

While she was looking back, she failed to notice the tail coming up and directly at her. It lashed out in her flight path, spikes pointed directly at her. She had a millisecond of notice before it hit. However, to a mare like Rainbow Dash, a millisecond was far, far too long to give her. Give her that much time and you might as well not bother at all.

Rainbow flew under the tail and began spinning on her y-axis, her wings extended several hooves out. In much the same way as a saw blade cuts through a tree, her golden wings cut off the tip of the dragon’s tail, removing that appendage as a threat once and for all.

The dragon screamed out in rage and pain at how something so small, so tiny could do this much damage, could cause it this much pain. It only served to increase its rage. The dragon lashed out with its right claw, followed quickly by its left.

Rainbow laughed as it tried in vain to hit her; every failed attempt seemed choreographed a mile away. She easily ducked and dodged each and every swing and repaid in kind with a blow of her own, each hit causing the dragon to scream its pain with more roaring.

Rainbow landed on its nose. “You give up yet? Or should I keep cutting into you until you do?” Part of Rainbow told her not to be this cocky, that a dragon this big was not to be taken lightly. However, the larger part of her knew that it was going easy simply because she was that awesome. After all, is it really bragging when you have the skills to pay the bills? She did not think so.

In a way of reply, the dragon lunged its claw to catch her on its nose. Rainbow let the claw come close, as close as she dared before lashing out; she cut off the claws tips on the dragon’s hand. “We can do this all da-“

Rainbow paused mid-sentence; she stared directly into the dragon’s eyes. ‘Those eyes… I’ve… I’ve seen them before.’ To make matters worse, she noticed one more fact while looking the dragon in its eyes. Its left eye was open again; the blood had stopped flowing from the wound, the nonexistent wound over its eye. It had healed the wound in less than a minute.

“You… You can heal?” Rainbow’s mind drew a blank, it tried to rationalize what her eyes were telling her. She could not remember ever hearing of a dragon that could heal its wounds, not this quickly. Whatever she was dealing with, it was not a normal dragon. That much she was sure of.

Rainbow was so flabbergasted by that she failed to notice the dragon’s left claw come up. It impacted against her body, forcing the mare to crash into the ground at breakneck speeds. The dragon arched its back and spewed its fire at the location Rainbow landed in, covering the area with magical dragon fire.

Rainbow mentally berated herself as soon as the dragon’s left claw impacted against her body. ‘Stupid’ She thought to herself. It was always a dumb idea to lose your focus when engaging such a creature, and against one this big? Well, stupid was really an understatement, it was just that she just did not know a better word for it at this moment. Rainbow cushioned the impact by raising her left wing and letting it absorb the damage from the impact with the ground. She rolled with the momentum. Spreading out her right wing, Rainbow caught the wind and forced herself back up into the air. Just in time to avoid the fire breath that again spewed out all over the land.

“So, you're playing for keeps.” Rainbow said aloud. A quick assessment of the damage revealed that her right back leg was broken. She supposed, logically, that she should consider it lucky that she got off so light. Against a blow like that most ponies would have died instantly.

The injuries would slow her down, but not by much. She did not need her legs to fly, her speed would be unaffected and she did not lose any real offensive capability. It simply meant she would be unable to land. Well, that and the pain, however, but she could live with that. The pain was simply a reminder not to be so carefree about this.

Besides, after the battle in Warclaw, this… well this was nothing. That creature had been far, far more dangerous.

Rainbow increased her speed and flew around the dragon. She extended her left wing and went to leave cuts up and down its chest and back. She tried to anyway. Even with her speed and her wings she was unable to cut through the armor it wore on its midriff.

Rainbow recognized that armor almost immediately, then as if someone flipped a switch in her brain it came to her just what this dragon was. Or to put it more precisely, who this dragon was. The eyes… the armor… it all came back to her.

“Ataxia….” Rainbow spoke the words aloud as she flew up into the clouds. She had to think, she had to plan, as she could not just cut up Rarity’s daughter…. However, thinking and planning were never Rainbow’s forte. She was a mare of action, not one of words and ideas. That was better left to Twilight.

As she saw Ataxia take flight and head directly for the cloud she was now sitting on, Rainbow wished that Twilight were here right now. She could force Ataxia to transform back; she could prevent anyone from getting hurt.

Rainbow briefly considered getting the mare herself. She dismissed that idea. The odds of luring the dragacorn to Ponyville were too great. She could not take that risk, Twilight would be upset if she put the town in danger like that, and an upset wife was far more intimidating than Ataxia would ever be. “I’ll just have to deal with this myself, at least until Twilight notices and comes here. It shouldn’t take long, we’re making such a commotion that somepony in Ponyville would inform Twilight what was going on. Then she would get here and put everything right. Yeah… not long at all.”

Rainbow just had to keep Ataxia busy until then. When she dodged the bite meant to take off her head, Rainbow got a quick glance of Ataxia’s tail. It was growing back, and quickly.

“Keep her busy until Twilight arrives… yeah this should be cake walk.” Rainbow said with a sly smile. If Ataxia could heal any damage she did this quickly, Rainbow did not have to worry about holding back anymore. She could let loose with an opponent she did not have to worry about killing. “Heck, it might even be fun.”

………………………………………………………

Ponyville

Shimmering Night landed in Ponyville with a little more force than she ever intended too. That is to say, she crash-landed into her mom’s house in much the same way Rainbow would always crash into the old library before Tirek destroyed it.

“Son of a-“ Night shook her head clear. “How does mom always make that look so easy?” She asked nopony in particular. As she stood up, her equilibrium reasserted itself. She took two steps forward before falling again. Her head still spinning from the impact, grunting, Night forced herself to stand again. ‘There’s no time for this.’ Night thought to herself.

It was an act of pure force of will that she got to her hooves and walked in the house. It would have been pointless to try and call out to Twilight from outside. She knew that her mom had recast the sound proof spell so they would not have been able to hear each other anyway. Of course, that brought back memories of why such a spell was even necessary. It was something that made her cringe to think of.

“If you two didn’t fuck like bunnies this wouldn’t be an issue.” Night said aloud.

“Hey, when you meet your special somepony you will begin to understand.” Twilight replied, walking down the stairs as she did so. The spell Twilight cast on the house alerted her as soon as someone entered. Only one time had it ever failed and that was when the God Tartarus had invited himself inside.

Twilight paused at the bottom of the stairs. “You were missed.” Twilight looked coldly into her daughter’s eyes. Night shrank back at that, she had forgotten the other thing she had to do when she next spoke to her mom, apologize for missing her aunt and uncle's funeral. Looking at Twilight hurt, not in any physical way but it might as well have been.

It was not her tone of voice, the way she looked, or even the knowledge that she upset her mom that hurt Night so. It was the eyes. Those big purple eyes staring at her, she could see her own reflection in those eyes, and her own flaws lay bare.

That was the worst part, she saw everything her mom thought she could be, everything she KNEW she could be and how because of one stupid selfish decision, she failed to live up to that. It was not hate, or anger, or her voice that hurt Shimmering Night. It was the disappointment she could read in Twilight’s eyes that truly made Night feel like crap.

“Mom… I’m… I’m sorry.” Night said the words from the bottom of her heart. She could only pray that Twilight could feel that, so that she would know just how badly Night knew she had messed up. That she really did not mean to be so pig-headed.

“I forgive you.”

“I said I’m sor-… Wait? What?” Night looked on in shock, Twilight’s demeanor changed abruptly, no longer was she staring at her youngest daughter with anything but the love she normally reserved for those who were special to her.

“Night, I said I forgive you. We all make stupid mistakes from time to time and this is no different. I’m not going to hold it over your head just because you made a bad decision. I love you too much for that. You were willing to apologize for it so I can move on.”

“Thanks mom.”

“Now, would you like some tea? I’m sure Rainbow will be back soon.”

Night mentally facehoofed, she forgot about that… “Actually, there is a more pressing reason why I came here.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“It might be easier if I showed you.” Walking up to Twilight, Night wrapped a wing around her mom’s back and teleported them both on top of the house.

“What the…” Twilight looked on in shock. “Is that… is that Ataxia?”

“Yes, she destroyed a mountain when she transformed. When Rainbow went ahead to see what was going on, I realized it was her after mom left…. I didn’t know what to do, so I came and got you. I don’t know why they are fighting though.” If Twilight had to guess the answer to that question she would say it was probably Rainbow’s fault.

They both stared on in shock; even from this distance even through the night sky, it was easy enough to see the two. The huge dragon was obviously chasing something in a cloudless sky, something that was leaving a golden and rainbow trail in its wake.

"We…. We should deal with that now.” Twilight stated.

“I was hoping you would say that.” Shimmering Night smiled and pressed herself closer to her mom. Twilight readied a Teleportation spell and cast it.

They went nowhere.

“Mom, whenever you’re ready.” Night looked at her with concern on her face.

“Sorry, I must have miscast it. Let me try again.”

Again Night stared at her mom with worry, she heard the stories of how Twilight would mess up this or that with a spell from her aunts at times, but that was a long, long, long time ago. Night had personally never seen her mom mess up a single spell in her life. She was always the best when it came to magic. For her to miscast a spell this day and age… it was unheard of.

Twilight concentrated on the spell. Focusing her magic on herself and her daughter and their destination. She willed herself and her daughter to go there. To transport just as she was taught all those years ago. She did not know why it failed earlier or for that matter, why it was so hard this time but she could figure that out later. Right now, she had a niece she had to stop.

It worked; the two teleported over a hundred miles in the blink of an eye.

…………………………………………………….

Equestria

Rainbow ducked and dodged under the dragacorn’s attacks. Part of her balked at this… she should not be dodging attacks from Ataxia… it was unthinkable, so Rainbow did what she did best in these situations. If something is unthinkable, simply do not think about it, just do it.

Rainbow flew around another blow and attacked herself. Her idea was a simple one; after all, it’s the simple ideas that work the best. The more stuff you try, the more variables you add, the more ponies you get involved, the more likely something is going to go wrong, and normally in the worst possible way. This was just her and Ataxia. She wanted to put the dragacorn on the ground. True, she was a threat regardless of where she was, but if she could not fly for a while that simply meant she was only a threat to those nearby, not to every soul in Equestria.

To that end, Rainbow went after the one thing she knew would be the biggest detriment to such a large creature staying airborne, the lift of her wings. Rainbow slashed at the wings with her own, leaving great tears up and down the membrane that supported the lift Ataxia needed to stay in the air.

Such attacks did not physically hurt Ataxia, but they did cause her to put forth that much more energy to stay airborne. Something that increased with every swipe of Rainbow’s wings. Soon, the dragacorn was unable to stay in the air at all and gravity did the rest.

Rainbow made sure to time it just right, when they were as far up as she dared take them Rainbow lashed out one last time, leaving a great tear down Ataxia’s left wing. It no longer mattered what sort of ambient magic Ataxia used to maintain flight, she could no longer stay in the air. Not with her wings in such a state.

Ataxia began falling out of the sky, in much the same way as a meteorite would fall from the heavens. Rainbow watched her fall; the hatred on Ataxia’s face spoke volumes. She knew in that one moment of eye contact that there was nothing in that head other than pure unadulterated hate. There was no sign of the mare she knew, the one she watched grow up all her life. The famous troublemaker was gone, all that was left was this creature… this creature of hate.

‘She hates us, but why?’ Rainbow thought to herself. That train of thought ended as soon as it began. Rainbow instantly recognized what was about to happen. She lived in a house with three magic users for most of her life. Nopony had to tell Rainbow that Ataxia was readying a spell.

Rainbow flew down at top speed, she didn't now know what spell the dragacorn was about to cast but she knew enough to not let her cast it. Two sonic rainbooms erupted in her wake, each one shattering the clouds in the sky. While not intending to, they would remove any possible hiding places Rainbow could use in the air. Such was the cost of this maneuver though.

Milliseconds after Ataxia began casting Rainbow landed on top of her head and kicked Ataxia’s horn with her back hoof. The knowledge of what to do came from spending most of her life living around magic users. Powerful magic users at that. That knowledge did not stop Rainbow from grunting in pain as she was forced to put pressure on her broken hoof. She wrote it off; it was simply another lesson in why she should be more careful. ‘I should be the most knowledgeable mare in Equestria by now.’ Rainbow joked to herself.

The blow was enough; Ataxia’s spell fizzled and died before she could cast it. With a look of confusion written upon Ataxia’s face, Rainbow took off. Her job was done so there was no need to go down with the preverbal sinking dragon.

Rainbow smiled as her plan came to fruition. She grinned her cocky grin as Ataxia lashed out with every weapon at her disposal, the realization of what was about to occur written plainly on the huge dragacorn’s face. Rainbow stopped smiling when the dragacorn made impact with the ground. That was nothing to smile about….

The dragacorn’s impact shook the ground for miles in every direction. Those few trees and animals that survived the destruction of Ataxia’s flame breath would not survive this. The sheer weight and mass of the impact caused the very ground to split asunder. The shockwave from the impact felled all the trees directly around it.

Rainbow coughed as she began breathing in the dust cloud. “Ok, maybe that was a stupid idea…. Yeah, maybe…” She said to herself. It took a few minutes for the cloud to clear. When it finally did, Rainbow Dash stared down at the body lying in one of the most massive craters she has ever seen in her entire life.

The dragacorn, looked… dead. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” Rainbow began cursing to herself as she flew down to inspect the damage. She had not meant to do that. She simply wanted to incapacitate Ataxia until Twilight got here. Not kill her.

Ataxia’s wings were warped and shredded. Her neck bent at an impossible angle. It was easy to see that she had tried a last second correction before impact. One that only made things worse. Although, Rainbow suspected that there was no making things better, not from a fall like that. It was simple math and had she been any good at it Rainbow would have known that when an object of that mass falls at that distance, it would impact with more than enough force to kill itself.

“I’m so bucked….” Her thoughts turned to Night. About how sad her daughter would be, to Twilight, about how angry she would be for being so stupid and rash. Yes Ataxia needed to be stopped, but that did not mean she needed to be killed. They had stopped more threats than Rainbow could count without killing any of them.

“Did Nightmare Moon need to die? Did Chrysalis? Did Tirek? Ok, maybe the last two were bad examples, we would have been far better off killing them, but that’s not the point.” Rainbow berated herself.

She landed near Ataxia’s corpse. Rainbow did not want to look at it but she could not bring herself to look anywhere else. The events weighed heavily in Rainbow’s mind… she could not believe that this had just happened. She overdid it… again…

“I’m sorry.” Rainbow said as she reached the head of the great beast… the head of her friend… the head of her family member. “I didn’t mean for this to happen…. I… I was just trying to keep you on the ground… this… this was stupid of me and you paid the price. I don’t know what happened to cause you to be this way but I know Twilight could have fixed it, she could have… had I just given her a chance.” A tear fell down Rainbow’s face as she sat back on her flank. Wrapping one wing around her broken limbs she began to heal herself as she spoke.

“You didn’t deserve this; you didn’t deserve any of this.” Rainbow closed her eyes. No longer willing to look at the damage she had caused, at the blood all around the impact zone.

She felt it more than anything else, the strong pull of magic, Rainbow did not recognize the source of the magic, but she felt its power. It was a level of power that she normally only ever felt from her wife. Yet she knew, without even having to look that it definitely was not Twilight’s power, but it was still God magic at work.

Rainbow opened her eyes. What she saw made her jaw fall to the ground. White light surrounded the dragacorn’s body. Bones that were bent at odd angles straightened themselves. Gashes in her body closed, no longer bleeding. Ataxia’s wings mended themselves. Her eye… it was open, open and staring directly at Rainbow.

The rage… the hate… the anger… Rainbow could read all of these, and of these emotions and more in that glare.

“What the buck…”

It was Rainbow’s reflexes that saved her. In the blink of an eye, Ataxia let loose with her flame breath. It scorched the land, instantly disintegrating everything in its path. Unlike all the times before, it did not leave any fire behind, as everything it touched turned instantly to ash leaving nothing left to burn.

While Rainbow’s mind was still trying to figure out how something that was obviously dead could heal itself so quickly and then attack. Her subconscious took over; it forced the mare straight up into the air, nearly avoiding a certain death by flame.

That was not the only thing that she had to avoid. As she flew straight up, Ataxia lashed out at her with her tail. It was a level of speed Rainbow had not seen the dragacorn have before. It was easily the fastest attack Ataxia had performed that day.

Although, to catch Rainbow, she would have to be much, much faster. Rainbow dodged around it, flying through the green spikes on the tail she made for the safety of the clouds. Of course, there was one little problem with that idea.

“Buck me…” Rainbow said to nopony in particular as her mind took back control of her body. There were no clouds. No easy cover to hide from Ataxia’s gaze, her sonic rainbooms had eliminated them all. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to do this the hard way.”

She glanced back; Ataxia was glaring up at her. Her great wings began flapping and she took off like a bullet, directly for Rainbow’s location. A sonic rainboom of her own left in her wake.

‘She’s a lot quicker….’ Rainbow considered this as she dodged yet another attack. ‘Well, if it worked once, it should work again.’ Rainbow lashed out at Ataxia’s wings. Her own grew several times longer and sharper. She went into a spin and struck at them, seeking to tear a slice directly in the weak membrane.

It was like trying to cut steel with a piece of glass.

The magic wings, a gift from her wife during their kiss under the Crystal Palace, wings that could cut a mountain in half with a simple slice. They impacted Ataxia’s wings and simply bounced off. The jarring impact completely threw off Rainbow’s maneuver and she almost fell from the sky with surprise written on her face.

She was quick to recover; Rainbow’s flight based more on the will to fly as opposed to any use of wind currents or the like. However quick she was, she still only barely avoided Ataxia’s front claw as the dragacorn sought to take advantage of this situation. The tip of her claw cut into Rainbow’s midsection, drawing blood as it went. Rainbow supposed, logically, she should be grateful that she had avoided most of the damage. Although, that knowledge still did not make the wound hurt any less.

Rainbow took off, leading Ataxia on a hunt through the sky. She had to put on enough speed to keep her distance but not too much to lose her. The last thing Rainbow wanted was for Ataxia to lose interest and began hunting down other, easier prey.

“Keep up with me Ataxia!” Rainbow shouted as she looked behind her. There was no need for the encouragement. Just from what she could see Ataxia was indeed keeping up with her. The look in her eye told Rainbow that she would follow her until the end of the world. ‘Just what I was hoping for.’ Rainbow thought to herself with a smile. ‘I must be crazy.’ She laughed.

It was then that Rainbow saw the one thing she was looking for the most right now, the one thing that put a smile on her face more than anything else at that time. It occurred about a mile back, a bright flash of purple light. During this sort of fight, for anyone else they would have missed it, too concerned with simply keeping out of reach of the massive dragacorn, but Rainbow Dash was not anyone else, and she would never, ever miss the tell-tale sign of her wife’s teleportation.

“Took you long enough, Twi.” Rainbow said with a smile. This was it; Twilight would fix everything now. Rainbow increased her speed several fold; she had to get to Twilight with enough time to explain what was going on before Ataxia followed and attacked.

………………….

Twilight and Shimmering Night looked around. The damage… the destruction, it was immense. There was not a tree left standing within a thousand hooves of where they stood. Off in the distance they could both make out a huge gigantic crater. One that was surrounded with blood.

“Mom… What… What happened?” Night asked, her brain not processing what her eyes were seeing.

“Well, if I had two guesses I would only need one.” Twilight facehoofed. She could not believe that Rainbow had been this reckless. While she did not know what was going on, she knew enough to know that this would be Rainbow’s fault. That much was obvious to say the least.

“Hey! There were extenuating circumstances!” Rainbow yelled at the two as she flew over to the two.

“Rainbow you don’t even know the definition of extenuating circumstances.” Twilight replied. To which Rainbow just blew her wife a raspberry.

“MOM!” Night yelled as she ran up, she stopped right before making contact though, her eyes glued to the blood leaking out of Rainbow’s flank and her partly healed legs.

“Rainbow, are you ok?” Twilight asked, concern for her wife permeating each and every word she spoke.

“No time for that, Twilight, you may not believe it but that creature is A-“

“It’s Ataxia, I know, Night told me as much.”

Rainbow looked at her daughter. “How did you...? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Twi, I can’t seem to reach her, it’s like she doesn’t even understand anything I say to her, and I need you to transform her back into her pony form.”

“Let me talk to her first, maybe I can reason with her.” Night pleaded with her parents.

“No!” Rainbow shouted. “Night, I tried to talk to her, I looked for any sign that she even understood what I was trying to say. There was nothing there. Nothing to indicate anything other than hate. I know she’s your friend, but I need you to believe me on this. Whatever happened, we cannot reason with her, not without transforming her back first. It’s our only hope.”

“But… but.”

“No buts.”

“Can you get her on the ground?” Twilight asked. “It would be easier for me that way.”

“I tried that once…” Rainbow glanced over to the crater on the ground, her gaze causing the other two to know just what had happened and how it had occurred. Recognition to that fact crossed Twilight and Night’s faces.

“She healed almost instantly and became a lot more stronger, I… I can’t seem to cut her wings anymore.”

Twilight looked at her with shock on her face. “But… but your wings are magic… there has never been anything they can’t cut.”

“I know, but when I made her fall in the ground once, this… this white light surrounded her, it healed all her wounds and since then, I couldn’t cut her anymore.” Rainbow said with a worried expression on her face. “I tell you, she was dead and then she was back…” The look on Twilight’s face said she was anything but convinced, however, she accepted that maybe, possibly Rainbow was right. She augmented her plans for that eventuality. They had to risk it before this got out of hoof and somepony got hurt or even killed.

“Ehh… moms we are out of time.” Night said as she pointed a hoof up into the sky. Rainbow and Twilight both followed it. Ataxia was heading straight for them.

“Ok, here's the plan: Rainbow, Night I need you two to get her on the ground, it doesn’t matter for how long, just put her there. I’ll do the rest.

Rainbow looked at her daughter, “Are you up for this?” She asked, unsure if Night could do something like this to her friend.

“I better be.” Night replied, unsure of the answer herself.

Rainbow sighed; it was the answer she was expecting but not the one she wanted. Whatever was going to happen, she would have to keep an eye on her daughter at all times. Ataxia was quick, quicker than Night’s top speed, and that was a speed Rainbow was sure had gotten slower since she last measured Night’s wingpower.

Rainbow took off into the air, seeking to get the dragacorn’s attention before Night did something she was sure both of them would regret. Night followed, a heavy heart weighing her down.

“Hey Night.” Twilight spoke up before he daughter was out of range.

“Yeah mom, what’s up?”

“This is for her benefit. If you want to help your friend, you’ve got to do this, ok? Hit her with your most powerful attack, Rainbow will give you the opening you need.”

“Ok.”

“C’mon Night, we’re counting on you, I know you can do better than that.”

“OK!”

“That’s my girl.” Twilight said with a smile as her daughter increased her speed to help Rainbow. Twilight’s smile quickly faded as she realized that she still had the hard part of this. Transformation spells alone were a lot of work, but forcing someone to transform against their will was on a completely new level. To top that off, she had to force a mare the likes of Ataxia to transform. This would require all of her concentration to pull off, something she could only do on the ground.

Twilight let out a sigh as she lay down an enhancement ritual and stepped in the center. “Ok Twilight, they’re all counting on you. You've got to get this right.” She told herself, trying to ignore a nagging doubt in her stomach.

………………

Rainbow took off like a speeding bullet. In the blink of an eye she landed on Ataxia’s face and kicked her right between the eyeballs, hard. The great dragacorn roared back in pain, grasping at the cyan mare that had, yet again, caused that pain. She was too slow, far, far too slow for the likes of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow flew off her head and proceeded to circle the dragacorn fifty times a second, doing her best to increase Ataxia’s anger and keep her attention focused on her. It worked; Ataxia never even noticed the large purple alicorn fly up and over her. She did not notice when Night set up several enhancement circles directly below her and the great beast. She did not notice Night charge up her most powerful attack, lining it up directly with all three circles and Ataxia’s main body.

Ataxia did notice when it hit.

The magic energy built to a crescendo on Shimmering Night’s horn. She held it as long as she could, letting it build up in potency, until, at last, she could hold it no longer. With a final adjustment of her aim Night whispered a silent “I’m sorry,” before letting it go. The full magic power of an alicorn passed through her first enhancement ritual at the speed of light.

While never fully researched, Night’s enhancement ritual differed significantly from the ones Twilight and Dayspring discovered. Those had to be used on the ground and were tough to set up. Those could be broken; they had specific uses and could backfire on the user.

Shimmering Night’s had none of these. Ever since the first time she used one, in order to augment Ataxia’s dragon fire to put an end to Tirek’s evil once and for all, she had not used it again. They were destructive... very, very destructive. She had not intended for it to be that powerful when she cast it. The growth it caused on Ataxia’s magic scared her to say the least, but she made a promise to Twilight that she would hit Ataxia with her most powerful spell, and she would keep it. Even still, when Night fired her blast, there were tears in her eyes.

The energy released by the young alicorn passed right through the first ritual, the innate magic of Shimmering Night’s spell causing it to increase in power, ten times, a hundred times, five hundred times. It grew several times in diameter and sped down to the second circle.

Night knew enough to increase the size of the second and third circles. So when the energy passed through the second circle, the effect was the same, five hundred times became a thousand, then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand times more powerful, until it reached the third circle.

Three circles… truly Night did not know what would happen with the third circle. One was bad enough, two unheard of… three… three was all kinds of overkill. She simply hoped that her mom was right, that this would not kill her friend.

She should have been worried if the planet would survive the attack.

The already massive amount of energy reached the third circle and exploded forward in a colossal ball of light. It was no longer measurable, the energy coalesced into a beam the likes of which the Elements of Harmony would pale in comparison too. Rainbow noticed with just enough time to escape, shooting away from Ataxia before the energy hit her.

This much power… it scared Night, more than she could ever say, in any other circumstances, she would never, never use it. Not like this. However, that was not the thing that truly frightened her, what did frighten her was the fact she could have laid down a lot more of the circles had she wanted too.

She knew, in her heart, that these ritual circles were not like any magic she had ever been taught. They were different, all magic had limits but these did not, it seemed as if there were no limits for these. She had simply willed magic amplifiers into being and these are what showed up. She could only speculate that these were tied just to her, that they were unique just to her in the same way as her cutie mark.

Twilight watched it all go down; in the blink of an eye her daughter had released God level magic on this planet. How and why would have to wait. Twilight had to act fast, faster than ever before. She focused her own considerable levels of magic energy directly on the spot above Ataxia and dissipated as much as she could, it would not do any of them any good if Ataxia was vaporized and Night blew a hole directly through the planet.

She estimated that she dissipated roughly sixty-seven percent of her daughter’s magic before it hit Ataxia. Even still, the damage it caused was hard to look at. Part of her, the analytical part was impressed; she never knew Night was so powerful. She would have to remember never to tell Night to use her full power again. Another part of Twilight was slightly scared by this… if her daughter could do that… Twilight decided not to think about that, lest her thoughts go into a bad place.

Ataxia looked up right before it hit, the magic energy slammed down into her, her wings incinerated to stumps. She would have screamed out but the heat from the attack caught the air in her lungs on fire. Her scales fried off her body, leaving her skin unprotected.

Her skin boiled off in sickening bubbles, the muscles went next. Yet the energy wasn’t done, it forced the skeleton to slam into the ground with far more force than Rainbow’s little stunt not ten minutes earlier. The vibrations caused earthquakes that were only stopped when they reached the edge of the continent.

It was a small miracle that the fault lines avoided every populated city.

…………………………………………………….

The Crystal Empire

It was yet another boring day in The Crystal Empire, another day where absolutely nothing was going on. To put it mildly, Cadance was bored. She liked it a little more when things were interesting. When there was a little excitement in the air. Not that things were always boring, indeed for the last few years she had been getting more than enough excitement, but such periods were almost always a little extreme, even for her taste. ‘If only things could find a happy medium.’ She thought to herself, ‘Like if we could take the excitement and stretch it out over a longer period of time, not increasing it, but making it last.’

Of course, she naturally did not want the consequences of such excitement… those normally resulted in a pony she loved dying, Shining Armor and Twilight coming to mind.

So Cadance did what she normally does when things get this way, she went to visit her son and daughter-in-law. Between the two of them there was more than enough excitement to last a few lifetimes.

‘Will they even be up at this hour?’ She dismissed that thought, yeah it was late, but knowing Radiant… no, knowing Firestar they would both be up. ‘Maybe I might catch them in the act again…’ That almost got her to pause, the last time she had walked in on the two of them, Firestar stated in no uncertain terms that if it happened again she would take a pair of hedge clippers to Cadance’s horn.

‘Why are young ponies so uptight about sex? It’s a perfectly normal function of the body. If she would only listen to me I could give her some tips to make Radiant pudding in her hooves.’ Cadance shook her head; she would never understand why some ponies were so modest about it. Her son was much the same way, normally ponies would be happy to have advice from the Alicorn of Love, their special someponies even happier with the advice she would give them. Alas, she could not understand why her son was so modest. She certainly had not raised him that way.

She went ahead to the hospital. Even if they were having sex, she could wait until they were done. It’s not like she could not sense them if they were doing it. That was part of the benefit of being the Alicorn of Love after all.

She made for the balcony and jumped out. It had been a while since the last time she simply took flight for the sake of flying. While it was true that she did have a destination in mind, she did not let that ruin her enjoyment of flight. It called her back to a simpler time, back to her pegasi roots, before all of this happened. Not that she would change anything at all, she loved every part of her life and the life her family had.

Well… she would change one thing. Her only wish was that Shining Armor was still alive, so that he might see everything his son and sister had accomplished.

Cadance dismissed that thought; it would not do any good to dwell in the past. The past was a lesson, something to learn from, not a place to dwell or live. Besides, she did not need to be told what he would think of all of this, she knew he would be proud of them both.

On top of the hospital she spotted a very interesting sight. Spitfire was lying on top of the building taking in the stars. Cadance landed next to her.

“Princess Cadance.” Spitfire made to get up.

“Please, I’m not here to interrupt. Stay where you are.” Cadance replied, her tone conveying nothing more than simple truth.

“Thanks, these old bones don’t quite work the way they used to.”

“Tell me about it.” Cadance stretched her own hooves, hearing a satisfying pop when she did.

Spitfire laughed, “Please, you’re an alicorn, the worst you have to deal with is a few stiff joints. Trust me, when you get old like me, other things stop working, I could tell you some horror stories if you want.”

“That’s quite alright.” Cadance smiled back. “What are you doing up here anyway?”

“Oh, they're at it again. I figured I would give them some privacy, I doubt Firestar wants her mom to hear her moan in the next room over.”

Cadance laughed, “Yes, I suppose that’s true.” She lay down next to Spitfire. “It’s pretty isn’t it?”

“The stars? Yes. I like to lay back and simply look at them ever since retiring. Luna definitely outdid herself tonight.”

“That she did.” Cadance smiled, her aunt was always an artist when it came to the night sky. “You know… you never did tell me what you thought of them.”

“Who?”

“Our kids, of them being together like this. You’ve had a little while to see them together, how they really are. I know you could have gone home a week ago, don’t give me that. So, what do you think?”

“Frankly?”

Cadance nodded.

“Cadance, my daughter can be an egotistical bitch at times. Don’t give me that look, we both know it's true. She’s headstrong, rash, arrogant, impulsive, and wants everything to go perfect. And I wouldn’t want her any other way.” Spitfire smiled as she remembered her daughter growing up.

“I… I never imagined she would actually settle down, that she could find someone who would make her slow down and enjoy life. I didn’t think anyone like that existed... until I met Prince Radiant Star, son of the renowned Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Cadance flinched at the use of her full name, an action that only caused Spitfire to chuckle.

“Your son… In so many ways he's the male version of her. He’s headstrong, rash, impulsive, ego driven. Yet, against all odds, they found each other, they came to love each other, and I think… I know they are both better off for it. I think you think that too, don’t you Cadance?”

Cadance visibly relaxed, “I do; I just wanted to know what you thought of it.”

“You could have just asked, you know?”

“You know what the rumors say about you, ever since you retired?”

“What? That I’m a stick up her ass bitch that is best avoided at all cost? Yeah, who do you think started those rumors?” Cadance looked at Spitfire in shock.

“C’mon Cadance, think about it, I’m the longest serving Captain of the Wonderbolts. If I ever wanted any peace at all in retirement I had to do something to keep all the fans away. I didn’t want my retirement to be spent being hounded to go here and there for Luna knows what reason.”

Cadance laughed at that. “I suppose that’s true.” She paused as she felt something from down below. A smile began to creep over her face.

Spitfire noticed this, “What? What happened?”

“Let's just say, my son definitely knows how to please his mare.”

Both mares began laughing at that one. It was a good five minutes before they came down from such a fit. “Shall we go say hi?” Cadance asked.

“Don’t you want to give them a minute to get cleaned up?”

“Nah, I love the look of utter embarrassment on Firestar’s face too much. I think it makes her look that much more adorable.”

“You’re awful, you know that?”

“I take that to mean you don’t want to go?”

“Oh I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The two old mares began laughing again as they made their way inside. Neither of them noticed the small tremors running through the land.

…………………………………………………….

Equestria

When the energy finally spent itself, Ataxia, or what was left of her, was buried a thousand hoofs under the sea level. Shimmering Night created a hole in the ground that by all right should serve as her gravestone.

Rainbow flew up to her daughter. “What… what was that?” She asked, a look of disbelief evident on her face.

“I… I… I didn’t know it would be that powerful.” Night said. She looked down at the hole. “You… you said she can’t die right? I… I didn’t just kill her right? Mom… mom said I should give it all I had…” Night began shaking, visibly disturbed by what she just did. Her mind entered a state of shock at that horror of just having killed her best friend.

Rainbow caught her in a hoof before she fell; it did not take the greatest flyer in all of the world to know that Shimmering Night was about to fall from the sky, with her body no longer concentrating on holding her in the air. “C’mon, let’s go talk to Twi.” Rainbow said. Night just looked at her and nodded; she had not expected any of this, and it was all a lot, too much to take in. She was simply grateful to have an objective, something to do. Night's mind latched onto that command, it was easy to follow orders….

When Rainbow landed with Night in her hooves, she gently placed her down on the ground. It did not surprise either of her parents that she was unable to stand. Physically she was fine, just a little exhausted. Mentally, was a whole another story.

“Night,” Twilight softly spoke. “What was that?”

“You… you… you told me to hit her with my strongest attack.”

Twilight softly ran a hoof through Night’s mane, “I’m not mad Night, just tell me, what did you do?” there was no judgment in her voice, no anger, no hate, just the kind words of a mother trying to comfort her daughter in their time of stress.

“I… I found a… a way of augmenting Day’s enhancement rituals. I put three of them out there and attacked… I attacked…” She could not bring herself to say the last part, it still felt too wrong to her.

“Three…” Twilight thought about it, “You can cast them in the air, and you sent your power through three of them?” Disbelief evident in her voice.

Night merely nodded her head.

Twilight spoke again, “Just… promise me one thing ok, never use more than two at any one time. Unless your life or the life of someone else is in danger, ok?”

Night nodded again.

“Why do you want her to hold back, Twi?” Rainbow asked, confusion written on her face.

“Rainbow… I dispersed two-thirds of the energy from that attack before it hit.”

“Wait… that was only… one-third of what that blast could have done?”

It was Twilight’s turn to nod her head.

Rainbow turned and looked at her daughter, who was only that much more shaken by the news. “That… that’s… that’s awesome!” Rainbow flew around her daughter in ever-increasing circle, Twilight just smirked, any chance Rainbow had to show her pride in her kids she took to like a cat to milk. “I can’t believe how powerful you are!”

“Mom… please…” Night looked seasick from the sudden activity.

“Oh, sorry.” Rainbow said sheepishly as she landed on the ground next to her daughter, wrapping a wing around her much larger frame.

“Umm, what about Ataxia?” Night asked, “Did… did I kill her.” Night could not sense her friend, although she had never been the best at sensing others.

Twilight looked over at the crater, it was massive, too massive to peer down into. She could send Rainbow to go look but she decided against that idea. If Ataxia was still alive, she did not want her wife in such close proximity without the room she needed to maneuver.

Twilight reached out with her magic, going deep into the hole, she felt for anything, any signs of life at all.

There was nothing… nothing living down there. She closed her eyes and sighed. ‘Dammit,’ Twilight thought to herself, she had no choice but to break the bad news to her daughter. “Night… I… I ne-“

They both felt it; chaos magic coalesced around the crater, all around the ambient magic of the word seeped down, down to the corpse lying at the very bottom. “What the?” Night asked.

“I have no idea,” Twilight replied. She sent her magic energy back down into the hole, that’s when she felt it. It was… it is… Ataxia. “It’s Ataxia, she’s… she’s coming back to life.”

“Told you she did that before!” Rainbow proclaimed with a smile on her face. “I bet you didn’t believe me either!”

“Yes Rainbow, you were right.” Twilight said with a sly grin on her face.

“Heck Yeah! Chalk one up in the Rainbow is right column!” Rainbow began spinning in air. She loved this part, being able to add a tick mark to her side of the board. It almost made her forget that even if every one of her tick marks were worth ten of Twilight’s, she would still be grossly outnumbered.

“Ahh… mom… she’s… she’s getting up.” The fear in Night’s voice was self-evident to both of her parents.

Rainbow landed next to her wife. “Doesn’t matter, we got Twi here. Transform her back Twi. I’m looking forward to hearing what the hell happened to her.” A sly grin crossed Rainbow’s face as she watched the huge dragacorn began pull itself out of the hole.

“Yeah, ok, here goes.” Twilight focused her considerable magical power upon the circle, this spell… it would take all of her concentration to work. Changing forms was easy enough, simple enough to do on a willing subject too. However, changing the form of somepony… some dragon that was unwilling? On top of that it would be a dragon that was a powerful magic user in her own right. This would be (yet another) for the history books.

“Rainbow, if she tries casting anything I need you to interrupt it.” Twilight said as she closed her eyes.

“On it, you can count on me.” Rainbow said with a smirk. The mare got down low and readied her hind legs for a kick off. Never once taking her eyes off of Ataxia’s horn while she waited for her wife to end this.

“I never doubted it Rainbow.” Twilight smiled. She felt the power build up inside of her. It had been a while since she last had needed to call on this power, the full power anyway, but it came back all the same. She could feel it, the power she had from Gaia… the power of life and magic itself. It came back to her, as if it had always been there, as if it had merely been waiting for her beck and call.

She could use this power to do anything she wanted. With her knowledge and skill this power could be harnessed for any purpose she put her mind to. All Twilight had to do is call on it and it would come.

Rainbow and Night watched as magic purple energy surrounded Twilight. She lifted in the air, propelled not by wings but by pure magic power, power further amplified by the enhancement circle she cast earlier. Her eyes shot open, the purple hue of her pupils gone, replaced with nothing more than the pure white of a pearl.

Twilight’s wings shot out in both directions, magical energy radiated off of them in purple waves. Rainbow and Night watched as she raised a hoof and pointed it directly at the dragacorn, whom just now was dragging her bulk out of the hole.

Twilight stared at her, it was easy; it was so easy to direct just a small portion of her will against Ataxia. She could make her do anything, anything she wanted to. She shook that thought from her head; she just wanted to help Ataxia, nothing more.

“Transform back.” Twilight said the words. Rainbow and Night shuddered as her voice came out several octaves under her normal tone.

Nothing happened.

Twilight fell out of the sky and landed on all four hooves. The shock that nothing was occurring causing her to lose hold of her magical grip.

“Ah, Twi? Any time now would be good.” Rainbow asked, never taking her eyes off of the large creature that continued to drag its bulk out of the hole.

“Rainbow… something’s wrong.” Twilight said, she tried to re-grasp the power, power that was so easy to see just seconds before.

“Not funny Twi.”

“Rainbow it’s… it’s not a joke, something’s wrong with me. I need a minute to figure this out.”

Rainbow did a double take on Twilight’s expression; the worry she saw written there said it all, it said something was wrong with her. “Horseapples.” Rainbow spoke aloud. “Night, help your mom, I’ll keep Ataxia pinned to the ground as long as I can.” Rainbow took off, curses flying out under her breath. She remembered just how quicker and dangerous Ataxia was the last time she came back from the dead. Part of Rainbow knew that she would be even more dangerous now.

“Mom…. What can I do?” Night asked, her eyes glued to Twilight.

“Just give me a minute. I need to concentrate.” Twilight began to focus inward, even without the power she had from Gaia, her own personal reserves were nothing to laugh at. Alicorns naturally were very gifted in most forms of magic. It was their birthright after all.

Her mind began to process the information her magic sent her, and as with everything Twilight did, she did so in the form of a checklist checking off each item as she verified that there was no issue with it:

‘Normal magic flow, check

Horn, check

Brain, check

Eyes, check

Nervous system, check

Heart, check

Lungs, check

Kidneys, check

Hooves, check

Legs, check

Fetus, check

Liver, check

Stomach, check

Col- ‘

‘Wait… what?’

Twilight caught herself; something had been off on that list, something she had not been expecting. ‘Fetus?’ Twilight scanned her uterus three times, then another three times just to be sure. She confirmed it more times than she cared to count.

It was true. Growing inside of her was a colt, one who seemed to nullify any attempt Twilight made to figure out how it came to be. Her magic seemed to stop as soon as it made contact with the colt. Even still, based on its size she could estimate that she was about five weeks along.

“I’m… I’m pregnant.” Twilight said softly.

“What… what did you say, mom?” Night asked, she could not hear her mother over the sound of Rainbow fighting Ataxia in the background.

“Night… I’m… I’m pregnant!” Twilight said a little louder than she intended too.

Night’s jaw hit the floor. She wanted to ask question of just how that was possible, of what in the world could have caused that… if Twilight had… cheated? No she dismissed that last one off hoof. Her parents loved each other far too much for that. Still, she had questions, lots of questions but all that came out was a loud grunt.

“It’s… It’s a colt. About five weeks now, He’s… he’s somehow nullifying the majority of my magic… I… I’d have to run some tests but I think he’s the reason why I can’t use Gaia’s power.”

Night’s mind caught onto most of that statement, she was about to have a brother… one who seemed to be able to nullify most of her mom’s power at that, while he wasn’t even born yet? What… how is that possible?

Although another thing came to mind, one more item her mom had said. ‘About five weeks…’ She did the math, ran the numbers a hundred times in her head. ‘Five weeks… five week… that was when Ataxia and I had our fight…’

“It’s my fault…” Night said softly.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, unsure if she had heard her daughter correctly.

Before Night could answer, a gold meteorite shot between them. Plowing itself in the dirt at speeds neither of them could ever hope to match. It embedded itself several hooves back, causing both mares to jump up in shock.

“Rainbow!” Twilight yelled as she ran to her wife. Night turned the other way; she knew that if something like that occurred to Rainbow it meant Ataxia got the upper hoof on her. That knowledge… the knowledge that her best friend in the world could do something like that to her mom… it sparked something in the mare. “You… You dare hurt my mom?!” Night yelled at the approaching dragacorn, who even now was flexing her newly regrown wings. “You dare!” She snapped… it no longer mattered that this creature was her best friend. She could only concentrate on the fact that her mom… that Rainbow was hurt… that this creature had… killed her mom.

"You… you hurt my mom…."

Her mom told her to promise not to use more than two, not unless somepony’s life was on the line, As far as Night was concerned, this qualified as a ponies life on the line. Night recast three enhancement circles, aiming directly for Ataxia and fired off a blast. She did not care if these ended the mare or not, no one hurts her family.

Ataxia caught the blast in her upper chest. The energy three times as powerful as the last time. Her body had adapted, changed from her last death to evolve past the point of being able to be killed the same way again. As such, her scales held back the energy, for a second or two.

Yet even it could not stop this much power. The dragacorn screamed in pain as her entire upper half was disintegrated in a second. The bottom part of her collapsed on the ground, a small tremor accompanying its fall. The energy continued on, vaporizing everything in its path, forever.

“No one hurts my family.” Night said with a tear in her eye. She turned around and saw Twilight peeling away the wings from around Rainbow’s form. It had failed to dawn on Night, had she aimed slightly lower, there would have been nothing left of Ataxia. She would have ended her friend once and for all.

“Rainbow! Rainbow answer me, dammit!” Twilight yelled as loud as she could. Night started crying in earnest as she ran to help her mom; she could not feel Rainbow’s life energy.

“MOM!!!” Night yelled as she began work on the other wing. Trying in vain to pull it back with all her might. hoping against hope that Rainbow was alright.

“The screaming… it’s… it’s not helping, girls.” The voice was tiny, small, but it was there. Twilight visibly relaxed.

“Rainbow, don’t ever, ever, ever scare me like that again.”

“It’s not my fault.” Rainbow looked up, her entire left half crushed under the impact with Ataxia. She rewrapped a wing around it, letting the ambient magical energy from her wing begin the work of healing her.

“Yeah, then whose fault is it?” Twilight asked with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

“Somepony said she was pregnant. Sorry if that was a little distracting.” Rainbow replied as she glared at her wife with a disbelieving look on her face.

“Oh, yeah, that…”

‘I love that sheepish look Twilight gets at times like these.’ Rainbow thought.

“Yeah, that Twi. We're gonna talk about that as soon as we deal with the other issue.”

“She’s down, for now at least.” Night commented, she pointed a hoof towards where the body lay, white magic already begun to surround it, regenerating what was lost in the attack.

Twilight looked at her daughter, then to her wife, then to Ataxia, and at last to the new star that was in the night sky. It was only ten hooves to the left of the one she made all those years ago when she stopped the Grim Reaper from taking Rainbow’s soul. “If we keep making new stars in the sky the astrologers are going to be pissed.” Twilight said with a smile.

“The whoma what now?” Rainbow asked.

“Astrologers, the ponies that watch the sky… never mind I’ll explain later. Until then I have a plan.”

“That’s what I love about you, Sparklebutt.”

“Rainbow! You said you wouldn’t call me that around others.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“Why does she call you Sparklebutt?” Night asked with an inquisitive look on her face.

“Don’t worry about it.” Twilight hoped the blush on her face was not as big as it felt, it was.

“Look, I can’t access my magic as is, but… I think I have a solution, at least temporary. Night I need you to cast one of your enhancement rituals over Ataxia. I think I can slow down her regeneration but I need your power to make it last any real amount of time.”

“Ok… but mom… I... I’ve never really tested them before, it was just something I did one time.”

Twilight placed a hoof on her daughter’s head. “I know you're worried about hurting her, and I promise I won’t let anything permanent happen to her. I want her back too but first we have to find a way to reach her; that means we need time. Time we don’t have if she keeps getting back up at the rate she has. I need you to trust me, ok?”

“Ok. I do trust you.” Night felt a weight removed from her chest. ‘Twilight has a plan,’ that was all she needed to feel better. She took off, heading right for her friend’s corpse.

“Rainbow, you gonna be alright for a second?”

“Yeah, yeah, it will take more than this to keep me out of the fight.” She tried to get back up, only to end up back on her back. “Ok, it will take more than this to keep me out of the fight for longer than a few minutes anyway.” Twilight laughed at that. “What if it… what if it doesn’t work?” Rainbow asked, a serious expression overtook her face.

“I have a plan B… Although Night may hate me for it. Don’t worry about me though; I’ll be back. Consider it a promise.” Twilight smiled and kissed her wife on the forehead before leaving.

“Stay safe, Egghead. It’s not just you I’m worried about.” Rainbow gestured her good hoof down at Twilight’s stomach.

Twilight placed a hoof on her stomach and smiled. “Count on it, and don’t think for a second you’re off the hook for that Sparklebutt comment.”

Rainbow’s smile faded as she watched her wife fly off. “Horseapples…”

‘Oh well, I know how to make it up to her, after all, a pregnant Sparklebutt is a horny Sparklebutt.’ Rainbow’s smile returned as she refreshed her memory on all the different things Twilight enjoyed when she was pregnant with Night. It was quite the list.

……………………….

Night could barely look at the body… the body of her friend. It made her sick to her stomach to know that those remains were, was, is all that is left of Ataxia. What was worse, the fact that she was the one who caused it. She had caused all that damage using magic she did not fully understand.

And she was about to do it again. It did not matter that it was to help her mom, she did not want to hurt her friend like this, it was not right. Not in any sense of the word. ‘Must we use such destructive power to save those we love?’ She did not have an answer to that question.

“You ready, Night?” Twilight asked as she flew up to her daughter.

“Mom… are… are you sure she will be ok?”

“I’m sure, but we need to hurry.” Twilight said as she looked down at the rapidly regenerating corpse.

“Ok… I’m ready.” Night proceeded to cast the circle, it was… strange to knowingly do it, when she did it before it was more reflex, simply following orders, or to save somepony she loved, to end a threat. Now? Now she knew what they were capable of and it was fully premeditated.

That made it worse, a lot worse.

“Ok, it’s done.” Night said with a whimper.

Twilight looked down, her daughter did good work. Of course, she wanted time to study exactly how this circle did what they did and how Night had become so proficient in their creation but that would all have to wait until this had passed, and her new little bundle of trouble was born so she could have full access to her magic again. “Ok, here goes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Step one, reduce her healing to a crawl.” Twilight reached out with her alicorn magic and surrounded Ataxia’s body with it, she could feel the chaos magic of the mare hard at work, it was… changing her structure, enhancing it, and augmenting it. The earlier theory was true; every time they put her down she would come back stronger, tougher, and faster. Until they could no longer put her down, it was a grim realization to say the least. It confirmed everything Twilight was hoping against hope would not be true. Yet it was, all of it.

Twilight worked her magic to slow the process down, what would have been completed in minutes, now took hours. Of course, with Night’s magic circle that time was augmented to days, weeks, she dared hope months before it was all said and done.

She had hoped that with Night’s circle, she might still be able to change Ataxia back, but it was too raw… too unfocused for such a delicate spell. It would take months of training to get it right. Sadly, that was time they just did not have.

“What’s step two?” Night asked.

Twilight looked at her, a guilty expression on her face. “Night… I’m sorry; step two won’t work. She’s too powerful for that.” Her magic scan confirmed her worst fear. “I have no choice.”

“What… what does that mean?” Night asked, a sickening fear in her gut.

“I have to trap her somewhere she can’t do any damage. I have to send her to the moon.”

“What? No!” Night yelled. Memories of her conversations with Luna began coming to Night's mind. Of the hell Luna went through trapped on the moon for a thousand years by herself and what it was like. Stories she had only told Night.

“I’m sorry.” Twilight cast the spell, her magic began pooling around the dragacorn’s body, and under any other circumstances one alicorn’s power was insufficient for this spell. While Twilight could normally do it thanks to Gaia’s power, that wellspring was being blocked. However, with Night’s enhancement ritual in place she had more than enough power.

The power blasted off, on a direct course for the moon.

“NO! I won't let this happen!” Night screamed out, as she unconsciously focused all her energy on the magic sending her friend away, forever.

Twilight’s eyes grew wide in shock as the magic imploded before it broke orbit, of the body… of Ataxia there was no sign.

“Night… what did you do?”

Night knew what happened; yet she did not know how it had occurred. “I teleported her way. With her regeneration impeded by what you did, I would say we have two weeks to come up with a way to help her.”

The look of utter betrayal in Night’s eyes was heartbreaking for Twilight to look at.

Author's Note

By the way, if you got a 'Doomsday' vibe from Ataxia, that was what I was going for :)

Now 'why' she is like this and what it will mean... that will be explained later.

A Small Hope

Ponyville

Shimmering Night teleported her parents back to their house. With Twilight's full power being blocked by her new foal, it fell to her. It was not hard for Night; she had her mother’s natural talent when it came to magic.

What was hard to do was looking at her mom right now; Night was angry, angrier than she ever thought she could possibly be at Twilight. Twilight lied to her; she tried to banish Ataxia to the moon using Night’s own power as some sort of quick fix. She took no regard to how Night would feel about that, or the fact banishing your problems to the moon does not solve them. Something she figured Twilight should know first hoof after she and her friends had to fight off Nightmare Moon to rescue Luna all those years ago.

Thinking about it was not helping the situation one bit. Shimmering Night wanted to yell; she wanted to scream at Twilight, to rage at her for having such hubris. However, it had to wait, despite her objections to the contrary, Rainbow was hurt and Twilight wanted to put her wife to bed. She would heal quickly enough, but Rainbow had taken the brunt of all of Ataxia’s attacks that night. So much so, that Night actually attacked Ataxia with intent to kill her after she almost killed Rainbow. The fact that Night could do something like that to someone else, much less her friend… that part still scared her. However, nopony or dragon hurts her family.

Of course that still did not help her current situation, she had to give her mom… her pregnant mom, a piece of her mind.

When Twilight finished placing Rainbow in bed, she came down stairs and looked her daughter in the eye. Silently, Shimmering Night cast a soundproof spell around her parent’s bedroom. How she wished she knew how to do that growing up.

“Night, I know you’re mad.” Twilight tried to cut her off, it did not work. Every cell in Night’s body was radiating with barely compressed fury at the night’s events.

“Mad? Mad? Now mom, why would I be mad? I have no reason to be mad, after all it’s not like you did something that completely betrayed my trust in you, or that you lied to my face in order to send by best friend to the moon using my own magic against her. Oh, wait; you did do all that didn’t you?”

Night paced back and forth, still visibly shaken from the day’s events. She had been so worked up that her legs would not stay still. First with the sudden return of Ataxia by destroying a bucking mountain, then her use of an insane magical attack, snapping when she thought her friend killed her mom, and lastly when Twilight betrayed her by trying to send her friend to the bucking moon.

Needless to say, it left quite the mark on the young alicorn’s psyche, something now that the crisis had passed, her body was finally able to catch up too.

Twilight pulled her head back at that, the words hurt more than if Night had just slapped her in the face. “Night… I di-“

“Don’t you try that, don’t you dare. You betrayed me mom, you lied straight to my face and used my power to try and banish my friend to the bucking moon, knowing full well that I would never, never go along with it if you had told me the truth. You… you… Ghah! I don’t even want to look at you right now!” Night shouted as she diverted her eyes away from her mother, stomping around like a pubescent foal.

Twilight actually thought it was a little cute; she would have laughed if it had not been so heartbreaking. She sighed… there was no way out of it, her plan… plan B, it was everything Night said it was. She had tried to use Night’s power against her friend. It was a last minute hail Mary pass. Something she knew would not last, but would grant her more than enough time to find a more permanent solution. She had not expected Night to be able to stop it. Then again, she had not expected anything her youngest daughter did that night.

‘Maybe that was the problem… have I been underestimating you this entire time? Your power alone is on a completely different level than I ever expected.’ Twilight thought about it, maybe it was time to place her trust in Night? The way Celestia used to place hers in Twilight all those years ago.

“You’re right.” Twilight said with a straight face. It took the wind right out of Night’s sails.

“No, you don’t get to do that!” Night yelled.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have done that, I shouldn’t have lied to you like that, I did everything you accused me of doing… Night, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no…” Night repeated. “You don’t… you don’t get to get off that easy.”

“Night, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I used you like that.” The adrenaline left Night’s body with every word Twilight said.

Shimmering Night turned and looked at her mother. There was no doubt that Twilight was serious, her body posture, tone, and words all conveyed the same message. Night collapsed on the floor, the weight of the day’s events and the sudden loss of the adrenaline in her body taking their toll, sighing aloud as she did so. Try as she might (and she really did try) she could not stay mad, not at her mother. “I forgive you.” She said reluctantly.

Twilight walked over and lay next to her daughter; she took one of her purple wings and wrapped it around the young alicorn, squeezing her ever so closer to share their body warmth. Night turned her head and looked at her mom. “How did you do that? How did you make me forgive you like that?” Night asked, generally puzzled at what had just happened.

“The same way I forgave you. We all make mistakes from time to time Night, even the wisest of us.” Memories of Celestia came back unbidden to Twilight’s mind. “But we’re family; we don’t hold each other to some impossible standard of perfection. We mean too much to each other for that.” She gently rubbed her muzzle against her daughter's in a tender display of affection. “I couldn’t stay mad at you when you were sincerely apologetic, so how could you stay mad at me?”

Night cooed softly from the contact. She missed this, more than she could ever say. To be held so closely by someone she loved, who loved her back, unconditionally. It did not matter how old, how big, or how much responsibility life threw at her. She would always be a little foal in her mom’s eyes, and truthfully, she did not want it any other way. It was nice knowing that some things would never change.

“Speaking of family, why don’t you explain that little comment about your soon to be brother.” Twilight added with a sly smile. “I do believe you said something about it being your fault?”

“Oh… that…” Night looked down sheepishly.

“Yes that, I haven’t forgotten what you said, that this is your fault somehow, care to explain?” Again Twilight smiled upon seeing the blush on her daughter’s face.

“Yes, I would like to hear that part too.” A voice from upstairs called down.

“Rainbow, you’re awake.” Twilight smiled a greeting at Rainbow that her wife instantly copied. “I was wondering how long you would sleep for.” Something deep down stirred in Twilight, something about the way Rainbow looked just now.

“It was just a little cat nap, nothing big. Besides, I wouldn’t want to sleep through this.” Rainbow said, ‘With the noise you two were making you would have woke the dead; still, they are cute together like that.’ Rainbow thought the last part, but kept it to herself; she did not want to ruin the moment.

Even without Rainbow saying it, Night seemed to sense the situation she was in; she tried hiding her head under her mom’s wing, an action that only caused both Rainbow and Twilight to chuckle. “Don’t worry Night, that’s my favorite spot too.” Rainbow joked. “While I’m up, anypony want something to drink; it has been a trying night.”

“Coffee, decaf; I don’t want to be up all night.” Twilight added. ‘Well, maybe some of the night…’ she thought to herself.

“Some tea would be lovely.” Night spoke up.

“Coffee and tea… great, that won’t keep me in there forever.” Rainbow said with a sigh.

“What was that, Rainbow?”

“Nothing Twi, coffee and tea coming up!” Twilight laughed as Rainbow made full speed for the kitchen, she would no doubt be back as quickly as possible, not wanting to miss the explanation of just how she was due to be a mother again.

Twilight smiled and turned to her daughter. “Shall we get up?”

Night simply shook her head no. “Can we… can we stay like this, just until Rainbow gets back.” In truth, she was exhausted, part of her just wanted to fall asleep right that second. It was more than a passing through; she was physically exhausted beyond simple fatigue. Night lay her head down and nuzzled into her mother’s neck, breathing deeply of Twilight’s scent. The warmth and smell took their toll, Night closed her eyes, “I… I just need to rest my eyes. Just for a minute or two.”

“Sure honey, we can stay like this for as long as you want.” Twilight saw the tell-tale signs of sleep in her daughter’s eyes. At times like this, Princess Shimmering Night, the first-born alicorn disappeared. She was replaced with Shimmering Night, Twilight’s little filly.

Twilight began lightly humming the soft melody Fluttershy used to sing to her kids when she would foal sit for them. It did not matter that her friends were not physically here anymore. Twilight knew that as long as she carried them in her heart, they would always be around.

That is the true key to immortality.

"Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed

Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed

Driftin' off to sleep
Exciting day behind you
Driftin' off to sleep
Let the joy of dreamland find you

Hush now, quiet now
It’s time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed"

Twilight smiled at her daughter, regardless how big she got, regardless what life threw at her, or how much responsibility Night had, she was still Twilight’s little filly. Twilight kissed her daughter on the forehead. “How I wish I could spare you all of this.” Twilight said to Night as she slept.

Rainbow smiled as she walked in and saw her daughter sleeping peacefully next to her wife. Any idea of getting further information from her tonight was forgotten, Rainbow would not interrupt this moment for all the bits in Equestria.

Rainbow did remark that together, Twilight and Night were quite the pair. If it was not for Shimmering Night’s slightly lighter coat, rainbow mane, and her cutie mark, one could be forgiven for thinking they were twins.

“I thought you wanted to find out what happened?” Rainbow asked her wife already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it anyway.

Twilight looked up with a smile. “She was so tired. I think it can wait until morning, don’t you?”

“Twi, for this sight it can wait forever. Besides, it’s not like finding out the truth will change anything. One way or another we will still be in the same exact situation.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that.” Twilight thought for a minute. “You never did say, what do you think about… about this?” Twilight nodded her head in the direction of her stomach, a clear indication of what she was talking about.

Placing the mugs on the coffee table, Rainbow lay down on the other side of her wife. She grew out her wing and wrapped it around both mares, the symbolism was clear as day, she was taking both of them under her wing, under her protection; or should she say, all three of them under her protection.

Rainbow kissed Twilight on the lips. “Twi, the greatest adventure I’ve ever been on in my entire life is being a parent. It has been something I have never once regretted, never once looked back on with anything other than joy. Both the good times and the bad times, I‘ve loved them all. Now… now you tell me that despite the odds, despite the fact that all the magic studies you’ve done on it say it’s impossible, I get to do it all again? I get to start over with another foal? How do you think I feel, egghead?”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said with a yawn. The warmth of Rainbow’s wing was one of the greatest joys in Twilight’s life.

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” Rainbow replied with a smile as Twilight lay her head down next to her wife. Rainbow took a minute to examine this situation. Her, her daughter, and her pregnant wife were all lying down on the floor of their living room despite the fact that there were three perfectly good beds upstairs. She smiled as something Twilight once told her came back as a memory.

‘The definition of perfection is not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.’

Rainbow looked around one more time before saying one last word. She then joined her wife and daughter in blissful slumber. Her last word ringing in her ears as she fell asleep.

“Perfect.”

………………………

When Night awoke, it surprised her a little. It had been years since she last fell asleep on the floor of her parent’s house. However, just like all those years ago, there was a fresh mug of coffee waiting for her when she woke up and a blanket wrapped around her to keep her warm. There was no doubt in her mind that both of them were a gift from Twilight. Night smiled as she lifted the mug up to her lips to take a sip. The warm liquid did wonders to increase her mood. She did not quite remember falling asleep last night; yet even despite sleeping on the floor, she felt more refreshed than she had in ages.

“Have a good night’s sleep?” Twilight asked, watching her daughter enjoy the delicious mug of coffee.

“Mm hmm.” Night replied.

“Well, when you’re ready we can go over what happened and what we're going to do now.”

