A new order

Cadence tiptoed around the wreckage strewn about the room, avoiding shards of wood and whatever else was left of the furniture that had occupied this small room in the servants quarters, about as far away from everything else in the castle as you could get while still remaining within it. The only thing that had been left unscathed by the wave of violence that had torn through the room was the bed, upon which was huddled a coil of sheets, obscuring the alicorn within.

Cadence stopped at the foot of the bed, as confounded by what to say today as she had been for the last eight that had passed since Faust’s defeat. Every day she came here in the hopes of convincing Twilight to do... something, but the only thing that really changed was the smell that was growing increasingly worse with each passing day. Perhaps today might be different though since she had news that might interest Twilight. Or so she hoped, because nothing else so far had, not even her friends. All she did was hold on to a small trinket in the shape of a ourobourous, staring blankly at it and everything else.

“Hey, Twilight.” Cadence frowned as Twilight failed to even stir at her words, but persevered. “The griffons have found the members of the Mareitanian council. They’ll be here later today to sign the peace treaty, officially ending the war. I know you haven’t been well lately, but the leaders present from each country of the pact need to sign it, and since you’re in the castle, I hope that would include you. The Emperor, Sultan, and two of the Zebrican council members have already arrived to do so.”

If her words made any difference to Twilight there was no sign of it. If anything she curled up a little tighter.

“Please Twilight, at least think about it.” Cadence waited a few seconds to see if Twilight would show a sign of having at least listened, but still nothing. Keeping a sigh buried within until she was well away from Twilight, Cadence turned and left, returning the room to silence, at least for a time. A few minutes later the sound of indistinct skittering entered the room, not bothering with opening the door, but coming right under it. Seconds later a flash of green filled the room, leaving a dark form in its wake that sneered in disdain at what it saw.

“Truly I have never seen a sight more wretched and pathetic than this,” Chrysalis commented as she took in the sight of Twilight. “And that smell is beyond compare. Honestly Twilight, when was the last time you even considered washing? How you mammals all live with your skin, and fur, and sweat, just... ugh, how can you stand it?”

Seeing that her taunts were getting no reaction, Chrysalis turned her attention to the rest of the room, grinning at the mess Twilight had made. Smashing everything in a fit of rage. How very un-princess-like. It almost brought a happy tear to her eye. Almost.

“I’m fairly certain this stuff must’ve belonged to someone. I’m sure they’ll be happy to know you destroyed it. ‘Oh thank you princess, I really hated having things bigger than a matchbox. Yet another problem you solved for us. Hurray...’ What they’ll be less pleased to see is that the treaty ending the war has my name on it, and yet two of the much lauded princesses are missing. How very peculiar, they might think.”

“Get... out...”

“Heavens, so there is life in there. I was starting to think I was talking to a rock. Or a corpse.” Chrysalis giggled as Twilight tensed, “What? Too soon? I suppose it must be really, to be reminded that Trixie is dead. Such a tragedy, dying fruitlessly for someone who can’t die themself. Makes you wonder what she was thinking, y'know, before Faust turned her to dust.”

Chrysalis grinned triumphantly as Twilight exploded out of the bed in a blaze of dark magic, ready to strike Chrysalis down in vengeance for mere words. Chrysalis was more than prepared though, and had been secretly gorging on Cadence’s love for the last two days in preparation for this. It didn’t hurt that Twilight was attacking blindly either, more like a wounded and cornered animal than anything else. Deftly blocking Twilight’s magic, she grabbed her and threw her to the ground, pinning Twilight and standing on her horn to block further spell casting.

“There she is! There’s the real Twilight Sparkle, full of fire and rage! About time we saw her again.”

Twilight struggled against the pin, surprised that she was no more able to move Chrysalis than she were a mountain. “Why are you doing this? You have nothing to gain from this!”

“No, but unfortunately for us both the world still needs Princess Twilight.”

“The world can go to hell!”

“The world is hell, Twilight Sparkle. It wouldn’t hurt so much if it wasn’t. At the same time though, that pain you’re suffering is completely irrelevant to that very world. It doesn’t care that you lost something precious to you, and it certainly doesn’t care that you feel like you can’t go on. To the world your feelings are dirt; present, but very, very inconsequential.”

“I hate you.”

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t,” Chrysalis snickered back, “just as you’d be surprised if I didn’t hate you. I hate all you ponies, with your laughter, and happiness, and inferiority, and I especially hate that I have to depend on you for survival. The world of ponies falls, I fall with it, which is why I’m here dragging you back into the light, because the ponies need you to reassure them, to help them grow. Things that I could never do, nor particularly want to.”

Chrysalis released Twilight, allowing the alicorn to sit up and rub her now aching horn. The world shouldn’t have to need her, or if it did, it shouldn’t have taken Trixie from her.

“Well? Say something!”

Twilight shook her head, the dull ache of grief returning to her as her anger subsided. “It hurts so much...”

