Aftermath, Sunset's Parents and Mal

Discord chuckled at Mal's response and shook his head at him."Well I couldn't let you do that. If you had fought him you'd lose your self control and there's no telling what would be left of Equestria if that happened." Mal had to admit that Discord had a point. "Still, how about I let you deal with the next megalomaniac that steals alicorn magic and wants to take over the world?" Discord asked with a grin.

"Alright Discord, but I think I should deal with that soul gem. Otherwise Sombra could corrupt someone else."

"Knock yourself out." Discord said, dropping Sombra's horn into Mal's hand.

Mal channeled his powers into it trying to remove the soul but he soon was covering it with his magic as it floated a blue crystal formed. "There we go I couldn't take his soul but now his influence can't get out." Mal turned to Discord. "You once said you could open gateways to dimensions, do you know of one where we could drop him?." Discord thought for a moment.

"Oh yes, there is one, it’s barely inhabited and it's not like those that live there can leave or are intelligent enough to be any trouble, even under Sombra's influence." Discord grabbed nothing and ripped a portal and Mal dropped Sombra’s crystal covered soul gem into it.

"There we go, Sombra should hopefully remain there until time comes to an end." Mal finished.

Discord looked at the ruins. "Well then, time fora little fix up." He snapped his talons. The buildings were fixed as was the city it wasn't like before but it wasn't outlandish, surprisingly.

"Discord could you maybe fix my home?" Twilight asked. Discord gave her an odd look.

"I can't do that." Twilight motioned to the city.

"What, You just fixed a city, stalemated the Elements and can warp reality, how can you not fix my home?" Discord sighed, and teleported everyone to Ponyville.

"Look behind you." He pointed. where her library was...... was a new castle/palace.

"The blast did more than defeat Demise, it gave you a palace and it also had a bizarre effect of the Northern Isles, Mal." The angel raised an eyeborw.

"What happened?" Mal asked.

Discord suddenly had a strange outfit on with a bowtie. “I can’t tell you that, spoilers.”

Mal sighed and gave Discord an exasperated look. "You know what, I'll find out when I go back. They'll want to know what happened to the general. Though, I may not be back there for a while."

"Why do you say that?" Celestia asked.

"For a few reasons," Mal started. "One, Solar Flare is still recovering from being separated from you, and I figured since she's technically your and Luna's sister you'd want to help me rehabilitate and reform her." Celestia gave Mal a warm smile.

"I suppose it is only fair, I am responsible for her creation."

"Also, seeing your reunion with Sunset made me think we should go and see her parents."

"Mal, what are you thinking?" Sunset asked, running over to him. "How, am I supposed to explain all this to my parents?" Sunset said indicating her human form.

"I don't know," Mal started. "But I do know that we have to do this." He continued grabbing her shoulders. "They're your parents Sunset, and no matter what happens, no matter what they say about everything you've done and what's happened to you they deserve to know. I never got to say goodbye to my family and I'll always regret that. I don't want you to have those same regrets." Sunset had tears well up in her eyes.

"But what if..." Mal cut her off by hugging her tightly against his chest.

"Don't worry, I'll be right by your side the entire time. If things look like their getting out of hand I'll take you out of there instantly." Sunset had a weak smile spread across her face and nuzzled into Mal's chest.

"You're right Mal, I do need to see them again, at least once. But I have no idea what we'll say to them." She finished.

Mal just gave her a goofy grin while stroking the back of her head. "Eh, we'll play it by ear like we always do." He told her. Malthael turned to Celestia. "So do you know where her parents currently are?" Celestia gave a thought. One of the problems with immortality was one gets a mess of memories.

"Last time I heard they were on the other side of Equestria." Mal sighed.

"Great more flying.... Wait a minute Discord can you." Everyone realized Discord was nowhere to be seen. "Oh you’ve got to be kidding me, how could we miss him teleport?" The angel asked.

"I'm right here, you know." They saw Discord walking out of the castle. "Had to get something.” His hand was closed and he opened it to show his key to the rainbowfied power. "After seeing it in action I still don't trust all of you with it.... Well maybe Mal, Fluttershy and Luna to a degree, but that power is too dangerous to be used willy nilly." He swallowed the key.

"And now I never want to use that power once you retrieve that key, Discord." Mal deadpanned.

"All a part of the plan." Discord replied with a smile.