Night spit out the coffee at Twilight's remark, she had almost forgotten.

Rainbow flew down to join her girls in the living room. She did not want to miss this explanation for the world.

………………………………

“You see, five weeks ago I caught Ataxia spying on you guys outside the house, twice actually.” Night looked at her parents sitting on the couch, Twilight looked visibly taken aback by that, no doubt a little ashamed that someone was watching her with Rainbow. For Rainbow’s part, she looked like she did on any other day, the idea of someone wanting to watch her awesomeness in bed no doubt serving as an aphrodisiac, if the way her hoof moved up and down Twilight’s side was any indication. It was an action that Twilight did not fail to notice; the soft coos that came from her signaled her welcoming of it. It brought back feelings for Rainbow that Twilight had been unable to act on last night.

“I caught her and told her to leave, she wouldn’t go. We... we rather got into a fight, like a big one. I tried to simply paralyze her so I could teleport her way… she responded and well… We weren’t seeking to hurt each other, but…” Night looked down sheepishly.

“Wait?” Rainbow interrupted, “Does this have something to do with why you were hanging around here for two weeks?”

Night nodded, “I was getting to that. In the middle of the fight, Ataxia told me that I needed to shake things up a bit, I know she’s never had that much control of her magic so when she said it I think her magic agreed. She cast an unknown spell at me, and unlike her other spells, this was one that I couldn’t deflect away… I had no choice but to counter it with one of my own… well… well the spells collided in the middle of the air. It blew up for lack of a better term and a piece of it struck Twilight, while… while…” Night could not bring herself to say the last part.

Twilight did not need her to; she could easily put the pieces together in her head. The scenario played out, the sheer impossibility of everything was staggering.

Rainbow was more than happy to fill in the blanks. “Wait, Twilight got hit by your and Ataxia’s magic while I was pumping my load into her? And that’s why I’m going to be a mother again? That’s… that’s… that’s bucking awesome! Think you can pull it off a few more times?! Or teach her how to do that?”

“Rainbow!” Twilight screamed at her wife.

“Relax Sparklebutt, the damage is done, what harm does it do to admit the truth now? Besides, I would love to have more kids and I know you feel the same, you’ve told me as much.”

“Guys, Ataxia doesn’t even know what spell she used, or how she cast it. Besides, I doubt we could duplicate those events if we tried a million times.” Night said through her facehoof. It did not surprise her that Rainbow would be so crass about her sex life. Yet, that did not make it any easier to hear.

“Ah man, that sucks.” Rainbow sat back on the couch, pouting. Twilight loved it when Rainbow got into a pouting mood, just the way in which it squashed up her face, In Twilight’s opinion, the mare never looked cuter or hotter.

“Mom…” Night looked at Twilight with a sheepish look on her face. “Why were you going to do it anyway? Not that I want to start another fight on it. Why did you want to send Ataxia to the moon?”

Twilight sighed… she was expecting this question, not that it made it that easer to deal with. “Night, when… when I scanned Ataxia with my magic, I saw that only the complete destruction of her body could ever stop her. Whenever she dies,” Night visibly cringed when Twilight said that, memories of her causing two of those deaths came back to mind. “She comes back that much stronger. That much more dangerous; I don’t know why we can’t reach her, but right now she is nothing more than a rabid animal, seeking to strike out at those around her. She’s dangerous, very dangerous. I… I can’t transform her back… not in my condition.” Twilight rubbed a hoof on her stomach. “I was trying to think of a way to save her without killing her, it was all I could come up with at the time.”

“Teach me how to transform her back.” Night spoke up. “I’ll do it if you can’t.”

“It would take months to teach you that, even then, the odds are not good you would succeed. I’m sorry about using you like that, using your power against your friend. I just didn’t see any other way. Maybe if we knew something about why she was like this…” Twilight trailed off, lost in thought.

“I…” Night said softly before shutting her mouth. It was not her place.

Rainbow looked up, her daughter looked like she was about to say something, something important. “Night, if you know something you can tell us. I promise we won’t make any more decisions without discussing them with you first.” Night felt better at that, her mom was obsessive over keeping her promises.

“Ataxia… when she and I fought Tirek a few months back. He… he showed her something. Something she told me about on the way home. He showed her a vision of… of her fate or at least the fate he told her about.”

“Night, you know there is no such thing as fate.” Twilight looked at her.

“I know… I dismissed it off hoof as simply him lying. At the time I thought he… he was simply using the story to get Ataxia to willingly give up her power to him. It was somewhat strange though, even after she gave up all her power to him, she still found more of it. She was still able to transform. We stopped him together though, in fact that was the first time I cast one of those enhancement circles.”

That got Twilight’s attention in a big way, she had temporarily forgotten about Night’s strange magic, and the fact Tirek drew away all of Ataxia’s magic, yet the mare was still able to transform? She had to know more about what Ataxia saw in this vision. “Tell me what she told you. About what Tirek showed her, about this… this fate of hers.”

Night did her best to recall everything she could. It was not easy, a second hoof retelling of a story she was only half told several months back. It was when she got to Discord arriving that Twilight really began to take notice. Although it was Rainbow who spoke up first.

“Wait, Discord said what?” Rainbow asked, intrigued at what their old nemesis/friend did all those years ago.

“He said she would kill all the alicorns. He seemed deadly serious about it too; it was his trump card. He pulled out some big spinning wheel to illustrate his point too. I didn’t take it seriously when I heard it, but…” Night trailed off.

“You think it might be real now?” Twilight asked. To which Night just nodded her head in agreement. “That’s… that’s quite the story…. I, we need more information though, if Discord is somehow involved, that… that changes everything.”

“Why would Discord do that?” Rainbow asked, “And even if he did, why wouldn’t he undo it when we became friends?”

Twilight just looked at her, “Rainbow, Discord might have been our friend but he is still Discord. It’s his nature to be chaotic, ‘Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.’ That even means he would undermine himself if given the chance. He wouldn’t seek any sort of harmony, don’t you remember the Plunder Seeds, he didn’t undue those just because we were friends. He let us do it ourselves, even with the danger it represented.”

“I guess…” Rainbow spoke, looking off in the distance. Memories of having to give up the elements came back, fresh in her mind.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked her wife.

“Do you think we could use the Elements of Harmony again? They generally do a good job at bringing back the true nature of the one they are used against.”

Twilight shook her head, “No, We don’t have the bearers anymore, and while we could use them just the two of us, they wouldn’t be at full power. That’s why Celestia wasn’t able to remove the Nightmare from Luna when she first turned, they require six users who represent everything they stand for.”

Rainbow look dejected at that, Twilight noticed this. “What’s really wrong Rainbow, you know you can tell me anything.”

“Are we… are we always going to be faced with things like this? I mean, don’t we deserve a break at some point in time? The first day you’re in Ponyville, we had to face down Nightmare Moon for Luna’s sake. Then Discord himself, and then stop a changeling invasion. Now… now we’re playing with Gods… again.”

“What are you really worried about Rainbow? You’ve never had a problem with any of this stuff before.”

“I know… It’s just… it’s just last time we faced off against a God… Twi, you… you died.” Rainbow looked up with tears in her eyes. Twilight moved over and sat next to her wife. “I can’t… I can’t go through that again… not again.” Rainbow started crying in earnest. Night could only watch with tears falling from her own eyes. She had been there at the end; memories of those times came back, of seeing Rainbow so broken… so defeated. It broke her heart at the time. She had done her best to move beyond, yet now with Rainbow again in tears over it, Night could not stop her own feelings from resurfacing.

Twilight wrapped a hoof around her wife. There was nothing she could do for her; Rainbow simply needed time to let it out. Twilight softly hummed, allowing the vibrations of it to pass through her into her wife. It seemed to help Rainbow, a little at least.

When Rainbow calmed down a little, she looked up at her wife. “Twi… Discord showed me, he showed me everything you went through when I died. I thought I knew your pain, what you experienced. I was so foolish. It wasn’t until I saw you lying on the ground with that accursed sickle in your neck and your blood on my face that I truly knew what you felt all those years ago. I… I… would rather spend an eternity in Tartarus with Hellhounds eating me than for either of us to face that again. Not again.”

“I know Rainbow… I can’t lose you again either. Last time I did I almost took over the world and you weren’t even dead.”

Night joined her parents on the couch with her own tears falling from her eyes. It was painful at times, painful and unfair. Her family had lost so much, so many times they had to put it all on the line simply to do what needed to be done and it had not been without cost.

Although none of the three had said it, they were all thinking it. They did not need to say it, but Dayspring Gleam's absence was always on their minds.

“I should go to the dragons.” Night said out of the blue. She said it with complete conviction in her voice. As if it was just another comment on another day.

Twilight and Rainbow both turned to their daughter, shocked expressions plastered on their faces. As one, they both shouted. “NO!”

Night thought it was cute when they spoke in stereo like that.

“Listen, whatever this Lord Tirek actually showed Ataxia, we need to know more, we need to talk to someone… some dragon that was actually there. That means we need to talk to a dragon that we know was there. That means we have to talk to the Dragon King. The Dragon King was there, if he’s still alive, and if he’s willing to talk we might learn more, including a way to actually get through to Ataxia, without banishing her to the moon.” Night made a small inflection to Twilight. Twilight just shrugged.

“That’s a lot of ifs.” Rainbow added. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that. I’m definitely not comfortable with my youngest daughter flying off to Luna knows where on some hunch.”

“I know, but it’s the only thing I can think of though. Unless you two have a better idea?” Night looked at them each in turn, she was not surprised when Rainbow shook her head no. Twilight took some time to think about it.

“You’re right.” Twilight spoke.

“Twi!” Rainbow shouted. “You can’t be serious.”

“We don’t really have a choice, Rainbow. We need more information about Ataxia; this ‘Dragon King’ might have that information. It’s really our only option. I know it’s a small hope, but it’s the only one we have right now.”

“So let me go talk to him instead. I don’t want to send my daughter to dragon territory on some sort of wild goose chase.”

“Yeah Rainbow, let me outline how that would go. ‘Hey Dragon King, my niece has become a monster we can’t figure out how to stop, I heard from my daughter that her friend was told a story about a time thousands of years ago where you might know something about it, spill it, now!’ I think the farther away we keep you from there the better off we'll all be.” Twilight said sarcastically as she over exaggerated Rainbow’s movements.

Rainbow simply sat back. “I wouldn’t have used so many words.” She said in a pout.

“Besides, would you really leave me here to fend for myself, with nopony to look after me?” Twilight looked at her wife with a pouty expression on her face. It was the sort of look that wars would be fought over.

“No.” Rainbow said sheepishly. Twilight was once again taken by how cute Rainbow looked right then.

“We don’t know exactly when Ataxia will be back or where she will strike, so we have to prepare. Besides, Night has always been the best negotiator I’ve ever known. If anyone can get a meeting with this Dragon King it will be her.”

“Thanks mom.” Night beamed a smile at her mom, one in which Twilight returned.

“Can't you just, I don’t know, teleport her there and back?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Not with this little one growing in me, I can’t teleport that distance with him cutting off my power, and I don’t want to risk exhausting myself with shorter teleports. Besides I need to start preparing with Luna and Cadance for when Ataxia does return.”

“Speaking of Ataxia, where is she, exactly?” Rainbow looked at her daughter with intense scrutiny on her face.

“I… I don’t know.” Night looked down at the floor, she found a spot that required her attention.

“You… you… you don’t know? How do you not know?”

“I… it wasn’t intentional, all right. I don’t even know what I did, I just wanted the magic to take her someplace safe, someplace where she wouldn’t be hurt and where you couldn’t banish her to the moon. I felt the teleport… I know she ended up someplace safe, I’m just not sure where that was… exactly.”

At that, Rainbow facehoofed.

Twilight interrupted before Rainbow could say any more. “It’s fine Rainbow, I’ll just go back to the spot and run a trace. I’m sure we can get a lock on her location and station a few Wonderbolts on point as look out. They will be able to give us more than enough forewarning when she’s up and will let us know where she will attack.”

“Yeah… I guess that will work. Although Firestar will not be happy about it.”

“And you young mare,” Twilight looked at her daughter. “We need to do some serious research on your new abilities. You’ve done things in the past day alone that I want to know a lot more about.”

Part of Night wanted to remind her mom that she was not in fact, a young mare. She was in her thirties for crying out loud. She squished that idea, logically; she supposed that she would always be a young mare to her mom. Besides, next to everything that Twilight knew, she felt like a young mare at times. So she just nodded her head in agreement, truthfully, she wanted to know more about it herself. Such an opportunity was too good to pass up.

“I look forward to it.” Night smiled at Twilight and turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Rainbow asked.

Night looked back, “What? I was going to see the dragons, you know, like we planned.”

“You got to go now?” Rainbow looked at her with pleading eyes. “After everything we just got through doing, I was hoping…” Rainbow wanted to spend more time with her daughter before she left.

Twilight walked up to her wife and smiled. “I think Rainbow wanted to spend a little time with you. After everything that happened we could all use a day to relax before we begin again.”

“Sorry, we really don’t have time for that, it’s a long flight to the dragons, and even then there is no guarantee that I will find the one I need to. Besides, I want to make Warclaw before it’s time to set the sun.”

Rainbow looked dejected at that. Twilight just nuzzled her as a way of communicating.

“Are you going to fill your sister in on everything that happened?” Twilight asked Night.

“Yeah, I need to let her know… It still sucks she couldn’t stay for a while after the funeral.”

“She has her own kingdom now, Night. You should know as well as anypony that it comes with a lot of responsibilities.”

“I know… I do miss the old times some days.”

“So do I.” Both her parents said in unison.

“I’ll be in touch with Luna and Cadance over the next few days, I’ll let them know what happened and start preparations for her return.” Twilight stated, not explicitly mentioning who her was; there was no need, as they all knew she was referring to Ataxia.

Night just smiled. “All right, I should get going. Wish me luck!” With that Night turned around and left out the door. She spread her wings and took flight. Not once looking back. This was her idea, her plan, it would pass or fail based solely on what she did next.

“She’s just like you, Twi.” Rainbow nuzzled her wife, grabbing her attention away from the space her daughter used to occupy. Twilight looked at her and smiled.

“No Rainbow, you’re wrong. She’s better than me and her abilities… I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Yeah, about that. What’s the deal with that? It seemed like she’s able to amplify magic to no end; and don’t give me a line about you not knowing, I know you at least have a theory about what’s going on.” Rainbow knew her wife more than enough to know when she would try to excuse herself from having to answer the question.

Twilight just smiled, “I may have a few actually, I’m willing to bet it’s somehow tied to Gaia and how Night came to be…”

Rainbow interrupted before Twilight could continue her sentence. “Oh… right… I never filled you in on that part.” Rainbow looked like the proverbial foal caught red hoof with a leg in the cookie jar or, as it was known in this house, Aurora on any day that ended in a Y.

“What?”

“After… after the incident with Tartarus and you… you died… Gaia showed up, she survived your death from the sickle by transferring over to me. She said… she told the other two, Eros and Chaos, that Night is her daughter. That’s how she was born in the first place. She’s not just our daughter, she’s also the daughter of Gaia.”

“You’re just telling me this now!” Twilight yelled.

“Sorry… I got a little distracted with the death of Siros, Orion, Rarity, Spike, and now the whole Ataxia thing.” Rainbow said defensively, “We really haven’t had a moments rest since you got your memories back. You know with the rebuilding of the Griffin Empire and all and I forget what you know and don’t know at times… With you having lost your memories.”

“I… I need to think about this.” Twilight began running through several new possibilities. They both intrigued and scared her at the same time. The scientist in her was highly intrigued though. She could not wait for Night to get back and they began researching the implications in earnest.

“What’s there to think about?” Rainbow looked confused.

“Rainbow, this… this changes everything. I never knew why Night was born an alicorn. With this knowledge… Rainbow, The reason why Night does not seem to have any limits to what she can do may very well have just been answered. She could be key to undoing everything that happened to Ataxia. We may be able to save her after all.”

Rainbow perked up at that. “Should I… should I get her back?” Rainbow asked; pointing a hoof in the direction her daughter had just taken off.

Twilight thought about this. She shook her head as she reached a decision. “No, let her go. Whatever she finds out will be important regardless of what she is. Besides, this is the first time she has ever taken the lead on a crisis. To be honest… I think I now know what Luna was talking about all those years ago.”

“Oh, what do you mean?”

“You remember, after our talk with Celestia, when I saved you from the reaper. She came out and told me that she and Celesta were proud of me, proud that I stood up to them. I feel a little of that now. I think Night may be finally coming into her own. I wouldn’t want to take that away from her over a theory that may or may not work.“ Twilight began feeling something, something slightly off.

“Oh, right… Yeah, I guess you’re right. Shall we get started on our end then? We have to locate where Night sent Ataxia or something.” Rainbow stood up and arched her back like a cat. She flexed her muscles and stretched.

Twilight looked at her, she could not quite explain it, but Rainbow looked different at that moment. The curves on her flank seemed more so…. Like they simply begged to be rubbed, the slight way she tilted her head, the way her mane lay just right over her back… almost like they wanted to have a hoof run through them. She suddenly felt a pressure build up in her, something that needed to be released right that moment.

“We can, but after.” Twilight said as she suddenly knew just what the problem was and how she wanted to fix it.

“After what?”

Twilight smiled as she pounced on Rainbow. The two kissed deeply, their tongues reuniting yet again. When Twilight finally came up for air Rainbow simply smiled. “I almost forgot how horny you can be when you’re pregnant, Twi.”

“I could give you a lecture on hormonal imbalance again but I have other uses in mind for our tongues right now.” Twilight said seductively.

“Awesome.” Was Rainbow’s only reply.

………………………………………………………..

Warclaw

Shimmering Night once more found herself very envious of her mom, Rainbow Dash. It had taken her most of the day to fly this far, the journey from Ponyville to Warclaw was not an easy one, and the responsibilities of being a princess did not leave her with a lot of time or opportunity to stretch her wings. She still smiled, most ponies would take two days to get here, she did it in one. Although Rainbow would still have her head for taking that long. What she did not know would not hurt her.

All of it was nothing more than her excuse for being out of shape, something she did not want to admit to, yet could not deny. If Rainbow knew, there was no doubt in Night’s mind that she would tear her a new one.

Needless to say, when Shimmering Night made it to Warclaw it was already time to set the sun. She knew that Twilight would have sent a message to Luna about her mission, and that if she could not get to it in time, Luna would lower the sun for her. That being said, it was not easy to lower and then raise a celestial body in such a short span of time. So as long as Night could do it, she would. She would never purposely leave Luna with both responsibilities.

Shimmering Night landed in Warclaw and set to work on lowering the sun. It was when it passed low to the ground that she noticed just what she was standing next to. It should have been obvious to most and to anyone who was visiting the capital city of the Griffin Empire for the first time; it would have been just that. Yet she had been here so many times helping her family rebuild after the battle with Blood Dawn she had grown used to it. Shimmering Night was standing right next to the statue of Ataxia.

She looked up at it. The statue brought back all the memories of everything that had happened over the last two weeks, ever since that night… their date.

She had not known what it was at the time, she had thought it was just a girl’s night out, just a way for Ataxia to make up to her for what happened with Twilight. It had been anything but. It was so obvious now, but that is what they always say, hindsight is always twenty-twenty. Although, that did not stop Night from kicking herself over it, everypony else saw Ataxia’s feeling for her, yet she did not.

‘Why was I that blind? Luna… I was such a fool.’ She thought with a tear falling down her eye. “Of course it was a date; she was so kind, so thoughtful…. I… I just threw it away. I… I’m not even mad that you kissed me. It was I who messed up, Ataxia. I just… I just want you back.” Night said to nopony in particular.

Night held her head up to the statue and looked at it, she stared it straight in its eyes. “I’m… I’m sorry, Ataxia. Can you ever forgive me?”

The statue did exactly as it always had, it held silent, motionless, still. Just as Night expected it to.

“I deserve that.” Night said aloud. “What right do I have to ask for your forgiveness when I haven’t even forgiven myself?”

“HALT! Who goes there!?” A shout from behind her caused Night to turn around and watch as a group of guards approached from the east.

Night watched as the three griffins in royal armor ran up to her with their spears drawn. It was almost comical to think that they could challenge an alicorn with such a measly force. She dismissed that thought off-hoof. As much as she hated to admit it, there was more of Rainbow in her than she wanted to say. Although not saying it did not make it not true; still, she was happy in her state of denial.

“Sathor and Braten, how good it is to see you two again.” Night said with a bow. She recognized the aura around the back two guards without having to see their faces. However, the front one was new, yet not… almost familiar too. She could not place it and that really bugged her. “I’m sorry… I don’t know who you are.” Night said to the third.

“I told you that was her!” Sathor yelled out, “I called it boss.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Braten said back.

“Stow it you two. Who are you, ma’am? What is your business in Warclaw?” The third one questioned. Whoever he was, he was the obvious leader of the group. As the three approached, Night was able to get a good look at his armor. It was highly ornamented with several different design carved into it, all of it detailed the slaying of dragons. Her time around the royal guards in Canterlot allowed her to identify this armor as that of a royal guard captain. That meant he had the favor of Siros and her sister, Aurora.

“Sorry to come in like this, my name is Princess Shimmering Night of Equestria. I’m here to see my sister, Empress Princess Aurora Flash.” Night said with a small bow, she had learned a long time ago that simple manners would often win over the starchiest of opponents.

“Princess Shimmering Night, I revived no word from the Emperor or the Empress of your arrival.”

“It was kind of a last minute thing… Something has happened in Equestria, something bad.” Night could not help but look up at the statue of Ataxia when she said that last part.

“Captain Fay Light, I know her, she is who she says she is.” Braten said to the captain.

That did not seem to convince him a hundred percent. However, Night did not believe that even a written letter identifying who she is from Aurora would convince this griffin of anything. She liked that part of him. A healthy sense of skepticism was an admirable quality in any one of his rank. It would ensure the protection of those he guarded and as those he guarded happened to be family, she was very glad for it.

However, that did not stop her from having a bad feeling about him overall, something just seemed off about him.

Fay light seemed to consider his guards words before making up his mind. “Very well, I’ll take you to the empress, but until she verifies who you are, I’ll be keeping an eye on you the entire time.”

Night nodded to him. As much as this griffin just seemed off to her, his sense of duty was right on the bits. She could ignore the rest. “Do as you must, captain.” Captain Fay Light pointed his spear in the direction of the palace and gestured with his beak, Night nodded and begun walking in that direction. True to his word they were going to keep an eye on her the entire way. She was really beginning to like this griffin.

As she walked down the hallway, Night could not help but admire the work she and Twilight had done to restore this place. There was not a sign of damage anywhere. It was almost hard to believe that less than a year ago, this entire place was under siege from a horde of dragons, one that would have destroyed the entire empire if Ataxia had not put a stop to it.

“Captain Fay Light, I take it you are new here?” She asked the no-nonsense captain. He simply nodded. Her bid to establish some sort of bond had failed. That was unusual for Night. She had never encountered someone she could not connect to on some level.

“The captain transferred in from the west. He personally fended off three dragons from attacking a village.” Sathor said with a smile on his beak. The pride he felt in serving such a warrior was obvious.

That impressed Night; she took a closer look at the captain. He was powerfully built. Strong claws, a well-defined flank, and enough muscles to match. She took a look at his wings; they were pristine, from that alone she knew that this was obviously a griffin that knew the value of proper preening. His coloring also seemed to fit; his feathers were white with a brown coat. It seemed as far as his genetics went, he had gotten the best of both halves. Truly she could see the lion in this griffin.

“Stow it trooper, we’re on duty, you can talk on your own time.” He was also highly disciplined. Night was beginning to like him more and more.

“C’mon captain, everything you’ve done, it’s something to be proud of.” Braten said with a smile.

“The next griffin to speak out of line will give me fifty laps around the city.”

Both griffins shut their beaks. Shimmering Night almost laughed, Rainbow’s drills were far worse when she was growing up. Still… in her current condition even Night would not look forward to such treatment.

As they approached the Royal Throne room, Fay Light nodded at Braten to proceed ahead. The griffin acknowledged the unspoken command and proceeded forward. He gave a slight nod to Shimmering Night before opening the door and walking in. From the small look Shimmering Night got inside, it appeared as if her sister and brother-in-law were still holding court, despite the late hour.

Night had to laugh when no more than a few moments later the doors opened up and every noble was immediately leaving the Throne Room. Most of them had upset looks on their beaks as they left. It was obvious to the princess that Aurora had just kicked them all out. No doubt wanting to see her sister was a greater priority than whatever these griffins wanted. If they were anything like the so-called noble ponies in Canterlot it was a bunch of BS anyway. She could easily see herself doing the same if the situation was reversed.

Braten was the last one out; he turned to the alicorn and smiled. “She can’t wait to see you again.”

“Thanks.” Night stated.

As soon as she walked in the door Aurora shouted out her name. “NIGHT!!! It’s wonderful to see you again!”

Shimmering Night ran up to her sister and hugged her with all her might. Aurora had done her best to try and beat Night to it, but her legs were stiff from sitting in one spot for so long. Of the many things Shimmering Night missed at the funeral, seeing her sister again was high on that list, easily one of the top three. To Night’s eyes, Aurora looked tired. Night did not know if it was the stress of the pregnancy or of ruling that was weighing her down the most. She was hoping for the former, but she suspected the latter. Command could take the wind out of anyone’s sails.

Icarus looked over at the two with a smile on his beak. It was still hard for the griffin to believe that these ponies were the same ones that saved his kingdom from the dragon attack all those months ago. Well, these ponies and the other one… the one that went missing.

Night noticed him and smiled, “Sorry about interrupting court, emperor. I didn’t intend to disrupt your official duties.” Night said with a small amount of sarcasm. It was well known to her that Icarus hated everything to do with ruling. Yes he was trained to take over the empire his whole life, but much like Night, that did not mean he wanted to rule it. He had never really wanted anything before, well, not before he met Aurora that is. It was then he knew what it was to have something truly precious in his life.

Icarus laughed. “You’re bucking with me, right?”

Night smiled. “Maybe a little.”

Icarus turned to the three guards and dismissed them with a wave of his claw. They nodded and left. He turned to Night and spoke. “I should be thanking you, we’ve been playing catch up after taking the time off to go to the funeral yesterday, needless to say we still had a few hours worth of annoying piddle to wade through. As soon as Aurora found out you were here and told everyone to get out, I wanted to jump up for joy.”

Aurora turned to Icarus and blew him a raspberry. “I didn’t tell them to get out, I simply stated that I wasn’t feeling well and needed to reconvene in the morning.”

“Tomato, tomahto.” Icarus replied, putting the emphasis on the dual sounding words. “I really don’t care what you call it, I’m just happy they're gone.” He walked up and kissed his wife.

“You won't like it tomorrow when we have twice as much work to do.”

“That’s future Icarus’s problem. For now, I just want to spend time with my wife.”

“Yeah, well I want to spend time with my sister.”

Icarus’s thoughts immediately went to a very different place… a place only a male’s thoughts would ever go. Aurora smiled as she lightly slapped Icarus on his beak with a feather, whispering a quiet. “Don’t even think about it.”

Icarus smiled at the playful jest as he tried to play it off, for he could no more deny where his thoughts went to than deny that the sun was bright. He turned to the alicorn and tried to change the subject before his blush gave it away. “So I take it you’re here for a reason; have they located Ataxia?”

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as if merely stating the word was enough to kill Night’s mood. The look on Night’s face caused Icarus to suspect that they had not found Ataxia. As such it surprised him when Night nodded that they had.

Aurora saw it too. “You did find her? What… what happened?” Aurora knew her sister enough to know something was wrong. She would not be so crestfallen if everything was alright.

“That’s why I’m here actually, we did find her… she’s… she’s…”

Aurora walked up and hugged her sister. “I’m sorry… how did she die?”

Night did not know if was the absurdity of the comment or of everything that had happened the other night but she actually found herself chuckling a little at that question. It was an action that caused Aurora no small amount of confusion. “Well, twice by me and once by Rainbow actually.” Night said.

“Wait?! What?!” Aurora looked confused to all Hades at that comment. It was a rare day when Night could elicit such a reaction from her older sister. Although the cost this time around had been a little high for her liking.

“Maybe I should start from the beginning?”

“Please do.” Aurora responded, but before Night could began, someone else decided to let themselves be known. Aurora’s stomach began growling in protest at not having eaten for some time.

“After dinner?” Night asked, in parallel of Aurora’s situation, Night’s stomach started doing the same, it had been a long flight and she could use some food as well.

“Well, I guess that makes three then, ‘cause my vote is to eat too.” Icarus added.

……………

They all ate in silence as Night went through and detailed the events of the other day, including everything from how she skipped the funeral to how she came up with this crazy idea. Both Icarus and Aurora could not believe it. Ataxia lost it… she had not been seen for two weeks and now…now she was a threat to all of Equestria, maybe even the entire world. “Are… are you serious about going to the dragons?” Aurora asked Night with a questioning look on her face.

“It was my idea actually. After talking with mom she stated that we needed more information on this… this prophecy. If it is true, we need more information; we need to talk to someone who was actually there. That only gives us two options and Tirek is dead, so we need to go with the dragons.”

“You know that’s crazy right? Odds are good that the so called… ‘Dragon King’ is dead, or if he isn’t, he doesn’t actually exist, or that he wouldn’t even want to see you, or that they would eat you before they even let you get close enough, or tha-”

“I get it… I get it, all right. I’ve been thinking about nothing else for the entire flight down here. It’s a far shot, a one-in-a-million odds of success, but sometimes those pay off. You remember the stories of how our parents finally got together, of their trek through Hades and Tartarus all on the word of Discord, Master of Chaos and Disharmony. Is this really any different? That was a far shot, that was a one-in-a-million odds of success, yet it worked.”

Aurora considered her sister's words carefully. It was true, her parents had gambled everything on that trip, all of it because they had no choice, and because of something that Twilight had done to save her friend. That had all worked out in the end, was this situation really any different? The situation may not have been as bad this time around, but if Ataxia was really what Night thought she was…

“Are… are you sure about all of this Night? About some old prophecy that may or may not be true? About Ataxia going after the alicorns? Going after Twilight, and you?”

Night shook her head, “Aurora, you know everything I do. It’s farfetched to say the least, and I would normally never even entertain the idea had I not seen it for myself. She came back from the dead three times, Aurora. I sensed it as well as mom. It’s chaos magic at work; it brought her back every single time. There has to be a reason why; someone who might know something about all of this, maybe this Dragon King. If he exists, he would be our best bet.”

“Did you… did you ask Luna if she knew anything about it?”

Night shook her head, “In Ataxia’s vision, it stated the alicorns that were around at the time were the first ones, before Luna and Celestia’s time. Besides, I talked with Luna before, she told me all about her history and never once mentioned anything like this and there were no alicorns present in the vision.”

Aurora thought about all of this, it was unreal… Ataxia, a threat? Well she believed that part without too much issue, Ataxia was the town troublemaker most of her life. Aurora could follow that much; however, Ataxia coming back from the dead was new... new and completely odd. That she was having trouble believing, although she did not think her sister would lie, not about something like that.

Still there was one thing she wanted to talk with her sister about, but she wanted to do it alone. “Hey honey?”

Icarus turned his head and looked at his wife. “Yes?”

“Can you run to the kitchen real quick, I want some oatmeal raisin cookies before bed.”

“Sure, it shouldn’t take long.”

“Can you bring back some fresh ones? I like them best when they are right out of the oven.” Aurora said with a smile. It was a small gamble, the kitchen may be finishing a fresh batch now or they might have to start a new one, still it should give them at least a little time alone.

Icarus was never the brightest of the griffins, he was always a do first, ask questions if necessary after, but even he could see the writing on the wall this time around. Aurora was trying to get rid of him. Even still, it was always best to simply give her what she wanted. When Aurora got what she wanted, she was grateful, which means he would get rewarded. That was definitely something he would enjoy.

“As you wish, dear.” Icarus said with a smile on his face as he got up, gave his wife a kiss, and left for the kitchen. Night watched him go before turning to her sister. The smile on Aurora’s face told her everything. Her sister really did love him.

“He’s a good griffin, isn’t he?” Night asked, Aurora’s smile was infectious. It was a bug that Night quickly caught.

“Icarus, he’s an idiot, but he’s my idiot. I wouldn’t want him any other way.” Aurora responded to her sister. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you a question, and I figured you might be a little more comfortable talking about it with just me here.”

“What?” Night asked; her curiosity peaked at her sister’s sudden desire to protect her modesty.

“When you do get Ataxia back, and I have no doubt that you will. What will you do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… I didn’t want to say anything, but when you and her were down here after the battle with it…” Night did not fail to notice the look of utter disgust on her older sister’s face. She did not blame Aurora for that, if someone killed her foal, she would hold it in such contempt herself. “I saw the way she looked at you, the way you two were when you were around each other. Have you given any thought to what you will tell her? How you actually feel about her? You know, the thing that caused the issue in the first place.”

Night sighed. “You know, I got enough of this from mom, I don’t need it from you too.”

“Hey, it’s the big sisters prerogative to look after her little sister, and don’t change the subject. How do you actually feel about her? What will you tell her?”

Night looked into her glass, suddenly finding the water in it very, very interesting. “I… I… I don’t know, Aurora. I really don’t.”

Aurora nodded, she suspected as much. “Maybe that’s what you actually need to spend time figuring out. How can you help Ataxia if you’re so conflicted with yourself?”

Night shook her head. “You can’t be serious, I think figuring out a way to reach Ataxia is a little more important than me figuring out my feelings.”

“Well, I disagree, but I know you far too well Night. You got Rainbow’s stubborn streak in you. So you will need a little help figuring this all out.”

“What are you saying?” Night asked her sister.

“I’m saying you're not going alone, I’m coming with you.”

“Bucking hell you are!” Icarus yelled from down the hall, he dropped a plate of cookies he was caring in his right claw. The plate impacted the ground with a loud clang that echoed around the hallway.

Aurora looked at him like he had just murdered a thousand foals right in front of her eyes. “You… you dropped my cookies!!!” She shouted at him.

Night found herself laughing at that. Icarus looked pissed. “I don’t bucking care. You’re not going into the Dragon Kingdom, I forbid it!”

Aurora got up on her hooves. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that. Care to say it again?”

Shimmering Night knew her sister well enough to know when she was giving you just enough rope to hang yourself with. She also knew enough to know when to keep her trap shut. So Night just sat back and enjoyed the show. Aurora was always a master in situations like this. Her mouth was her second most dangerous weapon, and it was only surpassed by her looks.

“I said, I forbid you to go to the Dragon Kingdom. I don’t care what reason you might have or what’s going on.”

“You forbid it? You forbid me to go with my sister on this mission… really?”

“Really.”

“Well…” Night sat back on her flank. “Ok then, I’ll just go to Equestria and help my moms then.”

That seemed to put off Icarus. “That… that should be ok.”

“Night, remind me again what Ataxia did.”

“You mean beyond destroying an entire mountain, incinerating several large areas of our forests and almost killing Rainbow Dash, one of the strongest mares in all of the world?” Night said with a smile, she already knew where this was going.

“Yes, let me go help them with that threat. I’m sure an unstoppable dragacorn would be quite the safer option, wouldn’t you agree, dear?”

“No!” Icarus yelled, his mind playing through all the ways in which that could go wrong.

“No? Oh, you might be right, you see they’re going to need all the help I can give, I doubt someone like me would be able to be of much help there anyway. They’ll need the best fighters we can give.”

Icarus nodded at that.

“I’m glad you agree, so you should go help Twilight and Rainbow. In three days time take the royal guards with you and head north. I’ll go with my sister to the Dragon Kingdom. That was a good idea, Icarus.”

“Wait, what?”

“You’re going to Equestria and I’m going with my sister. It was your idea after all.”

“No it wasn’t, you’re staying here and that’s that.” Icarus had gotten used to his wife’s ploys.

Aurora smiled, her first plan may have failed, but she did have a fall back plan. She stood up and walked to her husband. “Here’s the deal, my sister is about to go into a dangerous area all by herself. She is going to need help when she does, so that means one of us is going with her. My moms are dealing with a very powerful, out of control grave danger to the entire world. Something that, if Night is right, is fated to kill every alicorn alive, including her. That means one of us is going to have to help them. They’re my family, the ones that I grew up with, that I love. I’m not going to leave them to deal with this threat alone. So where would you like me to go? I can go with my sister, an alicorn, the only one ever born, who is quite powerful, into the known threat of the dragons. Or I can go to my moms and deal with the dragacorn, who almost put one of my parents in the grave.” Aurora walked around her husband, running her tail over him a few times as she did so.

“I’ll leave the choice up to you, dear husband. You decide who’s going where, but make no mistake, one of us is going with her, and one of us is going to Equestria to help deal with Ataxia. Those are the only two options.”

Icarus sighed. He just lost this and he knew it. “You go with Night, I’ll go help Princess Twilight.”

“What was that? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

Night cringed, Aurora liked to rub salt into open wounds.

“I said you can go with Night. I’ll go to Equestria.” Icarus said a little louder.

“That’s so wise of you, dear emperor.” Aurora said sarcastically. “Now, go get me more cookies.”

Icarus lowered his head and walked away, he looked defeated in every sense of the word. As the girls watched him go, Aurora turned around and walked to her sister.

“That was mean, Aurora.” Night said with a cringe on her face. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for Icarus.

“I’ve never put up with anyone telling me what I can and can’t do. Besides, he gets a big head from time to time. It’s good to remind him who the real boss is every now and again.”

“Still, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look that defeated.”

“I’ll make it up to him, later.” Aurora said with a smile.

“I do need to ask, I know you want to come and everything, but are you sure about it? I don’t even know if this is a smart idea, and chances are good that it’s not.”

“I know, but… well to be honest, I feel so left out at times. I mean, so much is happening with all of you but I’m stuck down here. Plus…” Aurora whispered the next part. “I’m kind of bored.”

“Wait? What?”

“I said I’m bored. Mom literally made this a self-running country before she left. Designing everything to run as efficiently as possible. It doesn’t even need us anymore. I wouldn’t be surprised in a few generations if they just did away with the position of emperor and empress.”

“What about all of the meetings you were having before you I got here?”

“Just a bunch of mindless BS. You know how it is, one noble or another bitching about this or that. The only reason they were even here is because there was someone to complain too. If we weren’t here they would just have to suck it up and deal with it on their own.”

Night laughed at that. “Yeah, no matter where you go they are always the same, some in power seeking to keep it at any cost. I guess some things are the same regardless of race.”

Aurora just nodded. “True, but we should get some rest. We've got a long flight ahead of us and that’s just to get to the border. Who knows how long it will take to find this ‘Dragon King.’”

As they got up to leave, Night’s eyes fell to her sister’s stomach. “Aurora, are you sure about this, I don’t mean to keep asking but…”

Aurora turned and looked at her sister. It was not hard to see where her eyes were looking. Unconsciously, her hoof went to her belly, falling at the same spot where Blood Dawn impaled her all those months ago. “Night, I meant what I told Icarus, I can’t just sit by and do nothing. I’m going with you or I’m going to help our moms. I think… I know that you’re the key though, so that means I’m going with you.”

Night walked up and hugged her sister. “Thank you, and I promise I will keep you safe. You and your foal.”

“I know you will.” Aurora smiled.

………………………

Night woke up from her slumber early the next day. It did not take her long to get everything ready for the trip, for in truth she brought very little, preferring to keep things light. That all changed when Aurora invited herself to tag along on this little adventure. There were several bags of supplies she would have to take with her now, as with Aurora coming along, they could not quite ‘rough it’ as Night intended too. She still did not know how Aurora did that. She invited herself to come along without even asking if Night wanted her along. Yet she had done it in such a way where Night agreed wholeheartedly.

“No wonder you make such a good leader, Aurora. You could teach me a thing or two.” Night laughed to herself.

She lifted up the supplies with her magic and placed them on her back. Night then went to join her traveling companion in the Throne Room. She smiled when she saw Aurora with her own pack on her back. She stopped smiling when she saw Icarus. The griffin looked both completely satisfied (no doubt at Aurora making things up to him last night) and upset at the same exact time, the ambivalent nature of his feelings were plainly written on his face. She almost felt sorry for him, if it was not for his little stunt last night that is.

“Sleep well, Night?”

“It was very comfortable, thanks. How about you two?”

“Well, we didn’t get much sleeping done, but yeah, I can’t complain, how about you dear?”

“No, nothing to complain about at all.” Icarus said with no small amount of sarcasm in his voice.

“Shall we get going?” Aurora asked her sister. “You know how I feel about long goodbyes.”

Aurora stretched her wings, a precursor to her about to take flight. Night followed suit. Before they could either lift off the ground, both mares were stopped dead by Icarus, who cleared his throat before they left.

“There is one small change I must insist on.” Icarus said with a smile on his beak.

“Icarus, we’ve been over this already, I’m going.”

“I know, I know there is nothing I can do to stop you, and I know that I will be needed in Equestria to help fend of this threat, but still, I’m not letting you go off alone. Not without someone to watch your back.”

“Night will watch over me.”

“Icarus, I swear I will watch over her with my life. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Then consider this an extra precautionary measure. I talked to him for a while, and we decided that Captain Fey Light will going with you.”

At that moment, the captain of the royal guard walked in, fully decked out with his own supplies in tow. Aurora turned to look at her husband. “This wasn’t something we agreed upon, dear. When did you decide this?”

“I ran into him this morning, we started talking and he volunteered his services.”

“Icarus, we’re not going in there to pick a fight, success of this mission is diplomacy, not war. We cannot succeed if we have someone who simply wants to fight. Someone who might may not listen to orders when it matters.” Night stated, she had no doubt he would listen to Aurora’s commands, but she was the one in charge and Fey Light had no loyalty to her.

“I know that, Night, and I already talked to him. He knows that his mission is only as an escort. He will follow your orders to the letter and only interfere if it is absolutely necessary and Aurora’s life is on the line.”

“I swear princess. I will obey every command you give.” Fey bowed to the Equestrian Princess. Night merely nodded, but she was not fully convinced about that and did not want a wild card on this mission.

Aurora glared at her husband. “Honey, I wish you had talked to me about this before now.”

Icarus met her graze without flinching. “Aurora, I must insist on this. No griffin has his sort of track recorded with dragons. It won't change your mission and you still get to go.”

Aurora ran through his comment in her head. It was true, she still got what she wanted, and her husband’s fears were alleviated, at least a little. “Fine dear, I guess I have no choice.”

Icarus gulped at that. He knew what the underlying threat to that comment was. She all but told him that he would pay for this when it was done. Aurora turned back and glared at Fey. She had wanted to tell him to buck off; however, Aurora could come up with no good reason why to deny this request. “Captain, you best be able to keep up. I don’t put up with slackers on this flight.”

Fey Light stood up even straighter and saluted. “Empress, you won't even know I’m here. I assure you, you will not once be slowed down by me.”

“We’ll see about that.” Aurora said.

Shimmering Night gulped. She had no doubt that even with Aurora’s pregnancy, her sister could leave them both in the dust if she wanted too, and while the captain looked in peak physical condition, Night was anything but.

“Let’s go.” Aurora shot out of the throne room at full speed. Night sighed and followed. She could only grunt as she tried to keep up with her sister.

“Protect them.” Icarus said to Fey Light before he left. It was both a command and a plea.

“Like they were my own family.” Fey Light saluted before following the two out.

That made Icarus smile. There was not a griffin alive who would let any harm come to their family.

Author's Note

We have a new mission and a new player on the table. Lets see what this leads too.

There was an issue with the last chapter, many people did not seem to understand Night's emotional state and why she did what she did. It's a mark of her upbringing that she would always defer to Twilight's orders. As Twilight always knew best. After it backfired Night was in a state of shock and emotional distress, causing her to respond with more or less knee-jerk reactions to the situations as opposed to a logical solution (in much the same way she responded to Bright Dawn when they broke up). Now? Now she is taking things on her own. If it will work or not only time will tell.

An Unwelcome Truth

The Crystal Empire

Twilight sighed as she sat in front of a captive audience in the hospital room. The three sets of eyes were peering directly into her soul. They were looking for any sign that the message that she brought was false, that it was somehow anything other than the real deal, that she was somehow joking, or that it was all a lie.

It was not. How she wished it were.

She met their gaze, unflinching, staring at each of them in turn until they were the ones that looked away. Her force of will caused them each to immediately regret any sort of doubt that they might have had in her message, regardless how small that doubt might have been.

They all knew better, Twilight was not the type to make up stories or lie, especially when it came to news like this. Waiting something to not be true does not make it so.

Princess Cadance was the one that broke the silence, she had to know more, and being quiet was not helping any pony. “Is… is there anything that can be done for her? Anything more we can do to help Ataxia? I know you’re doing everything you can, but…” Cadance was the Alicorn of Love and knew that if there was anything that could set some pony off, set some pony on such a course, it would be what happened to Ataxia. Love is a very powerful emotion; with it one can move mountains.

If it is mistreated… the world could be made to pay. That is precisely what was happening now. She had no idea why Night did what she did. The Princess of Love had felt the spark between Night and Ataxia; it was real, and growing, growing into something more, something beautiful. Yes, the kiss was out of the blue and not really a smart move on Ataxia’s part; however, for Night to reject her like that and at a time like that? Even in Cadance’s worst-case scenarios, she never imagined that Night would suppress her own feelings the way she did, or that she would hurt Ataxia like that.

Cadance vowed to take Night under her wing someday soon, and show her what Love truly was. Love, it is a gift, regardless of what form it took.

Twilight simply shook her head. “Rainbow tried to reach her when they fought. She could only describe it as trying to talk with a rabid animal. Rainbow said that Ataxia has become a creature of hate. She hates us, all of us. It’s all she lives for. I ran my own scans when Night temporally put her down. She’s… she’s empowered with chaos magic, it’s bringing her back to life every time she dies, faster and stronger than before. I could feel a little of what Rainbow was talking about, too, Ataxia's mind is clouded, she can’t think about anything other than the hate she feels.”

“You couldn’t change her back?” Firestar asked with a pleading look in her eyes.

Twilight’s hoof instinctually went to her stomach. “No, if there is one silver lining in all of this, it’s that I’m pregnant. But… that is good news and bad. It seems this little bundle of trouble is starting off early. I can’t yet explain it, but he's able to block most of my magic. Any scans I try and do fail, almost as if he can cancel magic at will.”

Cadance’s eyes went wide at that news. Any other day, at any other time she would have been jumping with joy, another foal would be joining the group soon! Of course, those times did not include finding out that a mare she loved, a mare she helped raise, that Ataxia has become a monster, and is threatening all of Equestria with the possibility of being the instrument of Discord to kill every alicorn alive.

That kind of killed any thoughts of celebrating this new development.

“Wait? You’re pregnant? Again?” Radiant asked, his mind still trying to wrap his head around it. “How?”

“It’s a long story, basically a freak accident involving Ataxia, Night, Rainbow, and I. I’ll spare you the details.”

The look on Radiant’s face told Twilight that the stallion needed to wash his brain out with soap. Firestar saw it too and threw a pillow at him.

“I didn’t say anything.” Radiant said defensively.

“Yeah, but you were thinking it.” Firestar replied, blowing her husband a raspberry when she did so. Cadance just laughed. That surprised her, that she could find humor at a time like this. ‘There is always something worth fighting for in this world.’

Radiant smiled at his wife; he could no more deny it than to say the grass did not grow. That smile faded away as he looked back to his aunt. “Why… why do you think Ataxia will come here?” Radiant asked.

“I ran the trace yesterday, Night’s spell teleported her to the other side of the world, in the north quadrant. Don’t get me wrong, there is the possibility that she could stay on that side of the planet for a while. However, if her goal is truly to kill of all the alicorns, I have no doubt that she will make her way back to Equestria, and if she takes the most direct path, the Crystal Empire will be the first city she hits.”

“What are the odds?” Firestar asked. She knew enough about Twilight to know the mare had done the math.

“About, seventy-five percent chance that she will strike here first.” Twilight responded, she had run the numbers more times than she cared to count. They all said the same things, when Ataxia does come back, she would fly over the North Pole and the Crystal Empire will be her first stop.

“I can have Cloudsdale ready for war in three days.” Firestar said with pride in her tone of voice. Even bedridden, Firestar kept a tight ship on her city.

“No, we should move it. Equestria cannot afford to lose its source of weather.” Twilight replied.

“But…”

“No buts, I’m sorry Firestar; I know that you’re proud of Cloudsdale’s military forces, however, Equestria can’t survive without it. We can’t afford to risk it against her.”

“I gotta do something; we can’t just sit back and watch from the sidelines.” The look on Firestar’s face impressed Twilight. She was highly dedicated, even faced with impossible odds she would not back down.

“Actually, there is something I need you to do. Rainbow is currently scouting Ataxia’s location, when she gets back I want you to station three of your fastest flyers to keep watch on her as an early warning. We need them there just in case she regenerates faster than we thought.” Twilight sighed, she hated that Rainbow was not with her at that moment. She always hated being away from her wife, but mostly, she hated having to give that order.

‘Maybe Ataxia isn’t the only one full of hate….’

“Twilight, you know that’s a death sentence.” Radiant stated the obvious.

Twilight looked down at the floor. She hated any idea of sending ponies off to die, regardless how necessary it may be. The costs were never worth it. Still, she did not have a choice; a lot of ponies might die if they don’t. The scales of life and death… any way you look at it, ponies still died.

Firestar nodded. “Ok.”

Radiant turned to his wife. “You can’t be serious.”

“Radiant, use your brain for a second. If Ataxia does heal before we're ready, we need to know. It could save hundreds of lives and you know it.”

“At what cost?”

“The same your father paid.” Cadance said coldly.

“…” Radiant was speechless at that.

“Radiant, this is part of ruling, part of being the pony in charge. Twilight knows it, Firestar knows it, I know it, and now you know it. Sometimes hard choices have to be made to save the innocent, to save the next generation. Your father had to make that choice and as much as I hate it, I’ve never once doubted it. He took a small force out to head off a huge threat head on. His sacrifice brought time for reinforcements to arrive before they could reach the empire, before they could hurt the ponies he was sworn to protect, before they could hurt you.”

Twilight started crying again, memories of finding out about her brother that day came back to her mind. She had almost lost it, almost went out of control with grief. Almost, if it were not for a cyan hoof that wrapped itself around her.

The same one that was wrapped around her now. It did not surprise her that Rainbow had gotten back so quickly, the mare was the fastest in the world and she had a knack for knowing just when Twilight needed her by her side. Twilight turned and buried her head in her wife’s side. Rainbow just held her close, letting her listen to her heartbeat without interruption. For some reason it never failed to calm down the purple alicorn.

“Welcome back, Rainbow.” Cadance said with a smile.

Rainbow just nodded her head at the alicorn.

Radiant Star did a double take, then a triple. He could not believe that Rainbow had made it in here without anyone knowing like that. The large gust of air pressure that soon found its way in the room from the now open window showed her entryway. “How did you…? You know what, never mind.” He said with a disbelieving look on this face. One that his wife now shared, she was as equally flabbergasted as her husband.

Princess Cadance just smiled, she was used to Rainbow’s antics, more so than her son was.

“What did you find out?” Twilight asked her wife.

“It’s bad news.” Rainbow said with a straight face.

“We need to know.” Twilight replied, speaking with her head pressed against Rainbow’s coat.

“She’s healing, and quickly. I don’t think we have two weeks, Twi. I think we have one. I found her location. it’s deep in a cave on the northern part of the continent. I think you were right, she will be coming right here when she gets up.” Rainbow said with a sigh. It was bad news that Rainbow did not want to deliver; but that was all part of the fun of being a ruler.

“A week… will… will Night be back by then?” Firestar asked.

“She should be, I did not let my daughter slack off when it came to flying, and she’s good, if not great. Even accounting for her nonexistent training as of late.” Rainbow’s voice got low at that, she knew Night had been slacking on her training; she just was not sure about how much. “It should only take her a day to get to Warclaw, and about two days to make it to the Dragon Kingdom. Of course, after that it’s all up in the air. I have no idea how long it will take them to find the information she will need.”

“Will it really be helpful in getting Ataxia back?” Cadance asked. She could not bear the thought of Night being left broken hearted. Even if Night did not want to admit it to herself, Cadance knew, without a doubt, that Night and Ataxia loved each other. That much did not take the Alicorn of Love to figure out.

Although, she was kicking herself for not doing more to help it along.

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know, we have no idea if the prophecy is real or if this mission will even yield any new information. This may come down to simple survival.”

“What are the odds?” Radiant asked. Taking a cue from his wife’s earlier question, Radiant wanted to know what the chances were that they were looking at.

“I would say about seventy percent odds its real and thirty percent odds of them getting any information on it from this Dragon King; taking into account his odds of still being alive. With about a ten percent chance of us being able to use the information to help Ataxia return to normal.”

“Wait, we only have a ten percent chance of success with this?” Firestar asked, she was in utter disbelief that their odds of success were so low.

“I wish… we have a two point one percent chance of success with Night’s plan.” Twilight said with a straight face. One that seemed to kill any sort of hope in the room, but the truth is the truth, regardless how much you may not want it to be.

Again, Twilight felt three sets of eyes stare into her, their expressions differing from ‘You can’t be serous;’ to ‘we’re totally bucked’.

“That’s not encouraging, Twilight.” Firestar added.

“It wasn’t meant to be, but this is what we’re looking at. Facts are facts; I could walk you through the numbers if you want.” Twilight had brought an entire bag full of scrolls that showed her calculations, just in case some pony wanted to see them.

“That’s all right… I don’t understand though, if it’s so low why did you let Night go to the dragons?”

Twilight sunk into Rainbow’s embrace even more, half because they did not want to see her math and the other half because she let her daughter go to the dragons alone… that part bugged her more than she expected it too. Rainbow simply squeezed her wife tighter, never once let her go, nor would she. “Because, if I have to tell my daughter to kill the mare she loves, I want there to be no doubt that all other options had been exhausted.”

Only Rainbow had been expecting that answer, as far as the others went, they soon found all their jaws on a permanent spot on the floor. “I… I… I…” Cadance tried to get out, but it seemed nothing she thought of would allow another word follow her ‘I’s’ though.

“I know, I know it’s a horrible situation, one I wouldn’t even think about normally. However, this is what it has come to. Every time she died, Ataxia has come back stronger, tougher, and faster. It’s not something I want to happen or something I would normally think about. However, that’s where we are. Rainbow can’t even cut her anymore. After the last two times, magical blasts will be ineffective against her. Only an extremely powerful magical attack will work. And right now…” Twilight rubbed her stomach to illustrate her point. “Only Night is capable of such a feat.”

The silence permeated the room. It was only broken by Radiant.

“Couldn’t you just have her banish Ataxia instead?”

“That was my original idea. Night stopped it and teleported Ataxia away. What Rainbow filled me in on later was that when she first fought Ataxia, she attacked her wings to knock her out of the sky, and, well, Ataxia was going to teleport to the ground before Rainbow stopped her.”

Rainbow nodded her head, she had not known what spell Ataxia was going to cast at the time, she had simply resolved to stop it. It was Twilight who figured it out later, when she ran the test to pinpoint her location after Night teleported her away, she found traces of another teleport that had been attempted. Rainbow filled in the missing pieces.

“Ataxia… she might be powerful enough to teleport back from the moon.” Twilight finished her comment. “I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that, whatever happens, I don’t want to put that on Night. I don’t know how she could live with herself if she had to do that… I don’t know how I could live with myself if I had to make her do it. She blames herself for all of this, and if her actions had to lead to her killing her friend….” Twilight trailed off.

“With any luck, Night will find out something useful, something that won’t see any more of the ponies I love having to die.” Twilight tried to smile. She tried to give them some sort of hope.

She was not fooling anyone, let alone herself.

She sighed again, no pony else was going to speak, she would have to continue on. “We’re going to Canterlot next, I need to have a talk with Luna and gather as many unicorn guards as we can. They might be able to help if… when the battle arrives. Earth ponies and pegasi, they would just get in the way, there are no weapons we can give them that will harm her now. As far as the evacuation of the Crystal Empire, Cadance, can I leave the logistics in your hooves?”

Cadance turned to look at Twilight. Twilight was every bit the mare Cadance knew she would become. That still made her proud, regardless what else happened. Although, Twilight’s question did raise one of her own. “Of course, Twilight. Although I am curious what you will be doing. It seems like this is something you would want to deal personally.”

“You would normally be right, but after we talk with Luna, Rainbow and I are going back home. I have a few ideas that might help, there may yet be some way out of this, and I intend to keep looking until I find it. When you hear anything, send a Wonderbolt to come get us.”

At that, Twilight took one look around the room. The writing on the wall was as clear as day. None of them had any more questions for her. “Radiant, Firestar, I trust you two can get the unicorns ready for battle?”

They both nodded.

Twilight gave Rainbow a slight nod of her head. Rainbow kissed her lightly and scooped the mare up in her arms. It was almost comical for the pegasus to be carrying a fully-grown alicorn in her arms, but Rainbow had long ago gotten used to the extra weight. She grew out her wings and flew the two of them out the window, heading straight for Canterlot.

It still amazed Twilight to no end; Rainbow had not said anything the entire time other than to deliver her initial report. She simply held her wife. Yet if it was not for that, Twilight seriously doubted she could have gotten through it.

………………

Cadance, Radiant Star, and Firestar all looked at each other after Twilight and Rainbow left. It was unreal to say the least. Ataxia was a threat; they had to prepare for her eventual return in less than a week. It was a lot to take; however, nopony felt worse about the situation than Firestar.

Firestar had been right about Ataxia, months ago she had warned her husband against the danger that mare presented if she were to ever turn. While in most cases, Firestar took great pride in being right, especially when she could rub it in Radiant’s face. At this time, in this case, she hated being right. She would give anything to simply be wrong.

“Did… did….”

Both set of eyes turned to look at the speaker. Radiant soon shut up, he did not have anything of real value to add to the conversation. The look on their faces was more than enough for him to realize that they were looking for someone to grant even the smallest amount of hope. The hope that Twilight’s words seemed to stop from even forming. It was depressing to say the least.

The silence returned to the room. It seemed to permeate the walls, the bed, and the very air. It became a living thing, something that took joy in oppressing everyone it touched.

Firestar had never felt worse in her life, she never felt more impotent, more useless. It was a lot, it was too much. She began feeling inadequate, a drain on every pony she loved. Her feelings of inadequacy soon turned to anger. “I can’t stay here.” Firestar moved to get up.

Both Radiant and Cadance turned to her and shouted as one “NO!” Firestar soon found her path blocked by Radiant’s magic.

She turned to her husband. “You heard her, Ataxia is a threat to us all now, and we don’t have a choice here.” Firestar glared at Radiant, an ‘I told you so’ look on her face.

Radiant did not care, she could be as mad as she wanted to be as long as she stayed in bed. “Yes, I heard Twilight,” He responded coldly. “I also heard that there is a seventy-five percent chance that when Ataxia does return the first location she will hit is the Crystal Empire, but that leaves a twenty-five percent chance that she won’t. I’m not letting you make a mistake you will regret the rest of your life on some odds.”

Firestar shook her head. “Even if that is the case, she will eventually come for Princess Cadance. We cannot be here when she does; I cannot be here when she does.“

Cadance had her own thoughts about all of this but it was not her place. As much as she wanted to let them out, she vowed to herself that their lives were their own; she would not interfere unless asked. She would let them decide their own fate.

Radiant began pacing back and forth, his frustration self-evident. “Yes, I understand that, but whenever Ataxia does return we will be ready for her. You heard Twilight and Rainbow, Shimmering Night is on her way to this Dragon King now. She will find out whatever we need to know so we can stop this once and for all. There is no need to make hasty decisions on the odds that Night won't make it in time.”

“Radian-“

“No, I’m serious Firestar. We are not moving you on some odds about Ataxia coming here or not. When and if she does come here, we will be ready for her. Until then, I’m not letting you do something foolish.”

“Radiant, there is no point in me staying here to keep our foals if I die before they are born.”

“I will die before I let that happen.” The conviction in his voice, the tone he conveyed, or the resolve he displayed. Firestar did not know which of these made her believe him, it may have been a combination of the three, but she did. Luna help her, she knew in her heart that he was making a statement of fact. It was obvious to the mare that Radiant would go to any length to protect her from Ataxia, her and their foals.

Of course, having the resolve to do something and the ability to do it were two separate things. “I don’t want you to die either.” She cried, tears flowing freely from her beautiful blue eyes.

It broke Radiant’s heart. Firestar was never the type… she never broke down like this, not even at her worst had he ever seen the mare cry like this. It was maddening to the unicorn. He ran to his wife’s bed and jumped up into it. Holding her in his hooves, he began lightly stroking her mane. Firestar pressed her face into his coat, letting her tears fall freely on to his fur.

She cried and cried, never knowing when it would stop.

Princess Cadance, Alicorn of Love, ruler of the Crystal Empire, Avatar of Eros, the God of Love, saw her opportunity. Cadance used her magic on the two ponies on the bed.

Some ponies believe that Cadance can actually make you fall in love, that her magic is a form of brainwashing to make you love someone you would never normally love. Such ponies are ignorant of the truth of love, and they could not be more wrong. Cadance’s magic does no such thing; her magic removes the guards you put up over your heart. It causes you to let yourself feel your true emotions for the one you already love, even if you cannot acknowledge it yourself. Allowing you to see past all the noise and only see what is truly important.

When her magic touched her son and daughter-in-law, the two paused and looked at each other, their gaze finding the other. Firestar’s tears stopped flowing. Princess Firstar, she saw, truly saw Radiant; she saw the love he has for her. She saw her own feelings reflected in his eyes a thousand times over.

Radiant Star, Prince of the Crystal Empire, saw his own feelings reflected back a thousand times in Firestar’s eyes. He saw the love she has for him, that she would do anything for him. He embraced his wife in a long-drawn out kiss, his hoof running softly through her mane. He loved her and she loved him, he knew in his heart that whatever else may come, their love would be enough to see them through this.

Firestar returned the kiss with every fiber of her being. Right then, at that moment, she wanted… no, she needed him, in every possible way. The feeling was mutual; he needed her just as much. There was no doubt in their minds that they loved one another, and that love was returned.