“Then bury it! Bury it until you forget it was ever there, or talk about it I suppose, whatever you ponies do, just stop sitting here wasting her rather touching sacrifice.”

“But that’s just it! It was pointless! I can’t die! She could! She did...”

Chrysalis stared up at the ceiling and groaned, “How are you so very dense? You're making me have to contradict myself now. Yes she might have sacrificed herself to save you, because doing so meant stopping Faust and saving the world. All you precious little ponies, griffons, zebras, and whatevers now get a chance to live long and happy lives because she and so many others gave up their chance at living theirs. Frankly you’re just insulting her by sitting here and doing nothing. It’s now yours, and the other princesses job to ensure those sacrifices didn’t go to waste.”

Twilight lowered her head as tears slipped silently down her cheeks. Why did all of this have to be so hard? Was she to even be denied the chance to grieve? To be forced to keep working through her pain? Is that what Trixie expected of her when she threw herself between Twilight and Faust?

Before Twilight could even begin to hazard a guess in answer, the door slammed open, letting in Luna and Cadence. “We sensed an explosion of dark mag-" Luna started to explain when she noticed Chrysalis standing over the crying and dishevelled Twilight. “What did you do, Chrysalis?” she growled, readying herself to attack as Cadence tried to pull Twilight away from the changeling with little success.

“Straight in with the accusations I see,” Chrysalis deadpanned. She pointed a gnarled hoof at Twilight, “As you can see I made her move, which is something you have all failed to do.” A sly grin crept onto her face, “Are you proud of me?”

Luna scowled at Chrysalis and subtly shook her head in distaste before looking to Twilight. “Are you unharmed?”

“Like there’s anything she could do to make things worse,” Twilight mumbled. There were too many people in her room right now. Exactly three too many. The sound of hooves running towards them suggested that number was only going to grow. It would appear that Chrysalis was right to some degree as she could feel both Luna and Cadence building towards asking her if she was ready to get on with her Trixie-less life. They hadn’t asked it yet, but it was only a matter of time.

“See?” Chrysalis gloated. “If I can’t make things worse, that means I have a high likelihood of making them better, therefore, I’m helping.” Chrysalis let her face go slack as she heard herself. “Dear me, I’m helping the ponies... of my own free will no less...”

“What do you want from me?” Twilight asked as Chrysalis suffered her small crisis of conscience. Out of the corner of her eye she could see all of her friends except Rainbow crowding around the door. “I’m done. Totally fucking done. Faust is gone, Trixie is-“ Twilight forced down the lump in her throat, “Trixie’s dead, and I’m all out of fucks to give.” She cringed at the reaction of her friends. Apparently she still had one or two fucks to give.

“And this is how you intend to spend the rest of your existence?” Luna asked, seeming to abandon the sympathetic tone of voice she’d been using so far. “Dwelling in a room of broken furniture, clinging onto that ring Trixie kept in her ear?”

“It’s my choice if that’s what I want to do. At the very least you can’t expect me to get over this in a week.”

“No, I don’t.” Luna sighed heavily, “I wish that I could easily give you all the time you desire, but the world hasn’t stopped revolving for the death of one pony, no matter how dear they might be. At the very least I must insist that you be present for the signing of the treaty. We literally can’t do it without you.”

“And after that? What can’t you literally do without me then? And after that? And that? And so on and so on? I know it’ll never end.”

“I believe that after that you start working on your referendum of whether us princesses be allowed to continue ruling.” Luna rolled her eyes at the surprised expression Chrysalis had picked up. “I’m pretty sure you were determined to abdicate anyway if you failed, so if you want an end point where you’re no longer required to do anything, it lies there.”

“And when were you going to mention this to me?” Chrysalis asked. “If you were hoping that-"

“Oh hush,” Luna growled. “Your position in Equestria would remain unchanged regardless of the outcome, if that’s what you’re worried about. Apart from that, currently it’s an issue that’s entirely internal to us princesses at the moment.”

“But an Equestria without princesses?” Applejack asked. She took off her newly acquired hat and twisted it her hooves. “Are you absolutely sure about that, Twilight?”

“Positive. After our massive list of screwups, I no longer consider us princesses fit to rule. Unfortunately I can’t just abolish princesses, so I’m going to let the public decide. Cadence, however, will retain her rule of the Crystal Empire, since that’s not under Equestria's control.”

“But what’s the alternative?” Rarity asked.

“Democracy.” Twilight held up a hoof to waylay the next question, “I know what you’re doing, and it annoys me that it’s working. Stop trying to distract me from my grief with inane questions. Where’s Rainbow?”

“She's with the Wonderbolts,” Pinkie answered. “They’re making sure Canterlot is safe with all these ponies here for the signing. She’s not moping over Lightning if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Fine, I get it.” Twilight dragged herself to her hooves. “Look out world, here comes Twilight.”

“I’m sure the world might appreciate it if you had a shower before shaking hooves with anypony,” Rarity quipped.

“The world’s too picky, but fine, whatever. If you could get me Rainbow and Vapor I’d appreciate it.”