"Okay, I guess we should head out to find Sunset's parents. Any of you want to come along? There's plenty of room in the teleportation field." Mal asked. The mane six and princesses shrugged.

"I suppose I could come along." Celestia said. "It might help them take the news."

"Count me in!" Discord cheered. "I always love a chance to see some good melodrama."

"Well, that's two of you, what about the rest of you?" Mal asked. The mane six all shrugged at the angel and gave weak refusals.

"I'll go if Discord is." Luna said. "I haven't seen my stallionfriend in ages." Mal went wide eyed at Luna's statement.

"Whoa, Discord you're dating, Luna? Does that mean if you marry her and I marry Moon we'll technically be brothers?" Mal asked, still a little confused. Moon blushed and smiled at Mal's statement while Discord beamed and threw his paw across his shoulders.

"Ooh, that's a good point!" Discord exclaimed. "I have to say I like that idea quite a bit. If it happens I might even teach you everything I know about chaos!"

Discord snapped his talons and Malthael, Moon, Luna, Celestia, him and Sunset were gone. Leaving everyone else right there. Twilight looked at her new palace. "Well I'm going to go check it out you five with me?" She asked her friends. "Well Trixie and I have to keep watch in case Solar Flare wakes up and goes all genocidal." Chrysalis said putting heavy emphasis on the genocidal part.

Twilight had a bit of a feeling like somehow the failure of the invasion may have caused a lot of trouble.

The flash was done and the group attacked in a town overlooking the sea. "Here we are as close as I could get." Discord leaned against a tree. "I'm bit tired, clashing with the Elements took a lot out of me." He said with a yawn.

"Don't worry about it Discord, this is actually better." Mal said. "Having a god of chaos, Angel of Death, and two celestial princesses suddenly popping into your living room probably isn't the best first impression we could make." Mal looked over to Sunset and saw her gazing at the town below with a faraway look in her eyes. "You can do this, Sunset." Malthael told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "They're your parents and I'm sure they'll love you no matter what."

"I know, it's just... it's been years since I last saw them. I never thought that I'd be doing this. Chalk that up to my arrogance." Sunset said, putting herself down again.

"We've been over this Sunset, that's not you anymore. You're one of the strongest and sweetest girls I've ever known."

"Thank you, Mal." Sunset said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before taking a deep breath. "Let's do this, I don't think I can be any readier than I am right now." Mal nodded and let Sunset lead the way into the town.

They soon found the home of Sunset's parents. "So this may seem stupid to ask now of all times, but what are your parents' names?" Mal asked his girlfriend.

"Starlight Dazzle, and Nova Lost." Sunset said. A knock was heard as a unicorn with a white coat and yellow mane came out. The mare was a bit surprised to see Princess Celestia, Luna, the God of Chaos and two strange beings.

"Can I help you all?" She asked.

Sunset took another deep breath and approached the mare. "I know this may sound crazy, but it's me. I'm Sunset." Sunset explained, the fear plain on her face. The mare at the door had a shell-shocked look on her face and sputtered gibberish for a few moments before speaking.

"That can't be true. My daughter disappeared years ago! And most of all she was a unicorn, not whatever the hay you are!" The mare screamed, obviously angry with being supposedly toyed with about her daughter. Mal noticed that Sunset looked like she was on the verge of tears and stepped between her and her mother.

"Miss Dazzle, please just let us in and we'll explain this to you and your husband. We have a bit of a long story for the two of you." Mal said softly, trying his best to diffuse the situation.

"And why should I listen to anything you two have to say?" She practically spat at Mal.

"Because I would greatly appreciate it." Celestia said stepping forward. Sunset's mother had an internal debate for a while but eventually decided that it would be best to comply with the princess.

"Fine, you all can come in. But this had better be a very good explanation." She said, leading Mal, Sunset, and the others inside.

There, Sunset’s father, a unicorn stallion with a red mane and orange coat looked up. "Who was that dear?" Nova Lost asked. Starlight Dazzle motioned to the visitors. Nova Lost almost fell over at the sight of the princesses and the God of Chaos. "Princesses... to what do we owe this visit?"

"This... person here claims that she's Sunset." His wife answered waving a hoof in Sunset's direction. Sunset's father didn't bother to look confused like his wife had and instantly glared at the group. "Impossible, Princess, you told us that our daughter ran off to another world ages ago!" He boomed at Celestia. The princess nodded and approached the unicorn couple.