Cadance smiled as they went to work, a fury of kisses begun between the two. However much Cadance felt that sex was simply another part of love, something that ponies should celebrate, and not shame; she also knew that they would be happier if she gave them their privacy. As such, Cadance turned and left.

True, when they finished, their problems would still be there, but for now, at that moment, it could wait. They were two ponies who truly loved each other, and in the end, Cadance knew that it would be more than enough to overcome any problems.

………………………………………………………………..

Canterlot

“That is the situation at hoof, Princess Luna.” Twilight finished explaining everything yet again. For her part, Luna looked like she did on any other night. It was somewhat amazing to Twilight, that the night princess could be so unfazed by something so tragic. She supposed that with everything that Luna had been through over the years, it should not come as such a shock.

“So, Ataxia has turned evil?” Luna clarified.

“I… I don’t really know, she’s the new big bad, that’s for sure, but it’s impossible to tell. When I scanned her, she seemed off. Like she was being consumed by her hatred. Like she couldn’t have any other emotion in her head, she couldn’t focus on anything else save that hatred.”

“That’s what I saw too!” Rainbow chimed in. “it was like looking at hate, like it was all she could concentrate on, like it was consuming her from the inside out.”

Luna nodded at that, “What is your plan, Princess Twilight?”

“Actually, we’re going with Princess Night’s plan. She is on her way now to the Dragon Kingdom. Lord Tirek showed Ataxia a vision that might be able to explain why this is happening several months ago and Night is going to talk with some sort of ‘Dragon King’ that may have been there during it.”

“Lord Tirek? Twilight, you should know as well as the next pony that he was nothing more than a silver tongue liar. He’d say anything simply to get what he wanted out of you.”

Twilight sighed, these were the same arguments that she went through in her head a thousand times over. “I know princess, believe me, I haven’t forgotten. I didn’t forget that he actually out tricked Discord, nor will I forget that it was him that blew up my library.” Twilight said with a snarl.

Rainbow simply laughed to herself, she knew it was always a sore spot with Twilight, but Rainbow could not figure out why. After Tirek destroyed her library, Twilight had, almost immediately, been given a castle as a replacement house to live in. To Rainbow, it was like getting a promotion at work and then complaining that you lost your old job, even though the new one was better in every way imaginable.

“It’s a long shot but we have nothing else.” Twilight paused, allowing her thoughts to catch up with her. “You weren’t there Luna, Ataxia died, she died three times, each time she came back from the dead, stronger than before. She’s practically unstoppable right now. I bought us some time, but at most, we have about a week. There has to be a reason why, and right now Night is the best chance to find that.”

Luna seemed to consider these words. Her thoughts turned to the young alicorn princess. A smile appeared over her face as she considered this. “Very well, we shall put all our hopes on Princess Night.” Princess Luna looked Twilight directly in the eyes. “What can we do to prepare?”

Twilight let out a breath she had not known she was holding. It relieved her to no end that none of the other princesses was fighting her on this. It was an unfounded worry, but as they say, emotions are not logical. “I’ve ran the numbers, there is a seventy-five percent chance that when Ataxia does come back, she will strike the Crystal Empire. I’ve already told Firestar to move Cloudsdale, she will relocate it above Canterlot. However…”

“However, Firestar herself cannot leave the Crystal Empire without serious risk to her unborn foals.” Luna finished the sentence for her.

Twilight just nodded. “We’ll make our stand there. I won’t stand for the loss of any more foals before they have even had a chance to be born.” Twilight said, her memories going back to her lost grandson, Orion Knight. “Not again, never again.” Her thoughts went farther back, back to when she killed the reaper to save Rainbow, and all the foals that had died in Equestria alone. She had personally apologized to every family that lost someone, but that did not make it any easier.

Rainbow lay her hoof on Twilight's stomach, the action surprised the mare. She had almost forgotten that there is one more foal she needed to worry about. She looked up and smiled at her wife, a deed that Rainbow reciprocated with joy. That reminded Twilight of one more piece of news she had yet to tell Luna. “You should also know, Princess Luna. I’m pregnant again.”

That got Luna to raise an eyebrow, but before she could ask how, Twilight cut her off. “It was a freak accident. I’ll spare you the details, although… this little guy is stopping me from accessing Gaia’s power. I’m not sure how, but he seems able to nullify my magic.”

“That’s why you weren’t able to solve this issue?” Luna asked.

Twilight just nodded before continuing. “I know… I know there is some way to save everypony… there… there has to be.” Twilight was almost in tears at that. She could not bear to lose anyone else.

Luna walked up and hugged the alicorn. Despite herself, Rainbow could not help but feel a tinge of jealousy at that. It was her job to comfort Twilight, not Luna’s. Rainbow did her best to dismiss that thought. Although the feeling would not go away, not fully anyway, the green eye monster always seemed to strike at times like this.

When Luna let Twilight go, it was an action that caused no small amount of relief in Dash. “We shall make full haste to the Crystal Empire and do what we can to assist in the evacuation of its citizens.” Luna commented, falling back into the use of the royal we.

“Thank you, Luna.” Twilight said with a smile. “Take all the combat ready unicorns you have. Whatever is going to happen, magic is the only real weapon we have against Ataxia.”

Rainbow nodded at that, “After she came back the first time, my wings wouldn’t even cut her.”

Luna seemed to consider this. “So, it comes down to magic and physical force?”

“Best we can tell, Night was able to stop her twice, although the level of magic she used… I’ve only seen its like when dealing with the Gods.” Twilight commented.

Luna cringed at that, the day Twilight killed the reaper, she would remember that day for the rest of her life. Although, it did give Luna another idea, something that Twilight might not have thought of.

“Here’s a question, do you suppose the Gods might be willing to help us?” Luna asked.

Twilight facehoofed, she had not considered that.

Rainbow intervened before Twilight could start thinking of ways to try that little trick out. Regardless what may happen, those were three ponies she never, ever wanted to see again. “The last time they were out, they almost left the entire planet for good. They seemed to regret everything that had happened from their interference. It seems like they take interfering with the lives of mortals very, very seriously. I highly doubt they would ever do so again, not even to help us.”

Twilight sighed, her idea cut off before it even had a chance to come to light. Rainbow almost laughed; somehow, she knew that Twi would have already started on a plan. “Besides, Gaia has the ability to come out as she wishes, the fact that she hasn’t is a dead indicator that they want nothing to do with this.” Rainbow added as she wrapped a wing around Twilight.

Luna nodded at that, it impressed her and Twilight how smart Rainbow could be at times. Rainbow was a lot smarter than she let on, even if she would never admit to it.

“Very well then, we shall make all haste to the Crystal Empire. I will bring the entire complement of royal guard to help with the evacuations. I shall have the unicorn guard join with Radiant’s and began joint training drills at once. Perhaps his little maneuver against the Titan will once again prove useful.”

“What maneuver?” Twilight and Rainbow both asked at the same time. Luna just smiled; she had forgotten that the two of them were not present for the final Titan fight several months ago.

“You will have to see for yourself.” Luna said with a grin, one that left the two mares very unnerved. “I trust you two have some research to get to?” She asked the two. There was no doubt Twilight wanted to run a million tests on something or another. Luna knew that Twilight’s mind was already thinking about fifty things that might help them in this crisis.

“Yeah, we should get going.” Twilight said, taking one last look at Luna before turning to Rainbow. For her part, Rainbow just smiled as she picked up Twilight and flew her out the window. “Too bad we can’t lure her to Stalliongrad.” Twilight said.

Rainbow wanted to facehoof. Unfortunately, with a pregnant wife in her hooves, the opportunity was not there. “Twi, Stalliongrad is practically destroyed. They are still in the process of fixing it. You kind of caused a lot of damage last time.”

“Oh, right.” Twilight replied to her wife. Rainbow’s increased grip on her did not go unnoticed by the alicorn.

Rainbow squeezed her wife tighter. “Don’t worry, Twi. We’ll get through this the same way we always do. This time is no different. Yeah it may be some big bad, something intent on killing everyone, but how many of those have we faced off against? This one is no different.” Rainbow said the words, she did not quite believe it though. Something did feel different this time around. Something she could not quite place a hoof on.

“That’s just it Rainbow, this time is different. We’ve never faced someone we love before.” Twilight added.

“Oh yeah, what about Nightmare Moon, or Nightmare Rarity, or Twilight Night? Do they not count? What about all the other times over the last forty years? What about when Spike lost control? Or when Bright Dawn got possessed? Don’t they count?”

“Those times were possession; the revenants were using them… and me, against the ponies they loved. When it wasn’t a revenant, it was some other form of control. This time… this time, what if it’s really Ataxia, what if she really hates us that much?”

Rainbow finally understood what was really bothering her wife, it was not the big bad; it was the prospect of having to hurt somepony she cared about. “First Twi, I don’t buy it. I don’t believe that for a second, and I know you well enough to know that neither do you. Ataxia has always been a troublemaker, I’ll give you that much, but I know that she loves us all. She’s just… she’s just confused right now, she just made a stupid mistake and needs our help to get back. What sort of family would we be if we didn’t help her, if we held a stupid mistake over her head?”

Twilight was not convinced by that. It was not the logic of Rainbow’s argument, she could not find fault with that. It was the cost… “I just worry what the price will be.” The remark was the wrong thing to say. Yet she could not carry the weight of her worry by herself anymore.

Rainbow stopped in midair. The sudden deceleration caught Twilight by surprise. When her stomach settled, she looked up at her wife; tears were falling from Rainbow’s eyes. Twilight’s heart sunk to know that she was the one who caused those tears.

“Rainbow I…” Twilight knew what Rainbow was thinking of, as it was the same thing she was. Twilight just had not known how it would affect her wife. She knew what she was thinking of because it was always on their minds, the one name they never spoke of, the one that would ruin any day if said aloud, the one that was no longer with them.

“Never again.” Rainbow stated the words as if they were a law of nature, something that was simple fact, which could never not be true.

“Never again, I won’t let it happen. Not again.” Rainbow restated. The conviction in her voice was self-evident to Twilight.

Twilight reached up and hugged Rainbow. They both sought comfort in each other’s hooves. “I miss him too.” Rainbow buried her head in Twilight's embrace.

After a few minutes, Rainbow removed her head from her wife’s mane. Twilight looked up at her face; it was the same face that was always so damn cocky, the one that was always so sure of herself. The one Rainbow wore because she knew she could do anything simply because she knew she could do it. The circular reasoning was almost funny to Twilight.

Right now, with the setting sun catching her face at just the right angle. Twilight could see the resolve in Rainbow’s face. It was plainly written on every muscle, slight twitch, hair, and the tears that fell from her eyes. She would save her family, her entire family, or die trying.

It was the last part that worried Twilight.

…………………………………………………………………………

The Crystal Empire

Princess Cadance hated this; she hated it worse than she thought she could. Here she was, forcing her citizens from their homes. It was akin to a death march, making them leave behind everything they loved, and forcing them to relocate to Canterlot or other parts of Equestria. There was nothing worth celebrating… nothing at all.

“Best of luck princess!” The happy crystal ponies shouted as they walked past her to board the train. Most of them were carrying bags, beach balls, or other assorted objects for them to take on this vacation.

‘Yep, akin to a death march… ok, maybe ‘death march’ is a little bit of an overstatement. Still….’ Cadance thought to herself.

Yep, she hated this.

Ponies from all over the empire lined up in a nice orderly file to board the train, most of them with happy smiles on their faces. They had all been informed of everything; preparations were already completed in Canterlot. They all had nice homes willing to take them in at no cost at all. The ones with families in other parts of the country more than happy to take them in; for the ones without family elsewhere, there was no shortage of volunteers that offered to share their homes. None of them had to worry about not having food or blankets as ponies from all over Equestria donated everything they could to ensure that no pony would go without. Truly, they were donating too much, most donations had to be rejected due to overflowing warehouses full of stuff ranging from pillows to entire carts worth of food.

It was their complete and utter faith in their princesses that even when told how bad the situation was, not one of them looked worried. To most, this was nothing more than a paid vacation. It was their chance to get out and see the world or go visit friends and family in other parts of Equestria.

Never mind the fact their homes might be gone when they came back, assuming there was anything to come back to. Although, even if that did happen, provided there was anyone left, their homes would be rebuilt brand new.

‘Maybe there is nothing for them to worry about? Well, other than if we fail and Ataxia kills everypony.’ That thought almost caused her to chuckle. Amongst everything that had happened, all the different scenarios that she had played out with Firestar, Radiant, and Luna. Failure was never one of them. Not one of them had ever actually believed that the worst might occur. That they might actually lose.

Cadance realized that if she was being honest with herself, truly honest, she did not either. There was not a doubt in her mind that they would stop Ataxia. The only thing she did not know, the only thing that troubled her more than anything else, was what the price would be.

Thinking back to everything that had happened, there was always a cost, always a price to be paid, the butchers bill as they say. Last time it had been the life of Spike and Rarity, both of which died when Ataxia battled an unknown foe outside of Ponyville. Before that, it had been Orion Knight and Emperor Siros. When Rainbow defeated Blood Dawn, she kicked him into the sun. That had been a lot to deal with…. Too much at times to think about, that monster… he had killed an unborn foal.

Cadance choked back a sob. How she wished she could simply let it out at times. Yet she needed to be strong, needed to put on a brave face for all these ponies. Least the crystal ponies start panicking about being forced from their town.

“Kick his butt, princess!”

‘Buck it, I’m not needed here.’ Cadance thought to herself before taking flight. She had intended to provide moral support for all the Crystal Empire’s ponies as they boarded the train, she even managed to convince herself that such actions were necessary.

It was a lie, they were perfectly happy to follow these orders for their own safety. It was a mark of the trust held in their prince and princess. They did not doubt for an instant that it was for their own good. They had full faith that their rulers would not let them down.

So, she left, taking flight Cadance made for the one place she knew she could find somepony who knew the gravity of the situation and was not so bucking happy about it. She could find those ponies in their unofficial command center; The Crystal Empire General Hospital.

When she flew into an open window, the first thing that stuck Cadance was the fact that the place was deserted. It was strange, none of the normal sounds she associated with a hospital hit her; there was no beeping, no PA calls, no nothing…. It was a little off putting to say the least. Especially with how many times she had been here before.

Well, it was not completely deserted, a handful of ponies stayed behind, three doctors and two nurses. Despite a tenuous objection from their patent, they refused to leave Firestar alone, just in case the worst should happen and they were needed. Of course, those were just the five she acquiesced to; all of them had wanted to stay. Cadance drew the line at that. She did not mind the thought of an emergency staff staying behind, but she would not let all of them needlessly risk their lives like that.

The rest of the hospital was empty though, lights shut off where not needed. In truth, this was probably the safest building in the empire right now and that was for a very specific reason.

“Well, you were right son.” Cadance said to that reason.

“I told you so, mom. The crystal ponies do not require a lot of coddling, they believe in us, one hundred percent. There was no need to worry yourself for their moral, as long as we don’t let them down they will always believe in us.” Radiant Star said with a smile on his face from his wife’s side.

“Yeah, I… I know.” Cadance said, defeated. “The last train leaves in ten minutes. We will have a hundred percent evacuation than. Well… almost a hundred percent.” Cadance looked at all the ponies that were staying; sadly, they were the ones she cared about the most.

“Twilight would be proud of you, Cadance.” Firestar said with a warm smile. Cadance could easily see what Radiant saw in her, that smile was worth any costs.

Cadance just grinned back. “So… when did Luna go to sleep?” She asked, noting the alicorn’s absence from the room.

“About thirty minutes ago, she stationed the royal guards to run drills with my own soldiers; they’re practicing my maneuver until they get it right.” There was no small hint of annoyance in Radiant’s voice. The guard’s performance with his maneuver was pathetic to say the least. They did not seem to understand that the formation and timing was key. It did not help matters that he was not out there with them.

“I know you’re upset.” Firestar tried to calm him down but it did not work. Radiant blamed himself, had he been at his post he would have drilled it into the soldiers personally.

That was not the case though; he was attending to a much more important matter, looking after his wife. Worse, he could not even serve as the focal point this time around. If the formation was needed, it would be Luna or his mom acting as the source; he had to teach two alicorns a very new trick, while he would be staying in the hospital to keep the shield up while the attack was going on. He did not doubt their ability to do it, but it still bugged him to no end.

‘I wish Dayspring was here.’ The thought came to him, unheeded and unwanted. He pushed it back down. Such thoughts would do no one any good.

He sighed, there was no reason to be upset, yes he could not be down there himself, but if he was being honest with himself, truly honest, there was no other place he would rather be. Sure, he had to sit this one out, but he did so to keep his wife safe, he did so to protect his unborn foals, and in the end, that was his number one job. As both a stallion and a prince, after all, if he could not keep his family safe how could he be expected to keep the Crystal Empire safe? Why would anyone ever count on someone to protect them when they could not protect their own family?

However bad Radiant might feel, he knew that Firestar felt worse. This situation was an anathema to her. It went against every fiber of the mare’s very being to be stuck like this, to be bedridden at a time like this, to be a burden at a time like this. Yet she stuck it out, sure, he had to talk her into it quite a few times, but that’s what they were together for; to help each other, to be there for each other when times were good and bad.

It was then that he realized he really was not upset at all. As long as she was by his side, nothing else mattered to him.

He turned to his wife and kissed her on the forehead. “Truly, there is no place I would rather be than by your side.”

Firestar looked up at him and smiled. He loved that sight, the cute way she grinned, those big, beautiful blue eyes. They were worth the world to him.

Part of Cadance was both amazed and pleased at these two. Unlike Rainbow and Twilight’s reconnection, Firestar and Radiant had gotten together completely on their own, during a crisis no less. She had done nothing to help it along either. Yet here they were, completely devoted to one another.

That’s what she loved about love, it could form the strongest bonds between two souls completely out of nowhere. It struck when you least expected it and made both parties stronger for it. Sure, there were some bad things, but the good was always so amazing that it was more than worth the price.

………………………………………………

Ponyville

“Twilight, are you sure this is a good idea?” Rainbow asked, gulping when she saw what her wife wanted to try. She did not know what it was, per se, but she knew it was not safe. The shear amount of safety precautions Twilight had taken told her that much.

That part made Twilight reconsider, not that Rainbow was worried about her safety, that was normal, but that Rainbow had not called her Twi. She only ever did that when she was really worried, when she was truly fearful. Twilight went over her calculations a fifth time; it was simple math as far as she was concerned.

The natural state of any matter is for it to be in its original form.

Magic worked on the same sort of principles, when you transform a pony, it is only through magic that it stays that way, if you remove the magic, than that pony should transform back, she should become normal again. That was the way her transformation spells worked, it should also be the way that Ataxia’s transformation worked.

True, there were a lot of unknowns in that equation, but it was all Twilight could think of.

Needless to say, variables are an unknown, unknowns are risky, and that risk was what Rainbow was afraid of. Twilight sought to reduce her wife’s worry as best she could. “Rainbow, I’ve checked all the calculations five times now, we should be fine.”

“Should be fine?”

“Ok, like ninety-five, ninety-seven percent odds of being fine.” Twilight gave Rainbow her best warm smile.

“Can you do better?”

Twilight thought it was somewhat cute how Rainbow assumed you could do better than that. When it comes to science and magic, those are the best odds you can get. “No Rainbow, that is the safest I can make this process. What are you worried about anyway? I haven’t blown up a lab in years.”

“So you’re due.”

“Smartass.” Twilight playfully punched Rainbow in her shoulders.

“Ok, as long as you’re sure.” Rainbow said as she rubbed the spot where Twilight hit her, trying to act like it actually hurt. Twilight did not buy it one bit.

“You know, if you’re that worried, you can always go upstairs.”

“Yeah Right, sorry but no. I’m staying right by your side.”

“Suit yourself,” Twilight said with a sly grin, she did not admit it, but the reason why she gave it such a high safety rating was because Rainbow was right there. She was simply offering Rainbow a way out. She turned and picked up a vial in her magic.

“What’s that?” Rainbow asked, pointing a hoof at the vial of blue liquid that Twilight was holding up in front of them.

Twilight sighed aloud, as much as she wanted Rainbow right here with her, she also did not want to have to pause and explain everything every five minutes. “That is the magical residue of my own magical power. I put it in a circular transponder to liquefy it into a concentrated state.”

“Oh, ok…. What’s that?” Rainbow gestured at the graduate cylinder on the table with a green liquid.

“That’s the anti-magic isotopes I liquefied off a magical inhibitor ring.”

“Oh, ok…. What’re you doing with them?”

“I have to mix them in just the right qualities, to figure out just how much residue can be nullified by the isotopes; doing so will let me determine the proper ratio needed to nullify Ataxia’s power. If I don’t get it right, it will do nothing at all or worse…”

“Worse? Worse how?” Rainbow asked, suddenly unsure if she really wanted to be present for this or if she even wanted to risk letting Twilight attempt this.

“The magical residue could reject the isotopes, completely overpowering them causing a cascade out of control reaction that will nullify the magical fields of the table, the lab, and the castle… depending on the strength of the reaction, of course.”

“Of course… and that’s bad?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, that’s bad.”

Twilight went to begin pouring, she concentrated on the vile, seeking to only poor in five ounces. Her concentration was interrupted one more time. “Ah, Twi?”

“YES RAINBOW… what is it?” Twilight caught herself.

“How do you know how much to pour in? Seems like something you have to figure out before you do it.”

Twilight was taken aback by that, she had not realized Rainbow had been paying attention to some of her other experiments to know that. “It’s a mathematical formula, Rainbow; I did the calculations on the chalkboard over there.” Twilight gestured with her hoof.

Rainbow took a look at the chalkboard and quickly gave up any hopes of understanding the gibberish she saw within five seconds of looking at it. She had no idea why there were letters in what should have been a math problem. Rainbow simply nodded her understanding at Twilight, her understanding being if Twilight said it was good, than that was good enough for her.

“Ok, here goes.” This was the hard part; she had to mix the correct ratio of magical residue with anti-magic isotopes she acquired from the inhibitor ring.

‘I’ve taken every precaution, this cannot possibly go wrong.’ Twilight thought to herself confidently as she began pouring the residue.

Starswirl the Bearded was once quoted as saying; ’The difference between something that can go wrong and something that cannot possibly go wrong, is that when the thing that cannot possibly go wrong inevitably goes wrong, it usually does so spectacularly and in the worst possible way.’

It was a lesson Twilight had never quite learned.

……………………

Outside it was just a normal day, the sun was out and the weather was great. For the ponies of Ponyville, they did not have a worry in their heads. After all, what did they have to worry about? Their town was the home of two of Equestria’s greatest protectors, and the most powerful ponies alive.

Well, they did have one thing to worry about. True, Rainbow and Twilight were very powerful and would protect them from any outside threat, but there was no pony around to protect Ponyville from them.

The tree-castle exploded two hundred hooves in the air. Just as Twilight predicted, the concentrated residue easily overloaded every safeguard she put in place, the ones around the table, the lab and even the castle. It was a mark of the castle’s construction that it was still together when it landed. Truly, the Elements of Harmony were quite powerful. When the castle landed back on its spot, magical residue radiated out of the open windows, the shockwave from the explosion broke every window in Ponyville, temporarily deafening the ponies that were closer to the castle at the time.

The guards in Canterlot were quickly placed on high alert that day, the explosion echoing all the way to Celestia’s Palace. Until the letter to stand down arrived by pegasus with a sincere apology from the princess responsible for said explosion.

……………………

Rainbow slowly, ever so slowly, unwrapped her wings. She was more than cautious, not wanting to risk her wife’s safety in case there was a secondary explosion. Rainbow poked her head out first, checking to make sure that nothing was on fire and that there were no more eminent threats. When she saw there was not, she let loose a breath she had not been aware she was holding in.

“Is it, is it safe?” A small voice asked from beneath her wings. Rainbow looked around another three times, if the worst came to worst, she would grab Twi and simply fly them out of there, but it looked safe. Although looks could be deceiving, life had taught her that much.

Rainbow waited another five minutes before unwrapping her wings and letting the alicorn go. Twilight looked around the lab, it was completely destroyed. “I…” She tried to speak.

Rainbow shook her head. “Ninety-five percent safe? Huh, and you wondered why I told you to do it here instead of at home.”

Twilight started looking around the room; to say it was destroyed would be a gross overuse of the word destroyed. There was nothing left that was in any way shape or form usable. Her notes were gone, incinerated in the blast. Her table, destroyed, all the supplies were wrecked. Whatever had happened resulted in a massive setback for the alicorn.

Her mind started racing about different possibilities of how she could have gotten this so wrong, she needed to get back to testing as quickly as possible. As such, there was only one more option, one more place to go in order to get started again.

“Rainbow… I can’t continue here.”

“Yeah, and the sky is blue. What’s your point?” Rainbow wondered why Twilight had stated the obvious.

Twilight shook her head. “I can’t continue here, I have to move my testing back home…” Twilight said under her breath.

“What was that, Twi?” Rainbow sincerely hoped that she misheard what she thought she heard in the last part of that sentence.

“Rainbow, the only way to continue is to use the lab in the basement.”

“Buck no! Twi, you already destroyed this place; I’m not letting you destroy our home too.”

“Rainbow… we don’t have a choice. It will take days to get this place up and running again. It’s already been three days since Night left, that means Ataxia is due back, at the latest mind you, in four days. I cannot lose the amount of time it would take to get this place up and running again.”

“We also can’t lose our house!” Rainbow yelled.

“I’ll limit the experiments I do inside the house, when I do something that might be dangerous, I’ll take it outside.”

Rainbow thought about that for a while, it was true, they really could not afford such a delay, still, she had a very different definition of what ‘might be dangerous’ meant than Twilight did. “I don’t know…”

“It’s the only way to keep our promise.”

“Fine…” Rainbow sighed; Twilight had won that one. She could only watch as Twilight began gathering up what she could. Not only did she have to start her experiments from scratch, but she had to figure out why this one went wrong.

“This is going to be fun.” Twilight said to herself. The prospect of having yet another mystery to figure out causing her some enjoyment. After all, in science, you learn by failing, and there was nothing better to Twilight than to learn something new.

Well, other than Rainbow of course.

“Fun, yeah, right.” Rainbow replied with a sigh. Then, oddly, she started to smile. ‘Never change Twi.’ Rainbow thought to herself.

Whatever happened, whatever life throws at them or whatever events they went through, Twilight would still be Twilight.

And Rainbow would not want her any other way.

……………………………………………….

The Crystal Empire

They evacuated the Crystal Empire several days ago, Cadance remembered her first time here, the streets, the houses; even the very air all had an aura of oppression to them. As if Sombra’s very presence simply suffocated everything. His evil permeated the air, killing off any sort of hope.

Princess Cadance would give anything for it to feel like that now.

Now, it felt like nothing, it felt abandoned, empty, lost… the air carried no sound, no patter of hooves. Not a thing. The troopers were resting; their long day of training was over. She actually missed the noise they would make during their training at that moment.

At least it was a sign of life, unlike what was in the wind at that moment. Still, it was better that no pony was here as opposed to them being in danger, even if it did make this place seem dead with their absence.

“I wonder if…” Cadance said aloud.

“Wonder if what?”

Cadance turned around, she had not expected another pony to be up on top of the roof of the hospital, and much to her surprise, it was the last pony she expected to see. “Spitfire, you should have left with the others. You know it’s not safe to be here.”

“Tell me Cadance, if you were a pegasus again, would you leave your son here alone? Regardless what the danger was?”

Cadance sighed; she could not argue that fact. As a mom, she would never leave her son to face some threat like this alone, not if she had any say in it anyway. “No, I suppose not.”

“What do you wonder?” Spitfire asked.

“I was just… just wondering if things will go back to normal, you know, this time.”

“Don’t they always?”

“No… not always, you know that.” Cadance’s thoughts were on the ones lost, the ones that could not be replaced. Buildings, towns, even a castle could be rebuilt. Lives? That was another story altogether.

“Cadance.” Spitfire jumped up on the railing and sit facing the princess. “That’s life, let me tell you something Celestia once told me, in the end, in the grand scheme of things, no pony will last forever. Even the oldest, wisest, and bravest of us, will, eventually, be forgotten. There will come a time when nopony can even remember any of this. Sure, it may not happen for a million years, but nopony is immortal. None of us live on forever.”

Cadance just looked at her. “Auntie Celestia never said that.”

Spitfire just smiled, “True, I just thought it would sound wiser if I said it came from her.”

“You’re awful, you know that?” Cadance said with a smile

“Yeah I know, still, it doesn’t make it any less true.”

Cadance thought about it. She glanced up in the sky and watched the celestial bodies move across the sky, Night was setting the sun and Luna started raising the moon. That made her smile for three very different reasons: One, that wherever she was, Shimmering Night was ok, the proof being that she was lowering the sun to make way for the moon. Two, Luna was awake and would soon be joining them. Three, it proved Spitfire wrong.

“You’re wrong.” Cadance said with finality in her voice.

“How do you mean?”

Cadance pointed a hoof at the moon. “You see the moon?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Even in a million years, even in a billion, ponies will always wonder what happened to the moon. True, the truth may be lost, they will come up with all of their own stories and legends about how the moon broke, but it will always be broken. The one who broke it, Rainbow Dash, she left her mark on this world, forevermore. Not even her death will change that.”

Cadance paused to allow that to sink in before continuing. “You see those two stars.” Cadance pointed to the two new stars visible in the night sky. Although, new was a relative term, the first one had been there for over forty years now. “Those are the magical energy of Twilight Sparkle and Shimmering Night. Each one created in response to somepony they loved being killed in front of them. There will never be a time when those are not visible in the night sky. Ponies are already forming new constellations around them and they bear the names of the ponies that created them.”

Spitfire looked confused, “What’s your point?”

Cadance just laugh at that, “Those are their claims to immortality. You’re right about a few points. I do believe there will come a time when no pony knows the names of Starswirl the Bearded, Celestia, Luna, or even me. They may forget who Shimmering Night was, who Twilight Sparkle was, or even Rainbow Dash was. However, the marks they left on this world, those will be around forever. Those are events that can never be forgotten because they will always be here, always be around. Those cannot be forgotten.”

Spitfire thought about it. She laughed a little, “I suppose you’re right.”

“Enjoying my night?” a voice came from behind them.

“Auntie Luna, did you have a good day’s sleep?” It was always a little weird to ask that question, Luna slept during the day, so she never had a good night’s sleep.

“Well, it’s not as comfortable as my bed back in Canterlot, but given the circumstances, we can’t complain.” Luna walked over and joined the two at the edge of the roof.

Cadance laughed, “I thought you stopped using the royal we, auntie?”

Luna just shrugged, “What can I say, it slips out sometimes.”

“Ah, girls, something’s coming.” Spitfire said, her concern evident in her voice as she pointed a hoof towards the north. Both alicorns immediately turned their attention to the north. A streak was indeed approaching, and fast. It was small, small and quick.

“Something’s wrong.” Luna stated.

“That’s… that’s a Wonderbolt.” Cadance said before flying up to intercept the pony.

The Wonderbolt was coming in and quick, too quick. It was obvious whoever it was; they were not going to be able to land, they were going to crash land. Cadance caught the poor pony in her magic seconds before impact and laid them on top of the hospital’s roof.

From the looks of her, she had been through Hades and back, half her face covered in first-degree burns. Second-degree burns ran down her side, it must have caused her untold amounts of pain.

“I’ll get a doctor!” Luna yelled before running off.

“Don’t bother….” The pony said through bated breath. Each one coming with a cough that brought up no small amount of blood.

“You shouldn’t talk right now.” Cadance spoke to the mare, “Save your energy.”

“The… the others… they died so I could deliver this message….” A coughing fit overtook the mare.

“What message?” Spitfire asked, no small amount of concern in her voice over seeing one of her daughter’s Wonderbolts in such a state.

“A… A…”

“It’s Ataxia isn’t it? She’s up and coming here.” Cadance asked with a serious tone in her voice. She half expected it when she first saw the Wonderbolt, but expecting something and knowing something were two very different things.

The pony looked at Cadance and nodded, thankful that she was able to fill in the blanks. The cost of talking was too much for her to pay anymore.

“How far behind is she?” Luna asked. It was obvious this pony was going to die, her and her squad mates had given their lives to get this message to them, and it would not do them any honor for her to fail at that moment.

“Th… thir…”

“Thirty minutes?”

The pony nodded one more time before the light went out of her eyes. She lay there, unmoving, still, dead. Princess Luna used her magic and closed the pony’s eyes. Allowing her to rest in peace. “Thank you. Your sacrifice shall not be in vain.”

“Luna, this is bad. It’s only been four days; we should have had another three before she was here.”

“You have a knack for stating the obvious, niece, but these are the cards we were dealt. How fast can your fastest flyer get to Ponyville?”

“About an hour.” Cadance answered honestly.

“I can make it in forty-five minutes.” Spitfire said proudly.

Cadance and Luna both looked at Spitfire in disbelief. She merely smiled and stretched out her wings. The obvious neglect she had shown her wings was anything but. They were pristine; the two alicorns could easily tell that she had preened them every single day. With not a feather out of place, it was easy to see that the neglect she displayed was nothing more than a ruse.

“Go, let Twilight and Rainbow know.”

Spitfire nodded, but before she took off, she turned around and looked at Cadance one more time. “You’ll protect her, right?”

Cadance nodded, “Of course.”

Spitfire simply smiled and took off at full speed. Rainbow might have surpassed all of them when it came to flight speed, but even in her old age, Spitfire was no slouch.

…………………………………………………

Southern edge of the Griffin Empire

“Night, you suck; you suck worse than the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. You suck so hard, stallions must be lining up around the block just to be in close proximity to you. Simply because you suck that hard. If they gave out bucking medals for sucking, they would have to ban you for life from ever competing, simply because there is no one else who can suck as hard as you.”

Aurora circled around her younger sister, who, once again, had to pause to catch her breath. To say Aurora was infuriated with all these stops would be the understatement of the century. Every bucking hour for the past two days Night would make an ‘emergency’ landing before she crashed and they were forced to wait while she regained her strength.

“Buck…. You….” Night replied between deep breaths.

“No thanks, you’re my sister.” Aurora said sarcastically. ‘Although, Icarus might like that.’ She thought with a smile. One that went away as soon as she looked back at her sister.

Shimmering Night was lying on her back, sweat pouring down her brow. her wings spread out on the rock.

Anger once more took hold of Aurora. “How in Hades did Rainbow let you get this out of shape. I mean, come on! I doubt you'd even qualify for the Wonderbolts at this point.”

“I… I think the real question is how in the hell are you still able to fly that fast?” Night looked up, Aurora had always been impressive in the air, but this was bullshit as far as she was concerned. The mare was several months pregnant, showing a huge baby bump, and easily kicking her ass. Night wanted to call hacks on this one.

‘At least the mystery of where all the cookies go has been answered.’ Night jokingly thought to herself. That was the only thing she could think of that gave Aurora that much energy.

“I’m telling mom.” Aurora said. They both knew the implications to that threat. Night start to panic.

“Aurora! No!”

“Yes. This is pathetic Night. Rainbow would never put up with this and you know it.”

“Sister… please….” Night started hyperventilating.

“Don’t sister please me, you did this to yourself.”

“You don’t understand, you know how much cake they feed me? They won’t stop making it! Something about having stockpiles of them, they don’t want them to go to waste! Besides, I have to rule all by myself, well during the day anyway. It’s hard work. I… I don’t have time for it!” Night knew it was a lie, but she tried anyway.

Aurora landed right next to night. “You got to be bucking kidding me; you’re using that excuse, against me? Really? You really want to go there?”

“What? You got Icarus to help you?” Night pleaded.

“Night, Icarus is an idiot! I swear he cannot even get up in the morning without me tossing his ass out of bed. All he bucking does each day is train. I run the empire. The only reason he even makes an appearance is that I drag his ass to work each day! It’s easier to do it on my own than to get his ass to do anything! So tell me, what’s your next excuse fat flank.” Aurora gestured to Night’s stomach, she did her best to keep it in, but exhaustion easily won that battle.

Night was not fat… per se, but she was definitely not fit.

“Oh… really…?” Night said with a frown.

“Really, now get up. We’re about there.”

“Are you still telling mom?” Night asked with a pleading look in her eyes.

“Oh yes.” Aurora’s eyes were completely unsympathetic to the alicorn’s plight.

Night just looked at her, she gave Aurora the same look Aurora had when Icarus dropped her cookies two nights ago.

“Doesn’t work on me Night, you’re the one out of shape and that’s pathetic. You deserve everything Rainbow is going to do to you and you know it. Now suck it up.”

“But… but…”

“No buts!”

Night cringed, memories of growing up and facing five a.m. flight drills; of being forced, over and over, to do weighted wing pushups (or wing-ups); and worse, the dreaded obstacle course. She had passed of course, in the end they all had. There really was no other option; Rainbow ran them all through that damn course. Even Twilight did not get out of it.

Still… that was years ago, she was done, and she should not have to do it again.

Night knew she was going to have to. It had been coming for a while, small cuts in her morning routine, nothing major at any one time. Simple laziness if she was being honest with herself. A little here, a little there, it all added up and sadly, it added up to what was slowing them down.

Fay Light landed next to a pissed off Aurora and Night, the latter of which was on the verge of tears. He turned to look at Aurora.

“What do you want, captain?” Aurora asked, she had intended to leave him in the dust, instead she only managed to leave her sister behind, and that was something that infuriated her to no end. If Night looked bad, it reflected poorly on all of them.

“Empress, we should get moving.”

That caused both mares to look at him. “Oh, are you giving orders now, captain?”

“Just a suggestion.” Fey stated.

“Why’s that?”

“Because we’re here.” Fey gestured over to the south. Aurora turned and looked with her own eyes; sure enough, she could make out large reptiles flying in the distance.

“Dragons.”

Author's Note

Night and Aurora have arrived at the Dragon Kingdom. Will they find anything useful? Can they get back to help in the fight against Ataxia? Can the Crystal Empire last fifteen minutes without Rainbow and Twilight's help?

So many questions, I can't wait!

Painful Loss

The Crystal Empire

Luna and Cadance glued their eyes to the north sky. Each of them was scanning the horizon looking for any physical sign of Ataxia’s return. Luna had felt it first, of course she had. The princess of the Night was always impressive when it came to her magical skill, as such it did not surprise Cadance that she would sense the coming of Ataxia long before she had.

Although, it was not long until Cadance could feel her too, just in a different way, a very different way. Whereas Luna could feel the coming of a strong magical force, Cadance felt the hurt of someone who loved and had that love rejected. She could feel the anguish, the pain, the sadness, and the hate. The pure hate, hate so pure… only when you open your heart to someone fully, only when you trust someone so explicitly, only when you love them that much, can you ever grow to hate them like this. Only a deep betrayal could ever cause someone to hate so much.

‘How had this happened? What happened to you Ataxia?’ Cadance thought to herself. She could not imagine that this was the work of Shimmering Night. Night might be inept when it comes to love but she would never cause this much hatred in anyone, much less her friend, Ataxia. Cadance could never believe that. Something else had occurred, something… dark.

It was painful for the alicorn, to say the least. She cursed herself for the thousandth time for not taking more of a hooves-on approach with the two mares. Her magic could have guided them past their defenses; it could have let Night truly know how she felt. However, because of that, she had a bad reputation with some of the less informed ponies. Cadance had taken to using it only to boost the love of ponies that were already together, as to not aggravate the situation any farther, and give any credence to the rumors.

This situation was the price of that decision; this and the hatred and bigotry that Night had let into her heart. It was something that had taken root and grown without anypony noticing. Cadance did not have to be told that was what had happened. She had seen this situation played out between ponies too many times in her life that she knew the cause without having to confirm it.

The bigotry of others can poison even the noblest of hearts.

“She’s almost here.” Luna said, her eyes scanning the horizon. The feeling of power increased as Ataxia flew ever closer.

Princess Cadance did one last look back to her empire. The plan was simple: Keep Ataxia away from the buildings, engage her a mile north of the empire as to keep her occupied, and try to stay alive fifteen minutes until Twilight and Rainbow arrive. It was a simple plan… on paper anyway. They had a few tricks in store to try to help. However, the odds were still not good.

Of course, when Rainbow and Twilight got here she did not have a clue what would happen. Shimmering Night was their trump card but no pony expected Night to come back anytime soon. At their best estimate, Night would have been in the Dragon Kingdom for a day now. With a three-day trip back up here.

So, with Twilight’s new foal blocking her true power, Rainbow was still their best bet. Although she could not cut the mare anymore, Cadance knew Rainbow well enough to know that she had more than one trick up her hoof. As long as she did not get overconfident, Rainbow should be able to hold off Ataxia for quite some time. So yeah, to say the least, they were in trouble.

Would it be enough? Only time would tell.

They had a contingency if things got bad, if Ataxia did make it to the city the unicorn guards were on standby with her son’s special formation. One that Firestar named the tri-blast. It counted on three sets of nine unicorns each channeling their power to one of three focus unicorns, who would amplify that power and channel it to a central magic user, in this case Luna. Luna, depending on how long she held it for, could reach a level of power impossible for anypony. She could then use it to achieve a blast of exponential power.

The tri-blast formation was notoriously tricky and very dangerous if done incorrectly. Radiant had mastered it, but he would be unable to serve as the central focus again, as he was too busy maintaining the shield covering the hospital. The very one that housed his wife pregnant with their unborn foals.

He had wanted to do it, but he was outvoted, by everyone.

“I hope you’re ready for this, Cadance.” Luna said, her face stopped looking around, it was glued to one spot in the sky. Cadance turned to look in that direction, she saw it too. Not as well as the Princess of the Night had; Luna’s eyes were far more adept at being able to see in the dark, but Cadance could not miss it if she tried.

About two miles out, the largest dragon that Cadance had ever seen in her life was making all haste directly to them. No… that was the wrong word to use, this was no dragon, as this was a dragacorn. Even with the darkness, it was hard to miss something that massive… something that colossal flying at you.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m ready or not. One way or another, she’s here.” Cadance said, trying to sound more confident than she really was.

Luna smiled. “I’m more than happy to fight her on my own.” Luna had argued for just such a plan. Her natural tendency was to face any such foe head on, just as she had wanted to do with the Titan all those months ago. For Luna it was an insult to her honor to ask for help.

However, just like back then, others had insisted that she have help. While the prospect of having to have help always got under her fur, she could not deny that against a foe like Ataxia, it was probably a good idea. She had been on several hunts with the mare over the last few months and knew Ataxia’s power first-hoof. As much as she hated to admit it, Ataxia was stronger than her.

Still, if Cadance was not ready for this, well, better to not have her at all than to have a liability. If there were one thing Luna did not need at that moment, it would be someone weighing her down. If she had to concern herself with Cadance’s safety, than it would be better if she were not there at all.

Cadance just laughed, “What, and let you have all the glory?” She said with no small amount of sarcasm in her voice. She knew her aunt well enough to know when she would run off and do something stupid, like facing a rampaging dragacorn all on her own. Cadance would never let that happen, not if it meant something really bad could happen to Luna. “No Luna, we will face her together. I won’t sit by while Ataxia threatens everyone I love. I am the Princess of the Crystal Empire; I won’t simply let others fight for me. I faced down the God Tartarus, I can face Ataxia.”

Memories of that battle came back to Cadance’s mind, memories of how she felt when she saw Twilight lying in the ground, dead, with a sickle sticking out of her neck. Memories of Rainbow Dash, lying on the ground, her wife’s blood covering her face. Memories of the rage Cadance had felt. She channeled those memories now.

Luna smiled as she saw the change in Cadance. “You found your resolve. Good, we’re going to need it.”

For Ataxia had arrived.

…..

The dragacorn flew at top speed towards the Crystal Empire. Every shred of her being wanted her to come here. She could feel it, feel the pull, the desire, and the hatred. She hated those who left her for dead, those who said they loved her and simply abandoned her to that cave. She hated those who left her for dead. Mostly, she just hated. It became something more to her, a physical thing that took over her body. She welcomed it and lost herself to the hate.

It was all she could think, all she could feel anymore. To Ataxia, nothing else mattered in the world, nothing other than the hate she felt.

Discord had said it was her destiny to kill every single alicorn on the planet, her hatred would make it so. She no longer felt anything else. Her mind would not process any rational thought. She could only feel hate, and act on that feeling. She wanted… needed to kill those she hated. She did not know how, but something told her she would find some of those that needed to die here. In this town, at this place, she needed to kill someone here… somepony here.

That was more than enough.

……

As planned, Cadance flew up in the air to meet their foe. That alone felt wrong in every sense of the term to the alicorn. Ataxia was not a foe; she was the daughter of Spike and Rarity for Luna’s sake, and a friend. Of course, that did not change the fact that she was indeed their enemy. If given the chance, Ataxia would kill every one of them tonight. That much Cadance could feel in her heart. A simple look at her face was enough to know that Ataxia would be beyond her ability to reach.

Cadance drew in her magical power and made herself as bright as she could. The pink energy of love began radiating off the alicorn. In the darkness of the night, it made her stick out worse than a sore hoof. A pony would go blind if they stared at her for too long.

That was the game plan after all. She needed to get Ataxia’s attention.

It worked.

Ataxia saw it and adjusted course accordingly. Cadance, for the first time since she heard what happened, saw the threat for what it truly was. Ataxia was huge, no, bigger than huge. Ataxia was colossal. Her wingspan was longer than any building she had ever seen. Her bulk could cover a small city. One thing stood out to Cadance; as much as she did not want to look at it, Cadance could not help but see Ataxia’s teeth… her teeth looked like they could crush steel without issue.

Cadance felt fear worse than she had all those years ago when they fought Tartarus. She tried to shake it off. Regardless how scary Ataxia looked; Cadance had stood her own against a God. That gave the alicorn some of her courage back. Now, if only she did not have to keep reminding herself of that fact. A loud voice in her mind said it was an apple to orange comparison. That time had been against intelligence, against someone sentient. There had been some reason and logic in Tartarus’s actions. Now, now, it was like facing a rabid animal, something with no desire other than to see you dead.

Cadance saw Ataxia open her mouth, she knew what Ataxia was about to do, breath her dragon fire. From the reports that Twilight had left them with, Ataxia’s fire had changed. Her fire burned so hot that it no longer caught anything on fire as it simply incinerated everything it touched.

“Well, if Luna mistimes this, at least it will be over quickly.” Cadance said, half-joking and half-serious. She did not doubt that Luna would time it correctly, Cadance had full faith in her aunt.

Luna’s timing was right on the bits. As Ataxia was just about to let loose, Luna conjured a magical mussel and shut Ataxia’s mouth a half second before the fire came. It was too late for Ataxia to stop the fire, only this time it had no easy vent, no easy out. The fire forced its way out between the gaps in Ataxia’s teeth and gums. The dragon fire burned holes in the side of her mouth, its pressure and temperature easily overcoming the natural resistances to magic shared by all dragons.

Ataxia roared in pain, the ropes broke as portions of them had been in the path of the very fire they stopped. The pain the dragacorn was in almost caused Cadance to feel sorry for the mare, had it not been for the fact she was still the enemy, still dangerous, and still more than ever wanted to kill them. That last part caused Cadance to get over it rather quickly.

Luna capitalized on the momentary distraction. They knew from Twilight’s reports that Ataxia would heal quickly. She had regrown a tail in record time, a few missing teeth and a burned mouth would not stop her for long. The Princess of the Night flew straight up and socked Ataxia in her stomach with a huge magical hoof.

It was a simple plan, Cadance would draw Ataxia to her, and she would distract her as Luna did all the heavy lifting. Its simplicity was the key to its success. Luna’s magical hoof struck true, it bowled over the dragacorn, causing her to grasp at her stomach as several ribs broke from the impact.

Luna was not done; she created another directly over Ataxia’s body and slammed it down on her as hard as she could. The dragacorn was set sprawling towards the ground at incredible speeds. She crashed in the dirt, sending a dust cloud up from where she lay.

Cadance flew over to her aunt. “Well, that was easy.”

“That was just the opening round. Ready yourself niece, she’s getting up.” True to Luna’s statement, Ataxia stood back up on her hind legs and roared. Dragon fire spit out at the two princesses, easily avoided but a clear sign that they had used up the advantage of surprise.

Now would come the hard part, they had to fight her head to head.

Ataxia reared back and let loose another flame breath against the Princess of the Night. Luna flew around with the fire following her. Her goal was two part: Avoid getting hit, and turn Ataxia away from Cadance.

Cadance was never the greatest fighter. She was the Princess of Love, not of war. That being said, she had not been idle these past few days. Twilight had given them all a detailed sketch of what the dragacorn had looked like. She even pinpointed several areas that might be weak to a more… conventional attack. Cadance had laughed when she first saw it. They were the same weakness that all creatures shared.

Cadance lashed out at one such area now, she built up a magical blast and shot Ataxia in the back of the neck, directly below her skull. The sweet spot.

Ataxia’s head snapped around as she glared angrily at the alicorn. It was obvious the blast had stung, but other than that there was no obvious damage to Ataxia.

“Bucking hell!” Cadance cursed aloud.

Ataxia lashed out with her tail, a maneuver that Cadance ducked, but only just. She felt a small gash across her back as the spikes on Ataxia’s tail made themselves known to the pink alicorn. She had heard how fast Ataxia was, but that attack had come at such speed that it was unreal to the princess.

“Agh!” Cadance cried out, as the pain from the wound made itself known. It caused the mare to slow down, just a little, but more than enough for Ataxia to capitalize on the attack. The large dragacorn swirled around and lashed out with its claws. Ataxia aimed to slice the alicorn into ribbons with her razor sharp talons.

Luna let loose a magical blast, which hit Ataxia's claw directly in the center of her palm. The speed of Ataxia’s attack worked against her, it increased the impact of the magic and caused the energy to hit with far more force than normal.

The magical blast tore open a hole in Ataxia’s claw. The magic passed right through the tough skin. Ataxia roared yet again as more pain joined the rest. Ataxia turned her head and glared at the pony that had dared hurt her so. The pink one could wait until later.

“ATAXIA, YOU WANT TO KILL AN ALICORN, START WITH THIS ONE!” Luna yelled in her Royal Canterlot Voice. She turned around and took flight high in the air. Luna sought to buy as much time as she could by getting Ataxia to chase her through the clouds.

Unfortunately for Luna, that trick had already been used by Rainbow Dash. Ataxia powered up her magic and cast a teleportation spell. Luna slammed directly into Ataxia’s Dragon Steel Armor. The sudden impact jarred the princess as Ataxia grabbed Luna in her good claw and started squeezing the Princess of the Night to death.

Before Ataxia could do any real damage, Cadance flew up and blasted the dragacorn in her left eye. The pain forced Ataxia to drop her prey as she brought up her only good claw to clutch at her wounded eye. Luna dropped several hooves before she spread her wings and caught herself. She flew over to her niece, regrouping with Cadance.

“Luna, what happened?” Cadance asked.

“A reminder of what the stakes are, fair Cadance. We play a high-risk game. Never forget that and never let your guard down.”

Cadance just laughed, no pony needed to tell her that. The pain down her flank was her own reminder.

Ataxia recovered quickly, she glared at the two alicorns with her one good eye and flew straight ahead. Her speed took another jump as she practically appeared right in front of the two.

Cadance and Luna were ready, In a maneuver they had practiced at some length, Cadance teleported directly above and Luna below. They both charged up their attacks and shot at the rather large target. The energy of the Alicorn of Love struck Ataxia’s head; the energy of the Alicorn of the Night struck her flank. Together they sought to overwhelm her with dual blasts coming from different directions.

It was a good plan but it did not work. When the smoke cleared, Ataxia simply glared at Cadance. She saw it coming, Ataxia shot out with her flame breath directly at Cadance, who teleported away, but only barely.

Cadance placed all four hooves on the ground as she realized that most of her tail was gone. Burned off in that last attack, it was impossible to believe, but Ataxia was getting even faster, or more precisely, Ataxia was starting to take this fight more seriously than before.

Part of Cadance told her to be proud of that fact. However, she was far too scared for something like that.

“I really, really should have paid more attention when Twilight offered to give teleportation lessons.” Cadance said to herself. Years ago, Twilight gave lessons to her foals on how to teleport, Cadance was there, but only to watch. She had started to pay more attention when Twilight got going, than Aurora started to ask her about stallions. After that, it was game over for the lessons. Cadance had found a far more interesting subject.

That was a regret she was now having. Looking up Cadance saw Ataxia flying after Luna, several times; she seemed like she almost had the black alicorn in her grasp when Luna would pull up last second or dodge to the left just in the nick of time. It was a high stakes game to say the least.

Needless to say, it was a losing strategy. Cadance and Luna had to be one hundred percent on their game the entire time; the two could not mess up once. While Ataxia only had to get lucky one time, for, if that happened, they would both be dead.

“I’m not missing the birth of my grandfoals!” Cadance said. Her course was clear, she charged up her magic and shot straight up at the dragacorn, right at the underbelly where the armor ended and the scales begun. Yet again, Cadance had to psych herself up before she attacked, but against a foe like Ataxia, nopony could blame her.

Ataxia saw it last minute and rolled on her y-axis, the blow was close, but close in the game they were playing was simply another word for having missed. Cadance struck scales with her blast, not the flesh she was aiming for. The shot did absolutely nothing to the powerful dragacorn.

Ataxia did not stop rolling, her massive wingspan struck Cadance square in the side, sending her careening to the dirt. Cadance crash-landed into the ground hard enough to blur her vision. She could feel the damage she took with every breath, as her breathing became painful. It was obvious to Cadance that there were several broken ribs.

Fortunately, there did not seem to be anything else wrong with her. A quick scan confirmed that nothing else had been broken or punctured. Testing it a few times, Cadance soon found herself able to stand back up.

“WATCH OUT!”

On instinct alone, Cadance teleported several hundred hooves up in the air, with her head pointed down, she had a front row view of what would have been her death. The land she had seconds before been standing on was incinerated by dragon fire.

Cadance’s natural pegasus instincts took over as she spread her wings to take flight. Cadance flew straight up, she needed time… time to get her bearings again before this fight cost her everything. Luna flew up to her. “Good timing.” Luna said with a smile, proud that her niece had reacted immediately to the threat.

“This time…” Cadance looked back at her missing tail. “But considering everything, I think we’ve gotten off lucky so far.”

“Just think, only fourteen more minutes before Twilight and Rainbow get here.”

Cadance’s heart sunk. “It’s only been a minute?!” She could not believe it. Cadance could not believe so little time had passed.

“I know; we haven’t felt this alive in ages! Come, let’s get back into the fight!” Luna dive-bombed straight at the dragacorn, who even now was coming up at the two mares. For Luna could hardly believe that so much time had passed.

Cadance simply stared on in shock, her mind trying to process everything that had happened. It already felt like a lifetime and it had only been a minute of real time. How was that possible? Cadance’s thoughts were cut short as her vision saw something that required action, not words. Instinct took over and Cadance soon joined Luna back into the fight. With a blast from her horn, she struck Ataxia’s horn seconds before she almost finished casting whatever spell she was about to use on Luna.

The blow struck true, Ataxia paused for a second as her spell failed. Where she had been expecting to teleport Luna directly in front of her mouth, nothing appeared instead. It was only a moment’s hesitation, but that was enough for the Princess of the Night to get away.

Ataxia looked up at the one responsible and growled. The pink princess was trying to fly away. She was not a threat per se, but she was more than an annoyance that prevented Ataxia from dealing with the black one.

Ataxia flapped her wings as hard as she could to fly straight up at the pink one. She channeled her magic energy into her wings for a burst of speed. The extra energy caused her to form a sonic rainboom directly behind her. One so large it knocked Luna out of the sky with its power.

The Princess of the Night tumbled and fell; she spread her wings wide as she sought to catch herself before she hit the dirt. It was a fool’s hope, Luna did manage to slow her fall before she plastered against the ground, yet that did not stop her from suffering several bruises when she inevitably collided with the ground.

She was quick to recover, it was not the first time she had been knocked out of the sky and she highly doubted it would be the last. However, this time had been a precursor to something else, something bad. Ataxia had done that to get to Cadance. That realization caused Luna to start panicking, as she desperately scanned the skies for the pink alicorn.

Cadance was not hard to spot; Ataxia had her in her clutches and sought to bite her head off.

…….

Cadance flew as fast as she could; she poured her magic into her wings in a desperate bid to gain more distance between her and the rapidly approaching dragacorn.

It did not help. Regardless how fast Cadance made herself, she was nowhere near as fast as Ataxia.

Cadance had forgotten that Ataxia was able to perform the legendary sonic rainboom. A feat she achieved thanks to the Dragon Steel Armor her mother had given her. It was a parting gift to keep them safe when they went to Warclaw all those months ago. When Ataxia transformed, it became a part of her, almost like a second skin, or scales as the case may be. Of course, none of that knowledge would help Cadance now.

Ataxia easily caught up to the mare, Cadance teleported away, the trick had worked earlier, Cadance hopped it would do the same now.

Except Ataxia was more than ready for it this time, she had enough of trying to catch these annoying ponies and wanted this game to end. With no pony to blast her horn and stop her from casting the spell, Ataxia channeled her magic into her horn and reversed Cadance’s teleport. Something once thought to be impossible. However, with chaos magic, the only thing that is impossible is ironically, for something to be impossible.

Cadance’s eyes went wide with horror as she reappeared directly in front of Ataxia. Ataxia was easily able to reach out and grab the pink alicorn who was too stunned for any quick maneuvering. Cadance could only watch in dismay as Ataxia opened her impossibly large mouth to devour her.

Luna teleported herself directly below Ataxia’s mouth and conjured a large magical pole. She forced it up with all her power directly at Ataxia’s throat, seeking once again to use Ataxia’s own speed against her.

The pole collided with enough physical force to break several scales around her throat. Luna had no hope of actually penetrating those scales, but she did not have too. The strongest armor would not protect against blunt force, especially where it failed to protect you in the first place.

The neck was one such area. It was a small target, one would have to get directly under your head to strike it, but that was precisely what Luna had done.

Ataxia gagged as the jarring impact of pole to throat crushed her windpipe. She dropped the alicorn and wrapped her claws around her throat, seeking to protect it from any further harm. Cadance flew away as quickly as she could. She sought to put some distance between her and the thing that almost ended her life.

“I owe you one.” Cadance said with a smile as Luna flew up to join her.

“Consider us even.” Luna replied, the look on her face told the story in ways that words never would. Luna had panicked at that turn of events. While Cadance had simply been Celestia’s adopted niece, Luna had taken to her in much the same way as her sister had. She would do anything to help Cadance. She owed her sister that much at the least.

They both watched as Ataxia struggled for breath, it took a minute but the dragacorn natural healing ability kicked in and she was finally able to start breathing again. That relieved Cadance, the game plan was only to delay Ataxia, not to kill her. They both knew that every time Ataxia dies, she would simply come back that much stronger. If they killed her too many times, they would all be doomed.

‘Perhaps it’s already too late for that?’ Cadance thought as she watched the dragacorn from the distance. The wounds on Ataxia’s hand and neck were almost fully healed. She was regenerating too fast to hurt, her bulk to massive to stop, and her power too great to deny. Any way Cadance looked at it, the answer was the same.

She turned her head to Luna. “Are we doomed?” Cadance asked, yes they had a plan; they had an idea of what to do… yet, at that moment, having fought and almost died to this thing… Cadance knew what it was to know true fear. To know what it was like to truly be afraid. All at the claws of somepony… somepony she had considered a friend.

Luna smiled, she had expected this question earlier, and already knew what to say. She had a response waiting in the wing. “Cadance, look over to the south and tell me what you see.”

Cadance looked at Luna strangely and shrugged, glancing over to the south she spoke the first thing that came to mind. “The Crystal Empire?”

“And the hospital?” Luna asked.

“Yes, it’s easy enough to see, my son’s shield spell is lighting it up, even in this darkness.”

“Do you want to see them again? Do you want to see your grandfoals?”

“Of course.”

“Then answer your own question. Are we doomed?”

Cadance smiled as she realized what Luna was getting at. Cadance mentally facehoofed for losing hope like that, again. Yes, they are facing a very powerful foe; yes, they have no real hope of winning, or even surviving if she was being honest with herself. However, she had something worth fighting for, something worth protecting. That was all the incentive Cadance needed.

“No, we’re not doomed.” Cadance said, the conviction in her voice said it all. For however long it lasted this time, she would give it her all. The situation may be dire, but she still had hope. After all, hope was the one thing that nopony could kill.

Luna smiled, “Good, because she’s coming back.”

Cadance looked up and saw the dragacorn approaching quickly. The rage in her eyes, the hate in her heart. Cadance saw it all; she saw it all and pitied Ataxia for it. Rage and hate were reactionary emotions; they could not last, as they were not true, only love was true.

“I pity you, Ataxia.” Cadance said aloud. “We shall help you past this, regardless if you want us to or not.” Luna smiled at that comment.

“Let’s go!” Luna shouted.

Cadance and Luna both flew at the dragacorn. Each of them channeled their magic into beams, seeking to anger her into having to pick one or the other. The magic energy lashed out on either side of her, momentarily confusing Ataxia on to which threat to deal with first.

She kept to her original plan; kill the pink one first. Ataxia went after Cadance.

Cadance flew under and over several swipes of her claws. Seeking to escape any real damage to herself while she kept Ataxia’s attention on her. That gave Luna her opportunity. Luna flew up and over Ataxia’s head and shot her once again in the left eye with her magic.

The blow landed true, striking the unprotected eye, causing the mare to once more be temporarily blinded on her left side. Cadance, now in Ataxia’s blind spot, turned around and flew under her limbs. She struck out at the gap between where Ataxia’s scales ended, and where the Dragon Steel Armor began.

Ataxia screamed in pain as a fresh wound was torn open in her underbelly. The bleeding began in earnest from the cut Cadance’s magic made in her skin. Cadance teleported away, just in time to avoid a reactionary decapitation from Ataxia’s claw.

Luna flew off too, seeking to put as much room between them and the wounded Ataxia. She caught up with her niece easy enough.

“Do you think we might actually be able to win this?” Cadance asked between deep breaths.