-0-0-0-

Twilight had decided upon the showers in the guards barracks since it was currently empty. That part was important as it allowed Twilight to sit slumped under the running water with the top of her head pressed against the wall. She wasn’t ready for, well, anything to be frank, and that was manifesting itself hard right now. What they really expected her to do at this moment in time, with her heart torn in two, was beyond her. Honestly, she felt scared without Trixie here to both mock and support her.

“Wow. Not what I had expected to find when I was asked to come here.”

“Hey Rainbow,” Twilight mumbled, not bothering to remove her head from against the wall for several seconds as the effort needed to do so eluded her. “Thanks for coming. You too Vapor.”

“What’s this about, Twilight?” Rainbow asked, her impatience clear in her voice. Twilight knew why, because these two were taking the exact opposite tactic to Lightning's death that she was taking to Trixie’s. Namely, be as busy as possible, and hope the pain never catches up. From the haunted look in Vapor's eyes, it wasn’t going entirely to plan.

“I'm sorry about Lightning,” Twilight said, getting straight to the point. From the way Rainbow stiffened up, the point landed somewhere sensitive. “She... She didn’t deserve that.”

“Did any of us?” Rainbow snapped back unapologetically. “How about the next time you try to sweep world ending threats under the carpet you nail the fucking carpet down as well.”

Twilight winced. It would’ve been hard not to. “I know, and I’m sorry. About everything.”

“Well... Don’t be.” Rainbow sat hard and sagged as Vapor leaned sympathetically against her. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing anymore. The war ended, and we won, somehow, but without Lightning and the others that... yeah, it feels like we lost. I keep catching myself wondering if it was really worth it.”

Twilight opened her mouth to refute that, but found herself without an actual argument. There was no doubt that what they had done was unquestionably the right thing since Faust was hardly going to back down. Whether it was worth it though, that was a lot harder to be certain about when she considered the personal losses. Balancing the life of Trixie against the world was easier when Trixie had remained alive. Sunset too, as well as the overwhelming number of lives that had been lost in the war.

“Really though, Twilight, why did you want us here?”

Twilight stopped herself from spiralling back into despair to see that Rainbow had straightened back up, her grief forcefully buried underneath an air of duty and responsibility. Twilight envied her ability to do that, even if it was probably no better for Rainbow than what Twilight was doing to herself. Vapor was just... it felt painful to see how listless she was, doing little more than following Rainbow around on autopilot.

“I needed to see how you are, and to, I don’t know, apologise?” Twilight shook her head, “I really don’t know. If nothing else I’d like you to be there with me for the signing.”

“Us? Why?”

“Because as hollow as this victory currently feels, it’s a victory nonetheless. One which you and Vapor are also responsible for. Technically the war doesn’t end until the armistice is signed, and you wanted to see this through to the end.”

Rainbow nodded, knowing that Spitfire had already given her permission to be there, so it was pretty irrelevant for Twilight to ask, but since Twilight didn’t know that, she supposed it meant something for Twilight to ask like this. “Alright, we’ll be there. I’m pretty sure the rest of your friends are going to be there as well though.”

“Even Moondancer?”

“Even Moondancer. “

“Oh, well, good. How is she managing without Starsy?”

“It’s hard to tell with her, you know that. You could always ask?”

Twilight snorted a single laugh at that idea. “Now Faust is defeated there’s no reason for her to not try and kill me as many times as she can, so I’m going to take a pass on that.”

“Probably a good idea.” Rainbow shrugged at Twilight, “So how long are you planning on spending in that shower? We’re literally all waiting for you.

“Can’t I have another couple of hours?”

“How pruney you planning on getting?”

“Unrecognisably so, if I can.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “You have until I find a way to motivate you out of there. No promises on how long that will take.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Cool. I’ll see you in a few minutes then.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked as the two pegasi wandered out of the room. A minute later a clunk echoed through the exposed piping for the shower, followed shortly by the shower losing its hot water. Twilight squeaked and leapt out of the now freezing spray, an insult ready to fly at Rainbow as loudly as possible, when she found herself smiling. Someone was a jerk to her, and she was smiling. That couldn’t possibly mean anything good.

-0-0-0-

“Thank you,” Twilight said to the politely smiling maid that was holding her regalia out on a cushion for her as she entered the throne room. Holding it in her magic for a bit, she inspected it, having not worn it for quite some time. It didn’t seem as heavy as she remembered, but it never would’ve. All the silly things she used to worry about when she first became a princess seemed laughably far away now.

She slipped it onto her head, purposely leaving it a little crooked, and looked around the room. As Rainbow had said, all her friends were there, except those that couldn’t be. There were even quite a few ponies that she didn’t know, but there was no way this event was going to go without a massive amount of press attention and witnesses. Other than that though, the only other ones here were those that needed to be here.