"I did, but she has returned, and due to some extraneous circumstances she is as you see her now." Celestia explained, keeping her calm, regal tone.

"And what would those circumstances be?" Sunset's father asked.

"Perhaps we should all sit down and let Sunset explain it herself." Celestia proposed, indicating the sitting area with her good wing.

Everyone took a seat. Mal and Moon sat on either side of Sunset on a sofa. Discord and Luna took a love seat perpendicular to Sunset, Celestia took a large chair to the other side of Sunset, and Sunset's parents sat on the couch across from Sunset. Sunset went on to explain how she discovered that the mirror connected to a world similar yet vastly different than theirs populated by humans. She then explained what she had done with the Element of Magic, leaving nothing out. "Once I had been cleansed by the Elements I decided that I wanted to make amends with everyone that I had wronged. So I went through the portal thinking I'd just be a unicorn again."

"Once I was back in Equestria though, I quickly learned that using the corrupted element and then being cleansed by it left me with a strange alicorn/human hybrid body. When I thought I would never be normal again I just kind of shut down. I thought that I was being told that I would never be able to make up for what I had done. That I was beyond redemption." Sunset said, tears trickling down her cheek. Mal quickly took one of her hands and gave it a comforting squeeze. She gave him a grateful smile before continuing. This action did not go unnoticed by her parents. "And that's when Mal here found me. He saved me, in more ways than one. I decided that I'd travel with him and see if I could find a way to rise above my fate." Sunset finished.

The two unicorns felt extremely bad at this. "Sunset it really is you." Her mother said tears flowing freely from her eyes.

"Yeah, I made a lot of mistakes. If you don't want anything to do with me I'm ok with that." Sunset said looking down.

"We will never do that, just because you’re different you’re still our daughter." Nova said. Sunset had a few tears of joy. While this was going on Discord himself was in deep thought.

"Discord, what’s on your mind?" Luna asked.

"Oh well it’s just her tale to use the Elements for power....... you would not believe how many times they’ve been used for that reason." He leaned in. "Harmony and Chaos are forces that are opposite and interdependent one cannot exist without the other, and harmony isn't completely benevolent just as chaos is not completely malevolent." The god finished. "It’s also very dangerous to miss use them it never ends well."

"So do you mind us asking who this male is, Mal right?" Nova asked.

"It’s actually Malthael. I’m an angel, the Angel of death to be precise." Starlight fainted and Nova almost did.

"Whoa, I almost fell unconscious there." he said. "You’re joking right?" Malthael gave him a glare. "Oh my sweet Celestia deaths in love with my daughter." he screamed.

"Dad, calm down. Mal is a great guy. Just because he's an aspect of death doesn't mean he's evil. He saved my life remember?" Nova calmed down remembering that she had said that.

"Alright honey, if you trust him then I suppose I can too." Nova stated, a thin smile on his muzzle. "So how long have you two been seeing each other?" Mal and Sunset looked at each other and had a quick mental conversation to confirm just how long it had been.

"I guess it's been a little over two months now." Mal started. "Man, after everything we've been through together it feels a lot longer, huh, Sunset?" Mal finished, chuckling.
Sunset giggled a little and looked at the angel.

"I know, it really has, hasn’t it?"

"Two months huh?" Nova said with a thoughtful expression on his face. "And how far have you gone with my daughter exactly?" He asked.

Mal paused and was now kind of nervous. 'What the hell is wrong with you, Malthael? You’re the Angel of Death, you can kill gods, fight armies and even showed that racist Star Swirl who was the better magician. How can you be floored by a question like that?' He thought, giving himself a pep talk.

"Dad don't worry about that, Mal won't do anything I don't want."

'Or, you could let Sunset answer for you, that works too.' Mal thought.

Nova sighed. "Ok then, last question who is she?" He said pointing to Moon.

"That’s Nightmare Moon actually." Luna finished.

At that point Nova did faint. Mal looked at the unconscious pony and then back to Moon. "Wow, he's actually more scared of you than he is of me." Mal plainly stated.

"I know, I wonder what he'd do if we told him that the three of us are in a relationship." Moon said with a chuckle.

"Can we please not give my parents a heart attack?" Sunset told the two of them and Luna with a sigh. "I was just reunited with them today, I don't want you two to accidentally kill them.

