“I couldn’t take it anymore. Not being able to use magic,” Amber used her horn to levitate the scooter, plainly enjoying every second of the experience. “Starswirl was happy to agree when I told him my situation. He said I could be the first to be revived once I’d gotten all four items. So I put Cadance’s feather in first, then Shining’s hair, then Harshwhinny’s clipping. And now that I got Scootaloo’s feather yesterday, I got the Reverse Cremator to…”

“Yesterday? You did dart in front of me!” burst out Scootaloo.

“Well, I tried so many other things, I was running out of ideas,” said Amber.

“What else did you try?”

“First I spat on that Wolf River Tree…”

“That was you?! Not Sweetie Belle?!” Scootaloo roared. “That thing almost squashed me!”

“I only wanted it to grab you and take a feather from you,” insisted Amber. “But Twilight got to it before it could. Next, when Pinkie Pie said you and your schoolmates were missing, I joined in looking for… well, I was looking for you specifically. My plan was to scoop you up and take you straight to Pinkie acting all excited. I hoped if I moved fast enough, you wouldn’t notice if I plucked one of your feathers.”

“Well, I didn’t notice yesterday, so…” Scootaloo mumbled.

“But that went nowhere. Pinkie Pie found Diamond Tiara and got all the information she needed,” sighed Amber. “Then I tried a different route. I snuck into Rarity’s shop and tore into a coat stuffed with pegasus feathers, thinking maybe she might’ve gotten a few from you. All I ended up doing was getting her cat worked up. Then when I heard Loch Azure’s Prose Night stuff was in a whirlpool in the lake, I flew over and tried that challenge thing Tundra set up. I thought I might find a feather you could’ve left behind that time you went down there to retrieve that book for Prof Lactic.”

“Hey…” Scootaloo’s smirk indicated she’d figured something out. “You were the one who wrote that instruction about stealing a pegasus feather in that phony ritual guide for Apple Bloom, right?”

“I was so disappointed when she showed me the basin a week later. I thought for sure she would have taken one from you,” Amber groaned. “I started to run outta ideas. One day, after that new Daring Do book came out, I snuck into the school yard and scoped you out. Just about every winged pony I’ve ever known uses their own feathers as bookmarks, but you had a proper one in your copy. And the last thing I tried was a stakeout in that thunderstorm Ponyville had. I began to get frustrated when none of your feathers blew off in the wind.”

Rainbow cut in here. “You’ve been trying all this time to get a feather from Scootaloo? Then why did you set up that book for Harshwhinny to find and get her to set up the rally?”

“Well, Starswirl said he wanted good candidates for each type of pony,” said Amber. “Three perfectly good ones weren’t too far away. And I told him that as far as I knew, the finest pegasi in Equestria are, well, you…”

Rainbow grinned.

“And Spitfire and Lightning Dust,” Amber went on. “Starswirl wanted to be sure he was getting quality, so he asked me if I could somehow get a competition going between you three. And whoever won, I’d take a feather from. I… I thought he’d be disappointed when I told him the race had no conclusion. But he said it was OK. He knew exactly which pegasus we should get a feather from.”

“You told him I saved their lives?” asked Scootaloo.

“Oh, you should’ve heard him,” smiled Amber. “He said he should’ve thought of this from the start. He should have a pegasus who was around the same age as Snowdrop was when she invented the snowflake. And he said there was no need to set up any kind of race for this one. There was no question that we needed a feather from the hero of the Rainbow Falls flood.”

Scootaloo went a bit pink. “Did Starswirl really say that about me?”

Amber Aldis nodded.

“So what about the earth pony?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Who’s the earth pony being brought back to life?”

“Oh, well we couldn’t think of one, but we couldn’t activate the Reverse Cremator’s magic without something from all four pony types,” said Amber Aldis. “So we settled for one of the founders of Equestria, who he also knew back in his day.”

“Is it Smart Cookie, or Puddinghead?” asked Scootaloo.

“That’s Chancellor Puddinghead,” Amber corrected. “And it’s not her. We decided on Smart Cookie.”

“How does the Reverse Cremator know which ponies to bring back?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“It can only be manipulated by a pony who’s no longer solid,” answered Amber. “IE, a ghost.”

“Is Starswirl’s ghost… here? In the Arctic North? Right now?” asked Scootaloo.

“It was,” said Amber. “But in the last month, I haven’t been able to contact him. He said he might drift away when winter was over.”

“It’s practically winter right now,” remarked Rainbow Dash.

“But it doesn’t matter,” smiled Amber. “Now that I’ve finally gotten what he needed and activated the Reverse Cremator, he’ll be here in the flesh tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah. He said it only lays one egg a day once it’s activated. See those purple things?” Amber pointed to the few purple fragments that were still lying in the snow around her. “They’re egg shells. I just came from an egg the Reverse Cremator laid. And since I stuck Shining’s tail hair in its head next, Starswirl will be reborn tomorrow.”