“Why's he here?” Twilight asked aloud, the words slipping out accidentally as she laid eyes on Prince Blueblood, who was sat by the throne in shackles and under guard by a quartet of griffons. Judging by the bags under his eyes, and the droop in his stance, Luna's revenge was still ongoing.

“He is here because...” Luna began to explain before realising that she wasn’t sure herself. His trial wasn’t to happen for a while, so why he was here was a mystery. “He’s here because I wanted him to see there was no victory for tyrants like Faust, I suppose. Maybe I just like the way he glares at me every time I suggest he gets a good night’s rest.” Luna shrugged, “Perhaps as Equestria’s chief collaborator he needs to see that he lost.”

“We’re basically swinging our victory dick in his face,” Nightmare explained.

“Ah, right.” Twilight looked around the room, wondering something else at that point. “Speaking of, where’s the oubliette?”

“In safekeeping, as is Celestia,” said Luna. “I’ll tell you when there are considerably less ears around. As for now, since you’re here we can get things under way.” Luna gave a small bow to the Emperor, who was waiting patiently by a round table in the centre of the room, alongside Cadence, Chrysalis, the Sultan Batal, and the two zebra councillors Fumbo and Kifuniko. Daybreak was also there, along with Lord Hayfield, Ivory Spire, and Sour Mash, all of them representing Mareitania, although Daybreak was the only one not under significant guard. Daybreak gave Twilight a weak smile when he caught her eye, but the other three were resolutely staring at the floor.

“Nice to see you back with us,” the Emperor Hergest said jovially as Twilight took her place at the table alongside the other princesses. His expression softened a little as he noticed Twilight's weary expression. “I’ve heard that we owe our victory to your friend. She won’t be forgotten for that.”

“She wouldn’t be forgotten anyway,” Twilight muttered.

“We certainly wouldn’t forget her contributions,” said Daybreak. “Instead we were forced to repay you all with betrayal. I really am sorry about Trixie.”

“I’m really not sorry about Snowbright though,” Twilight said back. A small lie perhaps, but he bought his death on himself.

“Yes, well, I’m going to try and remember him as the pony he was, rather than the arsehole he became.”

“Uh-huh...” Twilight didn’t bother argue that he’d always been an arsehole to varying degrees. “And the rest of you?” Twilight asked of Hayfield, Ivory, and Sour Mash. None of them said anything, but all of them seemed regretful. What exactly they were regretful for though was anyponies guess. Twilight dismissed her thoughts of them, forcing herself back to business. “So, what now?”

“Now we all sign this piece of paper, and the war is officially over,” Luna explained. “However, since it was a victory achieved by the pact, the pact must sign it.”

“It also isn’t a surrender,” Twilight noted. “That strikes me as being rather odd. Why is that?”

“For reasons,” Luna said with a shrug. “Without Faust, Mareitania has no leader to do the surrendering, hence why we went looking for these four. We're just trying to do things a little differently, especially since the Faust problem was somewhat our responsibility to begin with.”

Twilight closed her eyes, only then realising that she didn’t actually care all that much. The important part was that it was over. “So where do I sign?”

Luna picked up a quill in reply, quickly signing the document before passing it to Cadence, who did the same. Twilight signed it beneath Cadence, before passing it to Chrysalis, weirdly enough, who signed it with a surprisingly fanciful signature. After her the Emperor signed, then the two zebras, and lastly Batal, before it stopped before Daybreak, who signed it without hesitation.

“I’m not signing it,” Sour Mash stated as his turn came around after Hayfield's and Ivory's. “Faust is the one at fault here, not us and not Mareitania.”

“So that wasn’t your military that conquered Equestria?” the Emperor asked.

“Yes, but as Princess Luna just said, Faust being there was Equestria's responsibility, so maybe-"

“Just sign the fucking paper, Sour Mash!” Ivory suddenly snapped. “There’s no point in pointing hooves when our so called leader, using our very definite army, left three countries in ruins, one of which being our own! Just fucking sign it!”

“Apparently she didn’t take having Faust’s control over her shattered very well,” Chrysalis whispered aside to Twilight. “I’ve heard she even tried to kill herself over what they allowed Faust to do.”

“Stop acting like you’ve never tried to conquer us,” Twilight whispered back. “We appreciate what you did to help us retake Equestria, but you have no moral high ground here.”

“And you’re supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, so maybe don’t bite back when I’m trying to be helpful? Or is that level of moving on beyond you?”

“I- Nngh... sorry.” Twilight breathed deeply to try and clear her head. As much as she didn’t feel like it, being nice to Chrysalis was something she should probably do while Chrysalis herself was trying it.

“It isn’t valid if it’s signed under duress,” Sour Mash argued back at Ivory, only stopping when he saw her murderous expression. “But I guess that doesn’t count if you’re the one duressing me. Fine, I’ll sign it.”

“Much appreciated,” Luna said as she pulled the document towards her once he and the others were done. “And now we can truly declare this wasteful and needless war... over.”