"You two, what did I do?" Mal asked indignantly. "You made my mother faint when you introduced yourself as the Angel of Death. You think you'd learn to omit that, you know people will just freak out when you call yourself that."

"Sorry, it's just kind of a reflex, ya know?" Sunset rubbed Mal's shoulder.

"Okay, but on the bright side, my dad seems to approve of us dating." Sunset offered with a warm grin.

"Yeah, but how do you think your mom will take it.?" Mal asked.

"I don't really know, she never really seemed to have any problems with me dating." Sunset said. Mal looked over at her still unconscious parents.

"I think we're gonna have to wait a while to continue our talk with them. Does anybody want anything to drink?" Mal asked.

"Tea for me and Luna, please." Celestia said. Everyone already knew Discord was going to drink the glass. Mal looked though his bag he touched the charm which showed a handy second bag. He found the tea quickly after that.

"Here we go I think some Moonlite tea form Moons cultists." He handed them the tea. "Let’s see I also have some Earthern wine." He said pulling it out.

Starlight started to wake up. She nervously turned her head towards Mal. "You’re death?" she asked.

"An aspect of death, yes." Malthael said.

"And you’re in love with my daughter, right?"

"To put it simply, yes." Mal answered.

"And Sunset," Starlight said, turning to her daughter, "do you love him too?"

Sunset looked at Mal before turning back to her mother. "Yeah Mom, I do." Starlight remained silent for a while, deep in thought.

Finally she said, "That's all I needed to hear."

"You're not freaked out by all this?" Sunset asked.

"I'll admit that it's a little strange, but you're old enough to make your own decisions when it comes these things. Besides, a part of me always knew you wouldn't go for an average stallion." "Thanks Mom. I'm glad you approve." Sunset said.

"We'll see about that. You take care of my daughter, got it?" Starlight said, shooting Mal a hard look.

"You don't have to worry about that." Mal told her.

"And I want the two of you to visit as often as you can." Starlight continued.

"That seems reasonable too." Mal replied. "

"And maybe during one of these future visits you could bring along a grandchild for me." Starlight finished with a devious smirk.

The two almost fell over from that. Discord had a chuckle. "You have no idea." The god of Chaos said. He then looked at his wrist. "Well look at the time we should really get going it was fun meeting you both. Oh before we go." He created a cake made of chocolate. "For you and your husband.” With that they were gone. The cake despite being chocolate tasted like it was vanilla. The group popped back at Twilight's Castle. "So what’d we miss?" Discord asked.

"Well Solar Flare woke up and she hasn't done anything." Trixie said pointing to Chrysalis who was looking at the awakened Solar Flare. "Oh and those other two left." finished the witch girl.

"That's good to hear." Mal said. "Maybe I could talk to her." Mal suggested.

"Knock yourself out." Trixie said with a shrug. "She hasn't said anything since she woke up."

"That's okay I was gonna do most of the talking anyway."

"So business as usual?" Trixie said with a good-natured smirk.

Mal rolled his eyes at the witch girl and sat in front of Solar Flare. "Hey Solar, how are you feeling?" Solar just stared at him with an empty look in her red eyes. "Not good, huh? I'm sorry that Sunset changed your body like this. She jumped the gun and now you've got a lot to deal with." He told her, his tone full of sympathy. "I know you probably hate me right now, but I really do want to help you. Like I said when we were fighting, you're gonna have a new life."

"When the princesses and I think you're reformed you can do whatever you want, ya know other than try another hostile takeover, go anywhere you want. But don't try to pull a fast one on us. Between my soul scanning and Chrysalis' ability to sense emotions we'll be able to tell if you're lying." Mal explained.

"One thousand years ago Nightmare Moon awoke and so did I." Solar Flare finally spoke, glaring at Mal. "Celestia tried to reason with Nightmare but she wasn't her true sister, I was, I attempted to stop her from sealing Nightmare away, but the Elements locked me in a state that I can only describe as a fate worse than death." Solar Flare finished. Walking up behind her a hand was placed on her shoulder. It was Nightmare Moon.

"I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of us who were unfairly treated." Mal looked around. "Well then I guess it’s a good thing that I still do not trust those princesses completely." Mal said with a smile.

"Can I just be with my little sister now?!" Solar Flare screamed.