Luna wanted to laugh at that. With the speed they had to keep up and the magic they were expending fighting Ataxia, winning was not really on the menu. “No dear niece.” Cadance shrunk at that, her head downcast. “Winning is not our goal here anyway. We are simply trying to buy as much time as we can.”

Cadance could feel for Luna, even in the worst of times Luna was always more of an ‘I’ll do it myself’ sort of mare. For her to all but admit she could not deal with this on her own… that alone was a mark of the situation they were in. One that did not fare well for their chances.

“Please tell me it’s been more than a minute this time.” Cadance looked at her, pleading that more time had passed this time around.

Luna did laugh at that question. “Yes Cadance, it’s been two minutes since you last asked.”

“Horseapples.” Cadance did not know how long she could keep this up, but some part of her new that however long she had, it would not be twelve minutes… twelve minutes was simply too long.

Not that Ataxia was going to give them a choice; the large dragacorn reopened its wounded eye. The damage done was already healed. She glared at them, anger written upon her face. A magical shield appeared around her eyes, as the chaos magic that healed her adapted to that tactic.

“MOVE!” Cadance yelled, she already knew what was coming, and sure enough, Ataxia’s flame arrived seconds after the two princesses left their spot. The fire burned hot and bright, singing several hairs off both princesses as they sought to escaped with their lives.

Lives that Ataxia was more than eager to take away. Lives her every instinct told her to snuff out.

She went back to hunting Cadance, she might have been the weaker of the two, but the utility she provided made her a priority to take out. Ataxia teleported directly in front of the fleeing alicorn. It had disturbed Cadance to no end that something that large could just appear out of nowhere, that something so large could even use magic. It was the equivalent of a mountain simply jumping out in front of you. However, she had gotten used to this trick and responded with one of her own.

Ataxia had learned though, Cadance almost always teleported directly above. It was safer that way, less risk of something being where you wanted to end up. Unfortunately, it was also something Cadance was not aware she had been doing. It was more reactionary for the mare than anything else at this point.

Ataxia lashed out above her with her tail, the impact hit Cadance with the force of a mac truck. It sent the alicorn plummeting to the ground at the speed of a meteorite.

Luna saw it all; she had no choice but to give up her attack run and teleport directly in Cadance’s path. Luna conjured up a magical net and caught Cadance in it, arresting her fall and softening the blow. A quick scan confirmed that Cadance had gotten off lucky, beyond a nasty looking bruise across her back, Cadance suffered no new injures, only a few broken ribs, nothing major that would not heal on their own in time. Although, Luna knew that Cadance would be quite sore in the morning.

That was operating under the assumption that they were still alive in the morning. Something that Ataxia had no intention of letting happen.

Luna and Cadance were together, right where Ataxia wanted them to be. A quick teleport later and Ataxia lashed out with her tail one more time, flashing out in blazing speed as it struck both alicorns at the same time.

Luna could only watch in horror as Ataxia’s speed picked up yet again. It would hit them both, of that she was in no doubt, there was not even enough time to respond to a teleport. She did her best to protect herself and her stricken niece, but it was to no real avail. Her shield did not hold… it could not hold against a blow that powerful.

The shield popped as soon as it made contact with Ataxia’s tail. Luna and Cadance were both sent flying into the Crystal Empire. Luna landed in much the same fashion that Rainbow Dash had trademarked over the years. She hit the streets and carved a giant ditch into it, as the ground did its best to arrest her momentum. Luna’s magic saved her from any real injures, on instinct alone it wrapped the princess in a blue cocoon, absorbing the cuts and scrapes one would normally get with such treatment.

Cadance did not get off so lucky; her body impacted against the side of the Crystal Palace, spine first. Cadance fell to the ground. When she came too, Cadance was unable to move her back legs. Looking back at them, she could tell they should have been quite painful just from the scrapes and gashes alone, but she could not feel it. She could not feel anything at all from her flank down.

Ataxia had managed to get her lucky shot in after all, with it she paralyzed Cadance from the flank down. Cadance tried to stretch her wings, if she could not walk at least she would be able to fly. She could stay in the fight.

Pain shot out from her left wing, looking over Cadance saw a bone sticking out of place, the bridge of her wing had broken.

“No.” Cadance said, horrified. With one blow, Ataxia had taken her out of the fight. It would all be on Luna now. Fortunately, they did have a contingency plan for this scenario. Although, there was no guarantee that it would even work.

The training she had watched had not left her optimistic about their chances, but they were out of options.

Cadance shot a pink bolt of magic up into the sky, a clear indication of where she was and what situation she was in. She had no doubt Luna would see it and know exactly what to do next. She also did not doubt that Ataxia would see it as well; she could only hope that Luna was quicker.

It was not a message that went unheeded, by anyone.

The unicorn guard, stationed by Luna and Cadance in safe zones around the Crystal Empire were the first ones to respond. Spotters sent word to their commanders. Thirty in total, they ran out, seeking to form up in their pre-established gathering point. They all knew what was at stake and not one of them would shrink from this duty.

Luna saw it soon after, she knew that it meant two very different things: The first being that Cadance was out of the fight. She would no longer be able to assist with the battle with Ataxia. That was bad, they had no choice now but to use the fallback plan. Luna closed her eyes and sought out the magical marker, it was small but steady. A magical beacon she placed at the center of the ritual Radiant had designed and left for them. It was not strong enough to sense from any real distance, but Luna was not that far away.

While he could not assist in the fight, as his skills were needed to protect the hospital, Radiant had left them with the tools to deal with Ataxia if the worst should happen. If one of them were beaten or worse… killed. It was his tri-blast attack.

He had briefed them all on how to use it and the dangers that came with it. He drilled in his soldiers time and time again on what to do and when to do it. However, after the Titan attack, not all of his guard was available, that meant they had to train up some of Luna’s unicorn guard. That alone increased the overall risk of its use, especially as one of the three focal ponies of the attack was missing. One of the three sergeants that had to transfer the magic to the center pony, the Titan had injured him in the battle and he was forced to retire from service.

All of that led to them having to trust one of Luna’s unicorn guards in one of the three most important positions in the formation. It was not an ideal situation, not in any sense of the term. As such, the entire formation was only meant to be a fall back maneuver. Something they should only use if all other hope was lost. Only if they could no longer keep Ataxia contained by themselves and had to buy some time.

Or in other words, the exact same situation they were in now. Needless to say, for Cadance to signal that they needed to use it, it was a mark of just how bad things were. She knew the dangers of it better than anypony as she had to take care of her son a few times while he was working the kinks out of it. She still owed Dayspring a debt for that one. As the co-creator of this attack, he was partly responsible.

It was a debt she was never able to repay; it was hard to stay mad at somepony that had given his life for his sister.

Of course that led to the other issue that Luna knew about the beacon, she knew that Ataxia would have seen it too. That meant she would be coming straight for the downed alicorn. Which meant Luna had very little time to save her niece’s life.

Therefore, Luna could not think, she could not take the time to assess the situation and act on any new information that might lead to. She could already see Ataxia heading straight for them, or more precisely, heading straight for Cadance. The magical energy gave away her location for miles around.

Luna teleported to the beacon, it did not surprise her to find the other unicorns already in position. They knew their role; it was what they had been training for all the last few days. The only difference now was that their princesses life was on the line. When you do something for real, with something at stake, it provides a whole different motivation than simply doing it for training.

“We do this to save Cadance, and Equestria!” Luna shouted.

“For the princess, and Equestria!” they yelled.

Three sets of nine. Each group evenly spaced one hundred and twenty degrees away from the next. They all lined up perfectly, their formations forming a block of unicorns three wide and three deep. Markers on the ground indicated exactly where each pony needed to place each of their hooves. It may have been a cheat, but after a few accidents in training, Luna did not give a buck anymore. Their sergeants, the three ponies who would be forced to channel and amplify their power stood in front, exactly three hooves away from the pony in the center ranks.

It was perfect; they had all had lined up exactly where they needed to be. Luna took one last look at the approaching dragacorn and where she was obviously heading. Luna glanced over to the newest member of the formation. She had hoofed picked him for his natural talent in controlling magic. Of all her guard, he was the best she had for the formation.

It was easy to tell he was nervous. His unicorns behind him were already gathering their magical power, focusing it on the tip of their horn. Luna nodded at him, in that one gesture Luna gave the stallion all the courage he would need.

He stopped shaking and smiled back. It was a warm greeting, one that said ‘thank you for believing in me.’ The unicorns in each group finished channeling their power and as one, sent it to their leaders.

The twenty-seven unicorns that made up the blocks were chosen for their raw power, control was not needed from them. On the other hoof, the three in front were chosen for their control. Those unicorns had the hardest part, they were not there to add their own magic to the formation, rather they had to hold the magic of the others and amplify it with their own. If they lost that control the entire formation would crumble, if they failed to amplify it correctly, or did not time the delivery correctly… well, it was best not to think of what would happen then.

It worked, as one; all three ponies aimed their horn and directed their magic power at the very tip of Luna’s horn. She got it, all of it at the exact same time.

Luna felt a little of what it must be like for Twilight. This power… three sets of nine unicorns amplified three times over. It was… unreal. She could not focus on it though. Now it was all on her.

Luna felt the power at the tip of her horn, and amplified it even farther. Every second she held it was another times the power would grow. She had to stop herself from smiling. It would be so easy to be carried away by this… this power. Memories of what it felt like when she first transformed into Nightmare Moon came back, the power, and the feeling of invincibility.

Luna shook it off. ‘No… that path leads only to damnation.’ She thought to herself.

Luna reacquired her target. Ataxia was just about at the edge of the city. Luna knew, as Radiant emphasized it several times to her over the last few days, if she held it long enough she could kill the dragacorn. If she held it too long, she would kill herself. Yet that was not the goal. The plan was to save Ataxia, to save them all.

Besides, she and Ataxia were friends, of sorts. At the very least, she considered herself to be a good friend of Shimmering Night. She would not be the one to kill her friend.

Therefore, Luna let it go after three seconds. The beam of pure concentrated amplified magical energy, lashed out like a lance. It struck true, cutting off Ataxia’s left wing.

……

Radiant Star watched from the window as Luna prepped the spell. He watched as each unicorn that was in it stood exactly into his or her assigned spot. He watched with pride as all three of the sergeants gathered their magic and focused it on Luna. He had been worried about that part. It was the most dangerous portion of the attack. He watched as Luna took the shot.

It was easy to see everything despite the darkness. The battle was a light show like no other, one that was helped along by the fire the HUGE dragacorn spewed out every now and again. Yet none of that was as bright as the lance of magical energy Luna struck Ataxia with.

They all knew that killing Ataxia would only make it worse; it would only cause the mare to come back stronger than before. In effect, it was a reset button. As if to say, ‘Press this button to restart the fight on a higher difficulty.’ Therefore, that was not the Princess of the Night’s goal. Not unless they had no other choice.

Given, with his mom injured as she was, (something Radiant had a front row seat too) he would have done it. Sure, it would have made the fight harder, but it would have given him time to save his mom. Looking out the window, through the shield spell, and down at his crippled mother… Radiant wished for the thousandth time it had been him and not Luna. That he could be out there to fight as well.

When the beam lashed out, it effortlessly cut off Ataxia’s wing. The large appendage fell to the ground, crushing the few buildings it did fall on. The dragacorn screamed, she screamed in pain, and rage about being wounded like that. Her hatred only increased with the damage done to her body.

Radiant knew Luna would not leave it like that. The Princess of the Night took flight and started lashing out with her own spells at Ataxia’s wounded stump of a wing. The tender flesh would be the most exposed there; the scales that held back all but the most powerful attacks could not protect re-growing flesh.

That was impressive to Radiant, not that Luna knew how to capitalize, but that she could fight after using that attack. When he used it against the Titan, it had all but drained him of every scrap of magic he had. Only his worry for the mare he loved had given him enough strength to move again.

“How’s it going?”

Speak of the devil.

Well, it had not drained him of every scrap of magic. His natural magic still came to him in order to protect the mare he loved when it counted. Maybe that is how Luna was able to keep fighting. Was she pushing her body past the breaking point to save those under her care? Radiant did not know the answer to that question.

“It’s not good. They already had to use the tri-blast formation. My mom… she’s… she’s down.”

“Is she…” Firestar did not finish that question, but there was no need. Radiant would know what she was trying to ask.

Radiant took his eyes off the battle and focused where his mom lay. He saw her trying to crawl to the safety of the shield. Every instinct in his body told him to run to her side. “No… but she is injured. I… I…”

“I know… I know you want to go to her…”

“I do… Luna help me, I do.”

“Then go, save your mom.”

Radiant turned around and looked at his wife. She was lying in bed, her expression one of sympathy, and love.

“No.”

“…” That left Firestar speechless.

“I will not leave you.” There was a finality in his voice, one that Firestar found hard to argue with.

“But Radiant…”

“No buts Firestar, we all knew the risks; I will not leave you alone… too much can happen if I’m gone.” As much as he wanted to save his mom, his immediate family, his wife had to come first.

“I love you.” Firestar said with a tear in her eye.

“I love you too.” Radiant said, he turned around and stared out the window. What he saw next sent shivers down his spine. “No! Don’t try it again!”

…………….

Luna put up a good fight. Her blows were landing on all the right spots on the large dragacorn, but even she had her limits. Something she was quickly approaching.

Ataxia was pissed, the dragacorn lashed out with flame and tail, attempting to claw, bite, and burn the black alicorn every time she got within range. Her rage made her lash out a few times Luna was not in range. Luna kept striking at the re-growing flesh of her left wing. She sought to keep it from fully healing, always setting it back ever so much. However, even Luna was forced to acknowledge that her attacks were getting weaker. Every time Luna shot it she was able to set it back one step, but it was re-growing at the pace of three.

She needed a new plan, this might work for a little bit but her magic was quickly draining and Ataxia would soon take wing again. With Cadance out of the fight and Luna growing so weak, that flying would soon be an issue. It was bad news for everyone.

Worse yet, by her most generous calculations, they had only kept Ataxia busy for seven minutes. That meant she still had another eight before Twilight and Rainbow would get here.

She was growing desperate for some way to stop this, some way to set Ataxia back. Well, really, she just wanted to stay in the air. As much as she tried, she could not gain altitude anymore.

Her next attack did not even phase the dragacorn. Ataxia responded with a blast from her fire, one that singed off part of Luna’s mane. Luna retreated and tried to fly up, it was a fool’s errand, as her strength was gone.

That was something Ataxia was quick to take advantage of as she leaped up with her hind legs and swatted Luna out of the sky. The blow from her claw put a smile on her face. It would soon be over.

Unlike before, Luna’s reactions were not swift enough to save her this time. Her magic was spent. She felt several bones break with the impact. The force of the blow, the pain of impact, and the feel of her fur and skin being ripped off when she landed on the dirt. It was unreal and painful, very, very painful.

Luna was surprised that she maintained consciousness through it all, any other situation she was sure it would have knocked her out like a light. She gave thanks for that small favor, if she had fallen unconscious now, it would have all been over.

“Princess Luna!” Several guards ran up to help their stricken princess. Luna looked around, Ataxia had knocked her several hoofs away from where she had last used the tri-blast attack.

That gave her an idea. It was stupid, dumb, and risky; but there were no more options left. It was the only attack she had that might keep the dragacorn at bay, and as Ataxia was approaching even now, she saw little other choice in the matter.

“Form up.” Luna coughed up blood as she said the words. They were out of options now, it might set them back in the long run, but what would be the point of holding off if Ataxia killed them all first?

“Princess, I…”

“Form up.” Luna said again. She knew what he was going to say, that this was a really, really, bad idea, but it was this or die. Luna would never go down without at least trying. Between a long shot and certain death, she would take the long shot any day of the week.

“Yes princess.” The guard looked defeated; he did not want to do it, every fiber of his being told him not to do it, but his training overrode all his natural instincts. Therefore, he turned around and gave the order anyway. There was nothing more to say, they all knew this would not go well, but no one had any better ideas.

Luna tried to stand; she failed. As she suspected the blow had broken her left two legs. She used her last remaining reserves of magic and wrapped her legs in a magical strap. The straps would bear the weight of her body and allow her to stand. Luna slowly, ever so slowly got to her hooves and walked to her position.

It was as much as show for herself as it was for the other unicorns in the attack. It would not due to see your commander in such a sorry state right before you tried something stupid and dangerous.

“Begin.” Luna stated the words; her eyes glued on the approaching dragacorn, who even now was beginning to walk towards her, a look of murder and hatred in her eyes. Whatever had happened to the mare, Luna was once again taken aback to how such hatred could fill someone like Ataxia. It was unreal to think that this was the same mare that she had gone on so many hunts with. That she had spent so long talking to.

There was no time for such thoughts. The formation had begun.

The twenty-seven unicorns that made up the base of the attack begun channeling their power, they let it build up over three seconds before sending it, as one, to their sergeants.

If it was rough before, now it was almost impossible. Every pony in the formation had drained themselves from using the attack earlier, still, they all knew their duty and would not slouch when given an order from a Princess of Equestria. Orders were orders, regardless of how you feel about them. You can be ordered to die for a cause; and you do it because you have faith that your commander would not spend your life recklessly. This was good, because that was precisely what would happen, to some of them at least.

The twenty-seven fell as one, each one drained past the point of exhaustion. While, given time, most could recover. Several would not; their deaths would be recorded as the sacrifice of heroes.

Assuming there was anyone left to make such a recording.

It all fell on the three sergeants now, the three focal points of the tri-blast formation. They had to take the magic given to them by their troops and amplify it. It was a difficult task at the best of times, which this was not.

Yet, against the odds, they did it. All three of them successfully held the magic given to them by their troops and amplified it, they multiplied the magic several times over, allowing it to increase in power as they did so. As one, they lowered their horns and transformed the magic to Luna. All at the exact same time.

Well, almost at the same time.

The new one, the sergeant brought in to replace the one taken out of the fight by the Titan attack. He was a little slower to regain control of the magic he held. He compensated well, but because of that, it took him a split second longer to send his power to Luna. A split second was all it took for things to go bad.

As Radiant said, in this formation timing is key. The reason for the formation and the timing is for the force of the energy to cancel each other out. To do otherwise is to court disaster. As Luna would soon learn.

She cried out as the magical energy from two squads struck her horn; it forced her head back and threw off her balance. The magic holding her up failed, causing the mare to almost fall back on her side. Almost, if it were not for the third set of magic.

The third group sent their energy at the princess, the magical energy of the third caused her neck to snap back the other way, almost breaking it. Luna felt the energy coalesce in her horn, it joined with the other three but it was out of balance. The energy began cascading dangerously. Until, at last, it forced a way out. A way to relieve the pressure that had been building.

As with all such pressure, it took the path of least resistance. Directly out of Luna’s horn.

Luna’s horn exploded from the out of control energy. Shards of it flew off like a frag from a grenade. They imbedded themselves into several unicorns, causing a few deaths as the pieces struck vital spots that went unprotected by the armor they wore.

When it was over, and the energy had fully dispersed from the area; every unicorn guard and princess lay on the ground. They lay as still as the dead of night.

…………………..

Ataxia paused in her pursuit of the one that had been hurting her. She felt something… or rather, she felt the lack of anything in that direction. The force that had driven her to the location she had sent the alicorn, it was gone. She could feel that there was no longer any reason to go there, or rather, she no longer felt any need to head in that direction.

However, there was still something in the city that required her attention, something that a large part of her wanted to see dead. Without the draw of the other one, she could focus one hundred percent on this one. It was simply to the right of her. Still a little off, but that did not matter. She could feel it all the same, the other one, the other bug she had to swat.

Ataxia stood up on her back legs and turned her head to see if she could see it. She could, the pink one, she was crawling away. That made her smile, bugs deserved to crawl in the dirt, not that it would stop her from crushing them underfoot.

Her stomach growled, that made her smile, she had a much better idea in store for this one. She would not crush it at all. She would eat it.

…………..

Cadance both saw and felt the magical explosion. She could feel… feel that something was lost, that something important was gone. She did not need to see it to know that Luna was more than likely dead. Whatever she had tried, it failed, and in the worst possible way.

“Auntie… no.” Cadance cried out. She had never expected Luna to be the one to die. If someone was going to die… Cadance thought it would be her. She was not the fighter or combatant that Luna was.

A glance to her right made her regret ever thinking that thought. She saw the shield spell surrounding the hospital. Luna’s death… it changed nothing; she still had a reason to live on. There were ponies who were counting on her to live.

That was what mattered.

Cadance continued crawling to the hospital. She was half way there, only fifty more hooves to go.

Against Ataxia, that might as well be on the other side of the city. The dragacorn arrived and placed a claw directly in front of Cadance’s path; effectively cutting off her only means of escape with the ease of stealing candy from a foal.

Cadance rolled over and blasted Ataxia with all the magic she could muster. If she was going to die, she would not do so without a fight.

The blasts did nothing. Ataxia just looked at her with the glare one reserves for a bug that proved to be a slight annoyance. Cadance smiled at that; if she could prove to be a slight annoyance to a creature this powerful, then… then that was a victory in its own right.

“Ataxia… know that I don’t blame you for this. Whatever happens… I know your true heart, and I forgive you.”

Ataxia lowered her head and opened her mouth. As Ataxia chomped down, Cadance’s last sight before she closed her eyes was of roll upon roll of teeth closing in, and clock in the distance that stated they had only lasted eight minutes.

………………………………………………….

Ponyville

On a normal night, Ponyville was a quiet, peaceful town. Most of its citizens would have bunkered down for a good night's rest, though a few of them would still be up. Most noticeably there would always be a group of foals running around trying to come up with new and exciting ways to get their cutie marks, much to the dismay of their parents and everypony in their vicinity.

Yes, on most nights Ponyville had a relaxed quiet atmosphere, and despite its growth in population, ponies could enjoy a good night sleep. Of course, on those nights Ponyville was not hosting an entire battalion of griffins.

True to the promise he made his wife, Icarus did indeed come up from the Griffin Empire three days after she left. They had arrived in Ponyville late in the evening and Icarus decided to hunker down here for the night after talking with Twilight.

His troops took to their small break without issue, they went around and did all the things troops do when given downtime. They got into trouble.

Something Twilight was rather pissed off about. However, with the grilling Icarus was receiving from Rainbow, she decided to let him off the hook, for now.

“So… explain to me one more time, why did you let my daughter, your pregnant wife, fly off with Night to the Dragon Kingdom? I’m just trying to wrap my head around it. So… go slow this time.” Rainbow said with a snarl. She knew that Night would stop by and inform Aurora about everything that had happened. However, she never imagined Aurora would go with her, or that Icarus would let her.

Especially after Orion….

“She… she wanted to go…” Icarus said sheepishly. He looked down at the floor, not able to look his mother-in-law in the eye. It was hard to explain how Aurora had convinced him to let her go. He spent many a sleepless night since then on how she had managed to convince him.

In the end, she just got what she wanted. Something she always got. Although, saying it out loud only managed to make him realize how bad an idea it had been.

“Rainbow, ease up.” Twilight said while brushing up against her wife’s coat.

“No Twi, this idiot let Aurora go into danger all on her own… well, not really on her own, but that’s beside the point!”

“Yeah, when was the last time you were able to tell Aurora not to do something?” Twilight asked with a playful expression on her face. This was almost comically funny. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

“I’ve told her no lots of times! Like that one time where she did… she did… she did the thing… with the… with… with the thing!” Rainbow managed to get out, her memory failing her at that moment.

“Oh, that time she did the thing with the thing, I remember that time! It happened right after that time with the thing!” Twilight could not help but break out into laughter at that. Icarus wanted to join her but he was a little scared at that moment. He knew from their training that Rainbow was his superior in every way. Still, that did not stop him from chuckling.

Rainbow glared at him. Silencing any further part on Icarus. “I know I’ve told her no before!” Rainbow yelled.

Twilight just shook her head. “Rainbow, you have said the word no to her, I’ll give you that one, but there has not been one time in your life you kept to it. Face it, Aurora has had you wrapped around her hoof since the day she was born. How can you blame Icarus for being in the same boat?”

“What, are you defending him now? You know she’s your daughter too.”

“Yes Rainbow, I’m well aware who my children are, and no, I’m not defending him. It was dumb to let a pregnant mare go to the Dragon Kingdom.” Icarus’s heart sank at that, he had foolishly believed that maybe Twilight was on his side. “However, I understand why he let her go, and deep down, so do you. Had you been in his horseshoes, you would have done the same thing.”

“Griffins don’t wear horseshoes.” Rainbow commented with a pout. She hated logic most of the times, simply because it always seemed to side with Twilight.

“No need to be petty, Rainbow.” Twilight’s stern look caused Rainbow to shrink back.

“Sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Twilight said, more on instinct than anything else.

Rainbow glanced up, part of her very surprised that Twilight still had that automatic reply to somepony apologizing. “Sorry I was petty with my words… and I’m sorry I yelled at you, Icarus. Even if you were stupid for letting your wife risk her life like that.” Rainbow wanted to add the last part, but she kept it to herself.

“Thanks…” Icarus said.

“Don’t think tha-“

Knock, knock.

A knock at the door interrupted Twilight’s words. She looked over and opened it with her magic. Pound Cake was on the other side, looking bewildered to all hades.

“Twilight… Rainbow…” Pound said between deep breaths. “The griffins… they’re… they’re trashing Sugarcube Corner. Come… help… quick….”

After Pinkie’s death, the cake twins took over running Sugarcube Corner full time. Many considered it a waste of their skills, but Twilight saw it for what it was; it was an expression of their love for the pink mare that they did not want her shop to close. Therefore, needless to say, Twilight was not happy to hear news. She had known the griffins were causing trouble, but she did not know it was this bad.

And neither was Rainbow, but before either of them could say a word, Icarus stood up to his full height and held out a claw to stop them. “I got this.” He stated. Icarus grabbed Siros’s Vengeance and sheathed it on his back.

Rainbow was impressed, in the blink of an eye the griffin put on his command appearance and went to deal with the issue. Perhaps, just maybe, there was something more to him.

‘Well, there would have to be for him to win Aurora’s heart the way he had.’ Rainbow thought with a smile.

They watched as Icarus and Pound left to go deal with the problem alone. Twilight turned to Rainbow. “So you think we should go with them? Just as a show of unity?”

Rainbow just laughed. “Don’t get me wrong Twi, I’m sure we could instill proper fear into the troublemakers, but trust me when I say, NOTHING causes a solder more fear than when their commander walks in and sees them doing something stupid, something they know they should not be doing. Icarus will be more than capable of dealing with this all on his own.”

Twilight just smiled, she had not thought of that. Although, she did have one small thing she wanted to ask Rainbow. “You know, we do still have a few days until Ataxia is due back, if you wanted to go and check up on Aurora, I would understand.”

Rainbow thought about that, she reached a decision rather quickly. “No, I trust Night to take care of her big sister. Besides, I wouldn’t want to leave my favorite egghead alone.”

“Thanks Rainbow.”

“Hey, I did promise after all.” Rainbow let out a yawn, one in which Twilight soon reciprocated. “Shall we call it a night? Or do you want to pull another all nighter in the lab?” Of the last three nights, they had slept in a bed one of them. Twilight was going off of coffee and Rainbow yelling at her to go to bed. She did not have the heart to tell Rainbow it was that instance that helped her stay up.

“You know what, that sounds lovely.” They had been interrupted by the arrival of the griffins, but she was at a good stopping point anyway. Twilight turned with a smile and started walking up the stairs. Rainbow watched her flank bounce a little, a clear indication that she was in the mood. Something Rainbow was more than happy to assist her with.

Sadly, Twilight did not make it more than three steps before another loud bang was heard from the door. Someone else was at the door and they wanted in desperately. Rainbow turned around. “Who could that be?”

“I don’t know…” Twilight reopened the door. Much to their surprise, Spitfire was on the other side.

“Spitfire? What are you doing here?”

“Twilight… Rainbow… It’s… It’s Ataxia! She’s back! Cadance… Luna… they’re keeping her at bay, but they need help, now!”

Rainbow turned to look at Twilight. They should have had another three days before she was due back. Could she have healed that quickly? Did the spell wear off?

They did not know. Nor did they know how a mare that was supposed to be in retirement flew down here, from the looks of Spitfire she really went all out to get here. That alone spoke volumes of the sort of trouble they were all in.

“Rainbow, go. Tell Radiant in five minutes to ready a reverse portal conjectural micosentex portal.”

“A what now?”

“A teleportation beacon. They don’t last long so tell him to have one ready in five minutes. I’ll get Icarus and gather everyone up for teleport.”

“Can you even do that? I mean… with your power the way it is?”

“Not without the beacon. I’ll need it in place to teleport this may griffins.” Twilight glanced out the window. The sight of so many griffins in Ponyville made her reconsider. “I may have him limit it to only a select few….”

“You sure?”

“What are you still doing here? Go! Now!”

“I’m going, I’m going!” Rainbow ran out the door and shot off into the sky. Every head in Ponyville turned to look up as several sonic rainbooms appeared in her wake.

Running the math in her head, Twilight knew it would take Rainbow about a minute to reach the Crystal Empire. Well… maybe not that long, she had no doubt that Rainbow would exceed what was considered a ‘relatively safe’ speed. Relatively safe being in relation to how fast she could travel if she really wanted to. When it came to Rainbow, you could only compare her to Rainbow. Anything else would be an apple to orange comparison. Her best guess estimate was that Rainbow would arrive in the Crystal Empire in thirty seconds.

Twilight turned to Spitfire, “Stay here. I've got to go get Icarus and let him know.” With a flash of purple magic Twilight teleported to Sugarcube Corner, she was sure that Icarus would be none too pleased about this turn of events.

Spitfire looked around the room. She was not sure what the protocol was for this situation. Sighing, she gave up as soon as she spotted something that looked comfortable. She walked over and collapsed on the couch. She glanced up at the clock before her strength finally left her. What she saw put a smile on her face. “I made it from the Crystal Empire to Ponyville in thirty-nine minutes, a new personal best.” She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note

Cadance and Luna failed. The Crystal Empire has to last another 90 seconds before Rainbow arrives.

Will the shield hold?

By the way, if you're wondering why Cadance kept having to psyche herself up, it's because against a monster, it's easy to lose all hope. She couldn't let that happen so she had to keep finding her resolve every time something went bad.

Shocking Revelations

Southern edge of the Griffin Empire

Night, Aurora, and Fey all looked to the south. There were hordes of dragons flying around. Some were fighting each other, and others were simply hunting. Everywhere they looked were dragons flying in groups of all shapes and sizes. They were all as intimidating as any dragon Night had ever seen.

“Well… this is what we came here for… right?” Aurora tried to hide the fear in her voice, but even this was too much for the pegasus. Night did not blame her one bit; she felt the same as Aurora. One look at Fey Light was all it took to confirm that she and Aurora were not the only ones that were afraid.

The captain maintained his stoic posture, but it was due to her familiarity with him from the last few days that Night was able to see through the griffon. That left her with a detailed knowledge of his tells. From the way in which he carried himself to the way he gripped his spear. It was all a dead giveaway to anyone watching, provided they were familiar with how he normally looked. The captain was scared.

Night could not tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She considered it a good thing because fear is a great motivator. Fear checks your actions by giving you something to consider, and he had a lot to be afraid for, most noticeably his charge, her sister, Aurora’s safety.

It was also a bad thing because if the captain could be afraid… what did that say about their chances? Then again, Night was not counting on him for their safety; if push came to shove, she would take care of that herself. She had made that very promise and if there were only one thing she would never do, it would be to break a promise. As Rainbow always told her, “Your word is you bond. Don’t make a promise you know you can’t keep, and don’t break a promise if you can help it.”

Night glanced over at her sister. Aurora was so strong, so fast, and she had the force of will to match. It was hard to remember at times that she was just a pegasus. She had no magic, no large amount of power to use at a moment’s notice. Night would often forget that about her big sister.

Even now, Aurora showed a lot more confidence than Night felt. Even with the fear in her voice, it was hard to spot any break in her resolve. Night’s eyes instinctively went down to Aurora’s belly, and the foal that was growing there. After losing Orion Knight, for Aurora to come out here, she had to have complete faith in Night’s abilities.

Night vowed one more time not to let any harm come to her sister. Regardless how many dragons she might have to fight. Even if that put her against every dragon in the kingdom, she would fight them all to save her sister.

“You ready?” Aurora turned and asked her younger sister, startling Night in the process.

Night paused before answering, this is what they came for, but now that she was looking at it, doubt hung over her head. ‘For Ataxia.’ Night thought. She could do this; she would do this, for her friend’s sake. After what happened, Night owed her that much, at the least.

“Yes, let’s go.”

Fey Light gripped his spear ever tighter as Night gave the command. She almost chuckled at that. It was somewhat comical to the alicorn.

“Don’t worry captain; I’ll protect you if something goes wrong.”

“Night, don’t tease the captain.”

“Ruin my fun why don’t you?”

“Big sister’s prerogative, besides, he’s my captain of the guard. That means I’m the one who gets to tease him.” At that, both sisters started to laugh. For Fey Light’s part, his gaze never moved from the dragons in the distance, or more specifically, the three that were rapidly approaching the group.

Night noticed him raise his spear; she looked in the direction he was staring. Her disposition immediately changed as the happy smile from her sister’s joke faded in an instant. “Aurora, we got company.”

Aurora looked over as well. She gulped when she saw what was on the way. “You have a plan, right?”

“Somewhat….”

“Somewhat? Night, that doesn’t sound like you at all.”

“I… I don’t think it matters right now what I sound like. A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” Night said as she quoted from General Firefly’s personal notes.

“So, wait… just so I understand, you flew to the Dragon Kingdom without knowing exactly what you were going to do when you got here?”

“I figured I would just wing it.” Night said sheepishly.

“Just wing it? Remind me to kick your flank when we’re done.” Aurora gave Night a look that said ‘what the buck is wrong with you?’

Night was more than used to ignoring her sister’s condescending attitude. She thought about it for a second. There was not good idea that came to her head, not a one… however, there was one thing, and it was one thing that no one would think would be a smart move. One most would consider a stupid, idiotic, and dumb idea. It was just the sort of thought that Rainbow Dash would have, that part made Night smile and frown in equal measure.

‘Perhaps I am more like Rainbow than I thought.’ Oddly, that thought almost made her chuckle. “I know what to do.”

“Yeah, what did you just think of?” The look on Aurora’s face said she had anything but confidence in whatever featherbrain plan Night just came up with.

“Oh, I could explain it, or I could just do it.” Night said with a smile.

“Night! What are you going to do?!” Aurora shouted. It was too late, far, far too late to stop her sister. As Aurora spoke, Night began to channel her power into her horn. She built up enough power to cast a glamor spell on herself. One that changed her appearance into that of a huge, dragon sized alicorn.

Fey and Aurora could only watch, stunned into inactivity, as Night’s form disappeared. A pure white, glowing, magically created, dragon-sized alicorn replaced it. The huge creature cast a light spell from its horn that shot out in every direction, blinding those who looked directly at it.

It had the desired effect. The three approaching dragons stopped in their flight, hesitant about just what they were going against. Every other dragon in eyesight turned and looked in their direction, unsure just what that was or how they should respond to such a threat.

It was not long until one of the larger dragons took flight. For the dragons, your authority was dictated by your size. The larger the dragon the older it was, as a dragon only got old by being the biggest and the strongest. It was in essence a perfect example of a might makes right culture. Anyone could rule, provide you had the strength to back it up.

The dragon that approached was easily twice the size that Spike ever was. While it was not the largest dragon that Aurora had ever seen, that honor going to the dragon that lead the attack against Warclaw, its size was still quite impressive to the pegasus.

Shimmering Night maintained her form until the last possible second. When the huge green dragon landed in front of her, she let the glamor spell go and transformed back into her normal look. The look of disbelief on the dragon’s face was almost comical; almost, if it was not for the fact that she could easily eat the largest buildings in Warclaw for breakfast.

When the green dragon spoke, she did so with a deep, greeting, voice. “Who are you? What are you?” There was real curiosity to her question. That spell was powerful, very powerful, it was obvious she had seen many forms of magic in her life, but this was on a new level. She had never seen a being cast such a large glamor spell.

“I’m an alicorn, Princess Shimmering Night of Equestria.” Night stated; she removed all uncertainty in her voice. This was something she was good at, something she had always been good at. Diplomacy had always come easy to the alicorn. She just had a way with anyone who would listen. Anyone who would give her the time to explain the situation.

“I’ve never seen a real life alicorn before.” The green dragon’s entire posture changed, it almost looked defensive, as if she expected an attack at any time.

“That doesn’t surprise me, there are not that many of us around, There are only four of us to be exact."

The dragon nodded at that, she had obviously heard of them. “Tell me, what brings a Princess of Equestria all the way down here? Have you come here to take what is ours? Again? Just as your kind did all those years ago?”

Night was taken aback by that, this was the worst news she could have heard right now… if the alicorns of old really did drive off the dragons, just as Ataxia’s story said they did, did that mean everything else was true as well? ‘Remember, the best lies are the ones cloaked in truth.’ She had to remind herself of some of her old lessons with Twilight.

“I promise you, we are not here to take anything from anyone; I’ve come seeking information, nothing else. Information that can only be known by somepony… somedragon that was alive thousands of years ago. I’ve come to talk with the… the… the Dragon King.”

The green dragon let out a puff of black smoke. To Aurora, it almost seemed like she was laughing. “We have no such title; there is no ‘Dragon King!’” She said with no small amount of hatred and venom in her voice; it was the sort of statement that implied the exact opposite of what the words indicated.

Night did not look convinced by that, whatever this dragon meant by that statement, she obviously had her own prejudice against whomever had that title, her body posture and venomous tone said that in ways that words never could. However, she would have to augment her approach to keep the conversation going in a productive direction.

“Then… was there ever someone who went by that title? Some dragon that the others would refer to as such? Ever?”

“There is one who the others claim to be a king. They do so simply because he is the oldest of us. I will never refer to him as such. Not since…” She stared off in the distance, a lost expression on her face, one that quickly turned to anger.

“Can I talk to him, please? It’s a matter of life and death.”

“The lives of ponies have no value here. What do we care if ponies die? The only reason I spare your lives is because you are royalty. Now go and be gone, before I really lose my temper.” The green dragon let out a flame breath into the sky, letting everyone know that as far as she was concerned, this conversation was officially over.

Aurora stepped back a little at that; she had not intended to, but she could not help but feel a little fear. Almost as if this was simply too much for the mare. Her last encounter with these dragons had not ended well, the pegasus almost died during their attack on Warclaw. Even if these were not the same dragons, they were still dragons.

Fey Light stepped up to her side; she found his presence reassuring for the simple fact that he too seemed scared. Something her sister showed no sign of being. That alone was rare, Aurora had always been the strong one growing up, and she was the one who always took care of her big brother and little sister. For the roles to be reversed like this…. What had happened that caused this change? Was Ataxia truly that scary that Night had no fear of this dragon?

Little did Aurora know that Night felt the exact same way about her. The two were pushing each other to not be afraid. Their courage was due to the other being there, the support they were giving each other.

Night spoke aloud, her voice brimming with confidence, even if she did not truly feel it, she could still fake it. “Because… the creature attacking us, she is very special to me. We’ve come to know her as a dragacorn, and she was... is my friend. I cannot go home without knowing how to save her from what she has become.”

“Dragacorn…” She knew that name, the look on the green dragon’s face told Aurora that much. “So, It’s finally happened.”

“What’s finally happened?” Aurora asked, shocking herself with her boldness, yet she would not let Night upstage her.

The green dragon turned her massive head to the new speaker, she was so small, so tiny, so weak, yet she dared talk to her like an equal. “You, little one, what is your name?”

“Empress Princess Aurora Flash.”

“That’s quite the title; tell me Empress Princess, what makes you think you can address me?”

Night went to step in; she turned to look at her sister. The look on Aurora’s face told her that she had no need to step in; Aurora could handle this all on her own. “Because, dragon, I am a ruler of two separate nations. I am the daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Rainbow Dash. Both of which have enough power to destroy this world several times over if they so desired it. I won the heart of the Emperor of the Griffin Empire. Yes, I am nothing more than a pegasus, yet I command the respect of those much more powerful than me, and I did it all despite not having any magic. Now tell me, what have you done in the past forty years that’s half as impressive as any of that?”

The conviction in Aurora’s voice said it all; she had long ago gotten accustomed to being known as the ‘weakest’ of Twilight’s foals. Yet those who thought that way were gravely mistaken. True, she did not have the magical abilities that Dayspring did. His affinity for magical spells and love of learning were only surpassed by Twilight. Night always suspected that had her brother lived he would have surpassed Twilight, maybe not in raw power, but in pure capability.

Aurora was not born special, well not in the way Night was, Night had been born an alicorn, the first one ever. She was marked out from that one fact alone that there would be great things coming from her. No, Aurora did not have any of these qualities. Yet, when it came to pure force of will, the natural talent to command others to get exactly what you wanted when you wanted. Aurora was a natural. She always had been.

Yes, magically speaking she was the weakest, but as far as Night was concerned, Aurora was by far the strongest of all of them. Her being here was more than proof of that.

The green dragon saw it too; she lowered her head in submission. Yes, she was stronger, but raw strength does not prove you right. She could not lie to herself; this pony was impressive. “Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought. Moreover, this dragacorn, if we don’t stop it, what do you think is going to happen? You said yourself that the alicorns drove you from your land, if this dragacorn can kill them, what do you think it could do to you. To all of you if it so desired?”

Fey lowered his spear in response to the dragon’s slight change in body posture. She seemed to accept this new truth, this new set of facts she had not considered before.

“Now tell me, what about the dragacorn? You seemed to know that name.”

“It’s a legend, a myth from thousands of years ago, he said it would one day happened. I never believed it myself; however, it is not for me to explain. I will take you to him” The green dragon stated, no small amount of hatred in her voice.

The green dragon took flight, heading south. She was followed closely by Night, Aurora, and Fey; Night flew up to her sister. “And I thought I was the diplomat in the family.” She joked.

“You are, and that wasn’t diplomacy.” Aurora said with a smile.

“That’s true.”

“I’m still going to kick your flank in when we get back, or maybe I’ll just let Rainbow do it after I tell her what your epic ‘plan’ was.”

“Or maybe we’ll just all get eaten by this dragon we’re here to see.” Night said with a hopeful smile. One that Aurora did not share at her little joke.

Fey Light was not too happy about it either, but he simply wrote it off as the banter between two siblings. Still, that did not stop him from flying just a little closer to the pony that did not just make a joke about being eaten by dragons.

Night shrugged when she saw that. Part of her wanted to smile over his behavior; he showed all the loyalty and dedication that the Canterlot royal guard had. Yet… as much as she did not want there to be, as much as she wanted to get past it, there was still something off about him. Something that she could not quite get past.

Night added a little more speed and caught up to the green dragon, she wanted to get some more information before they talked to this ‘Dragon King.’ Even if it was a touchy subject with the green dragon, any little bit of information would help.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is this dragon you’re taking us to like? He’s not just going to eat us, right?”

The green dragon laughed. “You three would be nothing more than a morsel to him. It would not be worth the energy to digest. No, you have no fear of him eating you. Not unless you tick him off.”

“What’s he like?” Night repeated the question. “You seem to have a personal connection.”

“You’ll see for yourself.” The disdain was obvious in her voice. Something had happened between her and this ‘Dragon King’, something that caused her no small amount of hatred towards him. Night did not need to use her magic to see that much.

She knew that pushing for more information would be a bad idea, whatever good will she bought or coercion that Aurora used would not matter one bit if this dragon got truly mad at them. She only had to take a quick look around to know that they were flying deeper into enemy territory. If this dragon decided to attack, Night might be able to handle her, but all the attention they would garner would be a whole another story. Worse, it would ruin any small chance they had of figuring out how to save Ataxia. It was a lose-lose any way she ran the numbers.

Shimmering Night shrugged and reduced speed to fly next to her sister.

“What’s wrong Night, not enjoying the conversation with our oh so pleasant guide?” Aurora asked sarcastically. Night just rolled her eyes at that. It was so like her sister to poke at her during a time like this. Night had learned over the years to deal with it, after all, they were family.

“Princess, empress, are you sure this is a smart move? We have no idea if she is leading us into a trap. She could be taking us deeper into her territory to eat us.” Fey Light looked concerned.

“Griffin, if I wanted to eat you, I wouldn’t need to take you anywhere.” The green dragon responded. All three heads turned to look at her; she was flying forward, but her head was staring directly at the three of them.

“I… I…”

Night liked Fey like that, speechless and shown up. She could not say why, but seeing him knocked down a few pegs just made her happy.

“Sorry, the captain of my guard did not mean anything by it, he’s just… concerned about my safety is all.” Aurora did her best to apologize for the captain; she made a mental note to lecture him about proper protocol later. Mainly, not speaking so bluntly without permission.

“And yet he let you fly into the Dragon Kingdom despite your… condition.”

Aurora’s hoof instinctively fell to her stomach. Still, she had to set the recorded straight about one thing. “He didn’t let me do anything. I go where I want. It was my husband who insisted he come along.”

The green dragon smiled at that and looked back in the direction she was flying. She could respect a mare who took what she wanted.

“Ma’am, how far are we going anyway? I only ask because…” Night was flapping her wings harder; the small rest earlier was cut short due to the unexpected arrival of the dragons. It was apparent that she still needed to rest her wings some.

“We’re about a half day’s flight out, and none of that ma’am stuff. Call me Qurnem Flame.”

“Qurnem Flame… thanks.”

Qurnem looked back at the purple alicorn; it was obvious she was struggling to keep up with the group, the dragon laughed a little at that. The little pony was easily the strongest of the three creatures that came into the Dragon Kingdom, yet she was struggling to keep up. ‘Perhaps, for them, strength is not measured purely on the physical?’ That thought made her smile. It was so alien to the dragon.

“You’re welcome to rest on my back while we fly. In fact, both of you should probably do just that. Not you though, I won’t have you touching me.” Qurnem looked at Fey Light when she said that. Aurora just shrugged; Fey had a reputation in the Griffin Empire with the sheer number of dragons he had killed, which was part of the reason why he had been made the captain after all. It made sense that the dragons would know him as a butcher of their kind.

Night was not sure why, but to her it looked like there was pure venom in her eyes. Qurnem seemed to dislike Fey far more than Night did. She shrugged it off, whatever the reason; it was simply one more thing that Night liked about this dragon. It was a small list, but it was growing.

“I’m fine, I don’t need to rest.” Aurora said. She was, the mare could easily stay in the air for days at a time. She just counted this whole thing as a way for her to stretch her wings and let loose some built up pressure. Normally something Icarus would help her with, but even he could only go for so long. Unlike her sister, Aurora never slouched on her training. It was part of the reason why she was able to maintain her figure.

Night landed on the back of Qurnem and teleported her sister right next to her. Aurora looked at her with daggers in her eyes that she would dare do something like that without permission. Night simply smiled back. “I know you don’t need the rest, but your foal might. There is no reason to put undue stress on your baby, Aurora. You should know that by now.”

Aurora huffed, she hated when her sister was right, as many a griffin had told her the exact same thing. Still, she did have to reinstate her status as older sister. “Don’t think this gets you off the hook with Rainbow. I’m still telling her about your lack of training and that featherbrain plan.”

“Yeah, I know.” Night looked defeated at that.

True to her word, it did take half a day for the four to arrive at their destination. Night never once stopped looking around. She knew, without a doubt, that no pony had ever been this deep into the Dragon Kingdom before. This was a once in a lifetime event and she loved every minute of it.

About thirty minutes into the flight, Night conjured several pads of paper and ink to begin taking notes. Aurora looked over her shoulder in interest in just what she was writing. To her, nothing of any real note was occurring, or at least nothing that was worth writing down.

Her sister obviously did not feel the same. Aurora sighed and gave up trying to figure out what was going on in Night’s head. She went and got into her stockpile of cookies that she brought along for this journey, noting with some distain that there would not be enough to last for more than a few days. Well, not the way she was going through them anyway. Her pregnancy had only increased her sweet tooth.

Once she was done, the mare settled in for a little nap. She was not tired, per se, but she could not find fault with Night’s earlier comment. It was smart to rest herself as much as she could, for her foal, if not herself. Her doctors, and husband, had told her as much. Now that her sister said the same thing, well, she could no longer find fault with it.

As she closed her eyes, Aurora’s final sight was of her sister’s goofy grin as she saw something in the distance that drew her full attention. ‘Never change, Night. Never change.’ Aurora thought before sleep overtook her.

….

“Aurora, Aurora, wake up!” Night shouted at her sister.

“Five more minutes.” Aurora said, never once opening her eyes.

“No, we’re here. C’mon, get up.” Night began prodding her sister’s more ticklish spots, something that caused the mare to jump up. Aurora hated it when her sister went there.

“Stop it!”

Night just laughed, she knew from experience over the years just how much she could get away with before Aurora got really mad. She was at that line now. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

“Very funny, Night. Why did you wake me up?”

“Trust me, I wouldn’t if I didn’t have too, you’re much easier to deal with when you’re sleeping, but we’re here.”

“And I want you two off my back.” Qurnem Flame stated, reminding them both that she was still there.

“That too, I had to convince her not to just roll over and let you fall off.”

“Thanks.” Aurora said to both of them, one was genuine one was sarcastic; she just was not sure which was which. Aurora spread her wings and took flight. Night soon followed and Qurnem Flame went in for a landing. She put down on the ground, stretched her back, and wrapped her wings around her body.

Aurora took a moment to look around. The surroundings reminded her of the red rocks around Warclaw, with a few noticeable differences. The primary one being the heat. Without the speed of their flight to keep her cool, the entire area was like a sauna.

“Hang on, it’s time to lower the sun.” Aurora watched as Night went to work lowering the sun. She knew that even after it went down the heat would remain for most of the night.

Qurnem Flame watched with fascination as the small pony lowered the massive object in the sky. She had been right; the light purple alicorn was quite impressive. When it was down Aurora landed next to her sister. “You know, I’ve always known you would be amazing, Night.”

Night smiled as she looked back at Aurora. It had been her sister’s first time watching her at work moving the sun. That brought a feeling of immense pride and sadness to the alicorn. Pride over her sisters remark, and sadness about them not being as close as they once were. There was a time when Aurora would have been there every time for her sister’s achievements. That was a long, long time ago. “Thanks, what can I say, I had quite the role model.” Night rubbed up to her sister’s fur. She felt the sweat pouring off her sister and the heat she was just radiating.

“You’re burning up?”

“It’s just… just the heat. I’ll be alright.”

Despite Aurora’s comments about her being ok. Night knew how she felt, she was in the same boat as far as that went, but her sister’s needs had to come first. “I know what to do.” She focused her horn and cast a spell over both of them. Twilight used the same shield spell in Gehenna all those years ago. Both mares instantly felt thirty degrees cooler.

Fey Light landed next to them, his spear back in his claws. “Captain, you want me to shield you too?” Night asked.

Fey Light shook his head. “This is nothing compared to my training, I’ll be alright.”

Night simply shrugged. Fey Light was a big boy, she did not really care if he wanted to suffer. All she was concerned with was her sister, and with her health no longer in doubt, Night continued looking around. They had landed at the base of a mountain…. A volcano to be precise. The entire structure was embedded with diamonds and gems of all sizes. Some bigger than boulders.

Night could easily tell without being told that this was the lair of a dragon, and not just any dragon but that of a dragon king. It could be nothing else. There was not another dragon around for miles. While she could see many off in the distance, she could tell that they were all keeping a set length away. Almost as if, they were afraid of coming any closer. For a dragon to be afraid of a location with this many gems, it was either their king, or a Titan, and the latter were all dead.

The only exception to that was Qurnem Flame, whose expression seemed to be more pissed about having to be this close to some place she did not want to be. Night did not understand why, but she did not need to. Qurnem Flame and this ‘Dragon King’ obviously had some sort of history, but if Qurnem did not want to talk about, Night would not force it. There was no point in bringing up painful memories that would not help anyone.

The entrance itself was studded from floor to ceiling with gems. So much so that Night suspected even Rarity would find it overdone. The other dragons had obviously left these gems as some form of tribute to the dragon that lived here. Even more evidence that this was the lair of their king.

Night looked at Qurnem Flame. She was disgusted by this whole affair; just looking at her told Night that this was the last place that she wanted to be. “Do we just walk in or do we need to be announced?” Aurora asked. Unsure just what sort of protocol needed to be followed before going to see this particular dragon.

Qurnem Flame just looked at her, her expression said it all; there was no way she was going to walk into that lion’s den. “I think we just go in, Aurora. If you want, you can wait out here. There is no need for you to go any further.”

Aurora cuffed Night across her ear. “I’m with you to the end, sister. You don’t even need to ask.”

“Thanks.”

Fey Light moved closer to his charge. Aurora just looked at him. It was a look that stated if he took one more step it would be his last. She made it official with her order. “Captain Fey Light, stay here. Whatever is going to happen inside, your services will not be required.”

“Empress I-“

“That’s an order, captain.” Aurora said; her voice allowed for no discontent from the griffin guard. To his credit, he was quick to understand when he was not wanted. The griffin smartly saluted and took off, he began laps around the areas seeking to provide early warning for any sort of threat that may come their way.

Night rightly suspected that his efforts would be wasted; whoever this dragon was, the rest of his kind was obviously staying as far away from him as they could. She highly doubted that even the presence of the three ponies would cause them to forget who lived here, much less to be daring enough to try anything.

She turned as her sister brushed up against her coat. “Lets get going.” Aurora stated.

“Yeah, this is what we’re here for after all.” Night and Aurora walked into the cave. Despite the shield protecting the two from the heat, Night could still feel the immense heat coming from down below, she knew, without a doubt, that if it were not for the shield the two would not last long in this cave, they would both faint from heat exhaustion before they even made it to the center. Night glanced over at Aurora and was immediately jealous of her older sister. Aurora just radiated confidence, she did not hesitate to put one hoof in front of the other, Night could not say the same.

Sure this was her mission, but if this truly was some sort of king of dragons, they were about to talk with one of the oldest creatures on the planet. Night paused as a thought popped in her head. She had been in the presence of Gods. Her mother was an Avatar to the God Gaia; her best friend was the Avatar to the God Chaos. She… if everyone else was to be believed, was a demigoddess herself.

She should not be afraid of some dragon. Regardless how powerful, big, old, strong, or dangerous it may be.

‘Yeah… keep telling yourself that.’ Night thought. It was one thing to think it, quite another to actually do it. Sure, she had power, real power. Yet, she knew not how to use it, or even what she might be able to do with it. To this point, she had only been using her stronger spells as a reaction. She was still unsure how she coerced her mom’s energy like that. Such a thing should be impossible. She knew of no spell that allowed its caster to change someone else magic.

Night lit her horn as the two sisters walked farther into the cave. It was massive, easily able to fit buildings side by side through it. If the outside was covered in gems and precious metals, the inside put that to shame. Gold coins, diamonds, rubies, and sapphires lined the floor of the cave. In fact, there was no sign of the cave floor anywhere Night looked. Everywhere was simply treasure, as if the place was built from it.

“There is more treasure here than in all of the Griffin Empire.”

“Aurora, don’t think about touching any of it.”

“I wasn’t! I was just saying…”

“Yeah, I know what you’re saying, Aurora. And just don’t, ok?”

Aurora pouted a little at that, she did not believe that this dragon king would actually miss a little bit of gems given that he had so many. However, she had not studied up on dragons the same way Night had. Night knew that dragons would know, it was just in their nature. Steal one piece of treasure and they would hunt you down to the end of the world to get it back.

Therefore, Night kept one eye on her sister and one eye going forward. Part of her could not believe that this cave was so long, she still could not see the end of it. It was just… dark. Regardless how much power she put into her horn. What was odd though was that the darkness had a color to it… it was purple.

“What the-“Night did not finish the sentence. The wall, the edge of the cave. It started moving. She poured enough power into her horn to teleport half a city in one go. The entire area lit up from the sheer amount of power. She realized something, something that made her stop in her tracks.

The cave was even bigger than she realized. And the path they were walking down was not the floor at all. They were walking down a tail, a tail that was buried in gems. One that started moving when the entire area lit up.

Night and Aurora took flight as they saw that there was even more gems in the area than they thought. This was easily more treasure than existed in the rest of the world combined. The treasure started moving, an avalanche of gold and gems as the creature under it all woke up.

The dragon king, if ever there was a creature that could easily outclass Ataxia it was him. He was the size of a mountain, more so when taken into account the fact he curled up on the floor. The creature opened its one massive eye, the other lost centuries ago to some unnamed foe. That one eye, it was starting directly at the two ponies that dared enter his domain.

His eye focused on one in particular. He stared directly at Shimmering Night. When he spoke, his voice was ancient, it was one that had not been used in hundreds of years. The voice echoed around the cave, making it impossible to tell from what direction it came if you did not know where the head of the dragon was.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CAVE?” It was a low growl, yet it echoed, almost deafening those who heard it speak.

From the tone of his voice, Night knew this creature did not consider them a threat; they were more of an annoyance than anything else. “Are… are you the Dragon King?”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CAVE?” He repeated the question.

“We… we’re looking for the one known as the Dragon King. There is information we need from him, nothing more. We’ve not come to steal anything if that is what you’re worried about.”

The creature’s laughter said it all; he had long grown past the point of worrying about anything. “LITTLE PONY, YOU HAVE INTERRUPTED MY SLEEP, BE GONE BEFORE I CAST YOU OUT, OR WORSE.”

“No.” Aurora surprised herself with that remark; she would not see their mission ended at this stage, not when they were so close. “No, we’re not leaving until you talk to us.”

“NO?” The creature lifted his head as more treasure than what existed in all of Equestria fell to the ground, the sound of it echoed all around the cave. Aurora could only watch as the largest head she had ever seen in her life removed itself from its resting place. It was obvious this dragon had not moved in hundreds of years. How he came to be so buried in treasure she would never know.

Aurora did not lose her resolve. “I said no, we’re not leaving, I don’t care how big you are or how threatening you look.” The mare landed on the Dragon King’s large snout.

She glared in the dragon’s eye. A Large marble that was bigger than any she had ever known. The pupil alone was larger than the throne room in Warclaw. The dragon breathed deeply, its very breath caused the temperature in the room to increase by ten degrees.

“LITTLE PONY, IT HAS BEEN A MILLENNIUM SINCE THE LAST CREATURE AS EVER SPOKE TO ME AS SUCH. HIS CORPSE STILL SITS OUTSIDE OF MY CAVE.”

“You think I’m scared of you? You think you’re intimidating to me?!” Aurora was getting angry, something Night did not want to see happen.

Night knew where this one going, Aurora was more than used to getting her way, she would stare down anyone from princesses to kings to that end. She would do the same to this dragon; regardless of the fact this dragon will kill them both without thinking twice about it. Something he was just about to do.

Flames shout out from the dragon’s mouth. “YOU’RE A FEISTY ONE AREN’T YOU, I WONDER IF YOU WILL TASTE SPICY GOING DOWN? ASSUMING I TASTE YOU AT ALL.”

The dragon moved his head with a speed that beguiled his size. Aurora fell off his head, her natural instincts caused her to immediately spread her wings and fly. The dragon opened his mouth and went to devour her whole.

His jaws never shut. Several magical columns appeared in his mouth preventing them from shutting. He looked on confused, unsure just what had prevented him from enjoying this new snack.

Aurora’s brain took a minute to figure out just what had occurred. “You… you tried to eat me…”

While she had not been chewed, Aurora was in the dragon’s mouth. Down the dragon’s throat, she could see the fire building up as it started to come straight for her.

“NIGHT!” Aurora yelled.

Night concentrated hard and teleported her sister away before the fire hit. He let it loose in the cave. If it was hot before, this new temperature put that too shame. Even with her shield up, Night felt like she was on the verge of passing out.

“Chill out!” Night yelled at the top of her Lungs before she fell unconscious from the heat.

…………………….

When Night opened her eyes. The sight of it was that of a dream. It was snowing…. She had not seen the snow in months, and should not have seen any for another three. It brought back memories of Hearth's Warming Eve, back with her family during the better years.

“I wonder if it will ever be like this again.” Night said to nopony in particular. She denied it every time she was asked but she could not deny it to herself, she missed the old days more than she could ever say, more than there were words to say. Given a million times a million words, she did not think she would ever be able to express it.

The times she spent with her moms, sister, and brother. They were the best in her life. Waking up to such mornings, going out, and playing in the fresh snow. All of it. It was all precious to her; she would give anything to have that time back. Sadly, that was not possible; Dayspring was gone… Aurora had her own responsibilities, so did Night. Those days… they would have to stay in her mind. At least there she could treat them like the treasure they were.

Even if she would occasionally have memories of Bright Dawn, try as much as she did, she could not quite forget him. Some memories were better than others.

“You ok, Night?!” Aurora yelled as she flew closer to her sister.

Night looked around; she had not been expecting that here. Not in her dream at least. What she saw made her realize that this was anything but a dream. She was still in the cave, except… it was anything but. It looked… it looked almost comical; the entire cave was covered in snow, snow that was still falling.

Aurora, she was flying down to her, her blue coat turned white from the layer of snow that constantly refreshed itself. “What… what happened?” Night asked her sister.

“Well, dipshit there tried to eat me, but you stopped him, you teleported me out of his mouth and when he tried to fry you… well…”

“YOU COVERED MY ENTIRE LAIR WITH SNOW.”

That got Night’s attention in a big way, she looked up at the dragon, part of her wanted to smile, this huge dragon, this creature, the only creature she had ever seen that was bigger than Ataxia… bigger than a Titan even, he was coated in snow. She could not see any of his purple scales from the white snow that covered him.

The dragon closed his eyes and concentrated, building up the fire inside of him. Night watched as all the snow on his scales melted into water and then evaporated. The cool mist sent chills down the alicorn’s spine.

“How… how did I do that?”

“We were hoping you could tell us actually. He said he’s never seen anything like this before.”

Night looked at the dragon; he just shook his head in confirmation of her sister’s words. It was almost funny, almost, if they had not just about been killed by the creature. “You were out for about a minute before we saw you get up. Sorry we couldn’t find you sooner. However, well… you… you were well camouflaged.” Aurora laughed at that.

“Yeah, I bet.”