Twilight folded her ears back as much of the room exploded into clapping and cheering, the noise hurting her ears. The war had ended just over a week ago to her mind, so this was just ceremony as far as she was concerned, but she wouldn’t begrudge others being overjoyed that this bloody affair was finally over. Too bad it wasn’t actually the end of things though.

-0-0-0-

“So this is where we discuss the actual issues?” Chrysalis asked some hours after the signing. The intervening time had contained a dizzying array of press meetings and speeches as the news was spread to every corner of the world via the power of the free press.

“Insofar as we can,” said Luna. “We still need to get on to explaining your role in liberating Equestria, and what happened on the east coast. It’s going to be hard to get ponies to accept what happened there, let alone the joining of your people with Equestria. Fortunately though, that one can wait. For now we need to discuss Mareitania.”

“What about it?” Twilight asked morosely. Why did everything have to be about that fucking country?

“About it’s rather imminent collapse,” Hergest supplied. “Between the rather untenable weather situation that has developed there, and the diversion of almost all resources to the war effort, Mareitania has been left on the edge of disaster. Crops aren’t growing, ponies are starving, and without Faust and her mind control, the ponies there are somewhat upset.”

“I can already tell you have a plan,” Chrysalis said sharply. “The smugness is radiating off you. How about you just tell us.”

“Do changelings have no appreciation for dramatics?” Hergest asked with a roll of his eyes. “Fine. Since Equestria is in no position to lend direct aid I have taken the liberty of preparing a force of griffons to enter Mareitania. For starters they’ll take care of the weather, then we’ll start bringing in relief supplies while we encourage those four over there,” Hergest pointed at the four Mareitanians in the room, “to rebuild their government.”

“Saddle Arabia is also willing to supply relief aid to the Mareitanians as well, although considering the distance and the trouble with shipping it, it won’t be an immediate thing.” Batal shrugged, “We will do what we can.”

“As will Zebrica, as a gesture of goodwill,” Fumbo added with a gesture as Kifuniko nodded beside him. “However, with a large portion of Zanzebra still in ruins, our aid might also be limited.”

“I’m willing to send some changelings as labour,” said Chrysalis. “Might cause less issues since they can look like ponies.”

An annoyed grunt drew them to look at Sour Mash, who gave the impression that he wanted to punch something. “What even makes you think that Mareitania wants more interference from foreign countries in our business? Hasn’t there been enough of that already?”

“The alternative is that we leave Mareitania to starve,” Luna answered simply. “If that is what you truly wish, it is no water off our backs to make that happen. I do wonder how long it would be until you complained that we abandoned you though.”

Sour Mash stood sharply, the stamp of a hoof ringing around the room. “That isn’t fair!”

Luna stood as well, cutting off any further comment from anyone else as she walked up to Sour Mash until they were practically nose to nose. “Fair? Is it not fair that we’re willing to put you four back in charge of your country despite having no credible reason to do so? Is it not fair that instead of forcing you to sign an unconditional surrender we’ve allowed you to sign an armistice instead, from which we can build better relations? Is it not fair that instead of demanding reparations for what your army did we’re offering you aid when you need it?" Luna glowered silently at Sour Mash as he wilted before her. "Do not think you can tell us what fair is.”

“Objections withdrawn,” Sour Mash mumbled, prompting Luna to nod in satisfaction and return to her seat. “I do have one legitimate concern though. Our ponies might not want us back in charge, or indeed any of what your offering past making the rain stop.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Cadence said in as conciliatory a manner as she could. “The unfortunate truth is that right now, Mareitania needs us, and you.”

“They’re right,” Daybreak said firmly, having grown sick of Sour Mash's objections himself. “The path ahead for us is unfortunately paved with humble pie, so suck it up.” Anything else you two want to say?” he asked of Ivory Spire and Lord Hayfield.

“Only that you stop acting like you’re better than us just because Twilight broke you free of Faust’s control ages ago,” Ivory grumbled back.

“Ugh, sorry.” Daybreak smiled apologetically then stood and bowed to the rest of the room. “We gladly accept these conditions, and although we can offer you nothing in return right now, I hope we can do so in the future.”

Hergest slapped a claw on the table,” Excellent, I shall have the order dispatched at once, unless there’s anything else we have to discuss right now?”

“No, I feel that will do for now,” Luna replied. “At least until tomorrow. As for now, Twilight, I’d like you to come with Cadence and I.”

-0-0-0-

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked, although it wasn’t hard to guess since they were heading towards the secure vault beneath the castle.

“We’re going to ensure that there are no more secrets between us,” Luna replied cryptically. “You asked where the oubliette was, and we are going to show you. Then we’re going to visit our other dirty little secret.”

“Celestia?”

Luna just nodded. Eventually they came to the Vault, guarded as it was by a quartet of Night Guard, who gladly let them in. Inside the vault Twilight was led to a side chamber with further security. A bright light exited the room as the door swung open, which was not only coming from the oubliette, but from the two shields containing it, one silver, the other teal.