Moon gave her a hug. One that Solar Flare happily returned. Malthael just walked away. Solar flare watched as the angel left. "Sister, would it be weird if I told you I may now feel attracted to that man? I mean, just a little because he’s powerful. It’s not like there’s anything endearing about that goofball otherwise." She asked. Moon had a smile.

"Oh no, it isn't weird at all sister."

As Mal walked away, Discord appeared behind him. "So Malthael, you’re the Angel of Death, with his own harem, oh and a hero to the Northern Isles...." Discord was up to something.

"What are you up to?" Mal asked.

"Well the blast did something strange to the isles." In a snap they were in a city with members of the four races of the isles. Many turned to see him.

"What's going on here?" Discord turned to show him a statue of him with a crown.

“It's kinda been two hundred years for them you’re kinda now a hero, a legend, a God, and their king, after all, you’re the reason they are united." Discord finished.

"Discord," Mal started.

"Yes Mal?" Discord asked already knowing what was about to happen.

"Why the hell didn't you just tell me about this from the start!?" Mal growled at him. Discord just chuckled at the angel.

"I already told you... spoilers." Discord said with a shit eating grin. Mal just shook with anger for a while, refusing to say anything to avoid angering the god of chaos. Mal finally was able to collect himself.

"You know, it's hard to be your friend sometimes."

"I know, but I just can't help myself sometimes."

"I can only imagine what you put Luna through."

"I could always show you." Discord replied creating dolls of himself and Luna and placing the doll of himself behind Luna.

"Dear god no!" Mal cried, slapping the dolls out of Discord's grip. "Discord, please never let me picture you're sex life ever again." Discord was rolling around in the air laughing at Mal's reaction. He managed to pick himself up and wiped a tear out of his eye.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself."

"Whatever, so why did all this time pass here?"

"I'm not exactly sure, the power I used can have adverse effects on the harmony magic latent in the atmosphere, and can cause all sorts of things to happen, there's a reason why I keep a close guard on it."

"Yes but the isles have natural weather." Mal pointed out.

"Yes but the Prench left a few Equestrian clouds and the shock waves managed to reach the isles combined with my teleportation incident and the fact of the weird regional effects and the fact I unleashed the rainbowfied powers at all....." Discord had a chalkboard filled with the factors he was listing. In the end it simply equaled. "Magic." Mal face palmed.

"Ok then so what or who leads them in my absences?" Mal asked. Discord had stars in his eyes.
"A new system of government called a parliament." Discord said. Behind the statue was a building that had a mix of gothic and Victorian architecture. "There is the parliament where the Crown, the nobles and the common folk are all equals."

"So it’s like the United Kingdom?" Mal asked.

"The United Kingdom what’s that?" Discord asked. Mal paused.

"I honestly don't know."

"Looks like one of your memories from your old world just came out for a second." Discord said.

"Yeah, my memories from then are all a little hazy, I've just accepted it at this point. So, should we take a look in the parliament building? If I'm king then I guess I have a responsibility to check how my people are doing."

"Oh look at you, talking about your responsibilities. It seems like only yesterday you were a scared, little boy that ran into my forest. They grow up so fast." Discord exclaimed, faking tears and blowing his nose into a handkerchief that he had created. "Let's just get a move on, you jerk." Mal said. Mal and Discord walked down the city street, Mal took in how much things had changed.

When he had left there had only been fairly simple villages. The city he was in now though looked like something out of the Renaissance. Mal noticed that everyone he and Discord passed bowed at him, not out of fear, but in respectful admiration. He actually smiled and waved at all of them when he saw the ecstatic looks on all their faces. He caught little pieces of what the crowd was whispering. None of it was negative. Some of it was hopeful that he had come to stay permanently.

"Looks like you're warming up to the idea of being a king." Discord said with a playful nudge of the elbow.

"Honestly, it's still really weird to me." Mal explained. "I was just some average guy before I came to Equestria, and I thought I'd have an average life to match. But now, I'm making these people's days just by walking down the same street as them. It's a really weird, but also really good feeling." Mal finished.

At the building, the parliament meeting was taking place. The current Prime Minister was holding house. "Now then our first item of business is…” The doors opened up as everyone there saw walking up was Mal. Whispers erupted throughout the parliament members .

"So.... awkward." Mal said.

Author's Note

And thus ends the first arc of the story. I hope you enjoyed it and can't wait to share the next one with you all.