“LITTLE PONY, IT SEEMS WE DO HAVE A LOT TO TALK ABOUT.”

“Oh, so now you are willing to talk?”

At that moment, Night wished she had some way to shut up her sister. They really, really did not need this right now.

“Aurora, can you give us a minute?”

“Night?”

“Aurora, I agreed to let you come along, but I expect you to follow orders. Now please, give us a minute, it’s my mission and I want to talk with him alone.”

Aurora looked dejected at that, but Night held firm, despite her sister’s ‘But mommm…’ Look, Night was not going to fall for it. She was not Aurora’s mom or her lover, she was her sister and despite being the younger sister, in this case she knew best, or at least, she hoped she knew what was best. The dragon could still easily eat her. ‘Even if that happens, I won't have to see Aurora’s ‘I told you so’ look. So… win-win.’ Night thought to herself.

“Fine.” Aurora turned to leave, shaking off the fresh snow from her wings and coat she took wing, Night recast a shield spell around her, she knew it was cool in here, but that did not mean it would be outside. She strengthened it just for that reason alone. With the sudden decrease in temperature here, it would be that much more of a shock on Aurora’s body when she did step outside.

When she was gone, Night turned to the Dragon King. “Thank you.”

“YOU THANK ME? I WAS GOING TO EAT HER AND FRY YOU.”

“Yes, but you stopped yourself. So much has gone wrong over the past few days… we needed a break, while it wasn’t your original intent, I do thank you for talking with me. I suppose I should start from the beginning?”

“NO, I HAVE A BETTER IDEA. BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO TRUST ME.”

Night thought about that. ‘Trust him, well… I guess if his intention was to kill us he could have done it already.’ She nodded at the dragon. The large creature raised one of his gigantic claws. The claw itself was larger than an entire tower of Celestia’s Palace, the tip looked like it could cut a mountain in half. He lowered it slowly towards Night. She almost took a step back… almost; the sight of this huge claw coming straight after her checked her resolve about this whole situation.

To her credit, or perhaps stupidity, she held still. When the tip of the claw was hooves away from her horn, the dragon spoke. “CLEAR YOUR MIND.” The claw tip made contact with Night’s horn and in that one second, her entire world melted away.

…………..

When Night came to, she was in Ponyville, or at least that is where her mind said she was. She looked around, all over the place there were ponies going back and forth, without a care in the world. She smiled as she saw this place, it was nice, good, and something she remembered. She remembered all of this actually. From the decorations all around, Night could tell what day it was, it was Hearts and Hooves Day….

“I’ve… I’ve been here before.”

“I know you have, these are your memories after all.”

Night turned around, directly behind her was a dragon, one that looked in his teenage years yet still carried an aura of mysticism about him. He was winged, purple and without a doubt, a little cute.

“It’s you… the Dragon King.”

He bowed before the princess, “That is what others call me yes, not a title I ever wanted or sought after. Yet one I am stuck with all the same.” He seemed bitter about that, Night did not know why.

“Why… why are we here?”

“We’re here to learn about you, Princess Shimmering Night. You intrigue me, and I want to know more.”

“I don’t have time for this; I need your help to save my friend!”

“You mean her? Or her? Or her?” Several different versions of Ataxia flashed before Night. The Ataxia that Night was first introduced to as a filly, the Ataxia that Night saw get her cutie mark, the Ataxia that Night saw broken when Dayspring and Aurora told her to buck off. The Ataxia that Night made friends with, the Ataxia that Night grew up alongside with, the Ataxia that Night knew as an adult, and then later as a dragacorn.

“Yes…”

“I know all about her, she doesn’t interest me anymore, I want to know more about you, or more precisely, I want you to know more about you.”

“But… but… but…”

“I’ll make you this promise, you help me learn about you, with you, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know about her. Sound fair?”

Night thought about it and nodded. “I don’t know what you could possibly want to know about me for, I’m not that interesting.”

“Really?”

More scenes played out before her, Night talking with Discord in Ataxia’s mind. Night drawing the energy away from a Titan, Night conjuring a magical circle to help Ataxia defeat Lord Tirek, Night conjuring several more to help stop Ataxia. Night transforming Twilight’s magic to save her friend.

“I would say any of these bear more study, wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know… they don’t seem like that big a deal to me.”

“Modest as well…” The dragon smiled. “Consider my curiosity peaked, demigoddess.”

“Please, don’t call me that.”

“Oh, but it’s what you are. You are a demigoddess.”

“I know, but…”

“But what? You are unique, Princess Shimmering Night. You have not one, but three mothers. Unlike your other siblings, you were born from their love of each other, not from excess magical power.

“What are you getting at?”

The dragon sighed. “I thought you would have caught on by now, I guess I’ll have to do this the long way.” Three ponies appeared before the two: A purple alicorn, a cyan blue pegasus, and a golden pegasus filly. Night recognized all three of them, even though she wished she would have never laid eyes on the filly again.

“These three beings are your parents.” The dragon king stated it, it was not a question.

“Yes, those are my moms, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. That filly, she is the God Gaia. I doubt that is how she actually looks, but that is the form she showed us after Twilight was killed by Tartarus.”

The dragon king nodded to all of that, his one good eye focused on the alicorn. “Indeed, yet as I said before, of all your family, you are unique, your brother and sister.” Two more ponies appeared before them, one hurt Night to even look at. “They were created by Gaia’s excess power.”

Night nodded, she heard the story many times growing up. “Yet you, Princess Night, you were created by Gaia wanting to have her own offspring, she empowered your parents, using their love for one another and sprinkled her own magic onto it. She used her command over life itself, mix with their love, to create you.”

“So?”

“I’m getting to that. But first let me ask, your cutie mark, it is unique, yes?”

Night nodded. “Yes, I was the first pony ever born with one.”

“So growing up, you never learned what your special talent is, did you?”

Night shook her head. Most fillies and colts would spend their childhood trying to find out what their special talent is in life, Night never did, there was no need, as she already had her cutie mark. It did not make sense to go crusading for something she already had.

“Much like you, it is very unique.” A large picture appeared before the two, one of a dragon and a griffin holding up a golden crown, an exact replica of Shimmering Night’s cutie mark. “By not exploring just what this is, by never knowing what your special talent was, you have missed what you are truly capable of.”

“You know what it is? What it represents?” The dragon king nodded his head.

“Yes, and I think you know too. Don’t you?”

Night thought about it. She recalled everything Discord had told her, her battle with the Titan, with Tirek, and with Ataxia. “It’s… it’s… it’s magic.”

The dragon king nodded again, “I knew you were clever, but what exactly about magic?”

Night shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

“Princess Night, I think you are sure. When you fought the Titan, what did you do? What was it that you wanted to happen? How did you defeat him?”

“I wanted the magic to leave him; I wanted him not to be protected anymore. So Luna could finish him. Discord, he… he told me I was special. He told me Gaia was my mom too… I… willed away the energy from the Titan… I just wanted it gone, and… and it obeyed.” Night looked up, she was beginning to understand what he was getting at.

“When you two fought Tirek, what was it that you wanted to do? What was is that you wanted to happen?” The dragon king repeated his question for the new situation.

“I… I wanted to increase Ataxia’s magic, to ensure that she would be victorious. I wanted Ataxia to win; I wanted her magical blast to be enough. I wanted to increase its power.”

“And against Ataxia?”

“I… mom… she told me to hit her with my strongest attack, that I should not hold back at all.”

“Why did Twilight tell you that?”

“She… she thought I was weak, that my attacks wouldn’t be able to hurt her if I held back.”

“Did you hold back?”

Night looked at the ground. She had always done as Twilight had asked of her, no questions asked. Yet, on this one scenario, she had gone against what Twilight wanted to her to do. She had not been sure why, she still was not sure why. “Yes, I did.”

“Why?”

“Because… because I was afraid.” The truth was like a weight lifted from her. Saying it made it real.

“Afraid of what?”

Night was really beginning to hate this game of twenty questions. “I was afraid of what I could do if I gave it my all. Afraid that if I went all out, I might kill her, or everyone. I think… I know I have power, more than anyone else thinks I do. I just… I just don’t know how much, or how to control it.”

The dragon smiled, it took some work but they had finally reached the apex of the conversation. “You should be, you should be afraid of that much power.”

Night looked up at him at that comment. “What do you mean?”

“Princess Shimmering Night. Think about it. When you defeated the Titan, you willed the magic protecting him away. When you fought Tirek, you willed Ataxia’s magic to be stronger. When you fought Ataxia; you willed your power to be strong, yet even then you held back. In doing so you created a blast the likes of which have not been seen since Princess Twilight Sparkle fought against the reaper.” He paused to let that sink in.

“Let me ask you one further question. How long as it ever taken you to learn a new spell?”

Night thought about it, back to the days when she would train with Twilight and Dayspring. Those memories hurt, not physically, but because of how much she took those times for granted. How she wished she could get those times back. “I… I… I’ve never had an issue learning a new spell.”

“I know, I’ve seen your memories, you learned every spell you were ever taught the first time, didn’t you.”

Night wanted to deny it, that she was not the prodigy that her brother was, but it was true, she never had an issue learning something new. It was just her complete lack of caring about such things that prevented her from going further with it. Perhaps, that is why others never noticed either? Twilight would never force her to learn something she did not want to learn. Rainbow, of course, had no knowledge of the magic she was doing, and Dayspring, well he just seemed happy to bogart all of Twilight’s attention. ‘He was always such a mommy’s boy.’ Night thought, more than a hint of jealousy in her thoughts. She never said anything but it always bugged her how much time Twilight would spend with her only son.

“I guess…”

“I don’t. I’ve seen your memories; I know it to be true.”

“What’s your point?”

“She still doesn’t get it. Very well, I will explain it to you. Princess Shimmering Night: The first alicorn ever born, the only pony ever born with her cutie mark. The Demigoddess, the daughter of Gaia, God of Life and Magic. The daughter of Princess Rainbow Dash. The daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Your special talent, your magic, your very birthright, they are all one in the same. Princess Shimmering Night: You. Command. Magic.”

To say Night was flabbergasted at that would be an understatement. However, the dragon king was not done. “You've never cast a spell in your life. Everything you have ever done has been you willing magic to do your bidding: You told the magic to leave the Titan. You commanded Ataxia’s magic to grow exponentially in power. You willed your magic spell to increase several thousand times more powerful. You are the Demigoddess of Magic itself. The command of magic, all magic, falls to you. It is your birthright.”

“When you told me to ‘chill out’ in my lair, the entire cave filled to the brim with snow. The magic of the world obeyed your wish, even though you knew not how you did it, you still did it.”

“But… but… but…”

The dragon king smiled. “No buts, Night.”

She shut her mouth. It was all too much. “I… I command magic?”

He nodded his head. “It may take you decades to learn how to fully control it, I suspect up until now you have merely been acting on instinct, your strongest emotions forcing their way to the forefront. Like for her.” A vision of Ataxia being rocketed to the moon by Twilight’s magic came before them, and Night redirecting that magic to perform a very different task. “Your love for her allowed you t-“

“I don’t love her!” Night shouted, a little louder than she intended to. “Not like that anyway….”

The dragon king smiled. “You can lie to yourself, Princess Night. But you can’t lie to me.”

“It’s not a lie….” It sounded weak even to Night.

“I see… too bad you do not.” With that, the entire world changed. To be replaced with a brand new one, one she remembered clear as day. They were out front of the Ponyville schoolhouse. They saw Shimmering Night as a little filly, she was flying along with Rainbow when the two heard a noise from below. Night was only four when this occurred but she would never forget it.

“Tell me, what happened on this day.”

Night watched for a moment until the memory cemented in her mind, she could never forget this day. “This was the day when Dayspring and Ataxia got into their fight.”

“Indeed.”

The two watched as Dayspring approached a younger Ataxia. It caught both Rainbow and Night’s attention. The shouting and the yelling begun seconds after. It was after the fact that Night learned that Rainbow would not interfere. This was Daysprings doing; it had nothing to do with her. She had promised Twilight, that unless it was life threatening she would let her kids live their own lives.

Watching it again, it once more broke Night’s heart. Dayspring, Aurora, and Ataxia had been so close. She still did not agree with her brother’s decision. Shortly into the fight, Aurora showed up. Ataxia sought some form of compassion from the pegasus, but, just as she had all those years ago; Aurora took Dayspring’s side.

Ataxia ran off, she did not want to look at her former friends anymore. For the first time in her life, Night left Rainbow’s side and flew off after Ataxia.

Night did not need to see what came next. That was the day her and Ataxia became best friends forever.

“I know all of this.”

“Indeed, let’s keep going though.”

More scenes played out for the two, visions of Night and Ataxia playing together, of Ataxia showing Night some new and exciting spell, one in which she easily duplicated. Of Ataxia running away from home for the thousandth time. Night found her easy enough. She would always run to the same spot.

Visions of Ataxia’s fight with Tirek and the closeness they shared since that day. Of the large number of times they would spend together, times in which Night now saw in a completely different light, for both Ataxia, and her. Visions of their date….

“Stop.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to see that.”

“You’re not ‘seeing’ anything, these are your memories.”

“That was one of the worst days of her life. I don’t want to relive my friend’s pain.”

“Then don’t, as I told you before, I’m not interested in Ataxia, I’m interested in you. Watch your reactions, watch them the way she saw them.”

“How is that possible? I can’t have her memories.”

“Princess Night, more bonds exist between two souls than just the literal, I’m surprised you don’t know that already.”

Night turned and went to speak at that comment, yet nothing came out. She closed her muzzle and turned back to the show. They were indeed watching her own reactions during the date. For with all she knew, she could call it nothing else, it was in fact a date.

“She looks… I look, happy.”

“You look more than happy.”

They watched as Night teleported away the two ponies to the jail cell in Canterlot; they watched as Ataxia led them to that museum, they watched as Ataxia comforted Night after seeing the statue of her brother. They watched as the two came so close to kissing.

It paused there.

“Tell me, what do you look like here?”

Night could not deny it. Not looking at herself, not right now, that was the look of a pony who was about to kiss someone she loved for the first time. Her eyes were shut, her mouth slightly open. There was just a look of utter… utter content on her face that could not be denied.

“I… I… but I’m not a fillyfooler.”

“So you’ve said, yet your heart, and your body, both say something different. Tell me, what would be so wrong with loving another mare?”

“It’s… it’s… it’s…” Night did not have an answer for that.

“You’ve let the prejudice and the biggity of others take root in your heart. You’ve allowed yourself to be ruled based on how others might perceive you. And in doing so, you denied a portion of yourself. Shimmering Night, you and you alone created this crisis.”

The images changed to that of the possible; Ataxia’s attack on Equestria, Night cringed as she saw buildings destroyed, villages burn, and ponies die by the thousands. “Make no mistake, your friend is coming back, her heart has been corrupted by dark energy, it found purchase through the hole in it, but, you are the one who left that hole in it, who let the evil into her very being.”

“I… I... I don’t know what to do.”

A new memory played for her, something recent. She was with her sister in the throne room of Warclaw. “How can you help Ataxia if you’re so conflicted with yourself?” The words played over and over, as if they were on some sort of broken record.

“I… I…”

“Say it.” The dragon stared at her, she could no more lie to this creature, one of the oldest on the planet than cut off her own horn.

“I love her.”

The dragon smiled. “How do you feel?”

“Like a weight has been lifted from my back.” It was the truth, simply saying the words, making them real; it released a burden Night was not even aware she carried. A weight she did not know she had on her until it was removed. “I feel good.” She smiled. That alone surprised her, but in a good way.

“Princess, you hid your own emotions and feelings behind the bigotry of others and in doing so, you denied a portion of yourself.” He paused to collect his thoughts.

“I’ve been alive longer than I can remember. Remember these words; if there is one true sin in this world, it is to deny who you truly are.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, it was all you. It’s always been you.”

“Now will you tell me… how can I save her?”

“I already have, there are many ways, but it’s up to you to find the one you want to use.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ataxia told you the story. I know, I have seen your memories. However, she did not tell you the whole truth.” The scene before the two changed yet again, they were in a cave with dragons all around them. “This is the land that would be known as Equestria during the coming of the first alicorns, the ones that drove us from the land.”

“Ataxia said something about that.”

“Indeed.” The scene played out before them, the arrival of Discord, his promise, him implanting a gift into the dragon king. His advice on leaving, and then the dragon’s departure. To Night’s surprise, it kept going.

“How… how are we seeing this? I don’t have any memories of this.”

“Indeed you don’t, these are my memories.”

“But didn’t you leave at this point?”

“Yes, but I looked back. I may only have one eye left, but it sees more than most.”

The scene kept playing; Night looked on in disgust as Lord Tirek stepped out of the shadows. She could not make out what they were staying but it was irrelevant, it was not what this dragon wanted to show her. The scene went on until; at last, Discord pulled out the wheel and spun it.

The scene stopped. Night walked forward to look at it, to truly look at it. it looked like some sort of carnival game. “What is it?”

“That, Princess Night; is the right question. It took me centuries to figure it out. That is the wheel of fate.”

“There is no such thing as fate.” Night repeated her mother’s words.

The dragon laughed. “Yet the wheel exists. This creature, whom you know as both Discord; Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, and the God Chaos. He created the Universe. He created it to be chaotic in nature. Your own memories of your experiences and the stories of others told you as much.”

Night just nodded her head.

“He created causality, cause and effect, random chance, it all came from him.”

Again, Night nodded.

“As with all things, he cheated.”

“Wait, what?”

“Keep watching.”

The wheel began spinning again, until it landed on an image of the Tree of Harmony, Night watched as Discord slammed his lion claw against the wheel, every image on it fell off, to be replaced with an image of Ataxia.

“You see, it took me ages to figure out what this meant, he rigged the deck, he fated this creature, this dragacorn, Ataxia; he fated her to kill off all the alicorns. She cannot be stopped or killed until she completes this task. Fate will not let her. Every time fate must intervene, she will come back, stronger and faster than before, until she completes her mission.”

Night wanted to be sick, she felt sick. Yet nothing came out. “But… but… but…”

“I told you she bores me, there's nothing worse than playing a game when you already know who the winner will be.”

“I… I… I…”

The dragon looked at her. it was one of sad acceptance. “As long as there are alicorns left, or she carries this destiny, this will happen. I’m sorry, your friends and family, they will fail to stop her.”

Night paused; something he said made her think. “She told me… she told me when she fought Tirek, that she escaped her fate when she gave him her power….”

“It is true, Tirek had the ability to steal magic away from others; however, he can only take what is available. Ataxia’s power is limitless, as fate will supply her with all she needs.”

“Tirek, can only steal magic, what about someone who commands magic? Can’t I command Ataxia’s magic to leave her, forever?”

The dragon king smiled. “I knew you would put the pieces together. Although, I should warn you, it would be the equivalent of cutting off a pegasus’s wings, or crippling an earth pony. You would be taking away everything that makes the mare who she is.”

“I… I know.” Night said with an air of defeatism in her voice.

“But I-“ She stopped, eyes wide as she felt something, the dragon king felt it too. As one, they both looked to the north.

“It seems as if we are out of time.”

The world faded as the two ended up back in the cave. Night opened her eyes as the world changed back to the one she had left only a few minutes ago. Aurora was standing over her; it looked like she had been worried sick.

“Night! You’re up! Never, never, never do that again!”

“What?”

“Night, you’ve been unconscious for almost a day now!”

Night got up to her hooves. Memories of everything came back to her, everything they had discussed. “A day?” She looked over to the dragon.

He opened his one good eye. “IT TAKES A WHILE TO SORT THROUGH THE MEMORIES OF OTHERS. I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND, I USED YOUR POWER TO RAISE AND LOWER THE SUN WHILE YOU WERE UNDER. BESIDES, I THINK YOU HAVE MORE IMPORTANT BUSINESS RIGHT NOW, DON’T YOU?

Night nodded at that. “Thank you. Aurora, we’ve got to get back, now.”

The tone of Night’s voice left no doubt in her mind. “Ok… but it will take a few days to travel all the way home.”

“No, it won’t.” Night smiled.

“What happened?” Aurora looked at her strangely; there was a new aura around her sister. A slight change, but one she could never miss.

“I know what I am, I know who I am, and more importantly, I know how I feel. You were right sister, that was the key all along.”

Aurora was more confused than ever, but Night took off. They had waited long enough. As the two flew out of the cave, Night paused one last time and looked back. “By the way, for the sake of my curiosity, what is with you and Qurnem Flame? She seems really mad at you for some reason.”

The great dragon just laughed. “SHE’S MAD ABOUT OUR EGG; IT’S A LONG STORY, ONE YOU DON’T HAVE TIME FOR.”

Night just shrugged and continued flying. As the two left the cave Fey Light joined them. Aurora was right about one more thing; normally it would take at least three days to get back to Equestria, but that was before Night knew what she did.

All creatures have some form of magic; this was true for griffins and ponies too. Earth ponies had a special connection with the ground, allowing them to grow food in all but the most inhospitable of places. Night suspected, no she knew that certain ponies, such as Pinkie Pie, they had other things they could do with their magic. Pinkie’s pinkie sense for instance.

This was also true for griffins and pegasus. Their wings were how they channeled their magic, using them they could fly. Otherwise, they would be grounded as their wingspan alone was insufficient for proper lift. Shimmering Night willed, no, commanded the magic around her, Aurora’s, and Fey Light’s wings to increase in velocity. The three blasted off at speeds that only Rainbow had been able to achieve before now. She knew, with training she would one day have no need for flight, she would be able to teleport herself anywhere she wanted, but that would have to wait. It was too dangerous to try right now.

They were going fast, too fast. Night created a magical spear to protect them from the wind pressure. Aurora gasped and looked at her. “How are you doing this?”

“It’s a long story, one we don’t have time for.”

“Why not?”

“Because, an alicorn has died. I sensed it in the cave when I was talking to the dragon. I can’t explain how I know, but I know.”

“Mom?”

Night did not know.

“Princess, I take it you found a way to stop her?” Fey asked, his professionalism never left him.

“I did, I think I can take away her magic.”

Fey nodded. “An equitable solution.”

Aurora just looked at Night in shock. “You would do that to her? Take away part of who she is?” Aurora could only imagine what that would be like for Ataxia. She shuddered at the thought.

“You don’t understand, Aurora; Ataxia is a weapon of fate itself. She can’t be stopped.”

Aurora did not know what to say about that.

“I’m not saying I want to do it, but if left with no choice. If it’s that or someone else I love dying before me, I will.”

Aurora just stared at her sister in silence.

“You were right about one thing. I… I cannot deny it any longer. I love Ataxia, but I will not let her kill someone else. She would never forgive herself or me if she knew I could stop her. I know you two had a falling out, but she is a good mare and I do love her.”

Aurora flew closer to her sister as the ground flew by. “I know she is. All those years ago, I sided with Dayspring because… because we thought it might change her. To be honest, she did change; she changed when you two became friends. That’s where we went wrong, she did not need tough love; she needed a friend. I’m… I’m glad it was you there for her.”

“I didn't let her down then, and I won’t now. Consider it a promise.” Night said as she commanded even more magic around the group, increasing their speed exponentially.

Author's Note

Shimmering Night, Demigoddess of Magic. What's her plan? Will she make it in time to help her family?

Can she stop fate? Can fate be stopped?

From bad to Worse

The Crystal Empire

Everything had gone wrong; there was no longer any hope to stop Ataxia, or to save her. In her worst-case scenarios, she had never imagined that it would end up like this. That Luna would be… She could not even think it. It did not matter anyway; she would soon be joining her aunt. Ataxia… she was just too powerful to slow down, much less stop. They had been fools to even try. Princess Cadance closed her eyes as the jaws of death enveloped her, her last sight was of the clock in the distance, the one that stubbornly said they had only managed to hold back Ataxia for eight minutes. Eight minutes that would change the face of the world forever.

It was a lot to take in, a lifetime had occurred in those eight minutes. They had fought, bleed, and even died in those eight minutes. Cadance saw her own life flash before her eyes. It caused her to smile. Sure, there were a few regrets, but was not that always the case? She dismissed them all, hers was a life filled with love and happiness, with family and children. Cadance had loved deeply, and in return, she knew the love of others. She could not ask for a better life, even with a million wishes she doubted one of them would change things for the better.

The roar caused her to open her eyes. It was not what she was expecting. Cadance had been expecting pain as the razor sharp teeth clamped down on her flesh, than nothing. She had not been expecting a roar, a cry. That roar… it left no doubt that the one that made it was in pain, for that is all that could be. It was a roar of pain and anguish. The type of yell that one gives out when suddenly stung or cut in a most unexpected way.

She quickly figured out why. Cadance saw the cause in a flash, for Ataxia pulled back with a speed that should have been impossible for such a large creature. Even with only a snapshot to go on, that magical energy was unmistakable to the Princess of Love. Fifteen blades were sticking out of Ataxia’s upper mouth. They imbedded themselves into the soft areas, the areas that her scales and other defenses did not protect. The area only a crazy pony would ever think to attack.

The area her son just attacked.

When she looked around, she saw him standing directly in front of Ataxia. He was the very image of the gallant prince coming to rescue his princess. Cadance wanted to laugh; in this case, that is precisely what he was. Although she doubted he would see it that way, after all, his princess was in the hospital, Radiant was coming to rescue his mom. Part of her wanted to yell at him, she never ever wanted to see on this battlefield. It was definitely not part of the plan.

Radiant stood between Ataxia and the hospital, His white coat and red mane flowed in the cool breeze of the night. His eyes, the resolve on his face, Cadance hated that look, the look her son’s eyes carried even now. She had hoped never to see that look on her son’s face. Truly, she had hoped never to see it again, it was the type of look one had when they were facing down certain death. The type of look one has when they take a stand against impossible odds, knowing, without a doubt, that their cause is just, and death does not matter. Cadance could never forget that look, no matter how hard she might try. Radiant Star had the same look in his eyes that Shining Armor had when she buried him.

It was a laser focus, the look you get when you block yourself off from all other things in the world, when you concern yourself with one task and one task only. For Shining Armor, it was stopping the attack, keeping as many of the creatures as he could from reaching The Crystal Empire; all for the cause of protecting his home, his family, and his son. For Radiant, his focus was on Ataxia, the being that almost ate his mom. If history truly does repeat itself, Princess Cadance knew her son would end up dying for the same reason Shining Armor died….

The shield behind him, the one that Radiant Star had to keep up at all cost, the one that was protecting his wife and unborn foals, it sputtered and died. Unlike his father, Radiant Star’s special talent was not in shields, but in swords. Something that was self-evident by his cutie mark of two swords clashing. He could not maintain the shield and save his mom, it was simply too much for the unicorn to attempt all at once. Therefore, the shield failed, and with it, their best defense for keeping Firestar and her unborn foals safe.

“What have you done?” Cadance asked, shocked about her son’s reckless behavior. In her opinion, her life did not matter, not as much as his or his foals. Every fiber of her being wanted her son to get back in there and undue that stupid mistake. She knew he could not. It had taken her son some time to set it up. Ataxia would not give them that long.

“Get to the hospital, I’ll deal with her.” The tone in his voice, it did not allow for any disagreement, no conversation. This was not a request, but an order. He had made his choice; he had made it for everyone. There was nothing Cadance could do about it, what was done was done.

Cadance kept crawling to the hospital; she only moved a few hooves before the team of doctors that stayed behind came out and put her on a gurney. Her last sight before the ponies took her inside was of Ataxia fishing the last sword out of her mouth with a claw before angrily glaring at the small white unicorn that dared attack her.

“I love you.” Cadance called out as the door shut them off from any further conversation. She said the words she wished she had been able to tell Shining Armor before he died.

Radiant held his ground as Ataxia stared down the unicorn. He did not flinch as she roared directly at him, her breath hot enough to cause the temperature in the air to rise by several degrees. She was angry with him, angry that he had stolen her prize seconds before it should have been hers. Radiant met her gaze with his own. He would not back down, not now. He had too much on the line. Failure was not an option.

Radiant was never the powerhouse of any of the alicorns, he could never match the ability of his mom, much less any of his other relatives. He did not have the natural talent of Dayspring, the pure power of Twilight, the experience of Luna, the exceptional ability of Night, or even the speed and grace of Aurora.

He did one thing well; one thing was his claim to fame. It was his talent; it was his raw natural ability. Sure, Dayspring could create and design spells the likes of which no pony had ever seen before. Aurora could charm you into signing over your home with no other expectations other than to see a smile flash your way. Cadance had a way with love that could cause even the starchiest of dicks to break down in tears. Twilight… well, she could do anything. No Radiant, did not have any of those abilities. His claim to fame was simple skill with swords.

In practice, he was unmatched. He had bested Luna and Celestia in the rings with his swordplay. Radiant could create, manipulate, and control up to twenty-seven magical blades all at the same time. A number that was only increasing as time went on. Even with everything that had happened over the past year, he never, ever, skipped a day of training with his swords. Well… he had on his honeymoon, but only because Firestar said she would neuter him with one if tried.

At swordplay, he was the best, the best of the best. He would put all those skills to the test now; in front of him was the dragacorn, Ataxia. A former friend of the family, that was now hades bent on killing everyone he loved. Behind him, in a now unprotected hospital; were his mom, his wife, and his unborn foals. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to go. Here and now, he drew the line in the sand. A line he would hold with his life. He would defend everyone he cared about.

Well, not exactly defend. As they say: ‘The best defense is a good offence.’

He would put that old saying to the test now. Radiant charged forward, that action alone gave the dragacorn pause; that such a small pony, that one so tiny, one that could not even fly would dare attack her head on. It was unthinkable to Ataxia.

Fortunately, no pony bothered to tell Radiant Star that. He charged ahead at full speed, directly at Ataxia’s front legs. It was the very definition of a called shot. Ataxia responded quickly enough; she roared back and went to swipe at him, exactly as he wanted her too. A last second teleport put the unicorn on top of a nearby building. He lashed out with his real attack, Radiant conjured two sets of eight swords, and sent them flying forward, directly at Ataxia’s eyes.

Radiant sent them at her with real speed behind them, but Ataxia was no slouch. The dragacorn shut her eyes as the swords came in, the tough texture of her eyelids were more than enough to break every sword that struck them. Overall, she managed to break twelve of the swords before they struck. The magic energy they possessed was laughingly insufficient to pierce the adapted texture of her eyelids. Her skin adapted from several deaths by attacks that were far, far stronger than his own were.

Unfortunately, for her, the other four had made impact before her eyes were fully shut, two in each eyeball. When she had reflectively shut her eyelids the rest of the way, the hilt of each sword broke off, leaving the blades in place. Radiant’s plan had worked; he had effectively blinded the dragacorn.

She lashed out, as her sudden loss of vision sent sharp pains into her brain. Tail and claws toppled buildings, searching for the pony that had injured her so. Her blows were dangerous, but random.

It was all for naught, Radiant was already on the move. When your enemy lashes out at where they think you are, do not be there. He went to the one place he knew she would never suspect him to be, the one place it would be absolutely stupid to be. After teleporting off the building, he ran directly underneath the dragacorn. Had she been normal, and not some crazy rage filled monster, Radiant knew Ataxia would have approved. That thought put a smile on his face.

His attacks found new purchase on Ataxia’s soft underbelly, a weakness shared by all dragons. He knew his blades could not penetrate the Dragon Steel Armor, he also knew he had no hope of piercing the tough scales. Therefore, he aimed his attacks as a surgeon would. He struck out at the gaps between the scales, the small openings when a limp would flail about randomly. Each strike caused pain in the dragacorn, but not once did he stop. His goal was simple: Keep her guessing, keep her off balance, and always defending. An enemy that is always on the defensive cannot attack.

For Ataxia, each blow was like a bee sting. They hurt her enough to cause pain, but not enough to do any real damage. Radiant knew this too, but he kept it up. While one bee sting would not kill you, get stung enough and you would soon be dead.

Not that he wanted that to happen. He knew enough that if Ataxia fell, it would be bad news for everyone. No, he would not try to put her down; he simply wanted to stall for as much time as he could. A quick glance told him that he had been fighting for a minute now; he still had to keep this up for another six.

That glance nearly cost him his life; while Ataxia could not see him, she was getting the generic location of where the attacks were coming from. With a speed that should have been impossible for a creature her size, Ataxia took flight into the air and swept her tail directly underneath her with enough force to level buildings.

Radiant saw it coming almost too late… almost. He had to concentrate for this one, with his attention focused on keeping the swords in existence that were still in Ataxia’s eyes, it took the rest of his magic to conjure two more swords directly into the path of the tail. These swords were special; they were a little thing he had been working on during his down time.

The molecular blades of the swords were thinner than paper. If one were to look directly at the cutting edge, they would miss it. However, that was exactly what Radiant needed right now. He conjured to the swords to be twenty hooves in length and struck the tips directly into the ground, pointed directly between him and the path of the tail. He had trained for this, but even in training his success record was not good.

It was a gamble to say the least; he was counting on Ataxia’s speed working against her, and the swords not breaking. If either of those were insufficient his heroic, or stupid depending on whom you asked, rescue would fail right here and now. If the swords broke he would die, same if Ataxia’s speed proved not to be enough.

Sometimes you just have to roll the dice.

This time, he came out the winner. Ataxia’s tail slammed into the molecular swords with more than enough speed, she, in effect, cut her own tail off. Radiant was not out of the woods yet, the tail was still traveling at an insane speeds, speeds that would easily crush him if he did not move quickly enough. He rolled to the left, barely missing the tip of the spikes as the tail impaled itself against the building.

Ataxia screamed yet again as this creature caused her even more pain. It would heal, in time every part of her would regenerate. However, it was still the indignation that such a creature, one that was not even an alicorn, could wound her the way he had, and more than once. She really, really wanted to kill him now.

She had enough. If this creature would not accept his lot in life and simply die, she would insure that he meant a swift end if it was the last thing she did. Ataxia landed and faced the direction of her attacker; she reared back on her hind legs and breathed in deep, summing up enough dragon fire to vaporize half of The Crystal Empire. She would end them all, even if it did cost her meal to do it.

Radiant saw it coming, in truth, he had expected this, as this was her trump card against him. He could not fly; he could not teleport any real distance. Besides, it would do him no good even if he could. Her dragon fire would be more than enough to destroy everything in the direction she was aiming it, the direction that just happened to have the hospital in it.

He could not allow that, he would not allow that. Whatever else may come, whatever happened to him, Firestar… the twins… his mom… they must live. He had vowed that when he left to help his mother, when Firestar kissed him goodbye and wished him luck before he left. She had understood that this was something he had to do, something that he could not live with himself if he did not at least try. Even though it broke both their hearts for him to have to leave, they both knew he must go.

She knew all of that, and even though it went against everything she wanted, she let him go. She let him go because of her love for him, trusting that he loved her enough to keep them safe, and if he can, to come back to her.

This was it, this was that moment, nothing else mattered but keeping the hospital safe. Radiant had no choice but to do what had to be done, what he needed to do in order to achieve that objective. Part of him thought it was funny; a year ago, he was seeking a good death, a good place to die in order to step out of his father’s shadow, and now that he was in that very situation, all he wanted to do was see his wife one more time.

‘Is this how you felt, dad?’ It broke Radiant’s heart to think of, he now knew that true strength of will came, not as he originally thought, from having nothing to lose, rather it came from having everything to lose.

His timing had to be perfect. Anything less and they would all die. As soon as Ataxia’s mouth was open to the fullest, Radiant conjured twenty-three blades in her mouth and sent them flying in all directions, directly into the weaker flesh of the and spun them around like a gigantic fan.

The effect was as devastating as it was gruesome. Ataxia muzzle came off with a sickening spray of dark dragacorn blood. As the blades severed the connections keeping it attached, it landed on the ground with a loud thud. Ataxia’s scales might have been enough to prevent most magical attacks, but they could not protect what they did not cover. Blood sprayed all around the dragacorn from the cut veins and arteries.

That was not the worst of it, she had summoned up the fire, and it was still coming; however, it was completely un-aimed. Without that, it went everywhere it could. No long focused, it sprayed all over the dragacorn’s face and body. Scales that were normally impervious to all attacks lost to a fire that burned hot enough to overcome any resistance. Ataxia’s eyes boiled and popped in their sockets. Flesh liquefied and fell off in rolling pools of ichor. The burned flesh left an aroma in the air that Radiant was not sure would ever go away. It made him want to gag.

It was disgusting and morbid to watch, yet Radiant Star would not look away. He had caused this suffering, caused it on someone he knew, someone he considered a friend. So he would not look away. He owed her that much at the least.

Her body fell to the ground, lifeless and still. He knew she would not be down for long, he could already see the chaos magic gathering around her, healing her, improving on the failed design of before. It was ensuring that she could not be killed the same way again. He had gone into this knowing what his trump card would be, that did not make it any easier to use. Of course, that left one other problem, he had no idea what to do now. He had hoped that this would not come until later. Sadly, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Radiant consoled himself with the fact that he had no choice. It was his trump card; he had been watching the battle the entire time, learning her strengths and weakness. All of it led him to the conclusion that she had no external weaknesses anymore. Her earlier deaths had corrected all of those errors. If he needed to stop her, if he needed to put her down for whatever amount of time she would actually stay down, he had to attack her on the inside. Her mouth, when she opened her jaw to unleash the fire, he knew that was when she was most vulnerable. It’s ironic fact of life that you are at your weakest right when you are about to win.

Still, that knowledge did not make it any easier to look at, or stomach for that matter. Seeing Ataxia’s mouth and nose cut off, then burned to a crisp in her own dragon fire, it was… disgusting to say the least.

Radiant did his best to shake it off. He did not have time for that; he did not have time to feel disgusted over his actions. Her regeneration was impressive; too freaking impressive if anyone bothered to ask his opinion. Which of course no one did.

She was only down for half a minute. He stared on in horror as her face, tail and burns all healed themselves. Without her actually being active, the magic was able to concentrate exactly where it needed to be. Her muzzle fully regrew, her tail followed closely behind, and all the while the burns healed in record time. He could already see the minor improvements when she flexed her newly reformed jaw.

“You truly are a monster, aren’t you?”

As soon as he finished the words Ataxia opened her eyes. They were fully healed. No swords to keep her blind. Radiant saw no sign that they just popped due to the extreme heat not less than a minute ago. He reacted quickly enough. Ten swords sought purchase into each of her eyes; seeking to remove that advantage one more time.

It did not surprise him that all ten swords broke upon impact with her eye. They did not leave a scratch on them. Her change… her evolution, it caused her eyes to come back in such a way that they would not be penetrated again. Not by something as basic as a magic sword.

Ataxia lashed out with a claw; one that caught Radiant on his flank as he attempted to roll out of the way. He had been quick, but not quick enough. Still, all things considered it was a minor cut, well, compared to what it could have been.

That being said, it bled, a lot. The gouge in his side was a stark reminder that this was a game for keeps, and unfortunately, only one of them had anything up for anti. He could no longer run at anything with enough speed to prevent the next blow, attempting to do so would simply be a waste of energy, or worse, cause him to bleed out and die.

Radiant teleported behind a nearby building; sadly, it was something Ataxia had anticipated; she followed his magic trail and knew exactly what building he was behind. Ataxia lashed out at the building with her other claw, crushing his hiding place to rubble in one hit. A quick shield spell prevented the debris from crushing him.

Radiant looked on in shock, shock that an entire building could suddenly go missing in the blink of an eye. To make matters worse, the debris blinded him. The dust and rubble prevented him from seeing Ataxia’s tail coming up from the other side. The spike tipped appendage swiped at him with breakneck speeds, enough force to easily impel the unicorn without even registering that he was there.

It never landed; it never landed because at that moment Rainbow Dash had made it to The Crystal Empire.

Rainbow slammed into the dragacorn with the force of a train. Milliseconds before they impacted, when Rainbow was sure of her trajectory, she wrapped her wings around herself while keeping the end as a pointed tip, she willed herself to start spinning. She struck Ataxia as a bullet.

Luna had been right, when it came to Ataxia the only two options were magic and brute force. Rainbow combined those two qualities as one. The force of her impact slammed Ataxia several thousands hooves back, she hit the ground a mile outside of the city’s limits with such force that the impact could be felt all over The Crystal Empire.

Rainbow had taken a page from Twi’s playbook for this and planned ahead. She blunted the attack just enough to prevent herself from going through Ataxia. The tip of her attack was not quite as dangerous as she could have made it. She knew better than to kill her, she just wanted to stop her from killing Radiant.

Radiant missed it, not the impact of Ataxia’s fall, but what had hit her. He missed it at the time because he blinked at just the wrong moment. It did not matter, the preceding rainbow trail and noise vibrations let everypony for hundreds of miles know exactly what had just occurred, there could be no doubt about it, as Rainbow Dash had arrived in The Crystal Empire.

“Hey kid, should you really be out here?”

Radiant glanced behind him, Rainbow had practically appeared right there, as if that was simply her spot. It still amazed him just how fast Rainbow could be when she tried. ‘There really is no limit to your speed, is there?’ He thought to himself.

“I had no choice, mom was about to die… she was about to eat her, and Luna…. LUNA!” Radiant yelled. He almost forgot all about the Night Princess in his rush to try to save his mom. He saw the spell backfire, he saw her horn explode, but that was all he knew.

Rainbow rubbed her ear lobe to try to get her hearing back. She did not know what happened to Luna, but it was obviously bad. “Go, see if you can help her, and then get back. I might need your help soon.” Rainbow said as she scanned the horizon, looking for any sign that Ataxia was getting up. The moonlight did not reveal anything about her location… yet.

Radiant did a double take, then a triple. ‘Did The Rainbow Dash, did she actually say she might need my help?’

“Oh, before I forget, Twilight said you needed to summon up a… a… a teleportation thingy.”

“A teleportation thingy?”

“Yeah, you know, something that would help her teleport up here, I forgot what it’s called. She said she can’t do it without you making the thingy first.”

“Oh, a teleportation beacon.”

“Yeah that, she said to have it ready in five minutes.” Rainbow looked around for a clock. Upon seeing one she smiled, “That was thirty-five seconds ago.”

Part of him was still awe that Rainbow had made it from Ponyville to here in such a short time. Radiant smiled, that was Rainbow, impressive as ever. “Ok, I’ll see if I can do anything to help Luna, then I’ll get right to it.”

“Don’t be late, I’ll need their help too.”

“It’s a promise.” Radiant did not know who they were, but he did not need to. If they were coming to help, that was all he cared about.

Rainbow smiled at that, she knew Radiant more than enough to know he would never break a promise.

Of course, that still did not solve her issue; one look to the north confirmed it, the dragacorn was getting up. Rainbow huffed and took off into the sky; she flew as high up as she dared go, to the point where the lack of oxygen in the air threatened to cause her to black out. She then put everything she had into flying straight down. Easily breaking several speed records she had previously set… well, without counting her attack on the Titan, but that was one record she would rather forget.

That much made her more than aware enough to check her speed, she simply put twenty percent less into it. It would not do to approach the speed of light, not again. The time with the Titan had taught her that much at the least. Still, she was going more than fast enough for what she had intended.

Rainbow slammed into Ataxia’s spine after six sonic rainbooms. She easily overshot the magical energy released by the explosions and hit Ataxia with enough force to break every bone along her vertebra. She felt, rather than heard, the bones along the dragacorn’s back shatter from her impact, along with a few of her own.

‘Physical force, I owe you a cider, Luna.’ Rainbow thought to herself with a smile. Her goal had been simple, keep Ataxia pinned in place until Twilight and Icarus arrive. From there… she had no clue, but she knew her wife enough to know the mare already had six different ideas she would want to try out, with different degrees of effectiveness, of course.

When Rainbow landed, she realized one small issue with her plan. The force of the attack broke her back legs. She lay on the ground and wrapped her wings around them, watching as Ataxia howled and lashed out at nothing with her mouth and front claws. She could see the chaos magic at work trying to heal the damaged nerves and shattered bones.

From the howls of anguish alone, Rainbow knew it must have been very painful for the mare, however, right at that moment; she could not bring herself to care. “You’re lucky I didn’t just cut you in half, Ataxia.” She doubted the dragacorn would appreciate that, hell she might even prefer it. However, Rainbow knew enough to know killing Ataxia actually benefitted her. That was the last thing Rainbow wanted to do.

That part still did not seem fair. Only one of them had anything to lose. However, as they say, these are the cards you are dealt. Rainbow would play her cards, even if the dealer was sitting on two kings.

“Let see which of us heal quicker.” Rainbow watched as the magic went to work on Ataxia’s back. She was quickly getting feeling back in her own hind legs; still, she was not sure who would recover first. That part worried her; if Ataxia could heal such an extreme injury before her own magic could heal a few broken bones… they may not have a chance. Rainbow shook that thought off; she knew that Twilight would find a way, whatever it took.

……

Radiant arrived at the sight of the failed ritual in no time flat. Despite the bleeding from his flank, he ran for all his worth. The wound would close in time and his body would replace the blood. Whatever the cost was, it would be worth it. A life was at risk, possibly lost. He had to prioritize here.

The dead were all over the place… each one marked by bloodstains. It did not take a genius to figure out what had happened. One of them screwed up, too exhausted or overburdened to do the spell properly a second time. It was not their fault. They never should have tried it twice; even he would never try something that foolish.

Well, that was not quite true, if he was being honest with himself. If Firestar, or the twin’s lives were on the line, he would do anything to try and save them. They simply meant that much to him. Perhaps, that was why Luna did it… He cursed the logic of the situation.

‘I guess. I can’t really blame her.’ He thought to himself. Still, seeing the shards of her horn sticking out of several ponies necks… it was hard to look at. Although, not as hard as seeing what remand of the Night Princess. He was lucky that his earlier view of what he did to Ataxia hardened his constitution to such sights.

Luna’s body lay on the ground, motionless, and still. Her left legs were broken, how she had even stood was a mystery to Radiant, one he did not have time to solve. Her horn… the horn of a unicorn, or for that matter an alicorn, was one of the toughest objects around, so much so that a unicorn could use it to impale their foe without risk of breaking. Never in his life had he heard of one breaking. Yet here was the result of that.

Luna’s horn was shattered, broken into all the pieces around him. Some of the pieces claimed the lives of the ponies that were standing too close, others embedded themselves into the ground and rocks that were around the ritual site. What remained on top of her head could only be described shards of broken glass.

Some found their way into the alicorn princess herself. Bloodstains coated her black fur, brightening it with a tint of red. One of them, a very lucky shot from the looks of it, took out her left eye. A shard, half an inch thick, stuck out of it.

It was as gruesome as it was horrifying, yet Radiant did not look away. Compared to what he just made Ataxia go through this was nothing, although, unlike Ataxia, Luna would not be getting up from this. Neither would any of the other thirty unicorns used in the formation. They had all given their lives for this one task, this one job. Just to keep Ataxia at bay another few minutes; it had cost the lives of thirty-one ponies.

Sadly, one of those ponies was the last of the alicorn sisters.

He did his best to harden his heart to it, his mom’s words from a few days ago replayed in his mind. When he found his resolve, Radiant said aloud. “The price of victory. Of course, that’s assuming we win…” He sharply saluted the dead and turned to leave, no longer wishing to look at the death site of those who had given their lives for the good of Equestria. They spent their lives to buy precious seconds for everyone else.

When he was almost out of earshot, when he would have taken one more step and missed it, he heard the impossible. Somepony behind him, one of the thirty-one, moved.

One of them was still alive.

………

As with anything that involved any race once so ever, Rainbow Dash won. Was there ever any doubt?

She stood up on her legs with time to spare. Stretching her wings wide, she took flight. It was good to be back in the air again, even if it had only been a minute on the ground. Any amount of time she had to spend grounded sucked. It brought back memories of the short time she could not fly, that had been an experience she did not want to go through again. Well, that was not exactly true; those events led her to marry Twilight, so… maybe it was not as bad as she remembered.

‘No time for that now.’ Rainbow thought. While she had beaten Ataxia in the race to see which of them would heal faster, Ataxia was not that far behind. Rainbow watched as the dragacorn got to her feet. Her spine already back to normal.

To Rainbow’s eyes, she looked even angrier, and all that anger was directed right at her.

“What you going to do about it?” Rainbow teased the mare, with the preverbal poking of the bear. Ataxia roared with barely contained fury and stretched her wings wide. The left one, the new one still felt stiff, it did not matter. The wing would get more than enough of a workout now to overcome any sort of stiffness that built up.

She took wing, shooting straight up for the mare that had broken her spine. Rainbow just laughed as she easily avoided the attack. Sure, Ataxia might be an impressive flyer, quite possibly the second greatest flyer in terms of sheer speed alone. However, that is a spot she would always be stuck in, she would always be second best. As with everything, Rainbow Dash was first.

Rainbow avoided each blow with ease. With no one to show off for, with no other distractions, and memories of their last fight still fresh in her mind, Rainbow brought her A-game this time around. She would not let herself get distracted this time, there was far too much at stake for that.

“You can come back a million times Ataxia, but you will never be fast enough to catch me.” Rainbow taunted the dragacorn again. Laughing as she flew around a tail swipe.

Ataxia changed tactics, single blows were not cutting it, so she had to go for area attacks in hopes of catching the cyan blue pegasus off guard. Ataxia spun around and lashed out with one of her huge wings, a sloppy, choreographed maneuver that Rainbow easily read.

That was not the point; it left Rainbow with only a few options in order to avoid it. Something Ataxia took advantage of as Rainbow flew above the wing, just in the path of her dragon fire.

The fire lashed out, she directed it right above the bridge of her wing. Rainbow saw it coming almost to late… almost. Rainbow, using the speed she was so well known for, rolled to the right. However, that still left one little problem, the fire was on a direct course for a large portion of The Crystal Kingdom, worse, it was the portion that contained the hospital.

Rainbow poured everything she had into her will and flew in front of the fire. She began to fly in a vortex, trapping the fire in a large funnel of pure wind pressure. With a small correction, Rainbow used that pressure to cause the fire to move up and away from the city, it landed to the west, destroying a large portion of the forest in a fiery inferno that spared nothing it came in contact with.

Rainbow saved the city; she saved her family, but in doing so, she could not save herself. Ataxia flew up behind her when she was not looking and lashed out with her right claw, the blow hit Rainbow who could not dodge what she did not see. She was sent careening into the dirt with the force of a meteorite.

While she had not seen the blow coming, she felt it all the same. She had gotten off lucky; most of the blow was simply physical force from Ataxia’s claw, most of it.

Even with the pain, Rainbow still responded with the reflexes of someone who could fly at such insane speeds. She wrapped herself into a wing cocoon and cushioned the fall, preventing any major damage as she impacted against the ground. She rolled with the landing, bleeding off most the speed and only suffering minor scraps as a result. Far better that than the full impact of hitting the ground in a fight like this.

When Rainbow unwrapped her golden wings, she saw that something was very wrong long before she felt it, her brain registering too many different sources of pain to try and prioritize any of them right this second.

When she looked down, when she brought her head down to inspect the damage she no doubt suffered as a result of that last blow. She saw it; she saw what was wrong, or more precisely, what was missing.

Her front right hoof, it was gone. Cut off cleanly at the joint from Ataxia’s claw. Seeing it, registering it in her mind, it caused her brain to focus on it. It caused that pain to come to the forefront, and to override all the rest of the pain she suffered, including a few broken bones, bruises, and scrapes that covered the rest of her body.

Oddly, only one thought came to her mind at that moment, ‘Twilight’s going to kill me.’

She laughed at that, she actually laughed. Rainbow knew from experiences that the only thing her magic could not fix, the only damage she could not heal, was when a piece of her was no longer attached. Her two ear tips being personal reminders of that fact.

Twilight could fix her leg; she could fix anything, well… almost anything, the only thing she could not fix was one of her ears. When asked, Twilight had said it since the injury occurred when she was dead; she was somehow unable to restore it. Rainbow had told her to leave the other ear, much to Twilight chagrin, but Rainbow liked it when both sides matched. It made her look that much cooler. Rainbow knew that Twilight could restore the leg, but not right now, not with her son blocking her magic. Rainbow would be without her leg until the foal was born.

Of course, that was assuming she lived through this night. That thought made her do the oddest of thing at that moment, Rainbow laughed. She laughed even louder when she saw that it had attracted the attention of Ataxia. Somehow, that just made it even more hilarious. Part of her wondered if there was a word for it, finding humor in a situation that was in no way, shape, or form, funny. She made a mental note to ask Twilight about it when this was all said and done.

Rainbow saw her coming, even without her leg, even with the pain; she could still fly. Her flight was based purely on will alone. She willed herself up and she went up, she willed herself to fly at sonic rainboom speeds and off she went.

So yes, she could still easily avoid Ataxia’s attacks, but there was one thing she could not avoid, regardless how fast she flew. She could not avoid the blood loss from her missing limb. You can run from a lot in this world, but irrespective of how fast you move, you cannot run from yourself.

Rainbow knew all of this, so she prioritized, she knew that her blood loss had to be stopped first and foremost. With that in mind she flew straight up, a sonic rainboom occurring her wake. The force of which knocked Ataxia back several yards, blinding her to Rainbow’s location. Which was her plan all along.

Rainbow came down and landed next to the area that she had directed the flame into. She had done so in order to save a large section of The Crystal Empire. Still… seeing it in such a state was hard to look at. There were nothing left but burned cinders; entire acres of forests were just gone. The ground where it used to be, nothing but ashes.

She supposed, given time, as with all things in nature it would grow back. Nature had a funny way of doing that. Even the worst destruction could be healed if left alone. Well… that was not entirely true. The scars Rainbow had left on this world would never heal. The time when she almost cut the world in half trying to save Twilight from the Titan came back to mind. As well as breaking the moon. That part made her chuckle. Whatever may come, the world could never forget Rainbow Dash.

Farther reminiscing would have to wait. Rainbow found a smoldering patch of debris, it was in an area that was outside of the main blast but still close enough to catch the heat. The smoke coming off it was more than enough indication that it would serve her purpose. She stuck her severed limb into the ashes.

Rainbow could put on a brave face when she needed to, but not for this. This was too much to act as if it did not hurt, or to even avoid screaming. She yelled out in pain within seconds of sticking the missing limb into the heat. It achieved the desired effect; it cauterized the wound in an instant. Rainbow knew that such an action would eliminate the risk of losing any more blood. However, the pain was such that she could not avoid giving away her position.

The dragon fire hit next. As soon as Ataxia heard the yell, her eyes zeroed in on Rainbow’s position and she let loose with the flame. It was a good shot, one that would have ended all but a hoof full of ponies, but against Rainbow, she might as well not have bothered.

Sure she was in pain, but when you life is on the line you find the will to fight on, to fight through the pain, and since Rainbow’s flight is controlled by willpower, that was all she needed. Rainbow took wing and easily avoided the fire. Her improved reflexes granted her more than enough forewarning to avoid it. Unfortunately, it also got her a front row seat to what exactly the effects were of the dragon fire when it hit a large patch of land. It was something she had never wished to see this close, but she could not turn away at the sheer destruction it caused.

Rainbow’s mouth gaped as she saw the fire hit the trees and rocks that had somehow avoided the first attack. Everything it hit incinerated as soon as the fire touched it, some of the more combustible material bust into flames second before impact, the air pressure around them heated up to such a degree that their very substance caught light.

It was like nothing she had ever seen before, and from a mare that watched her own wings get cut off by a changeling queen that was quite the statement. It happened in an instant but with her reflexes an instant could be a long time. Rainbow knew from that little bit that to be caught anywhere near that fire would be instant death. The magical properties of the fire allowed it to burn anything, which is precisely what it did. Sure, the fire would eventually put itself out, but only after consuming all fuel sources in the area. The Crystal Empire would be relying on the crops of other towns for years after this.

Rainbow made a note of it and flew off, leading Ataxia on a chase through the sky. It did not surprise her that Ataxia was able to keep up, as that was only because Rainbow did not want to lose her. Every once in a while she would slow down just enough to allow Ataxia to come in range of an attack, just to make sure she did not lose interest and try to attack something else.

Rainbow was just trying to buy time, she knew that Twilight would be here in a few minutes, but that was a few minutes longer then she felt comfortable with anymore. Twilight was already going to kill her about the loss of a leg, and several broken ribs if her breathing was any indication to go by. Still… a part of Rainbow did not want Twilight here at all, she would give anything, do anything, if it would keep her wife away from all of this.

The broken ribs were quickly becoming an issue; fortunately, Rainbow did not have to breathe hard, her willpower kept her going in ways that simple breathing did not. She would lead Ataxia on a flight around the North Pole and back, that should buy more than enough time for Twilight to get back.

There was one flaw with her plan; something she had forgotten about, Ataxia was not just another dragon, as she was a dragacorn. The mare combined the aspects of a dragon with the magic of a unicorn. When Rainbow had just left The Crystal Empire airspace and turned her head back to taunt Ataxia one more time. Ataxia conjured a huge magical wall directly in front of Rainbow.

Rainbow slammed into the wall with such force that she lost consciousness for a few seconds. Those seconds were enough to send her careening into the ground. When she came to, Rainbow awoke to her old, lifelong friend: Pain.

Her wings were already wrapped around her, they had done so instinctively as a way to try and save her life. She fractured her skull, every single breath hurt, no doubt from a few more broken ribs, but that was not her number one concern right now. Ataxia was hovering right over her. Rainbow could only watch, horrified as Ataxia reared her head back, her moved choreographed as she was about to douse the area Rainbow lay in with her magical dragon fire.

Rainbow wrapped her wings around her as tightly as she could, doing her absolute best to make the cocoon as airtight as possible. It would come down to which magic was stronger: That of her wings, or that of Ataxia’s fire. The prize for winning this competition was whether Rainbow gets to live for another minute.

The fire struck with the same fury as it always did, everything in a ten-acre area was incinerated as the magically imbued fire made short work of the landscape. Nothing living was speared from the fiery inferno of death Ataxia unleashed on the land.

Well… almost nothing.

Magical dragon fire, fire imbued with magic of the God Chaos himself. It met the magic of Rainbow’s wings, wings created from the God Gaia. While Chaos may have been the God responsible for creation itself, Gaia was the God of Life and Magic, the source of all magic in the universe. The fire never had a chance of hurting those wings. They easily withstood the heat.

The fires burned all around, charring the landscape. A minute later, when they finally died down enough for Ataxia to see, she was in shock. The golden cocoon was still there. When Rainbow emerged from the wings, it surprised both of them, but Rainbow was the first one to capitalize on it. With her wounds healed from the time she spent in the cocoon, Rainbow flew out, directly at Ataxia’s stomach, the area directly below her Dragon Steel Armor. She impacted with such force the scales cracked and broke. It bowled over Ataxia, forcing the mare out of the sky and on her back.

When she hit Ataxia with that much force, it surprised Rainbow. Rainbow had not intended it to do any real damage; she was merely attempting to stun her opponent so she could get away. It was then she noticed a strange light emanating from herself. When she looked down at it, she saw the reason why. A golden light surrounded her; it was the same magic that surrounded her during the final fight with Blood Dawn, that golden energy. The energy empowered her with the magic of Gaia.

Rainbow laughed, she actually laughed about that. In a way it made sense, she had risked it all and even lost a limb to save others, and protect the life of those she loved. Naturally, her power would be at its strongest now.

Of course, that led to one small problem, she did not want to overdo it. While she might be at her full power, Ataxia had no such limit. If she overdid it, she would easily kill the dragacorn. That mistake had been made more than enough times already.

Ataxia stood up and glared at her, an action that surprised Rainbow. Every time she looked at Ataxia, she saw the hurt and the rage. The rage and anger in Ataxia’s eyes were easy to see. Truly, Rainbow thought they would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life. However long that might be.

Ataxia lashed out with claws, tail, and teeth. If Rainbow thought her moves were slow before, this was almost comical. Every move seemed to take a minute to land, every blow easily choreographed and avoided. In all reality, Rainbow was getting bored.

It was that boredom that gave Rainbow an idea. She would try the idea she had earlier, but first she wanted to know something, Rainbow took a page from Twilight’s playbook and ran a test. She grew her wings and lashed out at Ataxia’s. The golden wings cut right through Ataxia’s own, and for the second time that night, another massive wing fell to the ground. Just as she suspected, she could now cut Ataxia. Given, that was not something she wanted to do, but it was still good to know.

‘After tonight, we're going to be able to build another you.’ Rainbow jokingly thought to herself.

Ataxia did not share Rainbow’s humor about the situation. She lashed out with her dragon fire, directly at the golden mare. Rainbow laughed as she avoided the attack. She watched in fascination as the wing she had just cut off regrew right before her eyes. In half a minute it was restored, just like new.

“I could keep cutting you.” Rainbow said to the dragacorn. “But that’s a little disgusting, even for me.” She flew up, Letting Ataxia follow her in the sky.

Ataxia stretched her wings, her new one and old one each extended to their full wingspan. Rainbow whistled at that, than extended her wings to be slightly longer than Ataxia. As if to say, ‘mine are bigger’. It was a message that did not go unnoticed by the dragacorn.

Ataxia shot straight for her, a sonic rainboom in her wake. Rainbow looked on, even that speed was far too slow for someone like her. “C’mon, you can do better than that.”

Ataxia went to eat the golden mare; she bit down on her location, hard. Her jaw snapped shut on nothing. The jarring impact left a tingling sensation in her mouth and several broken teeth fell out of the sky.

“Lets try that around the pole flight once more.” Rainbow said with a grin.

Ataxia glared at her, she watched as Rainbow took off to the north. She tried to follow, but Rainbow’s speed easily left her in the dust. Either every wall Ataxia conjured was far too slow to appear in front of the golden mare or Rainbow broke through it without even trying.

When she was about fifty miles away from the North Pole, Ataxia felt a pull, a strong desire to turn around. It was the same one that she felt when she woke up in the cave. It called her, it compelled her to return, to go back, that her true target was not the golden streak that avoided every thing she threw at it. It was back the other direction, back in the direction of the crystal city.

Rainbow’s speed worked against her, she was traveling so fast that by the time she looked back, by the time she went to taunt Ataxia again, it was too late, as she was gone. Ataxia was out of sight. She knew only one location that the mare would go, she would go back to try and finish the job.

“Buck me.” Rainbow cursed at herself. She was showing off again, even though there was not anyone around to see it.