“What kind of security is that?” Twilight asked, tapping a hoof against the outer teal shield. She may as well have struck a rock.

“The personal kind.” Luna gestured to some runes drawn onto the floor and ceiling. “We’re waiting for yours as well. That way, if anyone wants to get in here, they’ll either have to be insanely powerful to break those seals, or be pretty creative in getting all three of us to release them, and I mean really creative, since none of us would ever want to see Faust free again.”

“But-" Twilight stopped, her question vanishing before she could even say two words of it. Instead she found herself staring into the patterns of light the oubliette emitted. She wondered what kind of life Faust was making for herself in there with Starsy. Whatever it was, she didn’t deserve it, not for the crime of taking Trixie away from her.

With a growl Twilight started pouring her magic into the waiting tunes, only just avoiding using dark magic. If anyone wanted Faust free again, they would have to willing to face Twilight first, and that would be their first and last mistake. She’d sooner die a thousand deaths than go through with this again.

A blaze of purple light filled the room, growing brighter as Twilight practically emptied herself of magic. Nothing and nobody was getting Faust out of there. Even if they got to the oubliette, it was damn near impossible to crack that open.

“Easy Twilight,” Luna warned as Twilight started to edge into burnout. “I do believe she is very much secured now.”

“Never again,” Twilight snarled in reply, but relented, letting her magic fall away to nothing. A solid purple barrier now surrounded the oubliette, almost obscuring it due to the similarity in colour. “I don’t suppose we could fill this room with concrete as well, could we?”

Luna smiled at the suggestion, “That would prove to be its weakest defence. This vault is sealed with triple layered enchanted steel, a heavily enchanted door than can only be opened by one of us three, and has the usual compliment of guards, as well as us to defend it. Faust is going nowhere.”

“Good. I hope I don’t have to hold you to that. Now, I’m sick of even thinking about Faust in the slightest, so let’s get out of here.”

“Very well,” Luna said, very much agreeing herself. “Let’s go visit my dear sister. I’ll warn you now though, she is still a little... strange.”

-0-0-0-

Out of mercy to Celestia, they’d placed her back in her old room, maybe in the hopes of using the familiar surroundings to keep her calm, or because nobody could bring themselves to actually imprison Celestia in, well, a prison, no matter if her mind was warped, forcing her into fighting for the wrong side. Twilight wasn’t going to begrudge anypony that, but she did take issue with the room not even being locked.

“Aren’t you even the slightest bit concerned she might escape?” Twilight asked Luna as she held the still unopened door in her magic.

“Without her magic, Celestia can’t open her own door,” Luna explained, pulling the door open to reveal that the doorknob on the inside had been taken off. Twilight stared flatly for a moment then rolled her eyes.

“Is she at least restricted from flying away?”

“Of course, Twilight, I’m not stupid.”

“I know a pony that might beg to differ,” said the voice of Celestia from within the room. “But considering what happened to her, I guess you can claim otherwise.”

“Yes, we all know how highly Faust thought of me,” Luna replied with a forced cheerfulness. “I reckon she was just jealous of me getting less prison time than she did.”

Celestia cackled, actually cackled, standing the hairs on the back of Twilight’s neck straight up. She entered the room cautiously, finding Celestia laying on her bed upside down with her wings spread. A golden, bejewelled cap covered the stump of her horn. Apart from that though, she was entirely undressed, which, while not unusual in itself, became weird when Celestia did it.

“Had enough of a good look yet, Twilight? Like what you see?”

Those words alone crashed through the memory Twilight had of her former mentor. It was obvious to see that Celestia was far from being back to herself.

“Sorry,” Twilight mumbled, climbing onto the couch in the room. It felt waxy to the touch, which it never had been before. When she asked, she was told that pretty much everything had been made fireproof in the room.

“I keep getting these little outbursts,” Celestia explained in a now uncomfortably cute voice. “One moment I’m just sitting here, minding my own business, trying to get the blood flow back into the rather sad remains of my horn, the next, poof! I’m on fire. Rather annoying really. I’m starting to run out of reading material because of it. Luuuuna, fireproof my books for meee...”

“Stop catching fire, and we’ll talk.”

“But I like it.” Celestia clapped her hooves together, somehow making a burst of flame between them. She giggled, then rolled onto her front to look Twilight in the eye, her expression serious, and more like the Celestia Twilight knew.

“I’m sorry about Trixie.”

Twilight choked, her throat going tight. Why was it that every time she felt like she was getting a handle on her grief, somepony had to go and remind her of it. A few seconds later, strong legs and soft white feathers enveloped her as Luna and Cadence watched cautiously.

“I’m sure the Summerlands have a lot more insults flying around now with her there.” Celestia tensed, having realised what she’d just said. “Sorry Twilight, I’m still-"

“Not quite right? I’d noticed.”

“I’m not sure I even remember what right is, or used to be at least. It’s all rather vexing to be entirely honest. I wasn’t rude to you when you came in, was I?”

“Not really, no.”