“Now Starswirl wants this kept quiet,” Amber told Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. “He’s pretty sure, and I agree with him, that if word got out that he, Snowdrop, and Smart Cookie were coming back, a lot of ponies would lose their minds with excitement.”

“I know one pony who’d go nuts if she found out Starswirl was coming back,” grinned Rainbow Dash.

“So I know I’ve been a bit high-hooved about this,” faltered Amber, “but I’d like you both to keep this a secret for the next few days. We haven’t quite figured out how we’re going to reveal everything to Equestria yet.”

“I won’t say anything,” Scootaloo promised.

Rainbow Dash hesitated. “Do you think you can avoid using magic in the meantime? That’d be a dead giveaway.”

Amber looked disappointed. “Well… I did get into the habit of not using it ever since I first got the infection, so it shouldn’t be too hard. So?”

“Yeah. I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

And with that, Amber Aldis placed the Reverse Cremator back into its hole and filled it with snow.

“I gotta wonder how you managed to drive that thing through this snow,” she said to Scootaloo as she magiced the scooter towards the young mare. “Your wing power’s going up, that’s for sure.”

“Remember, Amber. No magic,” said Rainbow sternly.

Amber Aldis sighed and led the two pegasi back towards the Crystal Empire.

“I hope Starlight doesn’t take this the wrong way once it’s all out in the open,” she said as they made their way. “I don’t want her to think I didn’t believe in her. She’s been so kind and helpful.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’ll bet she’s just as big a Starswirl the Bearded fan as Twilight is.”

When they re-entered the Crystal Empire, the first thing they heard was the raised voices of Lightning Dust, and someone Rainbow recognised as a fellow Wonderbolts reserve, Slip Stream.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell ya. I got this message from Spitfire herself that I won the reserves draw and they wanted be as a backup for this event.”

“They totally went over Miss Harshwhinny’s head! I’m gonna go complain to her!”

Lightning Dust rounded the corner ahead of Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Amber. She didn’t say anything to them as she flew past, but then she stopped and turned back to face them.

“Amber,” she said with a raised eyebrow, “where’s your burn?”

They all looked at Amber’s left shoulder. It was bare. She, Rainbow, and Scootaloo had completely forgotten about that.

“Oh. Well, I found those cold pack the hospital gave me rather inadequate,” she stammered. “So Rainbow Dash suggested I try using snow. And it turns out that Arctic snow is really good on burns.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Lightning Dust grinned.

Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Did the Wonderbolts call an actual reserve here?”

“Yeah!” Lightning Dust was angry again. “They don’t even have a good reason. I didn’t mess up once during practise. They know I can win this thing and they don’t wanna let me. Well let’s see how they deal with Harshwhinny!”

And she sped off again.

Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Amber Aldis approached Slip Stream, and found that he was accompanied by Spitfire.

“I guess Lightning Dust’s been telling you we’ve replaced her. Well, we haven’t,” grouched Spitfire. “Slip Stream here is just our other backup. She’s wasting her time complaining to Miss Harshwhinny. We already told her what we wanted to do.”

“And you didn’t tell Lightning Dust that?” asked Scootaloo.

“Hey, the less I have to deal with her, the better,” frowned Spitfire. “Come on, Slip.”

And she turned tail and flew towards the stadium, Slip Stream following her.

“Wow. If my cutie mark glowed right now,” said Rainbow Dash, “I wouldn’t need to fly all the way to Twilight’s castle to know where the friendship problem is.”

“You call this a friendship problem?” asked Amber.

“Yeah. Spitfire and Lightning Dust are at each other’s throats,” said Rainbow. “They… well, we got along with each other so well after Scootaloo saved us from that flood.”

“Maybe all your emotions were just running high after that experience,” suggested Amber.

“But Spitfire said me, her, and this spunk-bubble right here all had the right stuff to be a Wonderbolt,” Rainbow Dash said. “So why is she so mad about having Lightning Dust take part in this Air Sprinting thing? You know, I think Lightning was right about her. She doesn’t want to be outdone by somepony she expelled from her academy.”

Scootaloo thought Rainbow might like to know what Spitfire said to her earlier.

The rest of the day was an odd one for Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Amber Aldis. They were both worried about the Wonderbolts and their reserves, and excited about the resurrection of Starswirl the Bearded that would take place the next morning. Amber didn’t completely avoid using magic, but she always made sure there were no witnesses whenever she did, and she didn’t do anything that would attract attention. When the sun rose the next morning, Amber met up with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo at one of the cafés.