Rainbow flew at all speed back to The Crystal Empire. She might be fast, but in this instance that speed worked against her, it put her too far ahead of the dragacorn, causing her to have to backtrack and catch up to Ataxia.

When she finally caught sight of her again, Ataxia was already over the empire, she roared back and went to unleash her dragon fire directly at the hospital. “No!” Rainbow shouted as she lashed out with her wing.

The golden wing extended out a mile in length. Her speed and sudden increase in length allowed her to stop Ataxia’s attack, but at a cost. Ataxia’s head flew from her body. The fire had been stopped but only by killing the dragacorn yet again. Her body fell to the ground, landing directly next to the hospital. The head flew off, landing just outside of The Crystal Empire.

“Horseapples.” Rainbow cursed as she saw the dragacorn’s body crush several houses with its massive bulk. She had just made the fight that much more difficult and destroyed several buildings in the process.

It was a mistake Twilight would not have made, but then again, she would not have done a lot of the stupid ideas that Rainbow had tried. She remembered the many, many times Twilight had lectured her about showing off. None of which were helping right now. Thoughts of Twilight caused Rainbow to look once more at her missing hoof. “She’s going to kill me.” Rainbow said again.

Rainbow could feel magical buildup; her first thought was that Twilight had just arrived. When she looked around it became obvious that was not the case. Ataxia was regenerating. Rainbow watched as the magic energy coursed around Ataxia’s fallen body. It was starting to regenerate a new head. Briefly, Rainbow wondered if there would now be two Ataxias, if the head might also be regenerating a new body.

‘That would suck. Well, as Twilight always said, it’s better to know than to not know.’ Rainbow flew over in search of the head. It took her a while to find it but to her infinite relief, there is no sign of the magic that was cascading around the body.

Thoughts of the body caused Rainbow to rush back to the where it lay. She let out a breath she was not aware she was holding when she saw that the body was still in the process of regenerating.

Then again, a while to Rainbow Dash was seconds to other ponies.

‘What to do, what to do…’ Rainbow ran her one remanding hoof through her mane. She laughed as she realized just how much of a sorry state it was in. She was sure that if the golden energy were not coursing throughout her body, it would look a lot worse. No doubt, Rarity would have a field day lecturing her about the proper way a lady should look.

If she was still alive, that is. Thoughts of fallen friends were not helping the situation at all. Rainbow was a mare of actions instead of words, or plans for that matter. Of course, that was the problem, right now what they needed more than anything else was a plan.

Rainbow had no doubt that her power, her trump card was used up. While she still had her speed, as that was something no one, dragacorn or otherwise, could ever hope to match. She played that game once before, it was a proverbial stalemate. Well… not exactly. A look down at her missing limb reminded her that this was a game the house always wins, and she was not the house.

If this continued long enough, if the fight simply kept going with no way out of it, Ataxia would, eventually, get another lucky shot in, and that would be that. Rainbow would be killed, or worse, someone she loved would die instead. Thoughts of having to attend Radiant, Cadance, or Firestar’s funeral came to mind. It filled the mare with a sense of dread about this whole situation.

For a mare like Rainbow, thoughts are the enemy of action.

They continued on, she might already have one funeral to attend… there was no word on Luna, but then again, she had not expected an update. She left the princesses fate in the capable hooves of Radiant. If she were still alive, if she could be saved, Rainbow trusted that he would find a way.

Rainbow was trying to all hades not to think of the worst-case scenario, this was a scenario that did not involve having to attend any of her friend’s funerals. It was her failing the one pony that mattered more than any other, it was having to attend Twilight’s funeral. That she would not be able to save her own wife. That thought would destroy her, it would end any chance she had of stopping Ataxia.

Trying to stop the thought almost cost her that anyway.

Simply trying not to think of it was almost enough to see her dead. She missed Ataxia’s rebirth. One of the many she had just tonight. Ataxia shot out with her dragon fire. Aiming squarely at where the golden mare was hovering in the sky. The same one that seemed lost in her own head.

Rainbow dodged it just in the nick of time. Then the next three as she sought to gain her bearings, to reinvest her mind back into the fight. That had always been a personal failing on the mare; she knew it was too easy for her to lose focus on what was important.

When you have that much confidence, self-doubt is your worst enemy.

She could not help it now, even with Ataxia closing down on her, other memories began to come to light, all of them bad, all of them of times when she failed ponies she loved. Memories of almost selling Fluttershy into indentured servitude for a Daring Do book came to mind. Needless to say, it was not one of the high points of their early years after Twilight came to town. The mare had forgiven her, as was Fluttershy’s way, but Rainbow had not quite forgiven herself. Fluttershy always had been Dash’s oldest friend. Certain things were just, unacceptable , regardless of circumstance.

Dash went to slap herself in the face, as she was losing focus yet again.

She missed.

“How the hey?” She looked down; she had tried to slap herself with the missing hoof. The golden energy that surrounded her body blocked out the pain. However, she was not use to the fact that it was gone… not yet anyway.

She moved to the right side just to avoid another blast. It was almost funny, in her efforts to stop distracting herself; she continued to distract herself. Unfortunately, for Rainbow, this was one time too many.

Ataxia aimed the last attack a little to Rainbow’s left side. Any other time, at any other event, Rainbow would have noticed this slight change and known that Ataxia was up to something. However, her thoughts were not quite into it the way they should have been. She was too worried about possibilities, a little issue she had picked up from all the years spent at Twilight’s side. She supposed, logically, it could not be helped. After so much time together, it was only natural that they would pick up each other’s eccentricities.

So when Rainbow dodged to her right, just as Ataxia knew she would, the large dragacorn teleported directly in the mare’s path. Rainbow hit the Dragon Steel Armor that made up Ataxia’s chest with a loud bang. The sudden impact shook her, not from any real damage, but just due to the surprise of such a large creature magically appearing directly in her way.

Ataxia capitalized on it, she smacked Rainbow out of the sky with a downward blow as one would smack a fly with a flyswatter.

Once more, Rainbow found herself several hooves deep in the dirt, although there was something different about it this time. This time, there was no pain. She felt… nothing, nothing broken, nothing bruised, or aching for that matter. A split second test of her limbs confirmed that everything still worked the way it should. The magical energy that surrounded her body had protected her from any further harm.

How long it would last, Rainbow had no idea. She also did not know how much damage it could actually stop. Nor did she want to know, you did not have to be an egghead to understand that it would be a bad idea to put something like that to the test.

Sadly, it looked like that was about to happen. Before Rainbow could get up, Ataxia slammed down into the ground and pinned her to the dirt with one massive claw. The sheer weight of Ataxia bore down on Rainbow.

Rainbow had no doubt that it would have crushed every bone in her body, but the magic field did hold. She lashed out at Ataxia with both wings, seeking to get her off before something really bad did happened.

As she suspected, she could no longer cut the dragacorn. Her last evolution fixed that little issue. While the magic around her kept Rainbow safe, she did not know how long it would last, or if it would stop what was about to happen. Rainbow could only watch as Ataxia stretched her jaw wide, with her claw on Rainbow’s body preventing her from using her fire, it only left Ataxia with one option. She would eat her pray.

When the bite was about to come, Rainbow screamed her denial at this turn of events. She lashed out with everything she had at Ataxia. Even managing gouge out one of her eyes. Ataxia fought through all of the pain. This mare, the one who was even faster than she was, she had caused her enough pain to last a lifetime. Any pain now was better than what she would go through if this one got away again.

Suddenly, the weight pressing down on Rainbow lifted. There was no longer any real pressure behind it. Rainbow simply reacted to this turn of events without question. She poured everything she had into her flight, willing herself forward at all speed.

She was free, she flew out of Ataxia’s grip milliseconds before the bite came, Ataxia ended up eating dirt, literally. Rainbow looked back in shock as a part of Ataxia came with her. Ataxia’s claw, the one that had pinned her to the ground. It followed the pegasus as friction alone carried it away from the limb it used to be attached to.

Ataxia looked up in shock as she spit out a mouth full of dirt. Her pray, the one that had caused her more pain than any other, had gotten away, again. Moreover, the claw she had used to pin her to the ground was no longer attached to its limb. It stayed with the pegasus for a little bit before falling off, a trail of blood left in its wake.

She roared as her body finally registered the pain. She held up her limb, looking at it as the stump gushed blood. Her pain and confusion only fueled her rage as whatever had done that went unnoticed. Magical energy started to surround the stump, but it was not as fast as before, something was slowing it. It would eventually regrow, but it would be unusable for some time.

Rainbow hid behind a nearby building. Her breathing rapid over the sudden adrenalin from her near death experience. Her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest, a feeling that was amplified ten times as she felt something new. Rainbow felt something else coming, someone was about to use magic, a very powerful spell at that. Living in a household with so many magic users gave her an instinctual feel for when a spell was about to be cast. She had joked once to Twilight that it was a survival instinct parents got when their foals could use magic.

Rainbow’s first thought was of Ataxia, whatever the mare was about to cast would not be good. She rushed out to interrupt the spell casting, one swift blow to the horn would prevent anything she was about to do. Rainbow knew she had the speed to stop her from casting… whatever it was she was about to cast.

As soon as she left the cover she had been hiding the spell was completed. Although, Rainbow had been wrong about one thing. The slight hint and tells of magic at work were not the result of Ataxia going to cast a spell, it came from someone completely different.

Rainbow found herself flying right up into a roof; the sudden change of location caught her completely by surprise. She almost put a gigantic hole in the building; although, it would not be the first time.

When she fell to the floor, with her eyes still closed from the impact, Rainbow felt a hoof wrap itself around her. She felt the heartbeat of the one who owned that hoof, the texture of the fur, and the rapid breathing. When the smell hit her, there was not a shadow of a doubt left in her mind of who had teleported her away.

“Hey Twilight.” Rainbow said without even opening her eyes.

The tears fell next. That part broke Rainbow’s heart. It had not been intentional, in all reality she had just done as Twilight asked, but she still made her wife cry. Rainbow wrapped her one good hoof around the mare. There was no doubt that was what Twilight was crying about.

“It’s ok, Twi.” Rainbow softly ran her hoof through her wife’s mane. Regardless of its condition, or how much prep work she had done, it still felt like silk to the mare.

“Rainbow, I was so scared. She… she… she was going to eat you, and… how are you gold? And what in hades happened to your hoof!” Twilight yelled the last part.

Rainbow sighed a little at that, “It the same magic I told you about before, the one that came out when I fought that shadow creature in the Griffin Empire. I lost my hoof saving the hospital. Don’t worry it doesn’t hurt, and you can just restore it anyway, right?” Twilight nodded at that, she had heard the story from Rainbow, but she never actually thought she would be able to see it. Although she was still pissed about the hoof, that conversation could wait for another time.

“How did you stop her from eating me anyway?” Rainbow asked her own question.

“I didn’t, Icarus did.” Twilight pointed out the window. Rainbow glanced over. Sure enough, Icarus was out there fighting Ataxia. His last experience against the mare taught him a lot; he was using quick cuts with Siros’s Vengeance.

The blade was a masterwork. Rainbow knew that the like of it did not exist anywhere else on the planet. Forged in the strongest metals that could be found, it was imbued with the magic of four alicorns. Officially, it was a gift from Equestria to the Griffin Empire, but Rainbow knew better. It was a present from Twilight to Icarus, a way to insure that events like ‘Blood Dawn’, that they never occur again. Icarus would have the ability to protect his wife, Twilight’s daughter, from any foe that dared threaten her again. That alone made the hassle of forging such a blade worthwhile in Rainbow’s eyes.

It could not have been wielded by a better master, it only took Rainbow a moment to deduce that Icarus had not slacked off at all in his training. When she left Warclaw, Rainbow had been worried that Icarus might relax a little. Seeing him now, watching him work was like nothing she had ever seen before. His training had paid dividends in ways that not even Rainbow had suspected.

Icarus would lash out at subsonic speed, slicing off a random limb here and there. Then immediately seek new cover. Siros’s Vengeance leaving a gleaming trail that only Rainbow had any hope of following. It was like watching a master at his craft.

Icarus never made the mistake of slicing a vital organ; he always made sure that wherever he cut off, it would simply anger Ataxia more. He knew that killing her would only cause more of a headache.

“He’s good.” Rainbow said.

“I know, we discussed it in length before Radiant got the beacon up. His royal guards are on standby just in case things do go down, but that shouldn’t happen.”

“What do you mean, and where is Radiant?” Rainbow tore her attention away from Icarus to stare at her wife.

“I don’t know, when we got here, Radiant wasn’t anywhere around. As far as what I mean, well, watch and learn.” Twilight said with a smile.

Rainbow went back to watching. She knew from personal experience, experience that had come at a cost, that Ataxia was not some mindless beast. Yes she was full of anger and hatred, yes that anger could be used against her, but she would adapt her strategy to tricks that were used against her too many times. This one would be no exception.

When Icarus made his fifth such attack, one that Rainbow could tell Ataxia was suspecting. Rainbow spoke up. “Twi, he’s in trouble.” She spread her wings, ready to hop back into the fight.

“Rainbow, trust me on this one.” Twilight saw it too, when Icarus flew out, Ataxia was indeed ready for him. Rainbow could only watch as one of her newly regrown claws came out to take his head off. She cringed as the blow landed… save it did not land at all. Ataxia’s claw lashed out at air.

It fell off shortly after. Icarus attacked from an angle neither Rainbow nor Ataxia suspected. When Rainbow looked at twilight for an explanation. She saw that knowing smile on her face, that and the tell-tale magical residue coming off Twilight’s horn.

“I’m helping with what I can, when she adapts, I teleport him somewhere else, and let him continue his attack from a new, unexpected angle. In that way she can never truly adapt to his tactics.” Twilight said with a smile on her face, one in which Rainbow did not share. As to Rainbow, something fundamental seemed off with that plan. Although she could not quite place her hoof one just what that was.

“I guess that will work, for awhile at least…” Rainbow said with uncertainty in her voice.

“It should work fine, we should be able to buy all the time we need for you to go get Night and bring her back here.”

“I… I… I guess.”

“What’s wrong?” Twilight noticed the concerned look in Rainbow’s eyes, she would have seen it earlier but Icarus needed another teleport.

“Well…” Rainbow thought for a second. She looked at her wife, noting the use of magic coming off Twilight’s horn; she looked back at Ataxia. It was then that she saw it; she finally put two and two together. “What about when she senses you in here?” Rainbow’s question came a millisecond before a shout out by Icarus.

“LOOK OUT!”

The building the two were in was completely covered in Ataxia’s fire. It incinerated everything in a two-block radius instantly. Nothing remand in the area save charred ashes that the fire could not simply burn away.

Icarus looked on in shock as the hiding spot of Princess Twilight, his step mom, was… was… it was just gone. Nothing remand from where it stood. He looked back at Ataxia, her horn was giving off the tell-tale signs of a spell of her own, she had traced the magic that Twilight was using to teleport him to safety. His only saving grace was that she would be incapable of capitalizing on this new development, too many of her body parts were still regrowing.

“Aurora’s going to kill me.” Icarus said with a gulp.

Author's Note

"Hey Aurora?"

"What's up?"

"Remember your parents?"

"What do you mean, remember?"

And then the entire city of Warclaw was completely annihilated from the rage of a Pissed-off Pregnant Princess Pegasus Pony.

(Say that three times fast.)

Sorry, bad joke.

You may have noticed that this chapter does not have any indents. I was told that you should only have indents or spaces, not both. (Hey, I'm still learning here.) As such, I removed all the indents from my stories.

Side note, I'm still looking for another editor, even if all you can do is preread and point out obvious mistakes any help is welcome.

Siros's Vengeance

Southern Griffin Empire

Night’s laser focus vision was only on moving straight ahead. While she was still torn on what she needed to do, she knew the costs if she did not get there in time. Unfortunately, it was what she did not know that came to bite her in the flank. She did not know the strain it was putting on her sister.

“Princess Night, you might want to slow down a little.” Fey Light said. Night looked over at the captain, confused as to what the problem was. He was fighting a little to stay in the air, but with the speed they were moving, that was to be expected. A nod from his head to his right drew her attention. When Night looked in that direction, she saw the problem. The problem came from the most surprising source, her sister.

Aurora looked to be in pain, she was keeping up just fine but one of her hooves was at her stomach, and she was breathing heavily. There was obvious discomfort on the mare’s face. Night slowed all three of them down, slowly, gradually; she landed them on one of the rocks. When her sister figured out they were stopping, she gave Night a look of thanks for the impromptu break.

Of course, her mouth said something different. “Why are we stopping? We should keep going.”

“I would, but my magic is getting used up, I need to rest for a minute before we head out.” Night lied.

“Oh, well make it quick. We don’t have time for this.” Aurora took this opportunity to lay down on the rocks. She would never say anything but she needed this rest more than she cared to admit. Night did a quick scan of Aurora and was instantly relieved to know the baby was fine. It had just been an issue of really bad cramps.

“Will do.” Night said with a smile.

Aurora looked up at Night, a small smile on her face as she returned her gratitude for this rest. Despite what the words said, they both knew the real reason why they had rested. Aurora was grateful to keep her dignity and for her sister’s kindness. However, the stakes were too high for this. She could not be the cause of ponies dying. “You should go on without us. We’ll only slow you down.”

Night’s head snapped back, she glared at Aurora. “No.”

“No? But Night-”

“No buts, Aurora. I’m not leaving you this close to the Dragon Kingdom on your own, or with him.” She gestured her head to the griffin. “I promised Icarus I would keep you safe. I will keep you safe until I return you to him, unharmed. The only way I can do that is by keeping you close by.”

“That’s selfish, someone could really get hurt.”

“Little sister’s prerogative, I can be a little selfish if I want to.” Night said with no small amount of confidence in her voice.

Aurora just stared on Night; right then, at that moment, she realized how strong Night was, how confident she had become. ‘When had that happen? When did my little sister become so… so… so much more? How did I miss it?’

“Thanks.” Aurora said with a smile. She was so proud of her sister that she could not find the words.

“Don’t mention it.” Night said with a smile. She walked up and lay next to her sister, pressing their coats together.

“Have you given any more thought about what you’re going to do… about Ataxia I mean?” Aurora asked her sister the million-bit question. She still could not believe that Night would actually strip away the mare’s power.

“It’s all I’ve been thinking about, Aurora. I know what I can do but…”

“Why is there a but, princess? You said it yourself; you can just command her power to leave her. Just do that.” Fey Light spoke up, suddenly very interested in their conversation.

“Captain, shouldn’t you be watching the perimeter or something?” Aurora said with a snarky tone in her voice. A little mad that he would intrude like that on her personal conversation.

Night just laughed. “It’s not that black and white captain, I don’t even know if it will work for the first part. Sure, he said I could do it, but saying something and doing it are two separate things. In addition, it would be taking away her identity, everything that made her, her. I read the personal reports about when Tirek took away everypony's magic, it left them… less. Nopony was quite right afterwards. She would have to live like that, just a shadow of her former self, forever. Assuming it worked at all.”

“Speaking of that; how does that work anyway?” Aurora asked. Her curiosity was piqued at her sister’s newfound powers. “Can you just take away anypony’s magic? Could you take away Twilight’s magic?”

Night laughed, “Somehow, I doubt it. To be honest, you know as much as I do about the way it works. I was able to strip the Titan of its magic last year, but as far as taking away mom’s magic. I don’t think it would be that easy, mom is really, really powerful. Not that I would ever do that anyway.” Night added the last part, a little offended at the mere suggestion of having to do something like that. Even with the whole ‘Twilight Night’ situation last year, she doubted she could ever bring herself to try something like that against Twilight.

“I don’t know, princess. To me it seems obvious what you have to do; I don’t understand the hesitation. The sooner we get there, the sooner you can just end this. Sure, she might be a shadow of what she once was, but it would stop all of this. You would save the mare you love, she would still be alive, and you would prevent anyone else from dying in the process. Obviously I’m biased towards that last part.” Fey gestured to his charge; the empress sitting next to her.

“Whenever someone tells you there is an easy answer to something, Fey, they’re just trying to sell you something. There are no easy answers, there are always consequences. Some we cannot hope to foresee. She… Ataxia, she might hate me forever for doing something like that to her. I don’t know if I can…” Night trailed off, unsure just what she would do if that happened. She had finally admitted her feelings to herself and others. In doing so, she made them real; she made them something precious to her, if those were now rejected, if those feeling were lost….

Yes, she admitted the truth, she now fully understood all the millions of messages her body and heart had been sending her this entire time. She carried them in her heart, as one would carry precious family gems, if those feelings were lost to her now, if they were broken, or destroyed, or stolen? It would break her heart.

She took a great risk, with great risk comes great gain. However, with such a great risk comes the opportunity for great pain as well. She did not know what she would do if she had her heart broken like that.

“I still have to disagree, princess. To me it seems like the lesser of two evils. Even if your marefriend hates you for it, wouldn’t you rather that then everyone you care about die arou-“

“Captain! Go watch the perimeter, now!” Aurora shouted. She never once imagined the captain would ever speak out like this, not to her and especially not to her sister.

“No, it’s ok Aurora. I need to hear this; I need to hear all opinions on the matter. At the rate we can fly we should be then in less than an hour. I need to go over this in my head.”

“What’s to go over, princess? You know what needs to be done, do it!” Fey shouted.

“That’s it Fey, get away from us, now!” Aurora stood to her hooves, she still felt a little cramped but she would not put up with his behavior any longer.

Fey Light just looked at her, confused on how this even became an argument. However, his training took over instantly. He snapped a salute. “Yes, empress.” Fey flew off to the perimeter. Going back to a rather pointless guard duty, with only moonlight to see by, none of them expected him to see anything, or provide any real forwarding for that matter.

“What was that about?” Night asked her sister.

“I don’t know, he’s new, but I’ve never seen him speak out like that before. I’ll talk with Icarus about him; maybe he was promoted too soon…”

“When did he join you anyway? I’ve tried to get a read on him, but it’s impossible. Every time I think I have him figured out he… well he just seems like a blank slate. It’s actually a little disconcerting.”

“I know what you mean; he came to us about three days ago actually. Icarus was really impressed when the stories of his deed reached his ears.”

“Is it standard practice to promote someone so new to such an important position? I would tend to think you would want someone who has been there for a while. Three days is a little nuts.”

“That’s what I thought too, but the losses we’ve suffered from him really wiped out most of our troops and the ones that were left were ill suited to take command of anything that important.”

Night shrugged, she still did not like it, or was that simply because she did not like him? Truly, she did not know. Still, he had given her more to think about; as much as she did not want to, it was still needed information. She knew from Twilight’s lessons that it helped one make better decisions to have a naysayer in the group. She had enough of her own experience to know the value of an opposing opinion.

“You ready, Night?” Aurora walked around stretching her hooves. Night did a quick scan, there was still some minor cramps but she doubt they would interfere again. It must be quite a burden to carry a foal. She was glad that it was something she would not have to worry about. Provided she could save Ataxia that is. She shook that off, one way or another she would save Ataxia. The real question was if she would hate her for it.

“Yeah, let’s head out. You should call Fey back over.”

“Let’s leave him here.” Aurora said with a playful smile.

“Aurora! We can’t do that. After all, what if we need someone to feed to Ataxia so the rest of us can get away?” Both sisters started laughing at that. Fey Light felt a sudden chill go down his spine.

………………………………………

The Crystal Empire

It was gold. Everywhere she looked her vision was nothing but the color gold. She did not really like gold; she liked blue. Although, she supposed it was better than black, black sucked. She decided that she could forgive gold, for now.

Even though it was the wrong color, it was still warm and welcoming. She pressed her muzzle into the gold, enjoying the warmth. She could feel something else through the color gold. A rapid bumping was emanating from behind the gold. She did not know why, but she really liked that beating. It seemed to bring a smile to her face like no other.

She could hear it as well as feel it. She would never mistake that noise for as long as she lived. It was Rainbow’s heartbeat. It may be going a mile a minute, but she had listened to it so many nights she would know it from anywhere. She could not explain it, but it had its own, unique rhythm to it; a rhythm like no other.

Twilight closed her eyes and just lost herself in the warmth and the beating of that heart. She had no idea what had happened or why she was wrapped up in Rainbow’s grasp, but, at that moment, she could not bring herself to care. She cooed softly in her wife’s grip.

Rainbow slowly opened her wings. She looked down at the purple alicorn in her grasp. She did not have time to think, she did not have time to warn Twilight about anything. On reflexes alone, she just acted. In a split second, Rainbow grabbed Twilight and blasted right through the roof. She had wrapped her wife in her hoof and taken her to safety. As soon as they were outside, she wrapped her in her wings to cover her from the heat. It had been instinctual for her. In much the same way one’s first instinct would have been to seek cover, hers was her wife’s safety.

“Twi, you ok?” Rainbow asked the alicorn in her grip. Twilight slowly opened her eyes. The gold was replaced with the darkness of the sky; the Night air came in and took away the warmth. Her eyes settled on the magenta eyes of her wife. Looking into those eyes always brought a smile to her face.

“Rainbow, what… what happened?”

Rainbow did not even need to look to see what had happened; she had deduced the possibility before it even happened. “Ataxia, she traced your magic, Twi. As soon as she got a lock on your location, she attacked it with her fire. I… I barely got you out in time.” It was true; she had literally made it by a hair’s breadth. Only the magic surrounding Rainbow had protected her from the extreme heat.

Twilight looked down. The building they were hiding in, the building they were just in, it was gone, just… gone. Completely incinerated along with the entire block it had belonged too. She gripped her wife even tighter as she realized just how close to death they had come. “I… I didn’t know she could do that.” She said. Her plan, her calculations did not include Ataxia having access to higher forms of magic. She had assumed that Ataxia was limited to relatively simple, albeit powerful spells, not advanced ones. It was an easy mistake to make.

Rainbow just nodded, it was easy to underestimate Ataxia, to think she was just a mindless creature of hate attacking everyone, or to think she had no other abilities to deploy. Rainbow had personally seen her adapt to maneuvers and tricks like no other. “I know what you mean, how do you think I lost this?” Rainbow held up her missing hoof to emphasize her point. “She’s not just a mindless beast attacking us; she has magic and the will to use it. We need to out think her; we need to always stay one step ahead of her. If we don’t… well, you’ve seen the results of that.”

Twilight just nodded at her wife’s words. Just then, the two of them heard a war cry coming from down below. They both looked down and saw Icarus charging Ataxia head on. It was obvious that the fool was about to get himself killed.

“Rainbow, go!”

“On it!”

Rainbow let her wife fly on her own and zoomed down. She scooped up the griffin before he even knew what had happened. His awareness was of a huge dragacorn that had just killed his stepparents and then those very parents appearing before him. It was a little perplexing to say the least. “Am… am I dead?”

Rainbow just laughed. Twilight figured it was a pretty fair question, all things considered. He had just charged straight at someone who was more than capable of killing him. “No Icarus, you’re not dead. You were about to be. What were you thinking?” Twilight asked, a little angry that the griffin would risk his life on some foolhardy charge like that, especially with a foal on the way.

“Wait… so you two aren’t dead?” Icarus looked behind him at the golden pegasus that was carrying him. Rainbow shook her head no. When he stared back at twilight, she did the same. That was all the confirmation he needed. He knew Rainbow might be bucking with him, but Twilight would never joke about something like that.

He thought about their question and found himself laughing at just what thought process led him to that course of action. “I… I thought she had killed you. I… I figured I would stand a better chance against Ataxia than I would trying to explain what happened to Aurora.” It felt a little silly to say, still, that did not make it not true.

Twilight’s eyes went wide at that, somehow, the mare succeeded in holding in her laughter. Rainbow had no such luck. The mare let Icarus go and started laughing her head off.

Icarus caught himself mid fall and looked back. Rainbow Dash, the fastest mare on the planet, and one of the most dangerous ponies in existence, was laughing like a school filly that just made her first fart joke. The sight of her, the absurdity of the whole situation, plus the realization at what he just said, it all added up and caused him to start laughing as well.

Not even Twilight could hold back for long, she joined their chuckling session. They continued that way until Ataxia ended it. The dragacorn could not yet fly, Siros’s Vengeance had made mincemeat of her wings, and the magic that made up the blade somehow interfered with her healing, slowing it to a crawl. However, she did still have her dragon fire. Something she took the opportunity to remind her opponents of.

When Ataxia spewed a truant of flame up at the ponies that were ignoring her, Rainbow saw it first. She went to grab Twilight and Icarus to fly them to safety. Her mistake was forgetting about her missing right hoof. She had grabbed Twilight, but Icarus had been on her right side. She grabbed at nothing without any chance to correct.

Still, Icarus was no slouch; he was just nowhere near as fast. Icarus managed to avoid most of the attack, but some of his feathers caught light from simply being too close to the flame. Twilight saw it and teleported the griffin to them. Rainbow stamped out the burning ones the best she could. It would not do for the griffin to be grounded.

“That was close.” Icarus said.

Twilight thought it was a little bit closer than that. Icarus had gotten off lucky as far as she was concern. After Rainbow finished inspecting the damage, she patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry about that, forgot…” She held up her missing hoof.

“No worries…” Icarus replied. He could not exactly blame her for that. It was his failing for not being faster, not Rainbow’s for saving her wife first.

“You thought Aurora would be mad about us dying, let me tell you something, you would have gotten off light compared to me having to explain that I let her husband get killed.” Rainbow teased. She turned around and looked at her wife. “Twi, what’s the game plan? And don’t say it’s for me to go get Night, I’m not leaving you two with her. Not after what almost happened.”

“That ship has sailed. We’ll all be needed to deal with Ataxia.”

“Well, we know at least one attack that will slow her down.” Icarus gestured to his spear. “Rainbow has her speed… Twilight, I know you don’t have all your magic, but you can still prove to be very useful.”

“You got a plan Twi? Let’s, hear it already?” Rainbow poked her wife in the side.

Twilight simply shrugged, her mind begun playing through many, many different possibilities in her mind. All the possibilities she had considered the last few days. Her mind quickly shot down every one of them. She ran the numbers in her head, they would all slow her down, but that was about it. She had no long-term solution to this problem. “I have a few ideas, but nothing certain to work. Rainbow, I… I don’t know.” There was an air of desperation in her voice. Twilight was struggling to put something together, to have some sort of plan. Her mind instantly shot down every idea she thought of. A realization hit her, they would be lucky to last the night, never mind lasting long enough for Night to get back. Twilight had no idea what to do. She looked up at Rainbow’s eyes, seeking some form of reissuance that everything might be all right.

For the first time in years, Rainbow wanted to look away. In that gaze, coming from the same one she had known for most of her life. She saw only defeat. Twilight did not know what to do, and it scared her. Only a few times ever had Rainbow seen this look in her wife.

Rainbow knew what to do.

Rainbow flew next to her; she placed her one hoof on Twilight’s cheek, and kissed her. She poured everything she had into that kiss, allowing Twilight to know that there was still something out there; there was still something worth fighting for. Twilight’s eyes went wide at first, the unexpected intimacy shocked her; slowly, she closed her eyes, enjoying the comfort it brought.

After what felt like an eternity, Rainbow pulled away. The look that Twilight had on her face was gone, replaced with one that could only be summed up in one word: Bliss. When Twilight opened her eyes, Rainbow spoke. “Remember egghead, it’s not all on you. Don’t act like you have to do everything; that you have to plan everything. I’m here for you, we’re all here for you. We always will be too.”

“Thanks, Rainbow.” Twilight blushed; she had almost let her own worries get the better of her, almost.

“Is that Radiant?” Icarus asked, gesturing with his weapon at the pony who was trying to get their attention. He had looked away when they started in. It did not feel right to watch such a tender moment between his stepparents, and as much as he did not want to interrupt, this might be important.

Rainbow looked down at where he was pointing. Sure enough, Radiant was waving frantically at the three of them. “Keep an eye on Ataxia, Icarus.”

“Sure.” Icarus had already been keeping an eye on the dragacorn; while they were high enough up to avoid her flame, he was weary of another attack out of the blue like the one that had almost cost him his life. Rainbow and Twilight flew down to find out where their nephew had been.

“Where were you?” Rainbow started in. “I told you to hurry back, that I would need your help!”

“I know, and I’m sorry, it’s Luna, I had to get her to the hospital.”

“She’s… she’s alive?” Rainbow asked. It was the first good news they heard all day.

“Well, she’s still breathing, that’s all I can tell you for sure. Rainbow… what happened to your hoof, and why are you gold?” Radiant asked the question he could no longer keep to himself.

“Never mind that, I’ll explain everything when we finish this. For now, we need to get back in the fight; Ataxia will be fully healed any minute now.”

“Minutes up!” Icarus shouted as he flew down to the three. As if to emphasize his point, Ataxia choice that moment to let out a mighty roar as she flapped her freshly healed wings and took to the air.

Rainbow looked up at the huge dragacorn, without looking back at the other three, she said. “Radiant, Icarus, let’s get going.”

“What about me?” Twilight asked. Confused about why Rainbow would leave her out of this.

Rainbow turned to look at her wife. “Stay here. See if there is anything you can do for Luna. Keep everyone safe, including yourself.”

“And what? Watch you risk your life while I sit on the sidelines, I don’t think so.” Twilight balked at the idea of being forced to the sidelines while her wife risked her life, again.

“Twi, I lost my hoof because the hospital was at risk. I… I almost lost you when she destroyed the building we were just in. What do you think would happen to me if I were worried about you the entire time? I need to be able to concentrate on this fight, to focus only on her, if I worried about what you were doing I… I couldn’t do that.”

“So I’m the only one who gets to worry? What about that?”

Rainbow did not have an answer for that. Yet she knew; deep down, that if Twilight fought, it would see one of them killed. She could handle dying, but not losing her wife. It might be a little selfish but it was still the truth. “Stay here.” The finality in her voice ended the conversation.

“Promise me you’ll come back.” Twilight said with tears in her eyes.

Rainbow smiled at her, she flew over to her wife and kissed her one more time, then took off in the air, heading straight for Ataxia. Icarus followed suit with Radiant running up behind them. Twilight only stared on in utter dismay.

‘She didn’t promise.’

………

Firestar cursed her lot in life. She cursed being bedridden during this crisis, she cursed Radiant for leaving like he had, even if she had agreed that he go… she cursed whoever designed this bucking room that failed to put in a bucking bigger window so she could see what the buck was going on.

Her knowledge of the fight had come from explosions, loud shouting, and earth shaking pounding. The only clue that they were even still fighting was that the noises kept coming. That knowledge did not make it any easier to bear. She considered, for the millionth time that night, just getting out of the damn bed.

She held still, even if she did that, all that would happen is the death of her foals. She would still be incapable of helping. The doctors would have to come in and knock her out; they would have to operate on her to try to heal the damage it would cause. Regardless what she did, she could not help anyone tonight. Not even her husband. It would cause far, far more issues to try. There was only one word for her right now; it was a word she never wanted to have associated with her in her entire life: Liability.

When Radiant had briefly come back, the news he brought back about how the fight was going was on the wrong side of hilarious. Thinking about it caused Firestar to realize that she was still mad at him for the stitches down his flank. Sometime during the fight, Ataxia had gotten a good cut on his side. It exposed the muscle, and almost the bone. The doctors had wanted him to stay put, they warned his dumb flank that if he went back outside it would reopen the stitching and he might bleed out.

A magic sword to their neck ended that conversation once and for all. She still owed him for that; he threatened a doctor’s life with a blade for trying to talk some sense in him. When Firestar had done that very same thing, albeit with a scalpel and not a magically conjured blade, he had lectured her for hours. Telling her that he was disappointed in her.

Yes, she would totally get him back for that one.

Looking around, at least it was not all bad. She had some company during this crisis. At her request, the doctors had brought in Princess Cadance so she would not have to be alone.

“He really is an idiot, isn’t he?” Cadance asked her daughter-in-law. She had remained quiet during his report, not having anything to contribute to the conversation herself.

Firestar looked over at the princess. She was stuck in a bed just like her. When Ataxia hit her, it threw her into a building, that impact with the building had broken her spine in three different places. She was only awake because there had been no need for anesthesia, she could not feel anything anyway, so she told them not to put her to sleep. If this was going to be her last night on this world, if ponies she loved were going to die, she wanted to be awake for it. It was the least she could do. They were able to reset the bones, but there was nothing they could do for the nerve damage. She would forever be a cripple.

Well, not forever. Firestar knew that Twilight would be able to heal it when she got better… better being when she had her foal. However, that was a moot point right now. The situation on the battlefield was dire to say the least. Ataxia was unstoppable. Their most powerful attacks could only slow her down for a few minutes at best. That realization… it was enough to make you lose hope.

That is when the big idiot had come in to show that no matter what happens, you cannot kill hope. He told them both that Luna was still alive. Alive being a relative term in this case, it was far more accurate to say that she was still living. The doctors told him that she was in a coma, the damage she suffered was extreme… her own horn blowing up, Firestar did not even know it was a possibility. She had never heard of a unicorn suffering the loss of his or her own horn. The pain must have been intense.

“Yeah, he is.” Firestar answered Cadance’s question.

It did not take much to know that something was bothering Cadance, she soon gave voice to just what that was. “Why… why did you let him go out like that, just to save me?” Cadance looked over at her daughter-in-law. It had not been part of the plan, Radiant was supposed to keep the shield up at all costs. Even if that cost included the lives of Luna and Cadance.

“Because he never would have forgiven himself if he did nothing while you died. He would have hated himself the rest of his life, and eventually, that hate would be directed at me for making him stay.” Firestar looked down at her hooves. Tears began forming in her eyes before she even realized it, but as much as she did not want to say it, her mouth would not stop speaking the truth, truth even she had not been aware of. “I’m strong; I have been all my life. I know it makes me look like a bitch, I know what others say about me, don’t try to deny it.” Firestar cut off Cadance before she could interrupt.

“I… I can deal with a lot, heck; I have dealt with a lot. I am… was, the best of the best. I became the Wonderbolt’s captain. I did it all with my mom pushing me harder and faster than any of the other Wonderbolts. They all knew that, they all knew that she was harder on me than any of the others. Some even tried to speak to her about it, to try and convince her to go easy on me, at least once.”

“Yet she didn’t, and I rose to it, I met every challenge head on, never once stopping. It left me hard, I know, I can feel it just as much as everyone else can see it. Yet… there is one thing I cannot do, one thing that would be too painful for me to ever deal with. I could deal with losing him, I know it would be hard, but I… I could go on…. I just… I just couldn’t deal with him hating me.” Firestar broke down into tears.

Cadance used her magic and teleported herself next to her stepdaughter. She had no doubt that the doctors would be mad about it, as it removed her from several straps they had her attached to in bed, no doubt to keep her spine straight after they had reset it. However, at that moment, she did not care. Firestar's confession had broken her heart, so Cadance employed royal privilege on this one.

She grabbed ahold of Firestar’s head and pressed her muzzle into her coat. Firestar cried out into her fur. “It’s ok, it’s ok, and you have nothing to worry about. He might be an idiot but he’s not that big of an idiot. I know for a fact he could never hate you.” Cadance lightly stroked Firestar’s mane, it amazed her just how well kept it was. It felt as smooth as silk to the princess.

After a few moments passed, Firestar looked up into Cadance’s eyes. Cadance smiled back, if she were being a little honest with herself, she was jealous that her son found someone so beautiful... so, perfect. “I never did thank you, did I?” Firestar said.

“For what?”

“For making him go out with me… I know you told him he had to; I don’t think I ever said thanks for that.”

Cadance just laughed. “There is nothing to thank me for; all I did was give him a little push in the right direction. Besides, it wasn’t like an order. I just informed him that I would very much appreciate it if he escorted a fine young mare like yourself around town. He could deny it to himself all he wanted, but I could feel the spark between you too; I knew that if he simply got over that one hurdle you two would be perfect for each other.”

“Wait… so you never… you know, with your magic?” Firestar tapped the tip of Cadance’s horn to illustrate her point.

Cadance shook her head, “Not then, besides, my magic doesn’t work that way, it merely helps those who already have that spark, it can’t create it.” It was a common misconception.

Firestar hugged her tighter, she felt safe in Cadance’s hooves. “Well, thank you anyway.”

“Dear one, it is I who should be thanking you. I was so worried about Radiant. I knew his father’s death affected him, but I never knew how much… not until I saw him with you. When he’s with you, I see the colt he once was again. You saved him from himself. For that alone, I’m the one who owes you everything.”

The two stayed like that for a while, Cadance slowly stroking Firestar’s mane. She had stopped crying but neither of them wanted to let the other go. While they put on a brave face, they both knew, under the surface that they were worried about the fates of those they loved. Radiant, Twilight, Rainbow, even Icarus, they were all out there risking their lives to try to save everypony.

Worse yet, the one that threatened them so, she was a friend too. Neither of them wanted to hear about her death any more than the others. It would be too tragic, too cruel if Rarity and Spike’s only daughter had to be killed. Assuming they could even do that much.

…......

Rainbow dodged, dipped, ducked, dived, and dodged. She flew over and under everything Ataxia threw her way. Her task was simple, keep Ataxia’s attention focused on her, and keep her angry. All the while Icarus would do the real damage and Radiant would stay in back up, ready to jump in when Ataxia finally caught on to their ploy. It was roles they simply fell into, none of them had to communicate with the others.

Logically, it was their smartest play… well… it was their only play. They would not be able to keep it up forever, eventually; Ataxia would tire of this game and do something different, something unexpected. That was the part that bothered Rainbow more than anything else did. Ataxia was adaptable; worse, as far as Rainbow could tell, she was also unbeatable, and unstoppable.

It was easy to lose hope, yet Rainbow refused. She stayed in the moment, concentrating only on what was happening right in front of her. In a lot of ways, it was too easy… boring even. With this power, Ataxia never had a hope of catching her. Her peripheral vision told her the consequences of such thoughts, of letting her boredom or showmanship get the better of her. Rainbow’s lost limb, served as a grave reminder that Ataxia was not to be trifled with in such a manner. If she dropped her guard, if Rainbow let herself get distracted, then it would all be over.

They had to be on their game the entire time, Ataxia only had to get lucky once. It was a chilling realization to say the least. It was made even worse by the fact that if Rainbow messed up, she would not be the only one to pay the price. Radiant and Icarus’s deaths would soon follow her own. Then Twilight, Firestar, Cadance, and Luna would die. With so much on the line, she refused to fail. She made a silent promise to herself that she would succeed. Regardless of what it took.

Rainbow saw it before it happened, Icarus lashed out once more after Rainbow created a sonic rainboom right in front of Ataxia’s eyes. The action blinded the mare to his attack. He cut off Ataxia’s back legs with one fell swoop from Siros’s Vengeance. The dragacorn collapsed in the dirt, her wings far to shredded to keep her standing up.

She roared in rage as the chaos magic began the arduous project of trying to rebuild the leg. It still had yet to adapt to the magic of Icarus’s weapon. Rainbow knew it would never have a chance to either, not as long as they did not make the mistake of killing her with it.

Something Icarus looked ready to do. Icarus roared a battle cry as he jumped on Ataxia’s belly and lashed out with his spear repeatedly, each blow cut deep into the dragacorn’s body. His rage had overtaken him; his thoughts had gone to a bad place over the course of the fight, almost losing Rainbow and Twilight like that had filled his head with images of this creature in Warclaw. Of her standing over his dead wife…. Icarus made up his mind in that instant. He no longer cared that it was not part of the plan, he wanted to see this monster dead and was intent on doing whatever it took to see that come to pass. Radiant ran out to stop him while Rainbow flew down to get a grip on the situation, literally.

“Icarus, stop!” Radiant yelled.

“No, this is our chance! We’ve got to put an end to this once and for all!” Icarus yelled back, he pulled out the blade and went to make another cut. He lashed down again before realizing that he was no longer holding it. The spear had disappeared from his claw.

He instantly knew that only one thing could have happened to it. “Rainbow, give it back, now!” He glared at the golden mare that held his father’s namesake in her mouth. Rainbow spit it out, letting it fall to the ground, unceremoniously.

Rainbow turned to Radiant and said, “Keep her busy.” He simply nodded and went to the most dangerous part of this creature, her head. He knew that Ataxia was wounded and exhausted, but he also knew she would not stay that way. Still, Rainbow needed time to talk some sense into Icarus, he could buy her that much.

Rainbow began covering dirt over the weapon, Icarus got even angrier at that. “What do you think you’re doing?! That’s my father’s namesake!”

“What? I’m just doing what you did; you treated it like shit so I’m burying it as such.”

“What? I never!”

“What vow did you make when you picked it up?” Rainbow looked him square in the eye as she asked him the question. Her expression was one that demanded an answer from the griffin.

“I vowed I would do my father's name justice and would never raise it up in anger, only to defend those I love.” Icarus said the words; it was a kneejerk reaction. Something he could not stop himself from saying.

“Exactly, you treated it like shit, so that’s what it became.”

“I never! It’s exactly what he would do! It was justice!”

“You little shit.” Rainbow got mad at that. “Your father would NEVER attack someone like that; he would never hurt someone who was a friend. You think you do his name justice? Don’t make me laugh.”

“We have to end this Rainbow, it’s the only way. There’s nothing else we can do!”

“Oh really? First thing, you’re telling me you’ve tried everything, EVERYTHING else?” Icarus shook his head at that; he could not lie even if he wanted to, not at this moment. “No? I didn’t think so. Your father would never resort to such tactics until all other options were exhausted. Secondly, what in hades makes you think it would even kill her, nothing we do lasts, she regenerated from every attack we’ve made. Even from this spear. You think killing her with it will put her down for good?! What in the world gave you that idea? All it would do is guarantee that we lost. We would lose the only thing we have that can actually wound her, the only thing that can actually slow her down!”

“I… I…”

“You, you what?”

“It might work.” Icarus said defensively. He could not argue with her logic, but logic had not really played a part in his decision.

“Yeah, you’re right, it might.” Rainbow shook her head. She reached down and picked up the spear. With a quick toss she threw it over to Icarus, he caught it with well-practiced ease. “I tell you what; do the memory of your old man proud. If you honestly think he would do that, if you honestly believe he would kill someone in cold blood because it might solve the problem. Do it, but remember; you’re the one who made the vow. It’s on your head, on your claws. When you hold my daughter's foal for the first time, you had better be able to look yourself in the mirror in the morning knowing that you upheld your vow. Otherwise, you’re not worthy of the honor.”

Icarus gripped the spear tighter in his claws. To say he had mixed feelings was an understatement. The spear worked, it could cut Ataxia with the ease it cut everything else. On top of that, it slowed her regeneration, her wounds did not heal as fast as they would with anything else, he could save his wife, he could save everyone, he just had to do enough damage, and he might be able to kill her.

It was the might part that held him back.

On the other claw, Rainbow was right, it was not what his dad would do, and he would never condone such violence against another, not unless it was absolutely necessary. He knew Ataxia; she was fun, possibly even a friend. He… he had made a vow, a vow to do his dad’s name justice. That is why the spear carried his name. It was a tool to protect not to kill, not in such a manner.

Rainbow was right; he had treated his father’s namesake like shit.

Icarus hung his head low; he had almost broken his vow. It did not matter if he might be able to end this, if he could not live with himself after, what would be the point. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” Icarus finally said the words.

“Hey, we all do dumb things from time to time, I don’t hold it against you and neither should you. You simply… lost your way. Just like her.” They both turned to Ataxia; Radiant was doing an impressive job of keeping her busy. He lashed out with attacks of his own from every direction he was not. His attacks made her spend energy that she could have otherwise put to use healing herself on wasteful counter attacks.

It would not last long, sooner or later, she would regain her vision, as well as her ability to stand, and fly for that matter. When that happened, Radiant did not have a shred of hope to keep her occupied, much less to survive whatever it would be that she did to him. “We should get back in it.” Rainbow said with a small smile.

Icarus lifted his spear. “Sorry dad, I almost lost it there for a minute.”

“There’s the griffin that won my daughter’s heart.”

Icarus laughed at that. If he were being honest with himself, truly honest, he never fully believed he had Aurora’s heart. She was… perfect in every way, while he had more flaws than he cared to admit. He was just something she wanted right now; Icarus fully suspected there would come a time when she would leave him. Having moved on to someone better, he did not even begrudge her that, he was merely thankful for every moment he got with her. “I didn’t win anything, she takes what she wants. Aurora could have anyone.”

Rainbow wanted to slap him silly for that comment, she settled for cuffing him over the head with a hoof. “Icarus, you’re right about one thing, my daughter could’ve had any one she wanted to. Money and fame don’t matter to her any more than dresses really matter to me. Always remember, she wanted you, of all the ponies, griffins, zebras, and minotaurs in the world, she married you. You may not believe it, you may not even see it, but you have a place in her heart, a place I know many a stallion and mare would love to occupy. Never doubt your own self-worth. Because, to her, you’re the one she wanted. That alone should tell you what your true value is.”

He thought about it for a minute, still a little unsure. Rainbow knocked him over on his side with a quick head-butt. “Hey!”

“Stop it; you can trust me on this one. If you don’t, I’ll tell Aurora that you doubted her.”

That threat gave him pause. “You… you wouldn’t!”

“Consider it a promise.”

Rainbow had him dead to rights on that one. It was one fight he did not want to get into, he knew Aurora would eat him alive if she found out how that he doubted her like that. “Ok.”

Rainbow flew up in the air. “C’mon, we still got a fight to get back too.”

At that moment, Ataxia opened her eyes. “Rainbow!” Radiant shouted.

“Aim for the eyes, keep her blinded, keep her guessing!” Rainbow called out behind her, she did not need to look back to know that Icarus would be following her. She was confident that the griffin had heard every word. Indeed he had, there was just one little problem. He was not the only one that heard it.

Ataxia heard it too.

She let it come, Rainbow and Icarus flew from behind her body and over to her head. As she suspected, Rainbow arrived first, she lashed out at Ataxia’s muzzle with her wings, scoring several hits but other than the pain, she failed to do any real damage. Ataxia’s scales more than a match for the golden wings after she had killed her with them once. Ataxia played the part, she lashed out with her left claw, but she was playing possum.

When Icarus showed up, he wasted no time going straight for the eyes. It was all for not, Ataxia had been expecting him, the griffin with the painful spear. She jerked her head back and lashed out with a sudden chomp of her teeth. Intent on eating the griffin alive and removed their last trump card from the battle.

Icarus did not see it coming. His surprise magnified a hundredfold when his attack missed. Even more so that such a large target could move so quickly. The teeth closed in to end his life once and for all.

That is exactly what it would have done, but Rainbow saw it coming. Icarus might be new to playing at sonic speeds, but Rainbow had experience with it long before she even got her golden wings. She saw Ataxia’s ploy almost too late, almost. Rainbow did a mid-air one eighty and dive-bombed the griffin out of the way. She hit him with such force that a few of his ribs cracked in his chest, but it was a necessary loss; had she not, the griffin would have been eaten on the spot, and with him gone they would have lost the only tool they still had that could hurt Ataxia. Therefore, even though she felt some bones break on contact, she still managed a smile that she had not been too late to save him.

Sadly, Rainbow may have pushed Icarus out of the way, but she did not make it herself, at least, not all of her. When the jaws closed, they caught Rainbow’s tail in them. So, she hug from Ataxia’s mouth by her tail, dangling with all the indignation that brought with it.

Radiant saw all of this, part of him wanted to bust out in laughter; he would have too, if the situation were not so dire. “You ok, Rainbow?” He called out to her. Doing his absolute best to keep a straight face and calm voice in the process, needless to say, some of it still got out.

“Me? Oh yeah, peachy!” Rainbow yelled back. She recognized the suppressed giggle anywhere. Had she been in his horseshoes, she would have been laughing her flank off. It was not so funny on the other end. “Someone get me out of here!”

Ataxia did not quite understand what had happened. She had gone to eat the one with the spear, but instead she got nothing in her mouth. Well, almost nothing, she could taste… magic. It was confusing to say the least.

“I’m coming.” Radiant called out.

Icarus got to his feet; every breath he took caused a stinging sensation in his lungs, it hurt to breathe, it hurt to stand up. Placing a claw on his side he immediately took it away, the contact only made the pain worse. He had no doubt that a few of his ribs had been broken by that hit. When he looked up, he saw the reason why the hit had been necessary. He knew that he had nearly avoided death. Well, more precisely, he had been saved from death by his step-mom.

Icarus watched as Radiant ran forward and conjured several magical blades, each of which started attacking Ataxia’s teeth. He might as well have saved his energy; her teeth were as tough as the rest of her body, stronger most likely. Worse, it was getting Ataxia’s attention. He needed to help soon, he could see that the dragacorn was confused about what was going on, but that would not last long. They had seconds at best to get Rainbow out of there before Ataxia realized what she held in her mouth and took advantage of it.

He had to save Rainbow, and quickly.

It hurt, but Icarus stood back up and flapped his wings. Somehow, even with all that had occurred he never let go of Siros’s Vengeance. The spear had stayed in his claw the entire time. Icarus liked to think that it had a life of its own. That it was more than just a weapon, that the magic that imbued it gave it its own life. Well, maybe not a life in the normal sense of the word, but that it was something that truly represented his father.

In many ways, he was right. All four alicorns of Equestria had imbued Siros’s Vengeance with their magic. Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Princess Night, and Princess Twilight had all empowered the weapon. Three of those beings possessed magic above and beyond anything the world had ever seen before: God magic. The spear, quite literally, had no mortal created equal. Only Tartarus’s Occulous and the now destroyed Cronus’s Sickle could ever hope to give it a run for its bits.

However, even then, those weapons each had possessed their own unique properties. Each of which made them better and worse than the others. It was an unfair comparison to try to compare them to each other. After all, when comparing God weapons, you compare them to anything other than another God weapon.

The spear stayed in his claw when by all accounts it should have been dropped. It did so because it wanted to. When Icarus said the words, when he made the vow upon first picking it up, he empowered the spear with the righteousness of his deeds. As long as its wielder was fighting for the same thing, it would never fail them. It would never leave their side.

In all accounts, it truly was its namesake; he held the physical representation of Siros’s Vengeance. A weapon that became what its first wielder had wanted it to become.

Icarus tightened his grip on the spear. He would never know, but there was a reason he had been able to complete Rainbow’s training, it was the same reason he had been able to do two sonic rainbooms, fly, and fight the way he had. It had not been him. It was the spear; it had always been the spear. As long as its wielder held true righteousness in their heart, as long as they fought to protect others, it would grant them the power to fulfill that request. Unlike the Blood Oath Armor, its user did not have to pay a price for this power.

When he tightened his grip, Icarus felt strong, the bruise on his side was forgotten. He knew Radiant would never be able to break those teeth and free Rainbow. Worse, he also knew they only had seconds until Ataxia figured out that Radiant’s attacks were for a reason, because she held Rainbow, quite literally, by the tail. Once that happened, Rainbow was done for. She might be the fastest creature on the planet, but if she could not get away, that speed would be worthless. There was no doubt in Icarus’s mind that Ataxia would finish her, and the rest of them would follow. He could not let that happen, he would not let that happen.

Icarus flew at full speed, his spear aimed directly forward, directly at Ataxia’s teeth. He smashed right through each and every one in his way. The spear broke every tooth on her left and right side as the griffin went in one side of her mouth and out the other.

She roared in pain, it was one of the most excruciatingly painful injuries she had received that night. Worse, because it did not end her life, she had to suffer through all of it. Radiant did not quite understand why, but he acutely felt sorry for Ataxia.

It had accomplished the goal, as soon as the teeth holding her tail in place broke; Rainbow wasted no time in getting away. He may not have done it personally, but in a way, Emperor Siros managed to save Rainbow’s life. Icarus knew his father would have been proud of him for that.

She flew around the roaring dragacorn and up to the griffin. “What was that?”

“Sorry, I might have overdone it.”

The shocked look on her face told Icarus that they might be talking about two very different things. “What?” He asked her.

“You, you… you don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Icarus, when you attacked just now, you were surrounded by a blue energy. It seemed to be coming from the spear.” Radiant said. They both looked down; the unicorn had teleported himself on top of the building that was directly below them.

“What?”

“Icarus look.” Rainbow pointed with her one remaining hoof. Looking in that direction, Icarus saw just what she was talking about. Ataxia’s mouth was easily big enough to take a bite out of most buildings; she could swallow you whole without even realizing it. Her teeth were proportionate to her mouth, each one taller than an alicorn. They were made of the same dense bone that made up her skeleton structure. Somehow, with nothing more than a spear, Icarus had managed to destroy several teeth on each side of her mouth in one blow. It should have been physically impossible. He had not even known that was what happened.

“I… I… I… how?”

“That’s my question.” Rainbow said. She was just as shocked as Icarus was.

“Guys, we’re out of time, it’ll have to wait.” Radiant said from below them. They both turned to look; Ataxia was glaring at all three of them. A claw pressed to the side of her mouth.

“It’s coming!” Rainbow shouted.

Sure enough, Ataxia covered the area they were in with her dragon fire. In one attack, she destroyed almost an entire quarter of The Crystal Empire.

Of course, it was Rainbow that reacted first. Swooping down, she scooped up Radiant and carried him to safety. Icarus flew straight up, avoiding the worst of it yet still his fur singed some due to the extreme heat. “I think she might be mad.” Icarus joked.

“You think?” Radiant replied, carried by the one hoof golden mare.

Rainbow’s eyes were solely on the damage that attack had caused, she was very grateful that the hospital was not in that area. However, it did not change the fact that several hundred crystal ponies were now homeless. She hoped they would be able to spare the rest of the empire similar damage. Somehow, she doubted it. They would be lucky to survive themselves, saving the buildings would be a tall order any way she sliced it.

Leaving just was not an option. Assuming they could lure her away at all, it would leave Radiant out in the open, and they needed his help in this. Therefore, the buildings had to be sacrificed for the greater good. Rainbow just had to hope that Twilight would find some way to protect the hospital.

………

Twilight walked into a room full of love… and sadness. She had not known what to expect she got there. The last time she visited Firestar's room, it had been to hoof deliver some really, really bad news. Bad news that consisted of Ataxia’s impeding attack.

What she saw surprised her. Cadance and Firestar were sitting on the same bed, idly chatting with each other despite the battle going on outside. Firestar’s stomach was nicely distended now; Twilight could tell that the twins were growing big in there. She had personal experience with such things after Rainbow had become pregnant with theirs. That thought made her smile and frown all at once.

“You two are getting along nicely.” Twilight said. She did her best not to fall into melancholy over the day’s events. Needless to say, it was just a façade.

“Hey, we’ve always gotten along just fine!” Firestar complained.

“Yeah, I know, I was just being witty. Sorry, bad habit I must have picked up from Rainbow.” That comment only made Twilight sadder.

“Speaking of her, how is it going outside?” Cadance asked.

“Not good. My plan rather backfired on us. Ataxia adapted to my strategy and almost roasted Rainbow and I alive. It’s… it’s not a good situation.” Twilight head sunk down, she felt so powerless right now. True, she may still be an alicorn, however, what she needed was her full power, the power she took for granted so many times over the years. She needed Gaia’s power. With that, she could finish this right here and now.

As Twilight sat down on the bed, Cadance patted her on the head. “Hey, where’s that little filly that never had a care in the world?”

“Cadance, I’m a mom now, I’m not that little filly anymore.”

“You always will be to me. Never forget that.” Cadance smiled warmly at Twilight.

That alone seemed to be enough to brighten Twilight’s mood, she had almost forgotten what it was to be happy. It seemed like a lifetime ago before this battle started. Once again, she was forced to sit on the sidelines when Rainbow risked, and lost in the latter case, life and limb.

“How are they holding up, are they… are they alright at least?” Firestar asked the question, desperate for any new information on the fate of everyone… specifically her husband.

Twilight shook her head. “With Icarus here, they have a weapon that can actually hurt her... as long as they don’t kill her with it, that should be enough.” The ‘for now’ was left off the end of the statement, Twilight did not want to say it, and she knew they did not want to hear it.

“So, it’s good news?” Firestar asked hopefully.

“No.” Twilight shook her head again. She had not wanted to go here, but Firestar deserved to know that the odds were good none of them would see any of the ones they loved again. She had calculated the odds of Ataxia winning with this new information. That was one number she definitely did not want to say. “There’s no endgame, we have no plan to actually stop her. I’ve tried to think of something… all my tests… they all came up with nothing.” Twilight was almost sobbing now; she had spent the majority of her time running through everything she could in her head. Nothing would work. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

Cadance reached over and pressed Twilight’s head into her chest, letting her cry out into her coat. “It’s ok Twilight; we don’t expect you to solve every problem on your own.”

“But… they can’t last, eventually they’ll get tired and make a mistake. Rainbow already lost a hoof.” Twilight managed to say between sobs.

Firestar’s eyes went wide at that. She knew about the fate of Luna, but she never suspected that Rainbow of all ponies could actually get hurt, much less lose a hoof like that. “Radiant, come back to me.” She whispered in the air, hoping that her prayers would be enough to keep him safe.

“It’s not all bad right? Luna is still alive.” Cadance cooed softly into Twilight’s ear, trying desperately to cheer her up.

“For now.” Twilight replied.

“What? I thought she-“

Twilight lifted her head. “Firestar, I just got done seeing her; I can’t tell you everything because I just don’t know. My magic is just not working the way it should.” Twilight touched a hoof to her stomach. “The doctors were able to stem the bleeding and she’s stable, but her mind, it’s just gone. When her horn exploded some of the magic went inward. It went into her mind. I… I could repair it if I had my full power, but until then, she’s on her own, whether or not she survives will be all on her.”

“There’s nothing we can do? Nothing at all?” Cadance asked. There was a hopeful expression on her face.

Twilight hated that look, not because there was anything wrong with it, but because she did not want to be the one to kill it. It caused her mind to start over thinking everything that had happened. She paused on one thing, one thing that came to mind. “Well… not saying this will work or not, but maybe; just maybe Shimmering Night might be able to help her.”

It was a long shot, a million-to-one odds that she would be able to pull it off, but if she truly was the daughter of a God, it just might work with Twilight’s guidance. It would be tricky; they would have to pull the magic out of her brain while restoring her higher-level functions. Normally, it was something Twilight would insist she did alone, but that was not an option this time around. That level of magic… it was like nothing else. Still, it did offer everypony a little hope for their fallen friend.