“Good, I can at least remember that correctly. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in my head these days if I’m honest. Apparently I tried to seduce anypony who came in here yesterday, but I could’ve sworn I spent most of the day reading.”

“That was four days ago,” Cadence said quietly. “Thankfully you’re a bit easier to handle without your magic.”

Celestia sighed and massaged her temple, then smiled weakly at Twilight. “I’m sure I’ll get the hang of this new life eventually. Maybe if I had a sex slave?” she asked Luna hopefully.

“For the last time no. Work out your own frustrations.”

“But Luuuuna... it’s hard with just my hooves...” Suddenly Celestia smacked her head against the side of the sofa, almost knocking Twilight off in her surprise. “Will you shut up? I’m trying to have a civil conversation with my former student!”

“You can talk to her?” Twilight asked as she watched a sliver of blood run down the side of Celestia’s head.

“Of course not, but I do occasionally catch myself talking rubbish at times, and I know it can’t be me saying it. It’s complicated.”

Twilight sat in silent thought as Celestia returned to her bed. Maybe there was one who knew enough about Faust’s magic to do something. “Could Discord maybe do something about it?”

“Like I’d let that clown anywhere near me,” Celestia scoffed. “It’s crowded enough in this head as it is. Besides, isn’t he already occupied with fixing those morsels you found at the Everfree castle?”

“Morsels?”

“The ponies, griffons, and such like we found as part of Faust’s experiments into formulating her ‘plan.’” Luna explained. “Discord reckoned he could fix them, and given the lack of alternatives, we let him.”

“Far too trusting, if you ask me,” Celestia muttered.

“And he’s earned a little trust of late,” Cadence chided. “He does seem to be having some success as well.”

“You can still keep him as far away from my head as you like. It’s been messed with enough. But it’s not just your choice though, is it! Oh shut up.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked, looking sideways at the other two, and getting a shrug back.

“Internal dispute,” Celestia explained. “No matter what Celestia might insist, I know she’s in here, and ugh, she’s so damn whiney. It isn’t enough for her that we’re at least on the same page as far as Equestria and all that is concerned.”

“And... what page might that be?”

“That Faust stays buried, and that Equestria is ours to protect. Now we just need to work on the finer details. What finer details? I’m just one pony! You’re a figment!” Celestia sobbed, “Why can’t you just go away?”

“Riiiight...”

“Forgive me Twilight, but I’m afraid I might be like this for a while. I just need some time to clear up these errant thoughts and memory lapses, and I’ll be right as rain. Pfft, like I’m going anywhere. Perhaps you best go for now, but do please visit again. Bring lube.”

“Uh... sure, I guess. What’s the lube for?”

“You. I have big hooves." Celestia suddenly cringed, "Ignore me, please.”

“I’ll make sure she does,” Luna interrupted, scooching Twilight out the door as quickly as possible. “I’ll be back later with dinner.”

“Is it you?”

“We’ve talked about this. I’m your sister.”

“Government lies, I assure you. Please take care, Twilight.”

Twilight stood watching Celestia’s sorrowful expression as Cadence pulled the door shut. “That was... confusing, to say the least. To think that could’ve been you and Nightmare if she hadn’t gotten out.”

“Don’t even joke like that. I have no idea what’s going on in Celestia’s head, and it scares me to think she might always be like that now.”

Twilight patted Luna on the leg, now regretting joking about it. “I’m sure we can come up with something.”

“I know, but it still hurts to see her this way. She is my sister after all.” Luna sighed and shook her head as she tried to put it out of mind. “Anyway, we have one more stop to make, and I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about this one.”

-0-0-0-

Twilight didn’t know where she was being led, and at this point was getting pretty tired of being held in suspense. Was it so hard for her to be informed about where she was going? The comment on how much she might not like it didn’t help. If it was a memorial for Trixie, she was... going to have to walk away. She just couldn’t deal with that right now, no matter how much she needed to.

They were greeted outside the door to wherever they were going by Shining Armor, which sent a giant pang of guilt through Twilight. He'd been badly hurt in the fight against Faust, and she hadn’t even so much as asked how he was since then.

“Hey Twily,” Shining said with a gentle smile, clearly holding no grudge over being ignored. “How you doing?’

“I should be asking you that,” she said, failing to meet his eye. “You were hurt so bad, and I didn’t even bother asking about you-"

“Don’t worry about it,” Shining replied, dismissing her worries with a wave of his hoof. “You’ve had a pretty tough time lately, so I wasn’t going to hold it against you.”

Twilight disagreed. “That’s no excuse since I’m pretty sure we’ve all had a tough time lately. I’m sorry.”

“And you’re forgiven,” Shining said with a shrug. “Anyway, I’m not the reason you’re here.” Stepping aside, Shining held the door open with a hoof, letting Twilight enter, although she didn’t make it far before her ass hit the floor. Everypony was inside. Or at least, everypony still alive. Flour, Octavia, Summer, the Filly, her ponyville friends, Pinkie's sisters, Mayfly, Thorax, Bon Bon and Lyra, Moondancer, Daring Do, Nightmare, and plenty of others aside those. Even then they couldn’t distract her for long from the massive notice boards covered in photos of ponies.