“Well, we’ve got a good excuse to go out into the Arctic today,” she said quietly. “The hospital staff found out my shoulder burn was gone and I told them about the Arctic snow curing it, and they asked me to go collect some for them.”

She showed them a hoofful of sandwich bags.

“So while we’re running that little errand for them,” she went on, “we can dig up the birdy and say hello to Swirly.”

“We’re not gonna call him Swirly, are we?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I’m trying to be discrete,” hissed Amber.

“Is that why you’re levitating those plastic bags?” asked Scootaloo.

Luckily, no one else in the café noticed.

“Rainbow,” Scootaloo said as she, Rainbow Dash, and Amber Aldis were leaving the Crystal Empire with their sandwich bags, “you know what Spitfire said to me yesterday?”

“What?”

“She said neither of us will ever be you.”

Rainbow stopped walking.

“I knew she was impressed by all those records I’ve been flattening, but… does she think I’m better than her?” Rainbow wondered.

“She was the one who gave you that chest key after learning something from you, wasn’t she?” asked Amber.

“And she’s not the only one,” Scootaloo went on. “Lightning Dust said she thinks her life’s richer for knowing you and your friends.”

“So that’s their problem,” said Rainbow Dash. “They feel inadequate compared to me.”

Amber chuckled.

“Hey! I don’t mean speed,” snapped Rainbow. “I mean… other things. They think I’m more… uh… like… down to earth, maybe? Uh, I don’t know how to put it.”

“How do you remember where the Reverse Cremator is buried?” Scootaloo asked Amber after the crystal city vanished in the mist.

“As soon as you can’t see the Crystal Empire, the station, any mountains, or Clopley Hill at all,” said Amber, “you’ll know it’ll be close by.”

She began to dig into the snow. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were astonished at how quickly she came across the Reverse Cremator.

“It took months before I could locate it in one go,” smiled Amber. “Actually, I don’t need to judge by landmarks, or lack of landmarks anymore. Now that I’ve got my magic back.”

She proceeded to bury the phoenix again and spin around with her eyes closed.

“Amber, come on,” Rainbow Dash sighed, digging the Reverse Cremator back up. “Quit fooling around.”

“Aw,” groaned Amber as she tried to stand still. “I made myself all dizzy for nothing.”

After Amber recovered, she looked around with a concerned expression.

“I hope Starswirl’s ghost is here,” she said. “I know I should’ve waited until I could talk to him before I put Scootaloo’s feather in that thing’s head, but I was so eager to get my magic back.”

“Does his ghost need to be here for this?” asked Scootaloo.

“Yeah. He said it has to be right alongside it,” Amber nodded. “I forgot all about that. He said he can bring Snowdrop’s ghost here when we were ready, but if he doesn’t know the Reverse Cremator’s active…”

She gazed into the mist.

“Starswirl?!”

Rainbow and Scootaloo looked around too. Nothing changed.

“Uh, oh,” frowned Amber. “The mist always thickened whenever we communicated with each other.”

“You can use your magic to find him,” Rainbow Dash piped up.

“Oh! Right!” beamed Amber.

“But if your light goes too far away, you better cancel your spell,” warned Rainbow.

“Got it,” nodded Amber.

“Wait!” Scootaloo shouted just as Amber’s horn lit up.

The noise was so much worse than the explosion from yesterday. And instead of a burst of smoke that blew away in the arctic wind, there was a flash of light that offended the eyes. Amber Aldis, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo staggered around in the snow, their vision blurred and their ears ringing.

“What happened?!” called Scootaloo even though Rainbow and Amber were within foreleg’s reach.

“Whenever I cast my path spell to find something that doesn’t exist, that happens!” shouted Amber. “That means there’s no ghost! I’ve been tricked!”

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow called. “I heard you yell before that bang! Did you see something!”

“I saw a black cloud in the mist!” Scootaloo nodded.

“A black cloud?! What could that be?!” asked Amber loudly.

They looked around, all three of them only managing to see a white haze.

“Smokescreen?!” suggested Rainbow Dash. “He can turn himself into smoke!”

“But he’s still alive, isn’t he?!” asked Amber.

“Oh! Right!” Rainbow tried shaking her head to improve her sight and hearing, to no avail.

“Sombra?!” Scootaloo bellowed. “He can turn to shadow, right?!”

“Oh, no! The light from my backfired spell might have destroyed him as a shadow!”

Amber began stumbling forward, one of her forelegs outstretched towards the tall red blur. “Quick! We gotta take all this stuff outta the Reverse Cremator’s head before it lays an…!”

The thin red blur glowed, and a small purple blur dropped from it.

“Quick! Smash it!” cried Scootaloo.

Both Amber and Rainbow leapt forward towards the purple blot, but ended up colliding with each other.

Author's Note

It wasn't easy coming up with eight stories that would leak into this finale. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy either.