“So, all our hopes rest on Night getting back.” Cadance said, half-joking and half-serious.

Twilight could only nod, it was a tall order to say the least, they had to hold of Ataxia and somehow keep Luna alive for however long it took for Night to get back. She wished for the millionth time that she were not pregnant. She could do all those things and more. That left a thought in her head, one she had not considered before. One that she had not wanted to consider before, but with everything on the line….

“Maybe not…” She did not want to say it.

“What do you mean?”

“Well… no, never mind.” She dismissed that idea; Rainbow would never forgive her for such an action. Twilight could handle dying, she could handle failing, but living with the love of her life hating her? That would be a new form of hell that would make her wish for death. After all, what would be the point of living if there were no one to live for?

“We’ll just have to stack the deck in our favor.” Twilight said as she got out of the bed.

“Oh, how do we do that?”

“Simple Firestar, we gather as much information that we can, the more we know the more time we can buy for Night to get back.” She hated the thought, but it was true, everything rested on Shimmering Night returning from the Dragon Kingdom soon.

“What if she doesn’t come for a few days?” Firestar asked the unspoken fear of everypony. They had no idea if she was even on her way back. That was not even including what they would have to ask her to do. The situation was dire for sure, but that still put the entire burden on her to stop… to kill Ataxia once and for all. Assuming she even could.

Twilight smiled, one that got even bigger as she realized that she meant it. “I know Night has never been the best at sensing others, but we've released so much magical energy here that there is no way she couldn't have sensed it. She would know something is happening, that something’s wrong. I know she is on her way back. I just… I just know it.”

“For an average flyer, it’s a two day flight to Warclaw…” Cadance added. “Never mind how long it will take her to get to wherever they were going in the Dragon Kingdom.”

“She’ll find a way.” Twilight said. “Until then, we will buy her enough time to get back.” She walked over to the window. Both Cadance and Firestar’s eyes went wide as Twilight’s mouth fell to the ground; in a flash of purple magic, she was gone.

One word hung as a whisper in the air; it seemed to stay longer than it should. Almost as if Twilight had left it behind. The word sent a chill down Cadance and Firestar’s spine.

“No.”

……...

The fight was finally going their way. Rainbow flashed around Ataxia several thousand times a minute, while they could not harm her eyes anymore, as Icarus could not get a clean shot with his spear, they could still keep her blinded with light.

It was risky, but with Rainbow’s reflexes, she was more than confident that she could keep it going. With her willpower controlling her flight she was not even at risk of fatigue, all she had to do was not want to stop and she would keep going.

Sadly, Radiant could not say the same thing; the battle had become an endurance trial for the unicorn. One his time spent in Firestar’s hospital room had left him ill prepared for. Rainbow had her speed, Icarus that magical spear. Radiant, well, he had nothing left in him. Yet, the unicorn would not quit. He did not know the meaning of the word. The Crystal Empire was his; he would not let others fight for it while he stayed on the sidelines.

Sure, he might not be able to hurt her directly, but he could still annoy her. Grab her attention and keep it away from the others, specifically to keep it away from Icarus.

Rainbow kept her blind, kept her guessing. Icarus was the one doing the real damage. Every time Ataxia would lash out to stop Rainbow, Icarus would cut off whatever limb she used. They were all staying in close, with her wings cut and frayed like they were, Ataxia was not able to use her fire, it would cause just as much damage to her as it did to everyone else. That only left her with physical attacks, claws, teeth and her tail. They were all attacks that she paid for in blood.

For any other creature, they would retreat. Their instincts would be screaming at them that fight was impossible; they would naturally go with the only other option, flight. Ataxia was not an ordinary creature; hate guided everything she did. Ataxia did not even know the reason why she hated anymore. It had become its own living, breathing thing in her mind. It was all she knew, it was all she lived for. It blocked out all other thoughts and emotions. She could not tell friend from foe. Everything she hated simply had to die. She hated everything.

Some things she hated more than others. Her instincts were driving her towards the hospital; she felt the pull like no other, something that had increased twofold in the past few minutes. It was maddening, however, that these insects, these bugs kept getting in her way. The solution was simple, kill the bugs and keep moving forward.

However, some bugs were harder to kill than others. They kept her blinded, they kept her disoriented, and they kept her in pain. That pain was only increasing her rage, increasing her hate. She had had enough of this. Ataxia formed a plan in her head. One that would finally put an end to all of this.

Rainbow saw it coming a mile away; Ataxia’s horn was getting ready for another spell. She had already interrupted six of them in the past several moments. This would simply make number seven. She flew up and kicked the horn with all her worth. Her back legs made impact without issue, cutting off whatever spell Ataxia was trying to cast.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what Ataxia wanted; she had timed out Icarus’s attacks, and knew just how long after she lashed out that he would attack. All she had to do was keep the gold one occupied.

Ataxia lashed out at Radiant, just as planned Icarus took off at that moment, ready to cut off her claw again before it reached the unicorn. Sadly, that was her plan too. In the middle of the attack, Ataxia pulled her claw back and swiped out with her large wing instead.

The appendage had largely been useless until now, Icarus made sure that whenever enough of one of them grew back he would attack it, forcing her to regrow it all over again. Still, it made for a nice area of effect weapon, one they could not hope to dodge.

Despite the distraction from her horn, Rainbow saw what the dragacorn had planned. Immediately after hitting it, she changed direction and shot down to pick up the unicorn. While Icarus would still be hit, his blow would only be a glancing one, and even with her speed, she could only save one of them.

She almost made it too, almost. When she picked up the unicorn, he nearly fell out of her hooves, Rainbow’s one missing hoof made itself known yet again. She fumbled with him for a moment. A moment she did not have.

Instead of the wing striking two of them, it hit all three. The blow sent the trio crashing into a nearby building. Rainbow managed to position herself between the building and Radiant. She knew her magic would protect her from most of the damage, but he did not have any sort of protection. Rainbow and Icarus collided with the building with a loud boom. They impacted the side of the wall and sent cracks running in many directions. The Crystal Empire was tough, its buildings literally made of crystal, crystal that they were getting very intimate with now.

Icarus temporarily lost consciousness from the hit, his head jerked back into the buildings wall. Rainbow had been right, he was only struck with a glancing blow, while she had no doubt he would have a few injures, he should still be fine.

She had taken most of the impact from Ataxia and then the building. Radiant was dazed but not out of it. Rainbow got off slightly worse, her magic absorbed most of the damage but some of it got through. The only thing she had not planned for was that when she put herself between Radiant and the wall, she ended up putting her wings into the building itself.

However, Ataxia was not done. Immediately after striking the three, she lashed out with her dragon fire. Fire that would arrive seconds after Rainbow and Icarus hit the wall, giving them no time at all to respond to it.

Rainbow saw it coming, the speed it was moving at, the way she felt, there was no getting out of it this time. Her brain instantly knew that by the time she got her wings unstuck from the building it would be too late. It would only take her milliseconds to free them, but even that was too long. There was no saving herself, or anyone else for that matter.

The fire approached at incredible speed, a wall of yellow, orange, and red moving in as if it had a life to itself. As if it was coming to greet Rainbow like a long lost friend. Less than ten hooves before it touched, five before the heat alone would be enough to kill all three of them, Rainbow saw the oddest color added to the mix: Purple.

Author's Note

The spear imbued with the magic of two avatars, a demigoddess, and an alicorn. It'll give its wielder the power to protect anyone they love. Sadly, it has the same weakness that all weapons share: Its user.

Two more chapters to go!

Indestructible

Warclaw

It was simply another calm, peaceful, and quiet night in Warclaw. For most the population, they had no idea that anything unusual was happening in the world. That several hundred miles north, the rulers of Equestria were fighting for their very lives against a foe that used to be a friend. Indeed, one that the citizens of the Griffin Empire even called a hero. Yep, for the griffins that lived in this city, it was just another night. Few of them even knew that their leaders were directly involved in that very same fight.

Emperor Icarus left almost three days ago without notice. He simply canceled all his meetings and disappeared with an entire detachment of griffins and his personal guard. The only explanation of the sudden cancellations was a note left behind for those he was going to meet with. It read, ‘If I have to listen to one more of you yammering on about this or that, they’ll have to dig a strip mine to bury all the bodies.’

Icarus had a way with words; he was not subtle or cunning. When it came to him, he was always blunt about what he wanted, always straight and to the point, even if that point might be on the tip of his spear. Despite all of that, his bluntness did come with an upside, for he was always honest. Therefore, after they read the note, no one really complained about the missing emperor.

Every griffin knew Aurora’s influence over their new emperor. Her presence had a calming effect over Icarus. Without her here, he was prone to some of his more… irrational behavior. While a few nobles would still try their luck, entrusting that their titles would keep them safe (despite several experiences to the contrary) not even they would push their luck against an actual threat. With him gone, Warclaw actually ran quite smoother than normal. The nobles dealt with problems on their own, with the constant threat of Icarus’s displeasure hanging over their heads if they acted in a way that would piss off Aurora, and therefor him.

Yep, for the inhabitants of Warclaw, it was just a normal, peaceful night. That all changed when the delegation that went to the Dragon Kingdom passed by. Aurora, Night, and Fey flew by Warclaw at such speeds that they were not even aware of what city they just passed by.

Shimmering Night encased all three of them into a protective bubble. That bubble allowed them to fly at such insane speeds that they would quite literally cover a journey of a thousand miles in less than an hour. Needless to say, that left quite the impact on the air currents everywhere they went, air currents that swept out violently in every direction, causing untold damage to everything they hit.

Warclaw was no exception. The city shook itself to the core as the magical sphere Night created passed close by. Close being a relative term as it flew by fifteen miles to the east. It flew at such speeds that by the time anyone felt the first waves of air, the sphere was already miles away. In houses all over the city foundations shook, dishes broke, windows shattered, and every soul was instantly aware that something had just happened.

The royal council placed the entire city on high alert that night, without the emperor or empress around; they stayed like that for some time. No griffin wanted to risk giving an order to stand down, just in case the dragons were coming back. They figured it was better to err on the side of caution when it came to things like this.

Inside the bubble were three very worried souls. Shimmering Night’s focus found itself more and more torn as time went on. At first, she was focusing only on increasing their speed, and keeping the bubble intact. In no time at all, that became more second nature to the alicorn/demigoddess, so she found her mind beginning to wonder, specifically about her talk with Captain Fey Light a few minutes ago, try as she might, Night found she was unable to get his words out of her head.

It was for the best that she simply end this when she got there, that she take away Ataxia’s power from her once and for all. Yet, the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a violation of the worst sort. Her mind could not help drawing comparisons: It would be like cutting off a pegasus’s wings, stripping away a unicorn’s horn, or an earth pony’s legs. If she went through with it, she might as well be a rapist, stripping away some poor mare’s virginity.

On the other hoof, that was not quite a fair comparison. As Night was doing it to save everyone from a nightmare made real. What other choice did she have? Let Ataxia kill them all in hopes that she would simply stop? If she did not stop, would she kill every pony, griffin, dragon, and zebra in the entire word? Even if she did stop after killing all the alicorns, what would that do to Ataxia? She would have to live for the rest of her life knowing that she was the one who killed all her friends. From knowing Ataxia for as long as she did, Night could reasonably say that it would not be a long life.

That thought made Night grimace, she knew what her friend… her love would do in such a situation, Ataxia had practically told Night all those days… weeks ago. Luna, had it really only been that short of a time since their… their date? Night could hardly believe that. Yet it was true, all of this, the revelation with the Dragon King, Ataxia’s Attack, the funeral, Rarity and Spike’s death, and their date. It had all occurred in less than a month.

That was a bitter pill to swallow; it was one that made Night want to throw up. She almost did if it was not for an interruption to her personal thoughts. From a source she thought would be quiet the rest of the way there.

“Princess Shimmering Night?”

‘Speaking of things that make me want to throw up.’ Night thought to herself with a small chuckle. “Yes captain, what is it?”

In her peripheral vision, Night saw Aurora about to speak up. It was easy to tell that her sister was not happy with her captain of the guard’s new brash attitude in the past few minutes. Night waved her sister off with a hoof. Even if she did not like what he had to say, she still wanted him to say it. He may rub her the wrong way, but she still valued any opinions she could get on this subject. After all, inspiration can often come from the most unlikely of sources.

“Princess, I wanted to say I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place to speak up like that earlier.”

At that, Night and Aurora both released a breath they were not aware they were holding. After his earlier outburst about ponies Night loved dying, Aurora was ready to chew his head off. It was not his place to say something like that to her little sister.

Aurora had faith in Night. She chuckled at that thought, ‘I truly do have faith that my little sister will find some way out of this situation, for… for everyone.’ Aurora did not know when it happened, at what point in Night’s life she became so much smarter than Aurora was, but Aurora could not deny that it did happen. Sure, Aurora might be an empress, she might have a say in the rule of two countries, but Aurora was not her sister.

Her sister, Shimmering Night, she had become a true ruler, a true princess. Rarity had once talked to her about it. About the times before her parents had gotten together. Twilight had been a bookworm most of her life, she still was, but apparently it had been worse back in the day. Twilight was antisocial, and before she came to Ponyville, her only friend was a baby dragon that she hatched for an entrance exam to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Yet, despite all of that, ponies still turned to her and all her friends to solve their problems.

Before she had ever become a princess, Twilight Sparkle was a leader. She was someone you went to for help, for advice, not because she would instantly know what to do, but because you trusted her to help solve the problem. She had the markings of a true princess before she ever became one.

Sure, Night had done it backwards, but nopony could now deny who she was. Princess Shimmering Night was a true princess now. It was not a title she held, not like Aurora’s; it was now something she owned. It was a part of who she was. Ponies went to Night for help, not because she was a princess, but because she was a leader. You can easily be one without being the other. Night just happened to be both.

‘Not like I haven’t earned my own title, well at least one of them.’ Aurora thought to herself with a smile. Sure, she might not have ever really owned her princess title, but no griffin would deny that she was truly their empress. Her rule would lead the Griffin Empire into a new age. It already has, with her force of will, and the small threat of Icarus losing it if someone dared back talk his wife. She was able to make decisions that changed the lives of every griffin for the better. Her ‘outsider’ perspective gave her a unique view of what needed to be done without the haze of ‘tradition’ getting in her way.

She had no doubt that there were more than a few that were constantly watching her, worried she might try to take advantage of her newfound powers. Yet they had no need to worry, for there was nothing she wanted. Aurora had lived the vain, upscale lifestyle most of her life. As Equestria’s number one model, she literally had everything she wanted thrown at her hooves. It was all shallow… empty. At the time, she had not realized it… not then anyway; it took her brother’s sacrifice to make her truly understand what was important in her life.

Now… now she looked back at her old life with nothing but disgust, all the parties, all the excess, heck, even all the suitors. None of them was who she was; none of them truly suited her. They were all simply things she wore at the time, things she would discard when they stopped being new, stopped being exciting, or in the now.

She realized that now, of course she would. After all, ‘Hindsight is always twenty-twenty’ or so they say. Now she had someone, truly loved someone that even loved her back, and to make things even better, they had a kid on the way. She found she truly did love that pompous ass. She truly did love Icarus.

They had suffered through tragedy, setback, pain, and loss. They suffered through each of them in turn: First with the loss of their unborn son, then with the loss of Siros. For Icarus, Siros’s death was the loss of his actual father. Little did he know that Aurora felt the same, for her, he was the closest thing to a father she had ever known.

Not to say she was unhappy with her family, they were the best of the best and she would not give them up for anything in the world. Rather, Siros had always been a father figure to her, someone she looked up to her entire life. She loved him as much as she had either of her actual parents. As far back as she could remember Siros had always been so kind to her.

It had always been a regret of Aurora’s, how little time she got to spend with him over the years, heck the first time she actually met his son Icarus was a year ago in Warclaw. She knew of him, his reputation preceded him. However, their travels simply never allowed the two to meet. With Siros’s duties, it often kept him away from his son; the pressures of being a ruler can take their toll on anyone. He did his best, but there was a limit Siros could do for his son.

Icarus… when her thoughts turned to him, it always put a smile on her face.

Icarus was so much like her it was a little scary. It was just… in a different way. While Aurora would use her looks and words to get what she wanted, Icarus would simply use force and the threat of violence to get what he wanted. It was almost comical to her at times. Sure, his way worked… in the short term at least, but it left him hated. Aurora had learned from Fluttershy that she could catch more flies with honey than vinegar. After all, if you make them think it was their idea, they are a lot more likely to go along with it.

Somehow, she had won his heart. It had been a simple kiss; one that he stole from her after saving her life from a dragon attack. Yet that one kiss had been all it took to kindle that spark between them, the same spark she had mistook for hatred after their first few encounters. Something that had only grown between them over the months, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Night’s reply to Fey Light’s apology brought Aurora back to reality.

“Thank you, Captain Fey Light. I want you to know that I do value your opinion on the subject. However, try and keep it a little less brash in the future.” Night added the last part. She did not need to hear that her decisions would affect whether or not ponies died. Things like that were always on her mind.

“Understood, Princess Shimmering Night, I just hope you can understand my issue, my emperor is already fighting Ataxia, and now we are all going to that very battlefield. I know you will do what you think is best for everyone, but my charge is a little smaller than yours is. My concern only being for those I have sworn my life to protect.” Fey glanced back at Aurora with that statement. The implications clear as day for anyone to read.

Night smiled. Even if she still did not like this griffin, she could respect his dedication to her sister and brother-in-law. It was an admirable quality to say the least. “Believe me Captain Fey Light; I understand that more than you know. I made this promise to Emperor Icarus and I have no problem making the same one to you. I will not let Aurora suffer any harm while she is under my watch. I will take whatever actions are necessary to see that promise through, regardless what those might entail.” She meant it then and she still did now.

Fey smiled at that. “Thank you, Princess Night. That’s all I ask.” He decreased his speed, satisfied that if the worst should happen, if Aurora life was on the line, Night would do what she had to in order to keep her safe, which was his one and only concern. It was the last command Emperor Icarus tasked him with.

Aurora increased her speed and quickly took his place. She looked over at her sister, surprised to see a big stupid grin on Night’s face. “What?” She asked Night.

“Every time I talk to that griffin I cannot decide if I like him or hate him.” Night laughed. “Still, I think… I think Icarus made the right choice. He seems one hundred percent concerned with your safety. I don’t have to like him to respect him.”

Aurora thought about it for a minute, his comments were inappropriate, but if it was just him doing his job... “Should I let him off for his earlier comments?”

Night shook her head no. Even if it was just part of his job, such unprofessional behavior could not go unpunished; failure to do anything about it would be setting a bad precedent. “I’d still tell Icarus about it. Such behavior is all but excusable from someone in his position. Yet, tell him to let him keep his job. He may have acted inappropriately, but it was for the right reasons.”

Aurora thought about it for a while. She decided to trust in Night’s judgment on this one. “Ok, you’re probably right about this.” She smiled as she looked at her sister’s face. That smile faded as she still saw the look of someone far too lost in her own thoughts, a trait Night had no doubt inherited from Twilight. “You’re still thinking about her, aren’t you?” They both knew who her was.

“I… I just don’t know what to do. There’s too many choices, too much at stake. What if… what if I make the wrong choice? What if someone dies because of that choice? There… there has to be a solution out of this, out of all of this, something that gets everyone through it all. I… I just don’t see it.” There was real panic in Night’s voice when she said that. It was obvious to Aurora that Night was stressing out over this.

Aurora wanted to slap her sister silly, to scream at her to stop worrying. She knew from personal experience growing up with Night that to tell her to stop worrying was like telling the wind not to blow. However, she also knew from that experience just what to do. At times like this Night was looking for someone, anyone to tell her what to do. While Night might be smarter than Aurora, Aurora was far more experienced in the way the world worked.

Aurora flew under Night and turned upside down. She was looking directly in her sister’s eyes as she spoke. “Night, do you trust me to tell you the truth?”

Night was not sure just where this conversation was heading, but Aurora was waiting for an answer. “Yes.” She finally said through bated breath.

“I’m going to tell you exactly what to do right this second, but before I do, you have to promise me it’s what you’re going to do. You can’t get out of it just because you don’t like it.”

“So, you want me to promise to do something without knowing what it will be?” Aurora just nodded her head at that one, a serious expression on her face.

Night just sighed at that. She knew Aurora well enough to know that the mare would never tell her what to do without agreeing first, there was no other way out of it. With her curiosity piqued at what her sister had to say she could not simply let it go either. Night tried to entertain the idea of simply saying no, but every thought she had simply ended in horrible disaster that she could have been prevented had she just agreed to her sister’s terms. Her sister had her by the preverbal mane and what is worse, she knew it too.

“Fine, I promise.” Night reluctantly agreed.

“Not good enough, Night.” Aurora said with a smile.

Night’s head sunk even lower; there was no way out of it now. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Her hoof went blindly through the motions.

Aurora smiled, she wished Icarus would take a page from her book every now and again; it was so much easier getting what you wanted if you made the other party think it was their idea. “Alright Night, what you have to do is very simple, it’s the simplest thing in the world. All you have to do is nothing. Simply stop worrying about it.” Aurora said with a straight face.

Night’s face was the exact opposite of her sister’s. “What? What sort of advice is that?! How can I possibility not worry about it?!” She started on a tangent, one that could go on for hours if no one intervened.

“Night, shut up.” Aurora said as she grabbed Night’s muzzle with her hoof. “Listen and think for once, what started this whole mess to begin with, Ataxia trying to kiss you, right?” Night just nodded to that. She could no more deny it than to try to tell herself that this was not all her fault.

“You told me the story, in the museum, which by the way I want you to take me to because that sounds cool, that you and her almost kissed. That you almost came that close,” Aurora held both hooves up, placing them an inch away from each other, “before she got the letter about Rarity…” Aurora trailed off on that one; she and Rarity had always been close. It hurt the mare to think about her death. More than one night saw her breaking down in tears at the thought of never talking to her again.

She did her best to shake it off before continuing. “I think… I know that then, at that moment, you were not thinking about it, you were not overanalyzing the situation, comparing all of the appropriate results, and trying to find the best solution. You were simply letting your heart lead you. You were following your heart, letting it take the lead in a situation you never thought you would ever be in.”

Night went to interject, and then she stopped. The reality of what her sister said was sinking in with her. She had not thought about it then, she was merely letting it happen, letting events unfold naturally. It was only after… after Ataxia teleported away and that voice….

She had forgotten about that voice.

She shook it off, there was no time to consider that right now, she would deal with that after Ataxia was back to her. Even if this might have been all that voice’s fault, she would make whoever was the owner of that voice pay later, when they all had a moment to rest. Right now, she needed to focus on the task at hoof, even if her sister was trying to get her to stop.

Aurora went on. “Do that again.”

“Wait… what?”

“Don’t think about it; don’t consider the pros and the cons like you normally do. Don’t worry about what decisions you should make, simply let your heart guide you on what you should do. Let that be your guide this time, as you should have done all those weeks ago before all of this started. I think… I know that had events played out as those were going to, this never would have happened. It seems only logical that the same solution that would have prevented it would be the one to end it.”

“But… but… but…”

“No buts, Night.” Aurora said with a smile as she poked her sister’s stomach with her hoof. “Besides, you did pinkie promise, so regardless what you think, you don’t have a choice.” She had her sister dead to rights and she knew it.

Night wanted to argue with that, she wanted to tell her sister that her plan was stupid, that she needed to spend this time worrying about it, discussing it, and trying to come up with the magical cure all solution that would fix everything for everyone. However, she had nothing; she could think of nothing. So maybe, just maybe, this was the best plan after all. Maybe, just maybe, her sister was right. She wanted to dismiss that thought, but, as much as she did not want to admit it, her sister just might be right.

Night hated when Aurora was right. Not that there was anything necessarily wrong with her being right, but simply because she did not want to admit that her sister might actually be right. Not wanting to admit the truth does not make it not true… or so they say anyway. She really had no choice other than complete denial of the situation, which would be a little more foalish than she wanted to be right now.

“You’re right.” Night said with an aura of defeatism in her voice. It did not matter anyway, she had pinkie promised, and nopony breaks a pinkie promise. Night knew that she was over the proverbial barrel with this one.

“Just as long as you remember your promise to me.” Fey Light added in. Both Night and Aurora jerked their heads back to stare at the griffin in shock. Aurora could not believe that he had been listening in to their conversation. She decided right then and there that even if they would not relieve him of his command, he would be harshly disciplined. She would not tolerate such behavior from anyone, regardless what their intentions were.

Night just sighed; she had made the mistake of assuming this conversation had already been put to bed. “Fey, I would never break a promise, my mom taught me better than that. Don’t worry; I will never let Aurora come to any harm.” She placed a hoof on her sister’s chest.

Aurora smiled and shook it off. Part of her wanted to balk at the idea of her little sister having to protect her, but a much larger part did not care. Still, she was upset with her captain, yet again. She spun over in flight and looked at him with an aura of command in her voice. “Captain Fey Light, if you say one more thing until we get back to Warclaw I will have you thrown in the stockades.” Aurora stated, with no small amount of bile in her voice.

Fey Light just saluted and slowed down a little to let the sisters get farther ahead of him. Night turned her head to Aurora, “You have stockades, since when?” She had not remembered seeing those in Warclaw.

“I’d have them built.” Aurora promised. Night just shrugged and turned her head forward. Her eyes went wide as she saw, even in the darkness of the night, that Canterlot was coming up in the distance. Then again, a city on the side of a mountain was always hard to miss.

“We’re almost there.”

Aurora saw it too. “How do you know where we’re heading anyway? I figured we’d be going to Ponyville.”

“I can feel it; they’re in The Crystal Empire. There’s no doubt in my mind.” That spoke volumes to Aurora, Night had always sucked at sensing others. Either they were putting out that much magical energy, or Night’s new abilities were that much more impressive.

Little did she realize that it was both.

………………………………

The Crystal Empire

Ataxia’s fire came for Rainbow, Icarus, and Radiant as a wall of death. Radiant had no hope of escaping it on his own; if he had seconds, he might be able to teleport away. Sadly, seconds would see them all long dead. Icarus was out like a light, the force of his head colliding with the wall was enough to knock him temporarily unconscious.

Only Rainbow had any hope of escaping death, her speed, reflexes, and magic were more than enough to see her fly away unharmed. Two things prevented her from doing so: The first was her wings; they had embedded themselves into the building when she hit, and while she would only need moments to break them free. She did not have that kind of time.

The second thing was her missing hoof; at best, she would be able to save Icarus, or Radiant, not both. Rainbow had no idea which one to save. Fortunately, she did not have to waste time thinking about it, there was no need to worry about which one of them to save, when she would not even be able to save herself.

It was then that Rainbow saw the oddest color added to the fire. It was a color that had no business being mixed with the yellow, red, and orange that made up the wall of death that was heading their way. She saw the color purple.

Twilight saw them be hit, she saw Ataxia shoot her dragon fire at them before they even hit the wall. Instinct alone caused her to leave Firestar and Candace alone in the hospital room and teleport to her wife’s side. It did not matter to her that she had no hope of stopping Ataxia’s flame from killing them all, what mattered to her was that she try. She could not live with herself watching the ones she loved die right in front of her while she sat on the sidelines doing nothing.

When Twilight teleported down between her loved ones and the wall of death coming straight for them, she instinctually raised her strongest shields around them all. Normally, these shields would be indestructible to anything. Powered by the magic she received from Gaia, only another God’s magic could ever hope to break them.

That was normally, normally included times when she was not pregnant with a foal who could block her magic. While she still had magic, it was only alicorn magic. Against a foe like Ataxia, she might as well not have bothered.

The shield popped in an instant. The fire did not notice, it continued on, unimpeded by the slight attempt to stop it. It burned hot enough to kill other dragons, creatures that should be immune to any source of heat. Ataxia’s fire was imbued with her magic, allowing it to incinerate everything in its path.

The fire passed the area in an instant. It passed around the area in an instant. When it got close enough to where Twilight stood, it simply… stopped. The rest of it kept going, but Twilight’s presence was like a barrier to the magical dragon fire, it simply could not go where she was. It coned out and passed around the alicorn, and by extension, the three she sought to protect. It had not been intentional, she had no idea that it would happen, but by standing where she stood, Twilight had saved all four of their lives.

Rainbow had not been expecting that, then again, she had not been expecting another moment of life. So technically, she was not expecting anything at all. The irony of that was lost on her. She shook it off and broke her wings free. Once they were, she flew over by her wife. “Twi, what was that?” The shocked expression on her face said it all.

Twilight just looked at her; she had no answer for what had happened. She knew her shield had failed, she knew she failed to stop the fire, yet, she also knew that the fire was diverted. She knew the last part because they were all still alive. “I… I… I…” She was at a loss for words. Her mind trying to process this new information, there was a missing variable in the calculation. One she could not quite place her hoof on.

It was at that moment that she felt the oddest thing, something that she had not felt in years, not since she was last pregnant with Shimmering Night. Twilight felt a kick from her unborn son, his first one. In her mind, it was like dominos falling in place. The pieces all connected themselves like links on a chain; it was like a puzzle that just solved itself. “It’s him.” Twilight said the words with eyes as wide as dinner plates.

“Who?” Rainbow asked, confused beyond all belief about what the hey had just happened or who her wife was talking about.

As a way of answering, Twilight placed a hoof to her stomach and smiled. “I think he’s able to cancel out more than just my power. I think he canceled out the magic of Ataxia’s fire, it formed a barrier that the fire could not pass.”

“But, wouldn’t the heat alone have…”

Twilight shook her head, cutting off her wife’s question. “Remember, Ataxia’s dragon fire burns with magical energy, that’s why we could never put it out, if it were normal dragon fire, if it was just a matter of normal heat, we would all be dead. However, it’s not. It’s magical through and through. He… he canceled it, and in doing so saved all of our lives.”

“You mean we got lucky.” Rainbow corrected. “What are you even doing down here anyway? I told you to stay in the hospital.” Her mind gave up on trying to process this new information, that her unborn son somehow saved her life. She fell back to her old friend, anger.

Twilight got mad about that one. It did not matter to the mare that she was pregnant; she would not just sit by and do nothing while Rainbow got herself killed. “Rainbow, I’m not someone you can order around. I agreed to stay in the hospital because I thought it would give you the best chance to win, but you were about to die. I could no more stand by and do nothing then you can. We’re a team, always have been and always will be, remember that.”

“Girls, you can continue this later, I think someone is finally over the shock that we’re not dead.” Icarus said as she shook his head clear. He had woken up shortly after the fire passed by, but he knew enough to not interrupt his stepparent’s fight; at least, not until he had to anyway.

Rainbow and Twilight both knew who he was talking about and they each turned and looked at Ataxia. She was approaching the group with a look of uncertainty on her face. It appeared the dragacorn was just as stunned as they were about what had just happened.

At least they had that going for them.

Rainbow took wing. “Fine you can stay, but take care of yourself first, ok? Promise me that much.”

“I promise no such thing.” Twilight stated. “But I’ll do what I can.” As much as she might protest otherwise, Twilight knew that putting her life on the line was not that simple, she was putting her son’s life on the line too.

“That’s all I can ask.” Rainbow replied. There was no use trying to continue this argument. Ataxia was back in the fight, which meant they were out of time. ‘Besides, had our situations been reversed, I would have done the exact same thing.’ She begrudgingly admitted the truth to herself. Rainbow could not fault her wife for refusing to stay on the sidelines while she almost died.

Twilight watched her go with a smile on her face, part of her wanted to be mad at Rainbow, heck, part of her was mad at Rainbow. However, she had been that way because she was worried about her safety. Twilight reflected that had things been different, she might have asked Rainbow to do the exact same thing and of course, she would have expected the exact same outcome.

No one had to tell Icarus to follow; he blasted off, following Rainbow’s golden trail of energy. Both of them headed straight for the dragacorn. Twilight’s jaw dropped to the ground as she watched him go. A magical blue energy emanated from Siros’s Vengeance, one that surrounded the griffin in a sphere and shot him forward like a bullet. He passed straight through one of Ataxia’s claws. The blow cut it off cleanly at the wrists.

She made a mental note to study that spear next chance she got. While she had it empowered with the magic of every alicorn in Equestria. Even Twilight had no idea just what it was capable of.

Watching the two go led Twilight to realize that there was one other who had yet to get back into the fight. Actually, he was the only one Twilight had not seen get back up after the hit from Ataxia. Radiant was the only one who had yet to get up. That surprised Twilight; he did not appear to be that injured when she caught a quick glance at him during her talk with Rainbow. She started to grow worried that he had injures that no one had yet noticed.

Twilight flew over to the stallion, to her relief; he was awake, just not standing. “Are you hurt?” Twilight asked.

Radiant shook his head no.

“What’s wrong?”

Radiant looked downcast at that. “This... you coming here… that blow… this was my fault, wasn’t it?”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, as she finally understood what the problem was. In a house with Rainbow Dash and Aurora Flash, she had seen this problem more times than she cared to admit. She knew exactly where it was going and what to do about it. “No more so than it was my fault, or Rainbow’s, or Icarus’s.”

“What? They didn’t…”

“You’re right, they didn’t. They didn’t stop it; they were all in the exact spot to allow that situation to happen. Even I sat by and did nothing as the circumstances unfolded. I didn’t stop it either. So in that regard, using that perspective, it’s my fault too.”

“No one expected you too…”

“Again, you’re right, no one expected me to interfere, but doesn’t change the fact that if I had, the situation would have been completely different, wouldn’t it? All of you never would have been where you were and almost died from it. So like I said, it’s my fault too.”

“It… it might have been worse.” He could not find fault with her logic, yet he knew without a doubt that she should not have been down here, regardless where she was going with the conversation.

“It might have been, but now we’re dealing with what might have been, aren’t we? You were talking about what was. You were second guessing your decisions that led to where you ended up. Blaming yourself for what had occurred due to your inability to stop it. Never once did you think of what might have been if you weren’t down here, if you weren’t helping them. What might have happened had you did something different, how much worse it might have been if you did do one of those things.” Twilight smiled, it was always the same with those who carried this much pride.

“I… I… I…” Radiant could not find the words. Twilight’s argument shook his world upside down.

“No Radiant, you did what you did as did the rest of us. You’re no more to blame for what occurred, for our almost death than the rest of us. That’s the thing about causality, so many pieces have to fall in place for any event to happen that no pony can possibly be one hundred percent to blame for anything. Sure, some actions do have a direct cause and effect, but even those only came about due to a plethora of other events and decisions that led up to it.”

Twilight caught herself, she had not intended to get into the theatrical with him, it was not what he needed to hear right now. Twilight breathed in deep, she had done this conversation a few times and needless to say, she was good at it. Part of her, a small part anyway, reflected on the words of Chaos/Discord from all those years ago. A memory of his speech about ‘friendship problems’ came back.

“How many times can you see the same ‘friendship problem’ play out? A hundred, a thousand? You know the answer to any problem ever, simply because you have seen it a million times before.”

Twilight dismissed the errant thought, even if that was the case in this situation; she had a long, long way to go before she had seen every single friendship problem play out. Much less to the extent that she had seen this particular issue before.

“In the end, Radiant, the only thing to consider is what to do next. What you are going to do next. Think about everything that has happened, exactly how the fight has been going so far, and ask yourself, are they better off with or without you?” Twilight flashed a warm smile at her nephew. “I think you already know the answer.”

Radiant’s self-doubt did not stand a chance; Twilight knew from personal experience living in her household just what that could do to a pony. Especially ones with egos as big as those in her family. He simply smiled at her, a warm smile that she returned. “Thanks, for everything, auntie.”

“Don’t thank me, It’s all you, always has been, you simply needed a reminder about it. Now, let’s get back into it.”

“Wait, you’re…”

Twilight nodded, “What I said does not just apply to you but to me as well. Besides, while I may not be able to use my full power that doesn’t mean I cannot run defense. After all, as long as I respond quickly enough, I should be able to neutralize her dragon fire.”

“What if that was a one-time thing?” He really did not want to see Twilight teleporting in front of every single one of Ataxia’s fire breaths. The very thought of it sent shivers down his spine.

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Twilight said with a smile as she took flight to join her family in combat. Somehow, she knew that if her foal could keep her own magic at bay all this time, she had no worry about it being able to block Ataxia’s magic. She just knew that it was not a one-time thing.

Radiant did not feel like smiling back, he really did not want to see this play out this way, but he knew enough about his aunt to know that she had already made up her mind about it. What is done, is done, or so they say anyway.

He ran after them, saving what magic power he could for the fight itself.

After all, when running into the jaws of death, it pays to save your energy.

………

After the third time she was forced to watch it happen, Rainbow had no choice but to accept it. Ataxia was as adaptable as ever, but this time she faced four opponents, not three. Rainbow still ran interception, keeping her blinded with her magic trail. Icarus did the heavy lifting with his spear. Cutting off the occasional limb or blocking a swipe that was getting too close to the others for anypony or griffin’s comfort.

With the smoke and destruction all around, not even a dragon’s smell could make out anything in this mess.

Radiant focused on distracting Ataxia. He played his role of ‘fake Icarus’, never fully letting her get a bead on where the griffin was or if it was even him attacking. His magical blades would attack from different angles, with the same speed that Icarus would attack with. Sure, they would not cut her, but they did not have too. It was the threat alone that would cause her to react. Icarus would often swing without intent to cut, simply letting the blade pass alongside Ataxia’s scales. The dragacorn would never know who was attacking until the damage was done.

After all, when you cannot see, hear, or smell; touch was the only sense you can go on. If that could not be trusted, she was effectively fighting blind. They had effectively neutered four of Ataxia’s senses leaving her with only taste, something they all sought to avoid. Well, for Ataxia that was not quite true, she still had her magic.

That is where Twilight came in. Three times now, Ataxia would attack with her fire, Twilight teleported directly between her and whatever pony or griffin that was caught unprepared. The fire would destroy a large area around them, but they would be left safe and unharmed.

Radiant had been wrong, it was not a one-time thing, whatever her son was doing was constant. Every time Ataxia would let loose her fire breath, Twilight’s foal canceled it out.

So Rainbow was left with no choice but to accept it, of course, that did not mean she liked the idea of Twilight getting in the way of an attack that could see her dead in an instant, regardless of how many times it seemed to work, or she saved their lives with it.

Still, it was a very effective strategy, one that seemed to work, for a while at least.

As with all things, Ataxia proved to be just as adaptable as ever. The dragacorn had tried to use magic to stop this annoying distraction. It never worked: The few times she had actually managed to get a spell off, no thanks to Rainbow constantly keeping an eye on her horn and kicking it whenever she could, Twilight was able to cast a counterspell, or it did nothing, as the magic could not find purchase on Twilight. The purple alicorn was practically immune to magic.

Ataxia changed tactics. What she was doing now was not working. Each of her claws kept being cut off, her wings torn to shreds as Icarus kept them from ever healing enough for flight, and her eyesight was practically taken away from her. All she could see was the golden energy Rainbow left behind directly in front of her face. The mare was good at it too. Ataxia would have given her credit had she not been so angry about it.

She could not see, hear, touch, or smell with any amount of accuracy. Her magic was practically impudent with the strategy they were using against her. Therefore, Ataxia focused on another sense she possessed, the very one that had led her here in the first place. She focused only on her hate. Specifically, she focused on the hate for the three beings that she felt an overwhelming urge to kill.

That hate, that overwhelming, all-consuming desire to end three lives. In her mind, Ataxia saw it as three points, each of which burned brightly. One of those points was off in the distance, far to the south, yet it was coming up quick. That made her smile; she would soon be able to get all three of the ones left without having to hunt them down. Not that hiding would do them any good anyway.

Another point was the annoying pony who kept canceling her magic. It was the same one that teleported down and saved all the others in the first place. She wanted that one dead more than the other two. However, that would not help her right now. Sure, Ataxia knew where she was, but the rest of her friends were helping. It was a herculean effort, but Ataxia pushed that one to the side, for now.

There was a third point that she wanted right this second. This one, this one had not moved at all in quite some time. It had fought with her before, back when there were four of them, but that had changed. This one, this one was stationary, this one she could kill without issue.

Radiant looked on in shock as Ataxia’s entire demeanor suddenly changed. No longer did the dragacorn seek to lash out at them; no longer did she launch dragon fire in the hopes of catching them when they were not paying attention. To the unicorn, it was as if she just abandoned the fight altogether. This would not have been bad news, except for the direction she was heading. Rather than turning around, Ataxia started walking straight into the city, well, what remained of it anyway.

That sudden action, that sudden change of tactics caught everypony and griffin off guard. Worse, they all knew exactly where she was heading; it was the one place that sent shivers down their spines. There could be no doubt about it; Ataxia was heading for the hospital.

Building sized legs toppled houses as she walked. Their destruction sent debris everywhere as structures that had stood for thousands of years were destroyed in seconds. The shrapnel forced Twilight and Radiant from their hiding spots. Twilight was able to take wing, letting her off without a scratch. Radiant was not so lucky. He got several new scares down his left right flank and tore open his stitches in the process of running away. Rainbow saved him from a huge chunk that would have seen him out of the fight or worse had it hit him. After dropping him off to safety, she began her own counter attack. Seeking to stop Ataxia’s movement, or simply distract Ataxia from her course of action. Everything she tried, failed.

Icarus soon joined in, he lashed out time and again, his attacks becoming more brazen as he sought to tear Ataxia’s attention away from her destination. It was not to be, Ataxia focused on that and that alone. It did not matter to the mare just how much they tried, she would not be denied.

Or so she wanted them to think.

Ataxia expected this, she did not know why, but her opponents were obviously concerned for each other, and while they expected attacks on their teammates. She gambled on them not expecting her to turn her attention to the other one she could sense. She was right.

They were throwing everything they had at her to get her to stop. With every step she took, they became that much more focused on that one goal, they no longer worried about what they were doing, and they were no longer looking out for themselves or each other. That was exactly what she was waiting for.

When Icarus finally had enough, he sought to cut off her leg with a brazen blow to her left knee. That was when Ataxia struck out. The four of them had become so enamored with stopping her forward movement, so much so that they stopped worrying about their own safety. Rainbow, Twilight and Radiant were all out of position, none of them even saw what she was going to do. Despite their skill, powers, and abilities, they could not hope to stop something they were not aware of.

Icarus lashed out, the magic of his spear surrounding him one more time. He laughed as he realized how used to it he now was. The energy was amazing to him, a final gift from his father. He treated it as such, now more than ever as Ataxia was heading straight for the hospital and the mares that resided there. The ones that he needed to protect at all costs.

It was that single focus, the focus to protect life that activated the power of Siros’s Vengeance. It was also that focus that caused him to not see Ataxia’s incoming attack. The huge dragacorn lashed out with her tail at the last possible second. An incredibly well timed blow struck Icarus on the left side.

The griffin felt nothing, for the second time that night; he was immediately knocked unconscious from the blow. One that sent him flying straight through two buildings, he only stopped when his body embedded itself into the third.

Rainbow, Twilight, and Radiant all gasped in horror as their attention was diverted to the griffin that crashed through several crystal buildings. They were not the only ones. The griffin guard that had stayed on standby this entire time could no longer sit back and do nothing. They had been ordered to only interfere if called on. They broke that order with this attack on their emperor. Whatever his fate was, not a one of them could sit back any longer.

Without a single order given, they attacked as one. Selling their lives in order to by whatever time they could. They accounted for themselves well, well, as well as can be expected. It was the equivalent of going straight into the Dragon Kingdom with an ‘I hate dragons’ banner flying overhead. Yet, they had a cause, a reason to fight. That alone would have to be enough.

Twilight teleported by Icarus’s side, her brain was already racing through everything that a blow like that implied, it… it would no doubt kill the griffin outright. When she got there, it momentarily surprised Twilight that Rainbow had beaten her to it. Rainbow was already attempting to pull the griffin from the wall. A task made harder by her missing hoof.

Twilight shook it off, now was not the time to wonder how Rainbow had beaten a teleport. She magically encased the griffin in a purple shield and removed him from his spot in the wall: The blood, pieces of organs, and bone he had left behind told a tell about the amount of damage the griffin must have suffered.

Her magic conformed it. Every bone on the left side of his body was broken. He suffered too many internal injuries to count; his skull was fractured on both sides. Once from the impact with Ataxia, the second side was fractured from the impact with the building. Blood poured from hundreds of wounds all long his frame, the most damning of which was the large hole in his stomach, where Ataxia’s tail spikes punctured his body. To anypony else, it would have been too much to look at, or try to stomach for that matter. Fortunately, Twilight was not simply any pony.

Twilight took all of these facts in without fail and she ignored them all. There was only one thing that held her attention at that moment, one thing that she concentrated on beyond anything else. It should have been impossible, yet the evidence said it was so. Somehow, Icarus was still alive.

Twilight scanned him a million times over in less than a second. Each of his wounds individually was life threatening, added together… it was impossible. Yet, against the odds, he still lived. Unconscious thankfully, but alive. She quickly figured out the reason why. Magic energy was flooding into the griffin from the most unlikely source, his weapon. The magic was keeping his organs from dying, she knew not how, but there was no doubt the weapon was keeping him alive.

“Twi…” There was an air of panic in Rainbow’s voice that caused Twilight’s heart to jump into her throat. She hated hearing Rainbow like that. “Is he…”

“No, he should be, but he’s not. I think… I know it’s his weapon, its magic is keeping him alive.” Twilight looked at her wife; an unreadable expression was plastered on Rainbow’s face.

Rainbow went to examine the weapon but was immediately blocked by a magical purple shield. “Don’t touch it; if you do he will die.” The panic in Twilight’s voice let Rainbow know that she was deadly serious about that.

Rainbow looked at the spear, then back to her wife. Her mind trying to play out all these new developments would imply. “How…” She glanced over to Ataxia, watching as she fought of the griffin royal guard. They acquitted themselves well, but against Ataxia, they never really had a chance. The blood of the soldiers that were giving up their lives paid for every second they talked.

It was at that moment Radiant showed up, breathing heavily he managed to say, “What happened?! Is he ok?!” His question was answered for him when he got to the body. There was no way anyone could be ok after that. It had been a fool’s hope that he might have made it through, much less survived such a hit.

Twilight shook her head. “He’s alive, but only because of the spear.” Radiant noticed that Icarus never let go of the spear, which alone was the mark of a true warrior. A true soldier never drops his weapon.

“I gotta get him to the hospital.” Twilight said.

“Go.” Radiant and Rainbow both said at the same time. Twilight tried to fake a smile as she teleported away, but it only seemed to make them all feel worse. It went without saying, but with Icarus gone, they had lost the one weapon that could actually slow down Ataxia. A point that was emphasized by Ataxia at that moment as when she finished off the last of the griffin guard that Icarus selected from his forces making their way up north. She let out a loud roar of triumph in celebration.

Rainbow hated that roar, she hated what it signified, but mostly, she just hated this whole situation and wanted Ataxia to shut the hell up. She took off like a bullet, impacting Ataxia’s lower jaw before she even was done with her roar.

The jaw shattered on impact, the blow jerked her head back and snapping her neck in the process. Rainbow knew it was a dumb idea, she knew that Ataxia would just regenerate, but no one should be celebrating what had just occurred.

The loss of life was something to be mourned, not celebrated.

Ataxia’s body followed the momentum of the hit, without active signals from her brain she fell on her back, the fall of such a massive object in a town caused an incredible amount of damage. She crushed several blocks of buildings on her way down. None of which could hope to survive intact.

Everyone felt the impact. In The Crystal Empire General Hospital, Cadance grabbed ahold of Firestar that much tighter, both of them could only take comfort in the other’s presence. The doctors operating on Icarus had to hold on to the equipment they were using, least it all ended up on the floor.

Twilight’s magic was all that saved Icarus from death. When the vibrations hit, she cast a shield around him, preventing the griffin from rolling of the table, and more importantly, dropping the spear. Every iota of the alicorn wanted to go back outside, to get back out there and help with whatever had just occurred. However, with issues like that to deal with, she knew that she had to stay here.

Rainbow simply hovered over Ataxia. She had not intended to put that much force into the blow, but seeing someone celebrate the deaths of so many that were weaker than them… it was a bitter pill to swallow. She could not bring herself to look upon the bodies of the fallen griffins.

They are the best of the best… they were the best of the best. Of all the griffin forces Icarus brought up, these were his chosen, the ones that he selected to be teleported with him to The Crystal Empire. They were all dead. Some far more violently than others, the blood and feathers that lay everywhere were their testimony to that.

They had each sold their lives for their emperor, not a one of them was in doubt of what the outcome would be in a fight with something like this. However, they all went in anyway. It was a testament to their duty that they undertook a suicide mission without doubt or hesitation.

Rainbow briefly remembered a time when Siros could not even go to a negotiation without the griffins back home in doubt of his loyalties. It seemed to her that those were times long past. Icarus was not the leader his father was, but he was not trying to be. He was his own griffin through and through. Yet he still inspired others like this.

Rainbow reflected what the real reason was for her violent outburst. It was not the death of all these griffins; it was the injuries that Icarus had suffered under her watch. She could not help but draw a comparison to what had happened to Aurora. ‘Is this how you felt, you old fool? Is this the reason why you went after it the way you did?’ She did not need to be told the answer, it was an obvious yes.

She knew, deep in her heart, that Siros would be proud of his son. She just hoped that their reunion would still be a long way off. Rainbow expected more grandfoals before it was all said and done.

“Rainbow, what did you do?” A voice from below got her attention. She looked down to see Radiant standing on top of a building looking at her. Flying down, Rainbow responded.

“I over did it a little… it ticked me off when she…” there was no need to finish the sentence.

“I didn’t think you still had that sort of power.” Radiant was more impressed than anything else.

“Not that it matters.” Rainbow gestured with a hoof over to where the dragacorn lay, or where she had laid anyway. There was one other problem with killing her again. Every time Ataxia dies, she comes back, her magic improving upon her form to insure that she can never be killed the same way twice.

While it’s doing that, rebuilding whatever caused the death and fixing it, it’s also fixing everything else that was broken, injured, burned, cut, or missing. Rainbow had not considered this when she did what she did. Then again, she had not considered anything at the time.

While they watched, Rainbow could only gulp as Ataxia stretched her newly reformed wings. “Horseapples, she can fly again.”

“What… what do we do?”

“Go to the hospital, get to Twilight, work with her to establish the strongest shield you can to protect everyone else there.”

Radiant looked at her in disbelief. “I… I can’t leave you to face her alone.” Twilight’s words replayed in his head.

Rainbow turned and looked at Radiant. “Radiant, you don’t have a choice. I’ll hold her off as long as possible, go do what you can to protect the ones we love.”

“But… but…”

“No buts.”

Radiant was taken aback by that. He knew from the times he spent with Rainbow and Twilight over the years that there really was no arguing with them. However, this was on a total different level.

“Promise me.” He said with a straight face.

“What?” Rainbow did not face him; her eyes were only on Ataxia right now.

“Promise me you won’t do something stupid.” Radiant knew that for a pony like Rainbow, that would be a tall order to ask of the mare. However, he also knew enough to know that she would never break a promise. If he had to tell Twilight that he left Rainbow alone on the front lines, he would feel a lot better doing it if he could at least say she promised that she would be all right. In truth, that small amount of comfort would make him feel a lot better about it too.

It would be comfort denied to both of them.

Rainbow actually found herself laughing. “Kid, I’ve got better things to do tonight than die. Besides, Twilight would kill me if I simply threw away my life like that.” With that said Rainbow cracked a sly smile and took off like a bolt of lightning. Leaving Radiant behind with only the after image of a golden mare and no actual promise.

……

Rainbow did her best to hold out, it was all for naught though. Without the others here, without Icarus’s spear, Twilight’s magic, or even Radiant to help distract Ataxia, she was on borrowed time. She had to keep Ataxia engaged with her, while staying just far enough away to avoid any damage herself.

Her options were limited, if she tried to lure Ataxia away, she might turn back like she did before. Rainbow could not let her face the hospital, if she attacked with her fire breath; that would kill everyone there, regardless if Rainbow could simply avoid it.

To make matters worse, it was only a matter of time until Ataxia got lucky, until she figured out all the limitations Rainbow was forced to work under and used them to her advantage.

It occurred precisely three minutes after Rainbow left Radiant alone on the roof.

Ataxia planned it out perfectly, she quickly started mapping out the fast little golden bug’s moves. As fast as she was, Ataxia knew she would never be able to catch it. It was simply faster, so she changed tactics. It did not take her long to realize that every time she faced the city as a whole, the little bug would put herself out there. Too tempting of a target to simply ignore, it was a classic bait maneuver.

Of course, when she realized it, Ataxia started to plan for it. She started off slowly, acting as if she did not want the bait, the bait that had caused her more pain than any of the other insects she had fought.

When she did not immediately go for it, Rainbow had to place herself out there even more, going slightly slower as to lure Ataxia’s attention away from the hospital.

It was on the third such attempt that Ataxia capitalized, she grabbed the golden mare with her right claw. The grab came as Rainbow had her guard down, when she was at her most exposed, and worse, when she least expected it.

Ataxia let out a roar of triumph and started squeezing the life out of Rainbow Dash. If it had just been an alicorn, Ataxia would have eaten her. However, Rainbow was not one of the three. She had been a special pain in the flank and deserved a death befitting that position.

Rainbow did her best to hold out; she could feel the strong grip of Ataxia’s claws around her. Her wings were pinned to her sides; it did not matter anyway. Ataxia’s magic had rendered them moot long ago. The magic around Rainbow was holding out, for a while at least. She knew that it would not last. Already she could see the gold slowly fade as the sheer force Ataxia was applying expended the energy. When it was gone, her body would pop like a grape.

As the gold magical energy surrounding her body left her, Rainbow noticed a magical purple energy shield being raised around the hospital. That made her smile; it was a sign that Radiant had done as she told him, that at the very least they would hold out a few more minutes. Although she was under no illusion to how long it would last. At best, they had bought minutes, nothing more.

With one more squeeze the magical energy surrounding Rainbow left her body. It did so with a loud popping sound. One that signaled the end of it all. Rainbow was now defenseless. While she still tried to struggle, it was all for naught.

She was expecting the next squeeze any second now, any second she would die, her life coming to an end without so much as one final goodbye to the mare she loved. Thoughts of Twilight came to mind, of how sad she would be, it… it hurt to think of, but try as she might, Rainbow could not think of anything else.

However, that second seemed not to come. First, there was one of them, then another, then another. Each and every one ticked by as if it was simply late; as if it forgot that it was meant to bring her death. Rainbow looked up, wondering just what Ataxia was waiting for. She had her dead to rights and they both knew it.

What she saw surprised her; Ataxia’s attention was not focused on the mare in her claws, as she was looking off in the distance. Her gaze directed straight south at something. Something that was rapidly approaching at speeds that impressed Rainbow.

For Rainbow, it was foals play to spot it. Her eyes long ago adjusted to seeing things that far away even at night. They would have too, at the speeds she moved at, she had to be aware and make small corrections in her flight for things miles out, she simply moved so quick that she had to plan that far ahead.

What she saw made her smile and frown in equal measure. She saw a large purple sphere of energy coming straight for them. She did not need to be told who was in that sphere, for with Twilight in the hospital, it could only be one pony. Shimmering Night had arrived.

Ataxia saw it too, her other sense informing her that the last of the alicorns had arrived. It brought with it a glaring anger that she could not overcome, not even for the golden bug in her claws. She roared at it and shot her dragon fire in its direction. Rainbow could only watch, horrified as her daughter flew straight into the magic fire. Shimmering Night was never the best at flying and with the speed she was traveling at it would be incredibly difficult for even a veteran flyer to avoid that attack.

She tried to shout out a warning, but she knew it would be far, far too late to be any good.

………………………………

Canterlot

Canterlot suffered the same fate as Warclaw did, slightly worse due to the fact it was built on a mountain and therefore higher up. The wind currents battered the city with ease as the trio passed by. Windows shattered from the shockwave, ponies found themselves quickly awoken, as they could not hope to sleep through this. Some even fell off bunk beds, landing on the floor with minor cuts and sprains.

Shimmering Night paid Canterlot no mind; she knew it would normally be a little over an hour’s flight from Canterlot to The Crystal Empire. Of course, that was normal. At the rate they were going, they had three minutes until arrival, tops.

Even three minutes was a conservative estimate.

“Princess, are we almost there?” Fey Light asked.

“We’ll be there soon, captain. Why, are you nervous?” She jabbed at the griffin.

The stoic griffin’s composure never left, even after the intentional jab. “Princess, I don’t mean to harp on a dead subject; I just need to be sure that you know what’s at stake. Have you thought about it anymore?”

Part of night was impressed that he would risk being thrown in the stockades over this same subject. So she considered his question, it was the least she could do. Oddly, she found herself slightly chuckling at it. “You know, I haven’t. I really, really haven’t.”

Captain Fey Light’s jaw almost hit the ground, an impressive feat for someone so high up. Night rolled over in flight and looked at him. “I decided to go with Aurora’s plan on this one. She told me not to worry, and despite how insane that sounds.” Night glanced over to a smiling Aurora as she said that part. “I’m going to go along. Over thinking, over-analyzing, it was all that which led to this crisis, and I’m not doing it again.” She took a deep breath before continuing.

“I’m going to go with my heart on this. I think… I know that had I listened to it in the first place, this would never have happened. My sister was right, she’s always right.”

“Maybe one day you’ll remember it!” Aurora shouted from behind the two.

Night laughed at that, somehow, she knew that Aurora would have been paying attention to all of this. “Besides, I did make a promise to both of you; I’ll keep both of them, regardless what else happens.”

“Princess…” Fey looked for the words as they fell from his mind like fragments, his attention was diverted to something off in the distance, something very large off in the distance.

“What?” Night asked. She rolled back over and looked in the direction they were heading. The Crystal Empire was straight ahead, even in the darkness of night she could make out every detail of the city. Large chunks of which were actively burning, the forests surrounding it suffered the same fate.

She could make out the purple magic of her mother’s spell surrounding the hospital. However, the one thing that had her attention more than anything else was the dragacorn standing victorious over it all.

The dragacorn looked straight at them and let loose with her flame breath. Magical dragon fire that burned hotter than magma came directly at them with such speed that avoiding was impossible.

Night had time to say one word before it hit.

“No.”

Author's Note

It all comes down to this, Twilight is out of the fight, Rainbow was defeated, Icarus is on death's door.

It all falls on Shimmering Night. What will she do when faced with the mare she loves, the one responsible for doing so much damage to everything and everyone around her. Can she survive Ataxia's attack? If she does will she actually be able to rip her friends identity away from her, forever? Can she?

It's one mare vs fate itself. Can she stop fate? Can fate even be stopped? Join me next chapter as I define fate.

One last chapter to go. As with all my stories, this one will be posted unedited (personal preference, I don't like anyone to know the ending before anyone else). As such, I want to thank everyone who has helped edit this story for me. It has been a wild ride and you all helped make it the best it can be.

A special shout out to my editor Voidedstory, you stuck it out through everything and for that I can never thank you enough!

I hope you all enjoy the next chapter, POV has been a quite the adventure and as sad as I'll be to see it come to an end, well, as they say, all good things.

Define: Fate

The Crystal Empire

“No.”

It is such a simple word, a simple phrase, one used to try to deny a situation. As if to say, this is not the case, or this did not happen. Its definition varies depending on the context of the situation, and often the user. For foals, they would often scream it as a response to something happening that they did not like, or in response to a comment from their parents about something they should be doing that they did not want to do. Adults tended to be discreet about it, although it would not change the meaning. They would use it as a way to stop a conversation, to negate, deny something asked of them, or something that was happening.

For Shimmering Night, she said it in response to the wall of death that was heading their way. It approached her group of three at such speeds that there was no hope of avoiding it. With the sheer velocity her group was travelling at combined with the speed Ataxia shot her fire at them, Night did not have time to cast even a basic spell.

All she had time to say was that one word. “No.” In the context that Night used it, it was in simple denial of what was occurring; it was in denial of the magic fire coming to claim their lives. As if to say, ‘No, this is not happening’. Night was in denial, she could not believe that she had made it all the way here, and found out everything she had learned, only for it to end like this.

For anypony else, it would have been the last word they said. Their lives were forfeit as soon as the fire made impact. For the Demigoddess of Magic, it was all that she needed to say.

Ataxia’s dragon fire, the very fire that burned with enough heat to kill other dragons, creatures that took baths in boiling hot magma, creatures that were practically immune to all forms of heat. Her fire was able to do all of this due to the magical properties laced in it. Shimmering Night denied the very existence of that magic.

The magic fire simply stopped being.

It disappeared, almost as if it never existed in the first place. That was the very case, as Shimmering night, the Demigoddess of Magic, the pony who commanded magic itself, declared it to be such. Her thoughts, her emotions, they were all focused on that one task.

Both Rainbow and Ataxia looked on in stunned silence as the fire that rushed to claim the lives of Rainbow’s daughters, simply stopped being. Ataxia actually ended up dropping Rainbow, whose natural instincts took over and caused her to hover in place.

“How did that…” Rainbow was not even aware she was free; she simply hovered in place as the purple energy sphere completed its thousand-mile journey. When it disappeared, Rainbow saw her two daughters flying there with a strange griffin she had never seen before.

She was stunned into inactivity. “Aurora, Night, how the hey…” Rainbow said to herself.

“Mom, get out of there!” Aurora shouted. She was in complete disbelief that Rainbow was still flying within claw reach of Ataxia.

Realization dawned on both Rainbow and Ataxia with that shout. They were both caught unaware that Rainbow was now free. Ataxia went to recapture Rainbow with a quick swipe of her claw, but she was far, far too slow for such a feat. Rainbow’s natural reflexes kicked in as she blasted away from the dragacorn at speeds Ataxia could not hope to match.

All Ataxia ended up with was a sonic rainboom in her mouth for her trouble.

Rainbow paused between her two daughters, coming to a dead stop as she simply felt that this was the best place to be. She could not explain why, but Rainbow felt something different about this situation. It was as if a paradigm shift had occurred that caused everything to simply be different. She felt that, even if there was no logical reason she could think of for why, with Night’s arrival, for the first time that night, Rainbow just knew that they finally had the upper hoof.