“What is all this?”

“Ah! I’m glad you made it,” Fleur said cheerfully, trotting up to Twilight. “This is a-uh... small project I started on a whim when I was hanging around the other day. I started going through the records of the ponies that... lost their lives, and I started copying their pictures and sticking them on these boards. Even now I’m not really sure why. Anyway, Octavia and Summer started helping, then your Ponyvilly friends, Bon Bon and Lyra, and it just seemed to grow.”

Twilight peered at the boards, seeing the photos and a small note below each one with a name, and where they fell. Most of them she didn’t recognise, but since there were thousands it seemed unlikely she would. The only ones she really recognised were some of the Wonderbolts.

“Obviously there are still a lot missing,” Fleur continued to explain as Twilight kept looking, “and some don’t have pictures, and I can’t really include the griffons that died, or the changelings, but I hope to get all the Equestrians that died on there, and please say something to stop me babbling like a loon...”

“Why? How many times do we have to do this?"

“I don’t know,” Fleur answered earnestly. “I just- I just- I just had to, okay?”

“And this is where you get me to dramatically stick a picture of Trixie up?” Twilight stopped on a photo of Shadow's missing leg, along with an IOU. “Really, Shadow?”

“Bitch owes me a leg,” Shadow snickered.

“Take it down,” Fleur ordered immediately. Clearly it wasn’t meant to be there. “Now.”

“Fiiiine. Excuse me for trying to bring some levity here.”

“Anyway,” Fleur said, momentarily eyeing Shadow as she took the offending picture down, “I’m not asking you to do anything. Mostly you’re here because we all are. We made it Twilight, and I know it hurts that we lost some, but we made it.”

Twilight gestures with her head towards the wall of pictures, “None of these did.”

“I know. Twilight, just... give me a break, okay? I’m not doing this out of some misguided belief that it’ll help us heal, or whatever. I’m doing it because I started a thing, and now we’re all here, so either stick up a picture of Trixie, or stand back and let us get on with it. Otherwise fuck off back to your room, and try again when you feel more like participating.”

Twilight took a mental step back at Fleur’s outburst and immediately felt guilty. Here she was moping over Trixie, acting like she was the only pony who knew what grief was when everyone in this room had lost someone. Some had lost more than she had. Everypony in Equestria probably lost somepony. With that realisation came the next that this project wasn’t because it had to be done, or anything near. It was a coping mechanism, pure and simple.

“I’m sorry, Fleur, I’m being an ass.”

“So long as you realise that, then we’re good.” Fleur smiled lopsided at Twilight, then waved Octavia over, who held two pictures up for Twilight to take.

“Turns out there aren’t really a lot of photos of Trixie off the stage,” Octavia said in a semi apologetic voice. Twilight looked at the picture, finding it was of Trixie during a performance, wearing her signature hat and cape. “Honestly though, I don’t think anything else would do her justice.

“No...” Twilight replied as she swallowed down the lump in her throat. The other picture didn’t help as Sunset grinned cheekily at her from it. She stared at it for a moment, then passed it back to Octavia. “Let Moondancer do that one, but don’t tell her I said so.”

“As you wish.”

Twilight sat back and watched as she hugged the picture, wishing more than anything that she could hug the real thing. She was openly crying now, and even if she had been the only one she wouldn’t have cared. Bon Bon was crying as she pinned pictures of her team up with assistance from Lyra, and both Rainbow and Vapor were failing to fight tears as they stuck up pictures of Lightning and Sky Stinger alongside the other deceased Wonderbolts.

Pinkie, her sisters, and her marefriend Azure put up a picture of a brown pony that Twilight didn’t know, but assumed to be part of their team. Only Maud and Limestone managed a to keep a dry eye between them. Not far away Shining was putting up some pictures as well, presumably of ponies he knew in the army. Shortly after Moondancer put up her picture of Sunset.

Twilight scanned her eyes over the display, her heart aching in indecision. “Where should I put her?” she asked Fleur.

Fleur rubbed her eyes and smirked at Twilight. “I thought you knew Trixie.”

Twilight twinged, stung by the implied insult, but only for a moment as she worked out what Fleur really meant. Trixie wouldn’t settle for being in amongst all the other pictures. Oh no, she would’ve demanded much more.

With careful deliberation, and exactly measurements, Twilight pinned the picture onto the wooden border of the display along the top edge, above all of the others. If Trixie wasn’t going to be noticed, she wouldn’t have wanted to be there at all.

Twilight stood back, and leaned into the embrace of as many of her friends as could fit around her. Thousands of lives lost, yet ultimate victory had come down to the actions of a few. That was probably the cruelest joke of all. Still, they had done it. The cost had been heavy, but they had done it.

“Fuck doing anything like this again,” the filly said to resounding agreement.