………

The Crystal Empire General Hospital

Twilight Sparkle felt it, too. Even with all the magical energy they were throwing around outside, she simply knew that something fundamental had changed with the battle. No pony had to tell her that it was something that completely rewrote the balance of everything that had happened.

She cast a spell to insure that the spear would never leave Icarus’s claws, she did not care that it was something the doctors had complained about having to work around. She left them with the distinct impression that if they removed the spear from his claw, they would suffer her wrath in return. Still, she did not trust them to keep that thought in their heads when she left.

Twilight turned to Radiant. “We should get outside.”

Radiant simply nodded. even with his low level of magic energy, he felt it too. Even Radiant understood that something was fundamentally different. Twilight led the way, with Radiant right behind her. They both wanted to see just what had occurred, or more precisely, who had arrived.

…

Up on floor five, room twelve, the outside immediately drew in Cadance’s attention. Something that got Firestar's curiosity in a big way as it interrupted Cadance telling her the story of when Radiant first learned to walk.

Cadance looked all around the room for some way to see what was going on, she finally spotted a folded up wheelchair in the distance and opened it up with her magic before teleporting herself to it.

“What's wrong?” Firestar asked with a cautious tone in her voice, as she was not sure if she actually wanted the answer. Her heart could not take much more bad news.

“I don’t know.” Cadance answered honestly. She rolled herself to the window to have a look outside.

………

The Crystal Empire

Night’s eyes never left Ataxia’s. Before her was the second largest dragon she had ever seen in her life. Ataxia’s body told the tale of a long series of fights, of the destruction and mayhem that she had wrought upon others, and that they had dealt to her in turn.

Ataxia had become a creature that focused on one thing and one thing alone. She was a being that dedicated itself to the destruction and death of others. She was the living embodiment of hate itself. She simply existed to hate… to hate, and to kill those she hated.

Ataxia stared at the final newcomer, the last of the creatures she had to kill, the only one who had not fought with her that night. She hated this creature with all her being; she wanted to see it, and the other two dead. Ataxia did not care about anything else other than that one singular goal. In the sea of boiling rage that was her mind, she only registered that the last of the three dots had arrived.

Night tried not to see any of that; she tried to see her friend, the mare she finally admitted that she loved. ‘Follow your heart.’ That is what Aurora had told her anyway.

When she looked at Ataxia, she did her best to picture the mare that she had known all of her life, the one she grew up with, the one she played alongside as a little filly. She tried to see through her visage as the terrible and mighty dragacorn, the weapon of fate.

Night forced a smile as she did so, she told herself that despite all of the destruction and death that surrounded her, that Ataxia was still in there, she was still that very same mare that Night had known, the one that she grew to love. All Night had to do was reach out to her. She knew not how to do that, but she would try anyway. It was the least she could do for the mare that meant so much to her.

At least, that was what she told herself anyway. ‘Follow your heart.’ Night repeated her sister’s words to herself. It was so easy to say….

Once more, she tried to force herself to see past the scary visage of the dragacorn, to see the mare that was beneath it. She tried to force herself to see the true soul of the one she now stood before.

It really did not work. The images, no matter how much Night would try to overlap them, no matter how much she wanted to connect the two, they simply would not go together. The dragacorn and the mare, try as she might, could not be merged in her mind.

The dragacorn roared in response, her scream carrying with it all the anger, hatred, and rage of one scored. Of one betrayed by all of those that they loved, that they trusted. In that one scream, Night knew that something had happened to the mare. Something beyond what had occurred a month ago. She felt… she knew that Ataxia felt betrayed to her core by those she loved.

It did not matter what was true at that moment, for now, all that mattered was ending it. One way or another, it had to end here and now.

Shimmering Night’s gaze finally took in the battlefield as it stood; she took in the dead, the dying, and the blood. Everywhere she looked, she saw blood.

“I’m sorry.” Night said with utter conviction in her voice. “I’m sorry it went down like this, I’m sorry I’m to blame for everything that had happened. If I had done it, better… if I was honest with myself…. No, it does not matter now, what matters is what we do going forward. I cannot allow you to hurt anyone else, Ataxia.” Night said the words aloud to herself.

“What are you going to do?” Rainbow asked. She wanted to know where this ‘new’ daughter had come from. Night never before spoke with such conviction. Something fundamental had changed in her. However, that had to wait; Rainbow knew from personal experience that they did not have long before it all started up again. Ataxia would not sit by forever while they debated their options.

“I’m going to do what I have to do.” Night said. Her eyes shortly left the battlefield to look at her mom. It was then she noticed Rainbow’s missing hoof. She did not need anyone to tell her what had happened to it. She felt her heart grow cold with the realization that her best friend in the world had done that to her mom. “I’ll stop her.” Night’s head jerked back to glare at Ataxia. “Whatever it takes, I’ll stop her.”

Before Night could do so, she had to know just how bad it was. Night cast a spell… she commanded magic to let her know what had happened to everyone else. Remembering the old Dragon King’s words, “You have never cast a spell in your life. Everything you have ever done has been you willing magic to do your bidding…. I suspect up until now you have merely been acting on instinct, your strongest emotions forcing their way to the forefront.”

She sought to make that idea manifest. She wanted… she needed magic to tell her everything.

She got her wish, the ambient magic all around The Crystal Empire responded to this singular desire. It reported directly to Shimmering Night everything that had happened to everyone in the past hour. In that one instant, Night knew the pain, suffering, rage, hurt, and death of every soul that had fought and died against Ataxia.

That knowledge left Shimmering Night physically ill. She knew what had happened to Luna, Cadance, Icarus, Rainbow, Radiant, and even Twilight. She knew everything, all the pain, all the deaths… she knew it all.

It was too much; she felt the deaths of Icarus’s royal guard, all of it. The suffering of all the others caused her vision to become cross. After all, it is one thing to see the suffering others go through and quite another to experience it for yourself.

The fake image she placed over the dragacorn disappeared. Night could no longer hold the image of the fun, energetic, bat-shit crazy Ataxia. She only saw the dragacorn. She only saw the creature that had inflicted more suffering than any other she had ever known. She only saw a creature that lived, breathed, and embodied pure, unadulterated hate. Her pathetic attempt to bridge the two beings together was gone, shattered into a million pieces.

Shimmering Night found herself hating that creature. She hated it for everything it had ever done, everything it stood for, everything it existed for, and most damning of all, everything it took away. The dragacorn took away her friend, her love. Shimmering Night wanted her back, whatever the cost.

Night felt her heart freeze at that revelation. No longer was she facing her friend, she was facing a monster. However much she might wish it not to be true.

Ataxia had enough. She did not understand how this one insect was doing this, how it was canceling out her magic like this, but she had dealt with this sort of situation before with the one that looked similar. Ataxia knew this was one of the creatures she wanted dead more than anything else, and that was precisely what she would do. She would kill it, eat it, and then move back to the others.

She let out another burst of dragon fire at the large group that had gathered so nicely in front of her. They were considerate insects, gathered together where she could finish them all off in one blow.

“Stop.”

The word, it only came from one location but it reverberated throughout everywhere. It was a command, one that the world itself was unable to ignore, or more precisely, the magic of the world could not ignore.

The dragon fire Ataxia just released, it simply stopped… it stopped being. The fire put itself out, all the way back to her mouth; it was as if the fire just lost any ability to be. The command affected more than just the fires she spewed. The fires burning all around The Crystal Empire, they stopped too. The magic that kept them lit no longer existing, no longer keeping the blaze burning. It all simply stopped.

Ataxia’s lower jaw snapped shut with a snarl. She had not been expecting that. The dragacorn let loose with another burst to end this. Nothing came out; she tried a third time, then a fourth, still nothing. This was new, new and unexpected, but fire was just one weapon in her arsenal.

With a mighty roar, Ataxia flew straight at this creature. While she did not know just how this alicorn was responsible for the loss of her fire, every fiber of her being told Ataxia that she was indeed responsible for it. Ataxia lashed out with her claw, seeking to kill the creature with one blow.

Shimmering Night, may be the Demigoddess of Magic, but she can only respond to something she saw coming, something she was actually aware of. She was expecting the fire breath; Shimmering Night saw that coming. However, even with the knowledge and pain of all the events that took place during the battle, seeing a creature the size of Ataxia move that fast was very unexpected. She had not been expecting that. No pony could blame her as a creature the size of Ataxia should not be able to move that fast. Such a sight would surprise anyone.

Ataxia swung her claw down with all the force necessary to cut The Crystal Palace in half. She sought to end Night’s life with that attack, an attack that Night could never hope to avoid. Fortunately, it never made it that far.

While Ataxia’s speed might have caught Night off guard, Rainbow Dash was more than used to it. Having fought Ataxia longer than anyone else, her instincts were poised to react at a moment’s notice.

That instinct saved her daughter’s life; to Shimming Night, Rainbow just appeared directly in front of her as a wall of golden magic energy. Ataxia’s claw came down and met the golden magic that made up Rainbow’s wing.

The sudden obstruction was sufficient to stop Ataxia from hitting Night; however, it did not do Rainbow any favors. The force of the impact was enough to send Rainbow careening towards the ground. She rolled with the impact, but still ended up with several new cuts and bruises.

Night looked on in shock, shock that quickly turned to anger as she saw her mom injured once more at the hands of this creature… this creature that had almost ended her life.

“Enough!” Night shouted the words. Her every thought turned towards the stopping of this creature. She could not lie to herself anymore; she could not pretend that this creature was the same mare she once knew. Night admitted the truth to herself. There was only one way to end this, and she would have to take it. Night wanted this done, and now.

Night wanted Ataxia immobile, and that is what she became. Ataxia soon found herself trapped in a sphere of purple magic, one much larger than the one Night had used to get the group from the Dragon Kingdom all the way to The Crystal Empire.

Ataxia raged against the cage Night put her in. Every single eye watched as the dragacorn clawed, punched, bit, and swiped at it. It was all for naught. The sphere was indestructible.

“Dragacorn,” Night refused to call this creature by her friend’s name again, not after everything she had seen, all the pain this creature had caused, most of which Night experienced first hoof. She was no longer Ataxia, not to Night at least. “The world is done with you, I’m done with you. I strip you of your magic.”

Night willed… commanded the magic in the dragacorn, all the magic in the dragacorn to leave her. She focused her rage, her anger, and her hatred for this being that had hurt her family and friends to that one objective.

The magic embedded inside Ataxia, it had no choice but to obey as the demigoddess willed it. However, it did not want to leave, fate did not want it to leave. As such, it fought tooth and nail every inch of the way against Night’s command as she forced the magic to leave every cell of the dragacorn. It was not a painless process, more akin to having your teeth ripped from your mouth one at a time by a brute with nothing more than a pair of needle nose pliers.

Ataxia screamed. She screamed in pain as she began thrashing against her prison, her cage. Her cries… only once had Twilight heard something similar, that was only when she had stuck her hoof into the River Styx and destroyed the souls living there. This cry… it was the pure, unadulterated rape of a soul.

When Tirek took a pony’s magic, he stole what was rightfully theirs; however, the magic always had a way back. The magic still belonged to the pony. The bonds between pony and magic still existed. When Night commanded the magic to leave Ataxia, it broke those bonds; it broke the only thing connecting her to it.

No one in five miles could mistake those screams for anything but someone in excruciating pain. Pain unlike anything most had ever heard, or could ever go through and hope to survive.

In those screams, that pain, that anguish, it was in all of it that Night’s resolve shattered. Her heart could no longer stay frozen. No one who heard that scream could do anything but feel sorry for Ataxia, and Night was no exception.

Worse, it brought back the one memory Night never wanted to visit again. The memory of Ataxia’s cry of anguish when she found out Rarity had passed away. This scream and that one, they were far, far too similar. It was a cry of pure pain.

It was In that pain; that anguish, that Night’s heart finally connected the dragacorn to the mare.

As soon as she made that connection, as soon as Night realized she was causing that level of pain to her friend all over again, she stopped it. Night could not go on, not like this, it was just… just wrong.

“Night?” Rainbow looked at her youngest daughter. She flew over and hugged her as she saw the tears flowing down her eyes. Shimmering Night collapsed into her mom’s embrace like a little filly.

“I… I… I can’t do it!” Night sobbed out in her mom’s coat. “I can’t hurt her like that, I can’t.” Night said through muffled sobs.

Rainbow just rubbed her mane, letting the tears flow freely. At that time, at that moment, she had never been more proud of her daughter in her life. Anyone who could go through with that amount of suffering on someone else and not be affected by it… she never wanted to meet someone like that.

“It’s ok, we’ll find another way.” Rainbow cooed softly into her daughter’s ear. “I’m proud of you, more so than I can ever say. I always will be as long as you follow your heart.”

“There is no other way! Night, you need to finish it while you still can!” Fey Light yelled.

Rainbow stared daggers into the griffin until he backed off. She had no idea who this griffin was, but he needed to shut the bucking hell up right this second.

Ataxia’s roar brought them all back to the moment; the dragacorn was mad, madder than ever. Night looked up at her mom. It was in those eyes, eyes of pure love that something clicked in Shimmering Night. She finally understood what everyone had been trying to tell her all this time. “I… I know what I have to do.”

‘Follow your heart.’ The words stuck in Night’s head. They replayed from a dozen different sources.

Rainbow simply smiled and let her daughter go, it took her a moment to compose herself, but Night was finally connecting the dots. More precisely, Shimmering Night threw the drawing in the trash altogether.

“Night, you promised!” Fey shouted.

Night looked back at the griffin. “And I’ll keep my promise. All of my promises.” She said the last part to her sister.

Aurora just smiled back at her, she had no idea what Night was about to do, but from the looks of her, Aurora believed that Night finally understood what she had told her. Night flashed a quick smile back and turned to her friend.

She flew down and landed next to Ataxia, far closer than Rainbow would have liked to see her, but that was the point after all. This is where her heart told her to be, not in words, but in simple feelings.

Ataxia noticed her in an instant. She swiped at the alicorn with her tail. Shimmering Night held the tail in place as she commanded the dragacorn back in to holding. “Ataxia,” Night used her friend’s name for the emphasis it placed on the moment. “I want to say something, something I should have said a month ago… years ago. Then, I’ll let you go.”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide.

“You can do whatever you want after that, but know this,” Night shut her eyes and concentrated. When she finally opened them, they were pure white. “I've just tied all the alicorn magic to my own. You finish your task with my death. Kill me and there will be no more alicorns left in the world.”

‘Night, what are you doing.’ Rainbow thought to herself.

Ataxia seemed to understand; of course, that understanding came in the form of increased attacks at the alicorn that held her at bay. She roared at her, seeking to end Night’s life. In her mind, she saw all three dots; this single one tied them all together. Ataxia knew that if she extinguished this one dot, the other three would go out.

Night flashed her horn once; a large set of steel magical ropes tied the dragacorn’s mouth shut. She did not want Ataxia interrupting what she had to say.

“I’m sorry.” Night started off. Every set of eyes were staring directly at her, some far more intently than others. “I’m sorry my actions led you to this. I don’t know what happened to you after we were last together. But it doesn’t matter now; whatever happened, happened. There is no changing that.” She paused to wipe a stray tear from her eye.

“I can feel your emotions, you feel betrayed and angry. You have become hate itself, regardless what I say or any of us say or do you have become the physical personification of hate, and I think… I know that you chose this, didn’t you?”

Ataxia’s only reply was to struggle at her bonds, trying in vain to break them.

“The Dragon King, he told me you are fated to this destiny. That Discord fated you too rid the world of all alicorns. However, mom said there is no such thing as fate.”

As if talking about her was enough to bring her out, Twilight flew up next to Rainbow Dash at that moment. Rainbow placed her one remaining hoof on Twilight’s mouth, a clear indication to not interrupt.

“I think… I know they’re both right. Fate is a funny term, it implies something predestined to happen, predestined to occur regardless what anyone does to stop it. However, that’s not true, I think… I know that you know it too.”

Ataxia’s struggles intensified tenfold.

“Whatever happened to you… you chose this; you picked this fate, didn’t you? You chose this all because of what I said, me, and my big mouth.” Night found herself chuckling at that.

“I… I’m sorry I led you to this, I’m sorry I wasn’t smart enough to see the writing on the wall. I’m sorry I rejected you as I did, at your greatest time of need I wasn’t there for you. All because… because I let the opinions of others matter more to me than my own feelings. I can never, never forgive myself for that one.” Night paused to catch her breath.

“You see… I do love you, Ataxia. I think… I know I always have. Therefore, whatever you’re going to do to me, do it. Because if I have to choose between my own life and hurting you like that. Well… it’s not much of a choice. I choose this fate for myself.” Night paused, as she finally understood the true meaning of the word.

“Fate is that which we choose for ourselves. Others can limit your choices, but in the end, it is, and always will be your decision. So tell me, what will you choose? What will you choose, Ataxia?”

At that, Night released the bonds that held Ataxia in place. The dragacorn roared up on her hind legs, looking down at the one that had tried to rip her very being away from her.

Night smiled as she looked up. She saw Ataxia again, just as she had been all those times before. Gone was the visage of the dragacorn, all she saw was her friend.

“I love you.”

Night said the words one last time before the claw came down.

…

Ever since her transformation back at the cave, Ataxia’s mind was a sea of boiling hate and rage. When she agreed to take on her fate, she became the living embodiment of hate. It was an all-consuming desire to hate all of those who had betrayed her, who had left her for dead. The hate became everything to the mare, an impenetrable blackness that she was drowning in; nothing could ever hope to pierce the swell of hate that made up her mind.

“I love you.”

The words did not belong; nor did they fit. Her mind was a swirling nest of hate and rage, of pain and loss, betrayal and vengeance. Yet, against all reason, they were there. “I love you.” Three little words, somehow, they found the mare awash in that sea of hate and rage, they were a life jacket cast to someone who was drowning in herself.

Ataxia saw those words in her mind; she latched onto them and held on for all her might. It was small, simple, yet it was all she needed. Her mind constructed a small raft, a boat, a ship, and then finally found her way through the storm of raging hate.

For the first time since it all started, the skies of her mind cleared and the hate receded. She saw the shoreline and swam to it with all her might.

“I love you.”

Three little words, yet they saved her from her own worst enemy: Herself.

…

The blow never landed. Right before it would have crushed the young alicorn. Seconds before her claw would have made impact with Shimmering Night, Ataxia’s form underwent a transformation back to the unicorn mare she was. She fell out of the sky, right into the hooves of the mare she loved. She fell right into Shimmering Night’s hooves.

…

She was in some pony's hooves.

No pony needed to tell Ataxia that much, for it could not be anything else. Memories flooded her mind of times when her mom used to hold her like this, her head propped up in her lap, with Rarity lightly stroking her coat. It felt… nice.

Her fatigue had become a living, breathing entity in her mind. She felt more tired than she ever had in her entire life. Every cell, every bone, and every molecule in her body felt exhausted beyond all belief. She wanted nothing more but to give into that exhaustion, to fall asleep and never wake up again. The soft stroke of a hoof on her mane gave her reason to fight against it. That and one little thought.

That one thought kept playing through her head, three little words that changed everything, that reached her when nothing else could, when thoughts of rage and hate, of pain and betrayal clouded her mind.

It took a supreme effort of willpower, but Ataxia managed to open her eyes. Each lid felt like they weighed a thousand tons to the mare. The sight she saw when she opened them… it made the effort worth it a thousand times over.

“Hey.” Night said. The mare looked down into her friends eyes. She could lose herself in those big green eyes.

Despite everything, Ataxia still did not fully believe it, or more precisely, she could not bring herself to believe it. It still seemed unreal to the mare. After all, how often do you get the one thing you want most in the world?

“Did… did you mean it?” Her voice came out as barely a whisper. Ataxia wanted to raise a hoof to Night’s face. However, that one action was far, far too much for the mare right now. Her hoof never left the ground.

“Yes, I love you, Ataxia. I always have.” There was no uncertainty in her voice, no doubt remand in those who heard it, as it simply was. Night spoke with a calmness that told of a mare that had no reservation about the truth of her words. For her, it was the truth. The sky was blue, the sun and moon raised and lowered according to the will of the princess, and Night loved Ataxia.

Those three words made Ataxia’s eyes shut, she cooed softly into the night sky. “That’s what I thought you said.”

Night held her friend’s head in her hoof and brought it in closer to her own. Ataxia had stolen their first kiss one month ago. She wanted the next one all to herself. Night pressed her lips to her friends, enjoying the feeling of the connection to the one mare in the entire world that she truly did love, the one she wanted to be with for the rest of her days.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, days even. Night and Ataxia only broke apart when Ataxia quit returning the kiss. When Shimmering Night opened her eyes to see why, she saw that her friend had finally given into blissful slumber. “You big dork.” Night said jokingly. “That’s fine, go ahead and sleep it off, I’ll be there when you wake up. Consider it a promise.” She ran a hoof through Ataxia’s mane, lightly brushing the blue hair out of the way of her face.

She saw tears falling onto Ataxia’s face; it took Night a second to realize that they were her own. Using her other hoof, she wiped them off her friend’s face before wiping her own eyes clear.

Night brought her muzzle up to look around for the first time since she confronted Ataxia. A small, small worry crossed her mind that everyone would judge her; that they would make fun of her for loving a mare the way she did. It was the same worry that she had been harboring ever since she was a little filly.

That thought died a horrible, horrific, and well-deserved death as she looked around. Everywhere she looked, Night saw only faces of love and respect. Her parents, Twilight and Rainbow, they were standing next to each other. Rainbow had her wing wrapped around her wife in their customary way. Although, it might have been more for Rainbow’s benefit as it was tough for her to stand on the ground with one missing hoof.

They were both smiling at her with tears of joy rolling down their faces. Rainbow gave her a small nod of approval as liquid pride continued to fall from her eyes.

Radiant was standing next to Aurora. They were both grinning at the young alicorn. As Aurora’s younger sister, and Radiant’s little cousin, neither of them could be prouder of Shimmering Night than at that moment.

Captain Fey Light stood next to Aurora. He looked pissed to all hades.

That caught her off guard. In a sea of smiling, warm faces, his stood out as the only one that was not happy about this new development. To make matters worse, he knew she was looking directly at him too.

His rage boiled over until he could no longer hold it in. He lashed out at the mare with a tirade of barbed words. “You stupid mare, all you had to do was remove her power! Yet you risked everything on this dumb idea! Do you even know what you’ve done?!” Frey yelled out at her, anger dripping off every single word he spoke. “It was so simple! You dumbass fillyfooler! You ruined everything!”

Every set of eyes turned to the griffin. All their accompanying jaws hit the floor as they heard exactly what he just said to her. Aurora was the first to speak up. “Captain, you’re fired! I’ll see you in the stockades for this.” She said with no small amount of bile in her voice.

Fey looked at her, his empress, and smiled. A thought occurred to him as he considered this new turn of events. With a speed that should have been impossible for anyone but Rainbow, Fey gripped the pregnant pegasus in his hooves and kicked Radiant squarely in the face. The blow sent the unicorn sprawling to his side from the sudden onslaught. Blood fell freely from his nose.

With a claw held to Aurora’s throat, Fey smiled a vicious smile at the alicorn. “You remembered what you promised me, right?” Fey Light said in a voice that was not his own.

Night did not know what was going on, but she could not sit by and do nothing. One glance behind her told Night that Rainbow was about to snap. She shook her head at her mom, an action that Rainbow begrudgingly obeyed. It was true, she had promised to keep her sister safe, and to do whatever it took to see that happen.

“I remember, Fey.” She gingerly lay her friend’s head on the ground and stood up. Night whispered a silent “no” at Rainbow, who Twilight was only barely holding in place. While she had no doubt that Rainbow could do something. She also knew that Rainbow was not at one hundred percent. If that recent display of his speed were any indication to go by, Fey Light could easily kill Aurora before Rainbow could stop it.

“Well, I hold you to that promise now, remove Ataxia’s power or I will kill your dear sister.” He pressed the tip of a claw into Aurora’s throat, an action that almost drew blood.

‘That voice.’ Night thought to herself. ‘I recognize that voice.’ Gone was the voice of Fey Light, the Captain of the Griffin Royal Guard. Whoever this creature was, he had no need for that disguise anymore. Night knew she heard that voice before but she could not exactly place it.

“Who are you?” Night asked him.

“Who indeed.” Fey grinned.

“You’re the night revenant.” Twilight stated. “I would recognize that voice anywhere. I lived with it in my head for some time. You’re the one that caused me to become Twilight Night, the one that killed Princess Celestia, and the one that almost caused me to kill everyone I love. I… I destroyed you.”

Night’s eyes went wide at that. Fey just smiled. “Yes, yes I am. As far as how I live, well, I’ll keep that little tidbit to myself.” He grinned at his former mistress before turning back to Shimmering Night. “Back to the business at hoof, I present to you a choice, Princess Shimmering Night: Remove Ataxia’s power right this second, or I will kill your sister. What’s it going to be, your friend’s power, or your sister’s life? Not a difficult choice if you ask me.” With the disguise dropped, Grim Night removed the limitation he had placed on his own power. Gone was the griffin he had been pretending to be, in its place stood a unicorn covered from horn to tail in black magic. One hoof wrapped itself around Aurora Flash; the other transformed into a blade that he had pressed against Aurora’s throat.

Rainbow recognized that blade immediately. Her face went from mad to pissed in an instant. It was something that made Grim’s smile even brighter. “Now, now Rainbow. If you thought Blood Dawn was fast, you should see me in action. After all, I do have you to thank for giving me all his magic after you killed him.”

“It was you! You sent him to Warclaw!” Rainbow shouted the words. Twilight had to fight even harder to keep her wife in check; a task she knew was only possible in her current state by Rainbow’s extreme fatigue. A task that was made even harder when Radiant stood back up and wanted his own form of revenge. Twilight had to keep his magic under control and stop her wife from flying into a bloody rage that would likely see Aurora dead.

“Yes, yes I did. You see, for the spell to work he had to drink the blood of the innocent, but I would never simply give him all that power; after all, he might use it against me. Therefore, I led him to believe that only by drinking your grandson’s blood could he actually succeed, knowing that you would be the one to kill him and I would be the ultimate beneficiary.” Grim Night said with a smile. “If I did it myself you would have come after me, so how do you say, two birds, one stone?”

Aurora increased her struggling ten-fold at that, her mind balked at the very idea of the being that was directly responsible for her son’s death holding her against her family like this. She stopped struggling as soon as she felt a trickle of blood falling down her neck. The realization that this creature might kill her, and in doing so her unborn foal, held her in check. Aurora found herself looking up at the last pony she thought she would turn to in this sort of situation. Her gaze was not at Twilight or Rainbow; it was at her sister. She looked at Night with pleading eyes.

With his limitations removed, the feelings Night had fought against the entire time she had been with Fey returned ten-fold. Night finally understood just why he had rubbed her the wrong way, why she felt like there was something off about Fey Light this whole time. She had been sensing… feeling the dark magic that made up this creature’s power.

“I will keep my promise.” Night said with no doubt in her voice. Every set of eyes immediately turned to her, all but one in shock, as only Grim Night was happy about this turn of events. Her eyes never left her sister’s eyes. She would do whatever it took to reassure her sister in this time of crisis.

“Smart move.” Night said with a smile. He left the blade pressed against Aurora’s neck.

“Whatever happens, I won’t let you get away with this. As soon as I can, I’ll turn the entire planet inside out looking for you.” Twilight said. “And when I find you I will finish what I started.” Twilight’s wings shot out, each emblazoned with magical energy.

“You’re welcome to try, mistress.” Grim stated. It might not have gone to plan, but everything was working exactly as he wanted. Soon he would have the power of the dragacorn, than he would be free to claim the God magic in Twilight.

Night shut her eyes and concentrated. She had to be very, very careful about this next part. ‘What had the Dragon King stated? It responds to your most extreme emotions, it’s been reactionary until now, simply responding to what I want most at the time.’ Night focused everything in her body to that one single thought, to the one thing she desired more than anything else at that moment. The one thing she wanted more than any other… no, the one thing she needed more than any other.

Grim Night’s first clue that something was off was when Shimmering Night opened her eyes. The purple hue was gone, only the white remand. He took the blade deeper to Aurora’s neck, seeking to draw a trail of blood to illustrate his point. ‘Somepony needs a reminder of what’s at stake here, that I’m not playing around.’ He thought to himself with a sneer.

Nothing happened.

The blade did not move at all, his hoof did not move at all. In fact, he could not move a single part of his body. Well… except his mouth. Night let him keep that.

“What are you doing?!” Grim yelled.

“Keeping my promise.” Night stated as she levitated a few hooves in the air. “I promised I would do anything it took to keep her safe, to protect my sister. You see, creature, I knew there was something off about you. Ever since the first time we met next to Ataxia’s statue in Warclaw, I could sense something, something you could not hide even through whatever spell you were using. I finally figured out what that was.”

“Stop it, you stupid bitch!” Grim tried to counter whatever spell Night was using to keep in him place. It did not work, simply because there was no spell to counter. This was not Night’s will versus his own. This was magic turning against him. It was the magic of the world responding to her command.

It was a bad, bad place to be for a creature made of magic.

“You, night revenant, you are made of magic.” Night said the words with a voice that was several octaves below her normal one.

Grim Night’s eyes went wide at that. The power he had taken from Tirek, Tirek’s victims, Dayspring’s knowledge, Dayspring himself, and finally Blood Dawn’s power greatly enhanced his own. It all combined to make him the second most powerful being on the planet. Only Twilight had more power than he did.

He could only take Twilight’s power; only win against someone like that by becoming even more powerful than she was. He knew he was not yet that powerful, soon but not yet. He just had to find one more source of power, of real power. He found that source of power in Ataxia, but the catch was that he could not just steal Ataxia's power. Tirek had learned that lesson the hard way as fate itself governed Ataxia’s power. He had to use Night to remove that power from her, only then would he be free to take it for himself. Only then could he steal Twilight’s power.

It may have all added together to make him one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. Yet, it did not change the fact that regardless how powerful he might be, he was still a creature of magic. That left him squarely in the domain of Shimmering Night, the Demigoddess of Magic.

Grim Night’s hoof flew to his side. The blade commanded to transform back. Aurora left him in an instant and flew to her parent’s side. Rainbow wrapped a hoof around her oldest daughter and covered her in a wing. Whatever happened, she could at least keep her safe.

“Stop it!” Grim Night yelled out. He tried casting several spells to get out of this situation, ranging from teleportation to killing spells. It was all for naught. Magic, all magic, fell under the command of Shimmering Night, and right now, she commanded it to obey her and her alone.

After all, only another being with God magic could hope to truly fight the will of a God, or Demigoddess for that matter.

“You want me to remove someone’s magic? Let’s start with yours.” Night raised a hoof up and held it in place. Symbolizing exactly where she wanted Grim Night to be. The magic around him obeyed, Grim found his body levitating exactly where she was pointing. Shimmering Night held her other hoof to that spot and slowly, ever so slowly, drew it back.

Night commanded the magic to separate from the body. She commanded all the magic that made up Grim Night to leave its host.

The pain that Ataxia had experienced when Night started doing it to her, the sheer level of power that Grim Night had amplified it ten times over. He experienced the pain of someone flayed alive by an expert with a knife. As if that expert was taking off his skin centimeter by centimeter, only leaving an area alone for long enough for it to hurt that much more before going back over it.

He screamed and screamed, but unlike when Ataxia experienced this pain, no one felt sorry for him. Shimmering Night was slowly, ever so slowly, pulling the magic from his host body one molecule at a time, until it formed a dark cloud that hovered over where the body collapsed in the dirt.

It was a benevolent, dark force, one with a life of its own. When the last of it was free from its host, it tried to escape. Night caught onto its plan with more than enough time to stop it. The magic was going nowhere.

“This is your true form, isn’t it?” Night asked the dark, swirling magic energy.

A demonic visage appeared in the cloud. It was a face that would haunt the nightmares of everyone that looked at it. “Yesss….” The voice came from the cloud; it did so in a deep reverberating tone that spoke of something that simply hated. It hated the one that caused it more suffering than it had ever known in its life.

“It’s over for you.” Night stated the words in no uncertain terms.

The night revenant laughed, it was a laughter that sounded more like a growl than anything else. “You truly think you won, don’t you? You think with my defeat it’s all over and everything will simply go back to normal. Guess again, little pony. Why do you think I wanted all this magic to begin with? I wanted enough power to defeat the beings that created us, the one’s that breathed life into us revenants in the first place.”

“The ones that created you?” Twilight asked.

The night revenant looked up at the fragmented moon. “Beings far, far stronger than I. Beings that were trapped in the moon.”

“Were?” Night asked.

“See for yourself.” He gestured up. Night did not quite trust him, but she did not have too, the magic she commanded to keep him still would not simply stop because she took her eyes off him.

Night saw it when she looked up in the sky. At that moment, another meteor shower started, as more of the debris from Rainbow breaking the moon reached the planet’s atmosphere.

“You’ve doomed yourselves and you don’t even know it. You stupid fillyfooler.”

That was the last straw for Night. “Whatever might be coming, we’ll deal with that in time, but you have no need to worry about it, creature. For you will not be here to see it."

It is said that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred. This is true, as when Chaos created the universe he did so with a finite amount of energy in it. Given, ‘finite’ was a relative term in this situation, but he did so in order that the beings that would inhabit the universe could never expend it all.

This rule did not apply to the other Gods, and it certainly did not apply to the Demigoddess of Magic. She ordered… she commanded the magic that made up the night revenant to destroy itself. She commanded it to cease to be.

It did just that, and for the first time since the creation of the universe, the net total amount of energy in it decreased. The cloud of magic that made up the night revenant exploded into non-existence. It was an explosion of magical light that temporarily blinded and deafened every single pony in the area. The explosion lit up The Crystal Empire as a second sun.

Grim Night, the night revenant, at that moment he ceased to exist.

…

Twilight and Aurora were the first to recover. On instinct alone, Rainbow had shielded them both from the explosion. The cyan pegasus had not gotten off so lucky. Her body took the brunt of the damage but her golden wings had already started the healing process.

When Twilight looked around, she noticed that Radiant was in similar shape to Rainbow. After a quick check to make sure that Rainbow was ok, Twilight ran to Radiant in order to do what she could for the unicorn.

Aurora’s eyes went straight for her sister. To her, it looked as if Night had gotten away without a scratch on her. Something her eyes verified when a clear magic bubble around Night and Ataxia fell away. Aurora let out a breath she was not aware she was holding as she turned to Twilight. Upon seeing Radiant, she immediately kicked herself for letting her guard down. “Is he?”

“He’s hurt, but ok.” Twilight said.

That one comment relieved both Aurora and Night. Night raised her head and stood up. She suddenly paused, she was not sure how or why, but the alicorn could have sworn she heard three little words in the wind. She could not quite make out what the words said though. It was as if they were simply there. Her mind quickly began to panic that maybe, just maybe there was something else out there, something more they had to deal with. That maybe it was not over, or that the beings the night revenant mentioned were already here.

“Is it over?” Night asked her mom. Unsure if these events had finally been put to bed.

“The crisis is over, but there’s still a lot of work to do.” Twilight’s thoughts were on Icarus and Luna, and whether or not Night would be able to help save them. For Twilight, everything else could wait, with a quick flash of her horn, she teleported all six of them into the hospital.

For some time after, Night could not help but feel like they were forgetting something…

She was right, what none of them thought to look for was the body that Grim Night had inhabited.

………

He ran; he ran through the smoldering debris of The Crystal Empire. He ran as fast as his hooves would carry him. Pushing himself past his breaking point, he willed himself forward.

Every step, every fiber of his being simply hurt. Yet that pain was only physical. He even welcomed it, for it temporally blocked out the pain in his heart. That was the pain that truly hurt him; that was the one that made him want to kill himself whenever it caught up with him.

Ever since Appleloosa, when that creature had brought him back to life, the stallion had been aware of everything that… that creature had done. He lived through all the scheming, all the planning, and all the deaths it had caused. The creature tormented him with it, it laughed at him as it plotted and schemed against everyone he loved.

He watched as his own body and mind were used to hurt everyone he ever cared about. The creature forced him to watch as it came up with the plan to kill his own unborn nephew, as it came up with a plan to use his youngest sister’s love in a plot to steal his mom’s power. It forced him to watch and know everything. It took joy in it, all of it. It plucked memories from his mind and used them all against those he loved.

When he came to, his first sight was of his family lying on the ground, A quick scan with his magic confirmed that they were all alive, just unconscious. Looking at them brought back the memories of the pain he caused each of them in turn... It was all too much, he wanted… he needed to escape it; he needed to escape himself.

You can run from a lot in this world, but the one thing you can never escape is yourself. That would not stop him from trying.

A trail of tears followed him as he ran. His one, his only redeeming thought was that he managed to convince that creature to return his mom’s memories to her. He only managed to do that by convincing the creature that it would hurt his mom more in the long run.

It was a bittersweet thought, one that did nothing to soothe the memories of hurting everyone he ever loved in the worst possible way.

He looked back only once, right as he got to the top of the hill; he looked back and saw his sister standing once more. Tears continued to fall from his eyes as he whispered an “I’m so sorry,” into the wind. Dayspring Gleam turned and ran down the hill. Part of him hoped he would run himself to death, a death stolen from him by that accursed revenant.

………………………………………………………

Celestia’s Palace
Two weeks later

There were kisses. Small kisses placed up and down her neck. It felt… good to the mare. She smiled at waking up in such a nice and inviting way.

Night tried to play it off. She fought to keep her eyes shut as the kisses continued. It was not until a hoof started to make its way a little further down her stomach then she felt comfortable with that she jumped up and her eyes shot open. “Ataxia!” Night yelled at her love.

Ataxia just sat there, smiling at her marefriend. “Morning, sexy.” She said with an adorable grin.

“Don’t you mean evening?” Night asked in a playful tone. It was the same routine every single night, well, every night for the past three days. Ataxia had spent the first eight days hospitalized and the three after that sleeping eighteen hours a day. Physically, she had been fine; however, she was beyond exhausted. The doctors had kept her in a medically induced coma to help her recover. It had taken a while for the effects to wear off.

At least, that was the story the doctors told her. Night somewhat suspected that they were shy of letting her get up, it was kept to hush whispers and glances, in hurried conversations and awkward looks, but nopony trusted Ataxia anymore; not that they ever really trusted her to begin with, although, this was different. If Night had to put her hoof on it, she would say that this was outright fear.

Night shrugged it off; well, she shrugged most of it off. She could handle the looks, glances, rumors, and whispers, but the thing that got to her was the mare herself. Not only did no pony else trust Ataxia, but she did not seem to trust herself anymore. The playful mare was gone… well, mostly gone. To the rest of the world, she seemed the same, but to Night, it was the small things, the little things here and there. They painted a bad picture in her mind, one she never wanted to look at.

Ataxia was holding herself back, second-guessing every decision she would make. Almost as if she simply did not believe in herself anymore. Night supposed that it made a certain kind of sense, given everything that happened. Still, she had wanted her friend back, this… this was Ataxia, but at the same time, it was not. Ataxia may not have been the type to blame herself for what happened, but Night could see a fundamental change in the mare, something that she wanted to make go away.

When she had talked to her parents about it, Twilight and Rainbow told her it was just exhaustion, that in time she would be her old self. Night knew that it was partially the case, but that it was also more than that. Some of it could be dismissed by that, after all, for the past two weeks she had spent most of her time sleeping, but there was still something fundamentally different about her, something Night wished she knew how to undo.

She hoped; she hoped Ataxia would simply get over it. Talking to her about it, or trying to anyway, it always ended in failure. So much that Night learned to simply not bring it up because it only seemed to make things worse when she did.

Tonight did seem to be a little different, though. Ataxia had a lot more energy than she previously displayed. Part of Night, a small part anyway, told her this could be a very bad thing. She dismissed that part immediately. If her friend was doing better, she would take it without question. Regardless of what that might mean.

“So, what are we going to do tonight?” Ataxia asked, her words breaking through Night’s thoughts.

“Same thing we do every night, Ataxia. Try to take over the world.”

Ataxia hit her in the head with a pillow. “Not funny.”

Night hit her back. “Really? ‘Cause I laughed.”

“Well get up, Miss ‘Take over the World’, you know Twilight will be expecting you in the throne room.”

“Yeah, yeah. Can we eat first?”

“Nope, you overslept. It’s almost time.”

“Overslept? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“’Cause you looked so peaceful.” Ataxia said with a smile on her face. “I couldn't bring myself to disturb such a sweet moment.”

Night sighed loudly as she dragged her flank out of bed. Unfortunately, she misjudged just how tired she had been. While sleeping, her front right hoof went numb, and when she went to put her weight on it, it gave out.

Night’s face met the floor.

“Oww! Who put that there?!” Night yelled aloud.

Ataxia started busting out laughing at Night’s unintended face-plant.

………

“Are we done yet, Twi?”

“Why, you getting tired, Rainbow?”

“Yes.” Rainbow told the truth. Physically, they were doing nothing at all; physically they had done nothing all damn day. Yet she still felt more drained than after any amount of physical activity she had ever went through, even counting for her time in the Wonderbolts. They were literally sitting on a throne the entire damn day listening to what others had to say. Well, one of them was. Rainbow had spent most of the day as she always did, napping. Yet, for some reason, she was still exhausted. The bureaucracy of a nation was nothing short of boring to the pegasus.

There had been a reason why she never wanted this job to begin with; sadly, they were stuck with it, at least for now anyway.

“Night should be getting up soon; when she gets here we can change the sun out for the moon and go to sleep.”

“And then we get to start this all over again.” Rainbow rolled her eyes as she said the words aloud. There was no small amount of sarcasm in her voice.

Twilight whispered the next part, “Only after you make me just as tired as you now feel.”

A magical shield was all that protected Rainbow’s throne from being cut in three different pieces as her wings shot back from her sudden enthusiasm at her wife’s words. Her golden wings became as sharp as diamonds as a sudden rush of excitement overcame her.

They went through three thrones before Twilight got the idea for the shield spell.

Twilight smiled as she saw the effect on her wife. It always amazed her just how quickly Rainbow’s mood could do a one eighty. Her smile turned to a frown as her eyes fell on Rainbow’s missing hoof.

Night had been able to do quite a lot to help everypony after the battle, but she had been unable to heal the lasting injuries. Those still required Twilight’s magic to undo. Something Twilight was unable to undue in her ‘condition’.

“Princess Twilight, Princess Rainbow, Princess Night has arrived.” A royal guard said aloud from the entrance to the throne room.

“Finally!” Rainbow shouted.

At that moment, Night and Ataxia both walked in. Rainbow smirked as she saw the red bruise on Night’s muzzle. Ataxia noticed the grin on Rainbow’s face and immediately knew that she knew what happened to Night. Ataxia walked over to the cyan mare.

“Face-plant?” Rainbow asked.

“Yep.”

“Blame the floor?”

“Yep.”

That brought an even bigger smile to Rainbow’s face. Night and Twilight were so much alike at times; it was a little scary to Rainbow. For her part, Twilight just walked over and hugged her daughter, making no mention of the obvious bruise. The two of them went to the balcony and began the process of lowering the sun and raising the moon.

“You seem to be feeling better.” Rainbow commented on Ataxia’s condition as the two of them watched the mares they loved at work.

“I am, thanks for noticing.” Ataxia smirked. She had not been quite herself ever since waking up. It was only on Night’s order that she was even out of the hospital. However, tonight was different from the other three nights she had been awake. Tonight she actually felt like she had energy. Something she had every intention of expanding as soon as got the chance.

Looking at Night’s flank as she worked on raising the moon gave Ataxia several ideas about just how she wanted to expend that energy.

Rainbow bumped her on the shoulder. “Go easy on her, for her sake, and yours. It’s been awhile since she last had any and you need to take it easy.”

“How would you know?” Ataxia asked.

Rainbow just glared at her. That one look said it all, ‘really?’

“You’re right. She’s not the type.” Ataxia begrudgingly admitted. “Still, I’m not going to go that easy on her.” A smile crossed Ataxia’s face as she said that last part. “As far as me, well, let’s just say it’s been awhile for me too. I have a few muscles that need a good workout.”

Rainbow just grinned. She knew her daughter was somewhat of a stick in the mud when it came to things like that. ‘You’ll be good for her.’ Rainbow thought to herself. Night definitely needed someone who could break her out of her shell. Although, Rainbow knew that the learning curve for Night would be quite steep. Still, she should enjoy it, as long as she does not fight it. Well, as long as she does not fight it too much anyway.

When the two alicorns finished moving the celestial bodies in the sky and turned back to the mares they loved, Rainbow faked a loud, over-exaggerated yawn.

“Tired, mom?” Night asked Rainbow.

“It’s been a long day, Night. You know with ruling the country and all. It’s time to hit the hay.” Rainbow pretended to wipe sleep from her eye.

“I bet.” Night said with a smirk. She knew her mom enough to spot the obvious lie; no doubt Rainbow had slept most of the day away while Twilight did all the actual work.

“Night.” Rainbow said as she turned and started flying towards their room, gesturing for Twilight to follow.

“Night.” Night said with a grin. She was under no illusion of what Rainbow truly wanted to do.

Twilight gave her daughter one last hug and ran to catch up with her wife. When she got there the two of them started to engage in idle chatter. Until Twilight thought of one thing, one thing she actually wanted to talk about.

“Hey, Rainbow?”

“Sup?”

“Any idea what we should call him?” Twilight said with a smile. Her hoof pressed against a full belly.

“Oh that! Yeah, I thought of the perfect name.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“Taz!”

Twilight stared at her, her mind taken aback by that. “Taz? What kind of name is Taz?”

“You don’t remember that dream you told me about the monster living in your attic that likes geometry?”

Twilight thought about it… “Wait, you want to name our son after a dream I had?”

“Yep.”

“No.”

Rainbow smirked; she had expected that answer and knew just how to counter it. “Hey, what was our deal?”

“What?”

“The promise we made, you named the first kid, I did the second, and you named the third, so now it’s my turn.” Rainbow had her dead to rights on this one.

“Rainbow…” Twilight pleaded.

“Twi, you promised.”

“Why Taz?” Twilight gave up; she knew there was no way out of it now.

“I think it’s a cool name, besides, he’s already a little monster.” Rainbow said with a smile.

“Fine.” Twilight could not disagree with that one. ‘He has already been a lot of trouble; moreover, maybe he will like geometry.’

………

Ataxia and Night were in the throne room for exactly five minutes. Five minutes before Ataxia started in on Night. “Night, I’m bored.”

Night started laughing; she had wondered just how long it would take Ataxia to feel this way. It actually surprised the mare just how long she had been able to hold out. In truth, the two of them had very little to do. Twilight and Rainbow took care of just about everything during the day. If Twilight would leave her anything to do at all, it was usually just forms to fill out, things that required both of their signatures. She could knock those out in three minutes.

Ataxia normally slept all day and night. Granted, she was still recovering, but exhaustion and fatigue kept the boredom at bay. Now, now that had finally passed. Night had been hoping for and dreading this moment in equal measure. “Why don’t you go into the forest, I’m sure there is some monster you can hunt?” It was Luna’s favorite hobby at night. Something she had been unable to do for a while due to her injury. Night figured there would be more than one creature out there that would be rousing up some trouble for Ataxia to deal with.

“No!” Ataxia blushed as she shouted that a little louder than she intended too. Needless to say, it got Night’s full attention. “I mean no, I’m not that bored… never mind, I’m… I’m ok.”

There it was; that part, that was the part of Ataxia that Night had seen these past few days. The part that just was not the same, the part that Night wanted to make go away. “Well, we got an entire night to kill, what do you want to do?” Night pointedly ignored what had just occurred. She would play along, for now anyway.

Ataxia thought about it for a while, as soon as her ears made out a soft moaning coming from down the hallway she made up her mind. No one else heard it, but then again, only one other pony in the palace had her level of hearing, and that pony was quite busy as she could hear every moan coming from Twilight as that pony went to town on her wife. “We don’t have to stay here, right? In this room I mean?” Ataxia did not really care where they were, but she knew that Shimmering Night would.

“No, we can go wherever; the royal guards will alert me to any new events.”

“I got a great idea of what to do. It’s back in our room though.” Ataxia’s playful demeanor returned to her in an instant. It was something that both relieved and worried Night.

“What’s that?” Night asked.

“You’ll just have to trust me. It should be good for both of us.” Ataxia said with a smile as she started walking back to their room, it left no further room for conversation. If Night wanted to know just what she was talking about, she would have no choice but to follow.

Night’s curiosity was piqued as she followed her friend back to their bedchambers. She passed by two royal guards who did their absolute best not to grin at her. It went without saying, but their best was far from good enough.

………

The Crystal Empire

“For the last time, Aurora, let the nurses do it.” Icarus said to his wife. There was obvious frustration in his voice at having this conversation with her, yet again.

“No, you’re my husband; I’ll give you a bath.” Aurora said in a tone that told Icarus to drop it or else.

“Why are you doing this?” Icarus said. In truth he preferred his wife’s touch to some strange ponies, he just did not want to her to have to degrade herself to such tasks.

“Because you’re my husband, I promised I would always be there for you, regardless what happened.” Aurora said with tears in her eyes as she looked at the griffin. Icarus was stuck in bed, a full body cast over his entire body. The battle had broken ninety-five percent of his bones and crushed almost every organ he had.

Only the spear had kept him alive, the one that the doctors had kept in his claw the entire time. With Night’s help, Icarus was able to regain consciousness, but for now, that was the extent of what she could do for him. Her magic… her talent, it may not have any real limits. Over the last few weeks, Aurora had seen her sister do some rather amazing things with it, but she was not omnipotent. From what little Aurora could understand about Twilight and Night’s research, it seemed Night had to know exactly what she wanted to happen in order to make it happen.

It was one thing to want a shield to pop up, or something to simply leave, quite another to want muscles and bones to reconnect to where they were supposed to go. Night simply did not have a fully detailed knowledge of ponies' or griffins' anatomy in order to accomplish something like that.

She had offered to study every single moment in order to get it done. Twilight informed her that the amount of time it would take her to learn all of that would be far longer than just waiting for her baby brother to be born. As such, Icarus was stuck in his full body cast. When asked if he would heal normally, the doctors pointed out that by all rights he should not even be alive.

So no… he would not heal normally, he would simply have to live like that until Twilight regained her magic powers.

That was a bitter pill for Aurora to swallow. She had almost lost it when she found out about Icarus in the first place. It was only Twilight, Rainbow, and Night’s presence that stopped her from killing somepony. Well, that and a little help from Cadance.

Princess Cadance might be confined to a wheelchair, as just like Icarus, there was nothing Night could do for her either, but she took it in stride. With the battle over and everyone she loved still alive, there was little to be mad about. She knew that Twilight would be able to heal her after she had her foal, so her confinement to a wheelchair was not the end of the world, or so she said anyway.

Icarus gave in. “Fine.”

Aurora went to work. She began washing every single inch of the griffin, paying close attention to the more intimate parts as she did so. It was then, at that moment, that Icarus saw it. He saw the one thing he never expected to see on someone so pretty, someone so gorgeous, someone like Aurora.

When she glanced at him, he saw the love she had for him on her face.

It was a look he was quick to return.

………

Firestar rolled over and hugged her stallion for all her worth.

It was a gesture he reciprocated, although he was a little more careful about it, with her huge baby bump, he was always a little cautious about putting too much pressure on his wife’s stomach, something the doctors told him he had no real fear of; still, he held back.

“Thank you.” Firestar said.

“For what?” Radiant asked.

“For making me stay in bed. I know… I know we got lucky, everyone… everyone did what they did for me, for us. I… I just wanted to say thanks. I know I should have said it earlier.”

Radiant kissed his wife’s forehead. He slowly ran a hoof along her wings, an action that caused no small amount of excitement in the mare whose hormones were working overtime. “You have nothing to thank me for.”

“But…”

“No buts. You have nothing to thank any of us for. All of us: Twilight, Luna, Mom, Night, Icarus, and even Aurora, we’re family, it’s what we do. We could no more sit back and do nothing than you could. You know, normally.”

Firestar hugged him tighter. She rested her head on the stallion’s chest. “I hope; I hope they’re just like you.” Firestar’s implication was clear to both of them.

“Luna, I hope not.” Radiant teased. “I hope they’re more like you.”

She looked up into his eyes. He stared back, those big, beautiful blue eyes of Firestar’s were an ocean he could get lost in every single day, something he just wanted to drown in and never surface.

“I love you.” Firestar said to him.

Radiant smiled. Regardless how many times she said it, regardless how many times he heard those words coming from her mouth, it never failed to put a smile on his face.

“I love you too.”

“Boop.” Firestar bopped him on the noise with a hoof.

“Boop.” Radiant returned the gesture. Firestar let out a yawn as the sun was setting in the distance. She rested her head back on his chest and gently drifted off to sleep.

The final words she said put a smile on his face. “You’re still an idiot.”

Radiant smiled as he felt the tell-tale signs of his wife drifting off to sleep. “I know.”

Radiant lightly stroked her mane as she fell asleep. He thought of nothing, for there was nothing more he wanted. Right then and there, he had everything he could possibly hope for. He was a prince who was married to the prettiest princess in the land. He had a loving family and two sons on the way.

For Prince Radiant Star, it was a storybook ending to say the least.

Well, he had to take that back, there was one thing he wanted, one thing he needed to do right that second; it came to him suddenly and without warning.

Looking down at the mare sleeping peacefully on his chest, Radiant began cursing the Gods themselves as one thought kept crossing his mind. It was something he could not just ignore regardless of any amount of mental discipline.

‘I need to pee.’

He started thinking of ways he could use one of his wife’s bedpans without waking her up.

………………………

The Remains of the Everfree Forest

Luna trudged through the remains of the forest. She was looking for… well, she had no idea what she was looking for. The Night Princess was simply looking. Her rationale for searching the Everfree was simple: Everything bad usually had something to do with this place; so, logically, it was the place she would start with.

Princess… that was a term that technically no longer applied to her. In all reality, she had no claim to being royalty anymore. She was no longer an alicorn, her broken horn saw to that. Still, the others would not hear of it. They told her that in time, Twilight would be able to fix her horn, and Night would be able to restore her magic. Until then, she was simply to take it easy, to relax.

That got old for Luna two days after waking up. She began pacing back and forth in her room, and eventually, she simply split. On her own, Luna started taking up patrol missions in the Everfree Forest.

She had heard the stories of Grim Night’s final warning, of the beings that he had spoken of. The ones that had given life to black magic in order to create the revenants in the first place. No pony knew if he was lying or not.

It was under the surface, but they all suspected it was the truth. None of them would let their guard down, not after all that had happened. Luna took it upon herself to provide some form of forwarding to everyone else in case they made their move.

She had to make herself feel useful. It was the least that she could do. They told her... they told her that Night had managed to pull the magic out of her brain. In doing so, she saved Luna’s life. That still bugged Luna, not so much that Night had done what she did, but that she had needed to at all. Luna was not the type who liked to rely on others.

This patrol, like so many before it, would end in failure. Luna would only encounter the odd creature that was sleeping or hunting in the night. Only the first patrol was remotely interesting, and that was only because Rainbow Dash had joined her.

After Rainbow told Twilight what was going on, she had the bat-ponies guard Princess Luna during her patrols, she told them to stay far enough back where Luna would not notice them but not too far back where they could not come to her aid if needed. Of course, Luna always noticed them. It became a game for the former alicorn to try to lose them each night.

Tonight she had set a new personal best, and with her babysitters out of sight, she pressed on. She was looking for something, anything that might distract her from recent events. Just like always, Luna found and saw nothing.

The others might be able to dismiss it, or at least, not worry about it. Luna knew better; her memories of being trapped on the moon for a thousand years told her that there was something there, something that they did need to be wary of. For the life of her, Luna could not quite remember just what it was. It was like a song that you only remembered in the back of your mind. Whenever she would try to think about it, the memory was simply gone. Only when she thought about nothing, or when she distracted herself with some other task would the thought return, to fade just as quickly when she realized it.

So Luna searched, she looked, and she found… nothing.

Unfortunately, something found her. It did not make a move, it simply watched, watched and waited.

It would bide its time, there was much, much to learn before it did anything at all.

Time was the greatest asset for someone with patience, and patience was something it had in droves.

…………………………

Celestia’s Palace

Rainbow sighed as she held the alicorn lying on her chest in her hooves. She ran her one hoof down Twilight’s mane, noting with a smile at a few sections that had become matted and a little sticky. There was no doubt in her mind that they were both in desperate need of a shower.

For now, that could wait. Rainbow had made good on her unspoken promise to wear the mare out, something she achieved with all the awesomeness she was known for. Besides, while the room might smell, it smelt of them, and that was a smell that Rainbow would always love.

It had never been Rainbow’s dream to be a princess, but for Twilight, it was a price worth paying.

“Hey Rainbow?”

Twilight’s sudden question interrupted Rainbow’s thoughts. “Yeah, Twi?”

“Night, she looked happy, didn’t she?”

Rainbow smiled. She would never say, but she knew for a fact that Night was very, very happy right now. At least, based on what her magically over-sensitive ears could hear anyway. “I know she is. After all, she changed fate itself.”

“There’s no such thing as fate, Rainbow.”

“You’re wrong about that, Twi. It's just not defined the way you think it is. I think… I know that Night was right. Fate is what we choose for ourselves. We pick our own fate.”

Twilight thought about it. She supposed, logically, there was some truth in that meaning. “You might be right.” It was an over simplistic definition, but it still held true.

Rainbow just smiled. She was far too tired to celebrate those words.

“Rainbow, when did you get so smart?” Twilight grinned.

“What can I say? I’m surrounded by the smartest mares in the world, so I’m bound to pick up on something.” Rainbow lightly bopped her wife on the noise.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

‘Fate is that which we choose for ourselves. Others can limit your choices, but, in the end it is, and always will be your decision. So tell me, what will you choose?’ ~ Princess Shimmering Night

Later that Night

Author's Note

It's been over five months... over five months since I started writing this story, my magnum opus if you will. After all that time it finally came to an end. With this completed, twenty chapters of 12.5k words each, I doubled the size of the story so far.

For those playing the home game, the story in whole is now over 524,000 words; approx 2,100 pages if it were a book.

It's been quite the journey to say the least.

Where am I going from here? Well, I left it open, as I always will until I am done, so that I could add more. My current plans are for a Nightaxia clop fic (I think they deserve one) that I will release on Dec 1 for my homegirl Skizee's B-day. You can expect it to be around 3-6k words with a working title of TiM: Later that Night.

After that, I have an idea for a different story, one that will take me out of the TiM universe and into something a lot darker. I hope to write this story as a colab and call it 'We were Friends.' (Little warning, it's not for the faint of heart. It'll be a dark Twidash fic.)

You can probably expect a few short stories randomly here and there, I have a few ideas in my head, but nothing that has solidified though. :pinkiesad2:

After that, I don't honestly know. I've put all my reading on the backburner to finish this story and I want to catch up. I loved everything about writing this story... well, almost everything.

For whatever reason, this story is my most hated (downvotes/total votes)....

It got... hard to keep my motivation going at times, I tried not to let it get to me, but I failed. I'd spend 14 hours working on a chapter (not counting the time the editors put in) post it, and dread logging on the next day 'cause It would lead to one or two more downvotes. Only to repeat the process with the next chapter, the chapter after that, and the chapter after that.

I know I should not let that get to me, by default when writing a shipping fic, I'm going to get people who hate that ship, hate shipping in general, or who hate the idea of two females getting into a relationship (Seriously, I think two people went and downvoted every story in the Twidash folder, every story I wrote and every story I recommended on my wall got two downvotes in 24 hours. If you don't like something, leave it alone. I stay away from appledash stories because I hate that ship, but I don't go around downvoting everyone I see... that's just trollish.). ~Yeah I know, it is the internet after all, it breeds trolls.~

To top this off, as I've moved away from the original cast to my own OCs, I'd get those who hate the idea of original characters (Why they read stories that star them? IDK). I'd get those who don't like series of stories or don't understand a simple read order. (Hmm... Harry Potter looks interesting, lets start with Goblet of Fire, What's quidditch? That sounds stupid. :trollestia:) Oddly, I'd also get those who don't like my writing, characterization, and/or storytelling, yet did not simply stop at one of the first stories, or did not bother to read the first story... (people are f-ing strange:facehoof:)

Also, it probably did not help things that I added clop to this fic...

I know all of that, but you can only tell yourself that so many times. When you see it go from 14 to 16 in 48 hours, then a week later from 16 to 18 overnight, you start asking yourself what you're doing wrong, 'cause of course they never tell you, that might mean they actually have to defend their position.... (Which would most likely result in them having to admit that they did not read the first stories, and/or they're just trolls.)

In the end, I got through it by reminding myself that I write for me, the fact that so many people enjoy it is simply a bonus, one that I thank you all for.

I know that sounds kinda negative, so to answer your next question; I'm I done writing for this series? Hell no. I love it all too much, haters gonna hate and all of that.

That being said, don't expect me to start a new story any time soon, don't expect it to be this long, or with chapters this big again. Long chapters are a lot of fun, they allow one to go a lot further with the characterization and more in depth with the story. However, they are such a pain to write and edit (two or three times it felt more like a grind then something I actually enjoyed doing). I think I prefered the chapter lengths of BoI, as such I'll keep them at 4-5k words for now on with the option to occasionally take em over.

So for now, I'll be spending my time on those two other fics, catching up on my reading, and going through to edit what I have written so far. (I'm about one fifth done editing BoI. I already did the original and life lived. Although, I'm sure I missed a few things.) When the mood hits me, or I get a really good idea in my head, I'll start writing again.

Ok, I'm done rambling, for now....

Let me end this by saying thank you. Thank you for reading and enjoying my story. Or thank you for reading and not enjoying my story if you're somewhat of a masochist. :derpytongue2:

As always, feel free to leave your comments and thoughts below. I know it's said a lot, but your comments are what truly help an author. Constructive feedback is key to anyone's improvement, they're also what keeps a writer motivated. Whether you love or hate something, it helps to say what you loved and/or what you hated. A random pat on the back is no more helpful than saying 'this sucks'.

Tell me what you think, not only of this story, but of the story as a whole.

Or say nothing at all, either way, I still thank you all for taking time out of your lives to read my tale.

Until next time,
Twidash on!
~Twidashforever~